Part Three
I'm thankful exams are done and dusted. Yes, I only had one but now I don't have to stress over that shit. It was a roller coaster of a week. One minute I was feeling super positive about the exam next minute I was stressing about it. Like a yoyo I went up and then I went back down, thankfully after the exam I went back up and stayed up.
It's currently Friday night and we're having a girls only night. I'm not sure how long that rule is going to last though. Tia is the only one asking if we can break it to let her guy of the moment over for the night. Nicola and Emily are absolutely adamant it's girls only. I honestly don't mind.
We aren't the only ones on the block celebrating the last day of exam week. The boys across the road have been pumping loud music and every so often their voices are just slightly louder than the music. They aren't having a full blown party but they definitely have friends over.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I look around at my friends, Tia is in the middle of oversharing details about her new guy. Emily and Nicola are eating it up. I'm sure none of them will even notice I'm on my phone.
Girls only, really? – Tyler
He sends a picture of our front door. hanging above our front door is a sign that reads Girls Only. I grin, I bet Emily put that up.
Girls rule, boys drool – Nora
It's a childish response but I don't care. I've just put my phone under my leg when it vibrates again. I resist the urge to see what he replied and instead try to focus on the story Tia is telling.
"...but honestly, we need to liven this shit up. Can't we invite a couple people over?"
Huh, looks like I missed the entire story. What a pity. "It's girls night, we don't get many of those and besides we're celebrating that your exams are over." Nicola retorts.
"You guys didn't have exams, only Nora and I did. What exactly are you celebrating?"
Emily laughs. "you guys didn't have to listen to you two slowly losing your minds."
"Yes!" Nicola clinks her almost empty glass with Emily's. They laugh in unison before downing the last of their drinks. Tia rolls her eyes, grumbling into her glass.
"Why don't we do something else other than talk? That'll liven it up a little bit." I suggest, gesturing to our games shelf. We have all the exciting games. Monopoly, surgery, stack em, uno, phase ten, twister, the list goes on and on.
Nicola pouts. "I don't want to play boardgames...ohh how about a drinking game?"
Tia grins. "Now you're talking, let's take this party outside though. It's fucking hot and I want to go for a dip."
I grunt happily. "Fuck yes."
I don't even waste time by going upstairs to put on swimwear. I strip my shirt off on the way outside, sighing happily at the pool. Even in the dark it looks amazing. The outside lights turn on, Emily clapping as they do.
Our entire little backyard lights up like the dream scape Emily and Nicola spent an entire afternoon last year decorating it. Tia brings her speaker outside with a very enthusiastic grin on her face. Within moments, music is pouring out of the speaker, Nicola is fixing up more drinks and Emily is launching herself into the pool clothes and all.
I check my phone, staring at the reminder of Tyler's unanswered text. I should really extend the whole girls only thing to texting. Tyler can wait until later for a reply. The impatience in me wins though, I click on the message thread.
Congrats on making it to end of the term. Enjoy your night 😉 – Tyler
I stare at the winky face, the hair on the back of my neck suspiciously. Something about his text makes me feel like he's going to strike tonight or early tomorrow. It wouldn't surprise me, we both have more then enough free time now.
He thinks we're celebrating; I think he's celebrating. Well, I thought he was but what if he isn't? Maybe I should strike before he does. I have had a few ideas swirling around in my head, tame ideas as I wait for his retaliation. I could put any one of them into action right now, I could do one of them tonight even.
"Dude, get off your phone." Tia complains drawing me out of my bubble.
I lock my phone, throwing it onto the table. I step out of my shorts and jump into the pool. I resurface to find Tia in the pool now as well.
"What should we play first? Truth or dare? Never have I?" Nicola lines our newly made drinks along the pools edge before she joins us in the water.
"Ohh truth or dare." Emily yells.
Tia agrees and they all turn to me. "I mean I'm in but I have the right to refuse any dares." I remind them. Every time we get into this game when drinking it always ends with them daring me to pull an impromptu prank on Tyler. For girls who complain I spend too much time on this prank war they are awfully into making me do it.
