Erica and Luke have been broken up for a couple months now, and Erica was not in the mood in dating anyone else at the moment. How could she date anyone else if she's still not over Liam? He was always on her mind, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.
Taylor and AJ have planned a girls night at Taylor's house since Erica has been in the dumps. Erica arrived at her house around 7:30, and when she arrived there, AJ was already there with Taylor.
"Am I late?" Erica asked as she put her sleepover bag behind Taylor's couch.
"Not at all, we were just early," AJ said, looking at Taylor.
"Well, I've been here awhile since it's my house, but yeah...AJ was early."
Erica nodded and sat down with the girls and laid her back against the couch cushions.
"How are you feeling?" Taylor asked Erica.
"I'm fine."
"You're over Luke?"
"Way over him. It's not the fact that he cheated on me and we broke up, but it's the fact that I have so much bad luck with dating."
AJ and Taylor exchanged looks. "Erica. You don't have bad luck with dating. You just found the wrong guy to go with after Liam left. There's a lot more boys out there for you date until you can be with Liam again," AJ assured her.
Erica just shrugged. "I guess so."
"Hey, let's have fun tonight and we'll worry about them boys later," Taylor said, smiling as she stood up.
Erica liked that idea, so she stood up with AJ and followed Taylor into the kitchen. They grabbed popcorn bags, M & M bags and a few chip bags. They put the popcorn in the microwave, then they went back in the living room to find a movie either on Netflix or Taylor's movie collection. This is going to be a fun night, Erica thought to herself as she joined the girls on the floor to decide on the movie.
"What about this one?" AJ said, holding up Insidious 3.
"No!" Erica exclaimed. "What is wrong with you?"
"You love scary movies!"
"I know that, but not tonight."
"What do you want, then?" she said, rolling her eyes.
"Now that I think of it, I am in the mood for a scary movie."
"It's your choice tonight, Erica," Taylor said, motioning her towards the movies.
"Thanks guys."
They popped in a scary movie that Erica chose, and they all sat on the couch, getting ready. They all snuggled up with their blankets until.... *Beep. Beep. Beep.* They all groaned as they all yelled, "NOT IT!"
Unfortunately, AJ had to get up and get it. "Favoritism."
"AJ, you know we love you."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that."
They laughed and waited for AJ to gather the popcorn and join them. It took her a few minutes, but she eventually came back. She handed each girl a bag and looked around. "Are we good now?"
"Actually....."
"Too late, get it yourself," AJ said, covering herself up with a blanket.
"You're lucky I love you," Erica laughed.
"Ready, ladies?" Taylor asked, holding up the remote.
"Do it," they said in unison.
Taylor pushed play and Erica reached over to shut off the lights. Erica looked at her friends, who were groaning at the previews. She began to think to herself, I don't think I could've been any luckier to have these guys. Even when I was such a jerk towards them, they forgave me. I don't think I would be able to survive without them. Liam might be gone, but I know I can make it through because I have my best friends.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the creepy music starting to play, indicating that the menu screen was up. "Push play!" AJ exclaimed.
"I'm getting to it!" Taylor pushed play, setting the remote down on the arm of the couch. "There, relax."
Erica shook her head, smiling. It started to play as they shoved their hands in the popcorn bags.
****************
Eleanor and Ryan were walking hand in hand to Ryan's house after Ryan and his friends had their own little football game. Ryan and Eleanor walked into Ryan's house, and they looked around to find out that Ryan's parents were gone. Ryan checked the whole house, but he came downstairs to tell Eleanor that they were all alone. Eleanor just shrugged and thought about what they should do for the rest of the night.
Eleanor knew exactly what Ryan had in mind, but Eleanor wasn't ready for that. She has been up since 6:00 a.m., and she has been cleaning non-stop at her house and the restaurant she worked at. She's 15, but she has a job at her mom's restaurant, helping wait tables and clean up after closing hours.
Ryan walked over to her and sat down. "What did you think about the football game today?" he asked her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
Eleanor shrugged. "It was alright. You did pretty good."
"I thought so, too."
"Your friends were doing pretty good, too," Eleanor teased him. She liked making him think she was into his friends because it always made him upset. She thought it was pretty cute that he actually got jealous.
"They were following my lead."
"Sure they were," Eleanor said, kissing him on the cheek before getting up to go to the bathroom.
Before she closed the bathroom door, Ryan called out, "Love you." Eleanor smiled and closed the bathroom door.
*********
All of the girls woke up around the same time, and when they woke up, the first thing that came to their mind was food. Since they were all hungry, they all grabbed cereal and bagels, which they put cream cheese on the bagels, and they all joined each other back in the living room where the fell asleep the previous night.
