Unexpectedly

Chapter Twenty- Even Earthworms are Admirable

                I gave Jake a bored glance as I applied a thin coat of lip gloss. “Stop overacting, Jake. It really doesn’t suit you.”

                He shook his head. “Am I in a nightmare? Oh, God. I am in a nightmare. Wake me up.”

                I glared at him. “Jake. There’s nothing surprising, really.” I fixed my stare on him. “I mean, it’s just lip gloss.”

                “And a cute button-up shirt, and some cute pair of shorts, and those sandals! Really, Shea?”

                I gave him a look. “Stop it, Jake. I'm serious.”

                He sighed. “It’s just… weird, you know. I mean, look at you, all dressed up.” He gave me another look. “And I just think the change is… pretty scary, you know.” He walked over to my bed, lying down carelessly. I could see his reflection as he took a picture frame from the bedside table and looked at it.

                “Are you telling me I look scary?” I turned to him.

                “That’s not what I meant.” He shrugged and said, “It’s just… all of a sudden, you’re this girly. You go on dates. You go on parties. You kiss guys.”

                My eyes widened. “The last part is so not true!”

                “Yes, it is! You’ve kissed Cam!”

                “I was drunk!” I yelled.

                It was a good thing Mom was not home. Otherwise, I would never be able to go out ever again.

                “Exactly! You get drunk! Are you sure you’re not some extraterrestrial copy of my sister, who is secretly hiding the real Shea in your spaceship?”

                “Jake!”

                “Okay, okay, fine.” He backed up a little. “Anyways, good luck on your date.”

                “Um, whatever,” I said.

                And the doorbell rang.

                Jake smiled. “I’ll go get it. You—apply more lip gloss or something. Whatever.” And he went out of my room, putting the frame back on my bedside drawer.

                I realized, then, that is was a picture of the two of us. With Dad.

                No wonder he seemed a little solemn for a minute there.

                As for me, I stood up, looked at the picture, and for a moment I thought  of that day. The day we took the picture. It was taken on one of our family trips at the beach. One of our last, I think.

                “Shea!” Jake shouted. “Blake’s here!”

                And just like that, I was jolted back to the present. I sighed, smoothed my hair out, while trying not to ruin it, and went out.

---

                “Shut. Up!” My eyes widened as I giggled. “Seriously.”

                Blake laughed, carefree and sweet. It made my knees go weak, really. It was a good thing we were sitting, otherwise I would have fallen.

                “It’s true! I really did enter the girl’s bathroom once before! Honest to God, I swear it’s true,” he said, smiling almost innocently at me. “I just.. . entered. And for a moment I wondered why all the girls stopped to stare at me. And then I asked myself, ‘Wait… girls?’ And I’m pretty sure that was the time I became tomato red, shouted the words ‘I’m sorry’ so many times as I went out.”

                I laughed out loud. “That is SO embarrassing!”

                He laughed as well. “I told you.”

                I was shaking my head as I scooped what’s left of my half-melted vanilla ice cream. “You’re crazy, you know.”

                He laughed. “Oh, I know, all right.” He bit into his ice cream cone. His was chocolate, and he had it on a cone. I had mine on a cup. He couldn’t understand why, and I wouldn’t tell him the reason, which was because ice cream could do permanent damage to my outfit.

                And I spent a lot for it—be it money or time.

                “So, what have you been up to?” he asked me, eyeing me thoughtfully with his eyes.

                “Me?”

                “Yeah. I mean, look at you. Goody-goody Shea Collins, a goddess roaming this world for a blessed cause.”

                I elbowed him lightly. “Shut up.” I smiled. “I'm not a goddess. I’m merely… Shea Collins, whose life is all about writing and who thinks boys who enter the girls’ bathrooms are—are earthworms.”

                He laughed. “Har-har. Very funny. That really hurts.” He feigned a hurt look, putting a hand over his chest.

                “Well, that’s about everything about me, though. Take it or leave it.”

                His eyes seemed to soften, and there was that soulful look again. “I’d take it. For what it’s worth, I'm sure it’s something I’ll never regret.”

                My smile faded as I looked into his eyes, realizing what the words meant. Realizing that those words… were not just simply words.

                “Oh, boy. I think I just said I like you. A lot.” He smiled, but it was this sort of really wistful smile. As if, just like me, he was having the time of his life. 

                If he really were pulling the moves on me… then I was falling hard for them.

                “Well, I, for one, am admiring a particular earthworm,” I said.

                He held my gaze for a while. For a moment, it was just us, leaning back against the hood of his car under the stars, looking into each other. Just this moment.

                And then I averted my gaze. I faked a cough and said, “We should probably get going.”

                From my peripheral vision, I could see him scratch the back of his neck as he said, “Yeah. Um, of course.”

                Silence. Then I dared to give him a quick glance—

                Only to find myself staring, as I had been for all those days, from the first night at the party to this moment, into his eyes.

                The night—the date, particularly, was more than everything I had hoped for.