Brown Eyed Boy

Something Unexpected This Way Comes (Jessie POV)

It turned out that Principal Carter took my words into consideration and instead of Carlos being suspended he was given detention for the rest of the week. Unfortunately that meant that she had also given it to Jared as well which granted us never ending dirty looks. Other than that, not much else happened for the next month. Well, except for the jealousy that seemed to spring up every time a new girl approached Carlos. Which seemed to be every fifteen minutes.

After the fight with Jared, Carlos had gotten a lot more attention than he had before. To add to his apparent appeal was the fact that he was on the football team, too. The team hadn't had any games yet, but they seemed to take his determination in the fight as a sign that he was good. Whether we were in class, the halls, at lunch or even hanging out on weekends, there always seemed to be some different girl that was hitting on him. At first I managed to push away the feeling and keep in mind that we were just friends. But then I remembered how close we were to kissing that day in my kitchen and all I wanted to do was yell at all of them to go away. It was irrational, considering he never tried anything again after that but I couldn't help but feel it anyway. So when he turned each and every one of them down, a part of me inside seemed to light up.

Unfortunately, the girls showed up more and more frequently as homecoming approached. We were at the food court in the mall with Emmett, joking around as always when Carlos' lab partner, Nicole, showed up. I didn't think anything of it because she was always nice to him in class and was even nice to me when I was around. I didn't consider her a friend exactly, more of an acquaintance. Someone that I tolerated because she was nice enough to me.

Nicole showed up and dragged a seat over to the other side of Carlos almost immediately, sitting closer to him than even I dared. We all exchanged glances before looking at her questioningly. “Hey Nicole,” Carlos said warily. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, just shopping around for homecoming dresses, you know?” she smiled at him sweetly. “I just saw you guys and thought I might come over and talk.”

“About what?” Emmett asked.

“I don't know,” she said. “Just, whatever. So what are you guys up to today?”

“Nothing,” I answered in a clipped tone. Carlos turned to me slightly before looking back at her.

“We were just walking around really,” he said. “So, what can we really help you with?”

Nicole's smile dropped for a second before it brightened at him. “Nothing,” she said innocently. “I told you I was just passing through-”

“From homecoming dress shopping,” Emmett said with a knowing smile. “Yeah, you not so subtly mentioned that.” Nicole glared at him before turning to Carlos.

“Well, I guess I should just cut straight to the point then, huh?” Nicole said. “Since Emmett decided to be so rude.”

“Not rude,” Emmett said. “Just honest.”

“What do you want?” I asked her, knowing what was coming. I knew she was going to ask Carlos to go with her but what I didn't know was what his response would be. I had to grudgingly admit that Nicole was pretty with her dark eyes, bright smile and shiny dark hair. She definitely knew how to get a laugh out of Carlos and she only really spent time with him during lab. If anyone had a chance at having him agree to be their date, it was definitely her.

“Carlos, do you have a date yet for homecoming?” she asked him. I saw him stiffen and his jaw tightened slightly before he shook his head. “So...do you want to go together?” She moved toward him in her seat and I stiffened in my own. My own jaw set angrily and I bit the inside of my cheek as I waited for his response. Emmett glanced over at me as he smiled, almost as if he wanted to reassure me of something.

“No thanks,” Carlos said gently.

“Why not?” Nicole asked, still leaning towards him. He moved his chair over, away from her and towards me. I stayed stiffly where I was and waited for his answer along with Nicole, but he didn't say a word. He just glanced at me with a tilt of his head in silence. Nicole pressed back in her chair, but didn't look angry at all. She looked almost understanding as she nodded. “Right, well I guess I should've guessed that. At least I tried.” She got up from her seat with a smile and walked away as though she weren't even rejected. I suddenly had a new respect for her.

“Ahem,” Emmett cleared his throat. “I'm just going to go get another milkshake. I'll be right back.” And suddenly he was gone, leaving me and Carlos alone at the table in silence.

“So,” I said quietly. “Why didn't you tell her yes?”

He shrugged and took a sip of his soda. “I didn't want to go with her,” he said and looked over at me. “I thought it was pretty obvious.”

“It was,” I answered, looking away from his warm eyes. “I just don't understand why not.”

He opened his mouth as though he were going to say something and then he closed it, thinking better of it. A minute later, he tried again. “I figure homecoming is supposed to be fun,” he said. “And what better way to have fun then to go with my best friend?”

“Oh,” I said, slightly disappointed.

“We don't have to go together if you don't want to,” he said.

“I do,” I said quickly and then blushed at how it sounded. Carlos smiled crookedly and I could tell he was amused by my response. “I mean, I was just going to stay home. But if you want to go to the dance, I guess I could.”

“Right,” he laughed. “So, it's a date?”

“Yeah,” I said awkwardly. “It's a date.” I tried to hold back my smile at the words but I couldn't stop it. Carlos' own responding smile made mine even brighter and somehow I knew inside that he didn't want to go with me just because we were best friends.