"Boo!" Nicola and Tia yell in unison, high fiving each other.
Emily sighs. "Nothing to do with Tyler then?" she suggests.
I snort. "That's doubtful, couple more drinks in these two and who knows what will come out of their mouths."
Both girls splash me immediately. I splutter, pushing myself under the water to stop the repeated splashes of water to my face. I kick off the wall and swim to the other side of the pool away from them. I resurface to their laughter.
"Truth or dare, Nora?" Tia starts the game, grinning at me from across the pool.
"Truth."
"Do you have a thing for Tyler?" she asks.
Nicola and Emily groan. "Dude, we already know she does." Nicola complains, pulling herself out of the water. she sits on the side of the pool, leaving her feet in the water.
Emily reaches for her drink. "It's kind of obvious."
I gasp. "It is not." Is it?
"It's obvious to us because we know her." Nicola answers my unspoken question.
"Yeah, but I want to hear her say it out loud. She always denies, denies, denies." Tia teases. She has the biggest shit eating grin on her face. She's up to something, I can sniff it a mile away. Just what she's up to, I have no clue.
Nicola lifts one of the glasses. "If you don't want to answer, you drink."
I want to take the easy way out and drink but it kind of seems pointless at this point. It seems my best friends know me all too well and I don't even need to voice my current crush. However, I do worry if they have verbal confirmation, I'll never live this down. At least without verbally confirming it, I have deniability.
I push off the wall and swim over to Nicola, taking the glass from her. I take a small sip and put it down on the side of the pool. "You're only lying to yourself." Tia mutters.
"Emily, truth or dare?" I ask to get the game moving away from me for a little while.
She grins. "Dare."
Nicola and Tia make happy noises. "Are we restricted to the house?" I ask.
Tia gasps. "What do you have in mind?"
"What? No!" Emily cries.
I grin wickedly. "I dare you to run down the street in your knickers."
Her face falls completely. "But I'm wearing a thong."
"Kinky." Nicola teases.
Tia laughs. "Drink or run."
"Can I change my underwear?" Emily asks.
I shake my head. "I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."
She glares at me. "But you literally make those rules." Nicola points out the obvious but I shush her, waiting for Emily to decide.
She grabs her drink, staring at it of a moment before she shakes her head taking a gulp. "I'm not drunk enough yet."
Tia laughs. "But it's still an option later, right?" she asks curiously. Emily gives her a look over the rim of glass that says maybe. I grin, locking that knowledge away for later.
We bounce around the group in several rounds of truth or dare. Apparently my outrageous dare suggestion caused the group to go caution until we're slightly more intoxicated. The truth questions are barely even that, we know a lot about each other. I mean there are some secrets I'm sure I know that the other girls might not know but I'm not risking relationships in a shitty attempt at exposing them.
Shall I remind you of Nicola liking Tia's older brother? Or perhaps the secret that Emily occasionally masturbates to her ex who lives across the road? Don't ask how I found that out. Anyway she swears she's completely over him, they supposedly parted ways on good terms a couple weeks after high school graduation. He was supposed to move to another city for uni but ended up coming to the same place as her. I'm surprised neither Tia nor Nicola have guessed that they dated, to me it's obvious when I watch them interact. How they've kept that a secret from everyone else I do not know.
Anyway the point is I'm not that shitty kind of friend, what my friends tell me in confidence alone stays with me. If I know the others know I'll talk to them about it but until then...to the grave with me it goes.
Nicola refills our drinks several times and now the dares are starting to get saucy. "Nora...sweet Nora..." Tia grins, her glassy eyes telling me she's teetering on the line of tipsy and drunk.
"Yes?"
She giggles, shaking her head. "I dare you to sneak into Tyler's bedroom and steal all of his underwear."
I raise a brow. "That's the best you can do?"
Nicola and Emily giggle. "Fine, you think that's easy. You have to do it wearing your underwear soaking wet. You get out of this pool and go there right now, no getting dried or getting dressed." Tia declares.
