JUST BECAUSE

CHEWGUM IN MY BACKYARD

"Okay,so repeat please.THE BOYS are coming to YOUR house for DINNER?"
I was on the phone with Rachel ,lying on my bed.
"Yeah.after fifteen minutes."i muttered.
"And they are your neighbours?"
"Yeah."
Silence.but not for long.
"AND You are telling me this NOW?"
She is saying this like i have known IT all my life. Which i have not.obviously.
"Yeah?"
"Oh my god,you are so damn lucky, girl!"Rachel squealed.loud enough to make me pull my phone away from my ear."Rach!" "Okay okay!whatcha gonna wear for THE dinner?" "Don't know.whatever." "you are either insane.or insane." I could realize a goofy grin forming on my face."i am."i agreed.i consider myself insane.and i like it.not sure why.Maybe because it lets you live life a bit more,knowing that you are insane and so you can BE insane?or maybe considering yourself insane lets you make your own world(cause you are insane),to escape from the real world.to have someplace to hide in,where you can be crazy and stupid and careless and childish and weak and everything.which you cannot be in the real world. To escape to a world which is a bit better.....a lot better than the real world. "Okay,even i know you are insane.but a 'whatever' is still SO not okay ,Pea!it's THE BOYS!"another loud squeal."i gotta go now,Rach.i'll update you later."i put the phone down.sorry,but i can't risk having my eardrums burst by her loud squeals.
Five minutes later-
What should i wear?it's not like i care so much but well,i don't think any girl wants to look ugly,consciously.right?maybe something to match my blue eyes....hmm....that blue frock mom got me last summer!that'll do nicely!

"Not bad,Pearl.not at all bad!" I whispered as i looked at my self wearing the blue frock, in the mirror.i had spent the last ten minutes looking for the blue frock in my closet.and believe me,my closet's a REAL MESS.just like me.*proud grin*
"But well,hard work pays off!" I whisper again,putting on some lip gloss.a doorbell's ring.mom shouted from downstairs,"they're here ,Pea!" I took a deep breath and pulled on my white pumps.time to face Richard Ford and Jeff Andrews(sounds as if i am going for a war or something.Heh.).

Like seriously,i didn't know Jeff Andrews can smile this much!Richard Fords,well ,his frequent beautiful smiles feels natural.As if its more like his childhood habit.But Jeff?Oh no,didn't expect THIS !He was like"Mrs.Dawns ,*blah blah*......"He smiles.And its that too damn perfect and too damn beautiful smile of his."Oh please!Call me Emily."Mom smiles."That's a beautiful name!"Richard says and grins.Jeff nods and smiles(again).Wow.I think Andrews must've broken his own record of smiles by now.Me?I am invisible to them right now.And i don't have the heart to interrupt them(Sarcasm dude,sarcasm.)So i sit and listen.To my mom,sitting beside me.To the boys,sitting in front of me.SO BORING.HAH.If only the girls of my high school heard me saying this word.They would go mad.After all,they're THE boys.HUH."Okay,i'm going to set the table now."mMom gets up."We will help too."The boys get up.Such gentlemen!If only mom knew.*Groan* "No,you boys stay here ."And with that,she was off to the kitchen.Leaving me with the boys."Beautiful."I heard Richard mutter audibly enough.I looked up.And he was looking unabashedly at me.And then,he smiled.a warming smile.So,i am visible again.FINALLY.I smile back at him,as warm a smile as i can give.I glance at Jeff.He was also looking at me,silently."I am going to walk your dog outside."Jeff stated suddenly.It's MY dog.he should ask permission or something right?okay,whatever.i gave a slight nod.he stood up and went out to my backyard with Buddy in his tow."and i am going to see if your mom needs help in anything."Richard smiled again ,stood up and went to the kitchen.

So......

Alone right now.

And i don't know how and why but i ended up in my backyard.

And i saw Jeff.Sitting on the grass.With Buddy licking his hands.And..Jeff was laughing.A real laugh.YES!! A REAL JEFF-Y LAUGH!!Andbelieve me,it was a so-beautiful Jeff-y laugh.Seriously.And i again don't know why I did what I did right then but I went and sat beside Jeff.Looking at our outstretched legs in front of us and uprooting the grass beside me in handfuls, I felt as if this was a different Jeff.A Jeff I didn't know existed at all,until now.A Jeff who loves dogs in general maybe and has a beautiful laugh.And intense chocolate-brown eyes.Well,come to think of it now,i don't actually know him that well.But all i know,this was definitely a better Jeff than the cold,mostly silent,rude,sarcastic and.... "Pea."He suddenly muttered.It was more as if he was muttering it to himself but deliberately making it loud enough for me to hear.Well,it worked. I turned to him.I could see a suppressed grin on his face. 'Pea' is only what my mom and Rachel is allowed to call me. BUT NOT HE."You...." Back to the old Jeff.The jerk.The asshole.UGH!! His grin grew wide.I think he realized he could irritate me with just that one word.Or maybe somehow he already knew that. " 'You' what?" He asked turning to me. Oh no,I'm not going to let this go so easily."YOU are NOT allowed to call me that ,CHEWGUM!" "Chewgum?" He asked,his eyebrows raised. "Yeah. Chewgums tend to stick to people's shoes.Damn annoying." I snickered.Suddenly,i remembered how close he had been to me that day near the locker.A strawberry,mint chewgum."Well,trying to get this chewgum off your shoe, are you?"He asked.And i just could feel that this was a question which....mattered.Somehow.I stayed silent."It's not like i got stuck on your shoe by my own choice.And plus,i am not that easy to get rid of.You should know that, Miss 'Problem'.Or more like Miss 'Mess'." "Excuse me?Miss what?Problem?!Mess?!! " I glared at him.Where was he coming up with these names?! "Yeah.You always end up creating a problem or a mess for me.And for yourself." "Bu...but...." The desk incident.The cafeteria incident.Not wholly my fault, huh.But well,a part of it was mine.Maybe. Guess he was right this time. "Whatever.I think 'Pea' was better." I muttered.Lost to him AGAIN.in 'who blinks first/looks away' eye game earlier.In stupid name-calling this time.HUH.I think Jeff almost smiled.'Almost'.But it was mostly dark.And i also think he smiles RARELY .So,i am not THAT sure about the 'Almost' smile.Jeff then looked up at the sky. "But like seriously?Chewgum?" He whispered after some seconds of silence,still looking up at the sky,kinda like thinking.And then,he started laughing,like before.A full-on laughter.A laughter that hit me hard.Somewhere.And this felt exactly like when i first saw him.And when he had come up so close to me near the locker that day.And whenever he looks at me with those intense chocolate-brown eyes of his.And obviously,whenever he laughs like this.Or smiles.And....

No.

NO.

"Hey,children?Dinner's ready!"Mom called out from inside.

That's when i realized i had been staring at Jeff all this time,while he was laughing and looking up at the sky.I quickly looked towards the star-lit sky too.Shit,i hope he didn't see me.So embarassing!!Stupid.Stupid.Stupid.Stupid!! All my fault,i guess.

Or maybe,it's his fault too.

Jeff looked at me once and then,got up alongwith Buddy.(I think he didn't see me staring at him,like that.Thank God!)I got up too.And we three-some walked inside,in silence.