I don't even have my whole body in the house when something--no, someone-- comes over and tackles me. By the tight embrace, I can tell that it's Molly. She must have come over while I was out. Her coming here was obviously meant to be a surprise. And it worked, as a strangled yelp escapes my lips.
"Oh, my god! Alex, you're going on a date?" My best friend's voice is full of excitement, and she pull away to look at me.
"What?"
"Oh, don't bother explaining, I heard the whole thing." She smirks.
Great.
"You don't understand," I begin, my hands out in front of me, "it's more complicated than that, I promise."
She brushes off my statement. "It's simple. Dylan Carter asks Alex Baker out, she says yes, making history by showing any other emotion besides sass--"
She's wrong. But I can't tell her that.
"--and now you two are basically dating." She clasps her hands together in a satisfied manner, closing her rant.
My eyes are wide. "Molly, you have to believe me, that's not--"
"I know, I know," she grins, wiggling her eyebrows, "I just wanted to fire you up."
I smack her playfully on the arm. "That was not funny."
She laughs. "Yeah, okay. But anyway, I'm going to the party, too. It'll be so much fun."
I scoff. "Not with Carter taking me there."
Her eyes glint, and I practically shove her out the house. "No, don't even go there. We are not walking down that road. Nope, never." I make a grotesque face. I sound like I'm trying to convince myself. Not where I wanted this to go.
She surrenders, grinning. "Oh, okay. Love you, Alex." Her hair whips around in the wind, and I wave goodbye to her.
"Love you, too, Molly."
"Don't you love me, Baker?" Carter calls down from his window, smirking. Creep.
My middle finger rises from my fist.
"Alex, don't be rude," Mom chastises, shaking her head.
"But, Mom," I complain, "he's being a--"
She glares at me, her finger pointing at my chest. "Don't you dare swear."
I drop my head, frustrated. No matter what, Mom always brings me back to being a responsible seventeen-year-old. Sometimes, I wish she wouldn't but I know very well that I--and Jake--wouldn't be where we are without her. Jeez, I don't even think that we deserve all this help. Yet she still gives up her dreams, all for her two trouble making children. I don't get it, but I guess I won't, until I become a mother like her.
Skipping every other step up to my room, I close the door to my bedroom, hoping for some peace and quiet. Luckily, Dylan's window is closed, so there'll be no shenanigans--thankfully--from that department. I can actually get some stuff done. The silence is welcoming, so I sit down, take out my phone, and just wallow in it. Yeah, I should probably do my homework, but, let's be honest, Instagram is calling--nope, definitely screaming--my name.
After hanging out and looking at all my friends' posts for about fifteen minutes, my battery is practically dead. I plug in my phone, and get to work on my homework. Not long after, my math is finished, and there's a knock on my door.
"What?" I call, hoping it's not Jake. I don't want him to tease me about going to a party with Dylan, as I'm sure he overheard. I really don't need that right now.
"It's me," a feminine voice, muffled by the door, replies.
I sigh in relief. "Come in," I answer, and the door swings open to reveal Molly, changed from her school clothes to shorts and a t-shirt.
Looking at her in disbelief, "I thought you were freezing."
She nods, and shivers on cue. "I am. It was hard enough just getting over here."
"Then why are you in summer clothes?"
She looks at me like I'm an idiot. "Because," she knits her eyebrows, "we're going to a party. And at parties, it gets hot." She comes over to stand next to me, and pats me on the head, as if I'm a little girl. "Come on, Alex, let's get you ready."
I slouch. There's no winning this competition, so I just oblige, and let Molly dress me.
Finished, I look in the mirror, satisfied. My hair looks fine down, I decide, so I just leave it. Molly's super excited, giving me a headache. "Okay, okay, whatever, Molly," I grin.
"Baker!"
Uh-oh.
I look out the window, stick my tongue out at him, and close the curtains. It's not even close to nine yet, and he's already trying to swagger his way into my brain.
I turn and want to curl up in my bed, but Molly just grins and gives me a thumbs up. "You're going to love it," she promises.
My eyes are rolling even before she finishes her sentence, but I just leave her there. "Yeah, whatever."
Before I can step out of my room, though, Jake decides to show up, just when I wish that he'd stay in his own personal space. "Where are you two girls going?" he asks, wiggling his eyebrows when he looks at our attire.