I snort. I think she's crossing over from tipsy to drunk now. "Oh, and you have to take a selfie inside his room, for proof." Emily adds.
I frown. "Proof? I'm stealing his underwear and I'm not putting them back."
Nicola gasps. "But what will he wear then?"
Emily giggles, grabbing her drink. "That will be his problem not mine." I down the last of my drink and pull myself out of the pool.
Tia makes a loud noise. "Oh my god, are you actually going to do it?"
"Hell yeah."
I was already thinking along the lines of my next prank being something about his clothes. Tia just gave me a great idea and striking tonight is a great idea. The boys are probably drinking and still partying, much like we are.
I collect my phone from the table and turn to my friends, waving my phone at them before I head for the side gate. They share a look before they climb out of the pool hastily. I close the gate behind me, a slight breeze sending shivers over my body goosebumps breaking out immediately. I didn't realise the temperature had dropped so much.
None the less I'm not a quitter. If Tia wants me to steal Tyler's underwear in my underwear, that's what she will damn will get. I approach Tyler's house cautiously, looking in through the window to see the four boys who actually live there are all seated at the dining room table. A couple other people are in the lounge room playing video games on the TV but that's all I can see.
Music is still pumping inside but nowhere near as loud as it was a couple hours ago. Still the music is loud enough to cover me, lord knows I'm not sober enough to manage to keep deadly quiet. I round the house to climb over the fence and approach the side of the house.
Going up the side of the house between the four windows is a lattice with vines growing up it. It's the perfect ladder that I've used to get in and out of the hallway window. I also have access to Tyler's window from the lattice.
I grip my phone tightly unsure how to proceed. I don't know if I can climb up the lattice holding my phone while slightly intoxicated. I mean I could but it'd require concentration and if I drop it, I'd have to go get it. I look down at my wet bra and underwear, wondering if my phone is waterproof enough to leave it in my bra for the climb.
"Surely." I whisper out loud.
I squeeze my boob to get the excess water out before I shove my phone inside. That'll do. I start the climb up the lattice to Tyler's window, praying I don't fall or slip off it. Just one foot in front of the other, make sure you grab the lattice and not the vine and all that positive stuff.
The lock on Tyler's window has been broken for a very long time, which means he can't lock it so I can't get in. I push the glass up slowly and look inside the room cautiously. His ensuite light is on, glowing into his bedroom enough to see somethings.
His blanket is on the floor, along with a couple pillows and an array of clothes. He really needs to clean up after himself. I hoist myself into his bedroom, falling onto the floor with a gentle thud. I resist giggling out loud and pray that the thud wasn't loud enough to be heard downstairs.
Rolling onto my knees I push myself off the ground and step around the items on the floor. I eye his dresser with intentions of locating his underwear. I glance at the small walk in and wonder if maybe he puts them in there. I honestly have never really looked and its not a thing I've ever asked about.
"It's laundry day and I've got nothing to wear." I can hear a voice close by. Sounds like it's just outside the bedroom door.
My eyes widen and I look around for places to hide. I consider his bed, but I know guys can be gross and I don't even want to think about what's under there. I look over at the small walk in and decide that's the best I've got. I pull open the door and shut it tightly behind me.
It's not until I'm sitting down in the far corner of the walk in that I realise this was the stupidest place to hide. Especially if whoever that voice is comes in here. It didn't sound like Tyler.
My newfound fear is confirmed when the voices grow louder, and the bedroom door opens. "Can I ask you something?" that voice belongs to Tyler.
I mouth a string of profanities, praying he doesn't come anywhere near the walk in. please clothes gods, let the clothes that person wants to borrow be in the dresser and not the walk in.
"About what?" that voice belongs to Jason. Is he the one looking for clothes to wear? Shit, he better not come in here either. It's fifty-fifty whether he tattles to Tyler or not.
"What you said earlier."
I cover my mouth to refrain from making any noise as the walk in door opens, the dull light of the bedroom bursting inside. Jason's gaze lands on me almost immediately. He grins, reaching for a shirt hanging above my head.