"Did everyone sleep as well as I did?" AJ asked Taylor and Erica as she ate her bagel quickly like someone was going to steal it away.
They laughed and shrugged. "I slept pretty good, but I kept having dreams about Liam," Erica said.
Taylor looked at her with concern in her eyes, and she patted Erica's back.
"It will be okay. He'll come back soon, I just know it, but for now you need to break some hearts."
"What?" Erica asked, laughing loudly.
"Seriously, I agree with Taylor on this one. You need to get out there and make boys crazy because once Liam comes back, you're going to be stuck and tied down. You need to get out there and go crazy, but you can't get too crazy because we don't want you pregnant," AJ said, smiling.
Erica laughed and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think I'm that type of person."
"All you have to do is have an attitude like you're too good for everyone," Taylor said.
"Yeah. If you act like you're hard to get, boys will chase after you more, and you'll have a lot of fun in no time."
"If you say so," Erica said, getting up and taking her dishes to the kitchen. She wasn't so sure on this idea because it seemed way out of her league, but she was willing to try it if it meant that she would forget about Liam for a little bit. Did she want to forget about him? Of course not, but she was going to keep herself busy until he came back.
Erica sighed, and she turned around to go back in the living room to join the other girls.
"So, what are we doing today?"
"Where do most boys go?" Taylor asked.
"Hey, you guys have boyfriends!" Erica teased her friends.
"We're doing this for you, we're not going to cheat on our boyfriends. Hell, they can come with us."
Erica laughed and stood up with the girls, and they started getting ready to go to the park which had a giant skate ramp, basketball court and soccer field. This was about to get interesting, and Erica kind of liked the feeling.
***************
"You want me to come to the park?" Adam asked his girlfriend as he talked to her over the phone.
"Yes. Taylor, Erica and Bradley are here. Come down and play some basketball."
"I just woke up, so it's going to take awhile to get down there."
"How long?"
"About an hour."
"Fine, we'll be watching some people play basketball or skate."
"Okay, I'll be there soon."
"Okay Adam. See you later."
AJ and Adam hung up, and AJ joined her friends a few minutes later. She saw that Bradley was playing basketball with a couple of Juniors from highschool, and it was getting pretty intense. There was tackling, shoving and yelling.
Erica laughed as she watched the basketball game continue, and the girls thought that Erica was really enjoying herself. Her friends were glad to see that she wasn't sad and gloomy anymore.
Taylor poked Erica with her elbow and smiled at her.
"At this rate, you'll have lots of boys crawling over you when we start high school."
Erica rolled her eyes and focused her attention back to the Juniors.
Maybe it was a bad thing that she was interested in guys 1 or 2 grades higher than her, but at least she was over Liam. Well, I wouldn't say over him, but this was a start.
Later when Adam arrived at the park, Adam had joined the game, and that was really a call for help. It was nothing bad, but he was really good, and he was making the Juniors look bad. The Juniors names were Brad and Rick, but they weren't worried about letting everyone know who they are. They were getting a little upset because they couldn't get the ball away from Adam whatever they did.
They took a break a few minutes later, and Erica decided to risk it and go and talk to them. She sat down next to Rick, and she smiled as she said, "Tough game."
Rick shook his head and smiled. "You're telling me. I don't know how this kid got so good. I never met him before, but I've been playing sports for the past 2 years...How did he get so good?"
Erica patted his leg and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe today was just a lucky day. I think you're doing pretty good...so is Brad."
Brad looked up and smiled before looking back at the ground trying to catch his breath.
Erica looked back at Rick and smiled. Rick's hair was wet and sweaty, and his whole body was glistening from all the sweat. Rick was 5'11, had short brown hair, brown eyes, was sporty and muscular and was very friendly.
"I'm Rick, as you already know. What's your name?" Rick asked, handing his hand out.
"Erica," she said, shaking his hand firmly.
"Nice name. By the way, sorry about the sweaty hands."
Erica laughed and shook her head. "It's fine."
"So...What grade are you going to be in?"
"I'm going into 9th, what about you?"
"I'm going into 11th."
"Nice."
"Yeah, looks like my break is over. Talk to you later, okay?" Rick said, smiling as he stood up.
"You bet." Erica smiled as she watched him grab a basketball.
Taylor and AJ ran over to her and sat down. "Oh my gosh. You looked so into him!"
"Yeah..." Erica said as she looked at Rick make a hoop.
"Just give it a try," Taylor said.
"What's the worst that could happen?" AJ added.
"I could fall in love and forget about Liam."
"No matter what happens.You will always be friends."
"Yes we will, I hope this doesn't mess mine and Liam's relationship up too much."