I make a lame attempt to sidestep his large frame, but all he does is grab my arms, acting like the older brother cradling his younger sister. He winks at Molly, who blushes, and then he crashes me to his chest. I groan as he pets my hair down, sighing dreamily. "Ah, Alex, you're going to your first party?" I can pull away just enough to see him wipe away a fake tear, as if he's actually wistful.
"Okay, time to let go, I won't be able to breathe soon," I squirm in my brother's arms, hoping to hell that he'll just let go and forget that he saw anything. Smirking, I look up at him and whisper, so Molly can't hear, "besides, bro, it's not like you've ever been, anyway."
Acting frustratingly like Dylan, Jake shakes his head. "Silly Alex, you just have no idea, do you?"
I turn and stare at Molly, my eyes squinting. "What?"
She gives me a shrug, crossing her arms and beginning to repeatedly shift her weight from each foot to the other. "Come on, let's get out of here," she pouts.
Jake waggles his finger in front of my face, and calls down to the first floor, before I can do anything, "Hey, Mom! Look what Alex and Molls are doing! It's awesome!" He's, for the one time in this encounter, given up his Dylan Carter imitation and now just sounds like himself again, my younger, sophomore brother.
If looks could kill(I know, so cliche), he'd be beyond dead. "You're gonna get it, Jake," I hiss, but he only winks, a second time to Molly--suspicious--and skips out of the way as Mom comes up the stairs.
Her face is full of confusion when she glances at the two of us, and immediately asks, "Where's the party, and are there going to be alcoholic beverages?"
I look to Molly for help on this one; as I realize that Dylan never even told me where it was. All he said was, and I quote, "I'll pick you up at nine." Any senior girl would say, oh, Dylan, so sexily cryptic.
It makes me want to barf.
Without pausing for so long that my mother becomes accusing, my best friend covers and says, "It's at Jason Kahn's place, remember him from elementary school, Mrs. Baker?" She flashes a beautiful smile, one of which I wish I had.
Mom grins back, with her own pretty curl of the lips. Good God, why can't I be pretty? Uh-oh, I'm turning into a cliche, insecure teen! Oh no! Ha.
"Oh, yeah, I remember that kid. He was always making you laugh, right, Alex? Ah, he grew up to be a fine young man, didn't he?"
I nod. "Yeah, totally." Urgently, "Are we good? You trust him, right?"
She curves her mouth upward again and nods firmly. "Of course." As if remembering something important, her finger points accusingly at Molly, and she says in a dangerous tone, "No alcohol, right?"
Molly is the most not innocent person I've ever met, but her face is that of an angel when it comes to convincing adults. She's always been good at charming people. "No, he's not that type of person, I promise. We hang out all the time, especially with Dylan Carter."
"Molly," I hiss, and jerk my thumb in the direction of the window, where Dylan is still waiting, I'm sure; and probably getting impatient. Okay, it's not like I want to go, but now that Mom knows that Dylan's going to be there, she's probably never going to let me leave.
But she only waves me on my way. "Oh, Dylan's a nice boy. It's great to see that you're getting to know your neighbor even better, Alex."
Molly smirks, and Jake shows up, holding the same grin on his face.
I'm about to lose it, and I'm sure that by now, Mom's understood that something's up. Happily, she just prances to her bedroom, blowing me a kiss much like Molly would. Lovely, she's actually letting me go. For a second there, I was hoping she'd forbid me from going, and then I wouldn't have to spend the night with Dylan freaking Carter.
Too bad.
I flash a fake smile, which I'm sure looks more like a grimace than an actual grin, and give her a thumbs up. "Great," I say in a flat voice, "thanks, Mom."
"Yeah, you're the coolest, Mrs. B!" Molly echoes, waving to her. Still angry that she brought up Dylan to my mother, I glare at her. "What?" she says, holding up her hands, looking innocent again, but her eyes are filled with troublesome looks.
I grumble, make my way out of the house with Molly in tow, and slouch to Dylan's car.
"You look good, Baker," he says, and I can't tell if he's complimenting me, or just being an asshole.
"I know," I snap, hoping to take back some of my pride. Shaking my head, I climb into the car, and say one more word. "Drive."
"As you wish, m'lady," he winks, and I squirm. My shorts feel too short, my shirt too revealing.
But the engine has already roared to life, and there's nothing I can say or do to change the fact that I'm going to this party.
I look around just to see Molly getting into a different car, her own. She's not coming with me, I realize with a pang of despair and desperateness. She's leaving me with him.
With Dylan Carter, my neighbor from Hell.
12/07/2015