Tyler is sitting on the end of his bed, staring at his feet instead of looking over here. Thank god too because otherwise he would see me too.
Jason winks at me before closing the door, leaving just enough of a gap that light from the room spills into here. Oh, my fucking god, the one thing I didn't want to happen just happened. Fuck.
"You mean about her?" Jason asks.
"I really don't see what you mean, it's been well over six months and nothing else has evolved from this." Tyler answers him. I frown, wondering who they're talking about me.
"I think that's a lack of neither parties actually doing anything about it. Have you said anything to her?"
Tyler snorts. "Are you kidding me? I don't even think she likes me like that anymore. I'm completely lost, I'm beginning to think it's time to move on."
"Move on? I've heard this before."
A small pit of guilt hits my stomach, this is not a conversation I should be overhearing. In saying that though I am curious as to who this girl is they are talking about. I'm a little saddened to hear Tyler talking about a girl he's crushing on.
In my every fantasy or dream it's me. I sigh quietly, wishing I could sink into the walls and disappear from this walk in.
"You've seen her when I've flirted, nothing." Tyler's voice grows louder. I worry he's coming closer to the walk in.
Jason laughs. "I've seen her flirt back with you."
"That's not flirting."
"It is, you just can't see it. That's what happens when you're in the bubble, you get stupid and stubborn." Jason explains. His logic makes perfect sense. That's usually how it does happen.
"You think I should do something?"
I hold my breath waiting for Jason's response. As his best friend it's his job to help provide advice, and generally you follow the advice of your best friends. My stomach knots uncomfortably as I realise all my fantasies are about to be ruined. It's one thing to imagine Tyler crushing on me but to actually hear him crushing on someone else is going to send me crashing back to earth.
"You're asking me if you should do something?" Jason asks, his voice getting closer to me. He steps into my line of vision through the tiny crack, kicking the door shut. "I think you should tell Nora that you like her, to start at least."
My eyes bulge at the sound of my name. Wait that is my name, right? Yes! My name is Nora. Nora Jasmine Tyson, that's me. Maybe they're talking about another Nora. Is there even another Nora that goes to our university?
"I don't even know where to start." Tyler doesn't object to Jason saying my name. they're talking about me? Have they been talking about me this entire time? Oh my god, they talk about me?
My mind starts racing a million miles an hour imaging the different conversations they've been having. Has Tyler been thinking about me like I think about him? Holy shit, I feel like a kid at Christmas getting everything they asked for and more.
"A change of clothes might help." Jason suggests. I cover my mouth to refrain from making any noises. The bastard is practically trying to get me busted at this point.
"Dude no, I've a couple drinks. I don't even know if I'm sure about..." the conversation trails off as the voices grow fainter. I lean forward as if that'll mean I can hear what else Tyler was going to say but I just smack my face into the wall.
I grumble, rubbing my nose. I don't have time to process what I heard right now. I need to get out of here. I stand up, looking out of the walk in to find the coast is clear. On my way to the window to make my getaway I realise why I was here in the first place. Shit, underwear.
I grab the duffle bag stuffed under his bed and search for his underwear, shoving them into the bag. For extra measure I take majority of his shirts as well. The only shirts I leave behind are old high school jersey's that look like that don't fit anymore. For good measure I collect the clothes from basket and any that might be laying around in the bathroom.
I wish I could see the look on his face when he realises he only has shorts or long pants to wear. I struggle to shut the duffle bag before I launch it out of the window. I pull my phone out, taking a selfie with his empty walk in and send it to Emily for her proof before I climb back out of his window.
I race across the street with the duffle bag and find my friends in the pool when I enter through the side gate. I drop the duffle bag onto the ground and hold my arms out. "Dare completed."
I might be calm and centred on the outside but inside I'm freaking out. I wonder if I made that entire conversation up in my head, it wouldn't be the first time I've ever created something like that. There is no way that Tyler, the guy I like, likes me back.
**