December 16, 2007
When I woke up, I wasn’t surprised to see who was lying next to me in my bed. I let out a sigh, sitting up and staring down at Dallas’s arm as it continued to stay wrapped around my waist. I wondered what time it was… Were there still partiers downstairs? It was light outside… Would people still be here in the morning?
When my door opened, I almost fell right out of my bed. Please let it be a drunk partier and not my brother! If Austin caught the two of us in the same bed, Dallas was going to get killed and I was going to be lectured!
“What the hell?”
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that when I opened them again he’d be gone. When he wasn’t, I let out a sigh and removed Dallas’s arm from my waist before Austin could blow a casket like I knew he was going to.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I defended in a bored manner, letting out a sigh as my brother’s face looked like an overcooked tomato. “He fell asleep in here. That’s all. We didn’t do anything, so don’t go looking like that.”
I wasn’t about to tell him about how Dallas had kissed me, because I knew that that would have gotten him ten times angrier. And I definitely wasn’t about to tell him how Dallas had told me that he loved me… Because that was definitely not true.
“Well, wake him up,” Austin ordered, his face still a little red. “We need to clean this mess before Mom and Dad get home. I don’t care if he has a hangover or not. He’s going to help me clean up the mess that his party brought on.”
“I’m definitely not helping you two,” I informed him, slapping Dallas’s arm to try to wake him. Nothing. “I wasn’t even invited to the stupid thing, even though it was my best friend’s party. So you two are on your own.”
Austin rolled his eyes. “I figured.”
“Come on, Dallas, wake up,” I urged, shaking his shoulder now. When he still didn’t budge, I turned toward Austin. “He couldn’t be dead, could he?”
My brother rolled his eyes again. “No, he couldn’t be dead. He’s just as stubborn as you are when you have to wake him up when he’s drunk. Just push him off the bed or something or I will. It’ll teach him for sleeping in the same bed with my baby sister.”
“I’m not a baby, Austin,” I reminded him sharply, still shaking my best friend’s shoulder roughly. “Don’t you remember how I yelled at Dallas yesterday for calling me little? I would not like a repeat of that.”
“Oh, you only yelled at him for calling you that because you’re in love with him,” Austin teasingly gushed, and I almost fell off the bed once again. After what had happened the night before, I didn’t want to be reminded of love. Especially my love for Dallas… “Just send him downstairs when he finally wakes up, okay?”
I didn’t even look in Austin’s direction as I said, “Okay.”
When my brother finally left, I did as he told me. I kicked Dallas in the side, causing him to roll right off of my bed and onto the floor. This definitely woke him up, and he stared up at me for a moment as if he didn’t even recognize who I was.
“Why am I on the floor?” he asked, rubbing at one of his eyes with his hand. “It’s very uncomfortable.”
“It’s what you get for crawling into a girl’s bed in the middle of the night and sleeping with her, pervert,” I snapped, trying my best to sound teasing, but I knew that it didn’t work. When Dallas’s eyes went wide, I knew he thought something completely different had happened.
“Slept with her?” he asked in almost complete shock. “What happened last night, Jordy?”
Understanding what he was thinking, I shook my head rapidly. “No, no! Not like that! I meant actually sleeping! Normal sleeping!”
Dallas grinned at me now. “I knew that. I just like teasing you, Jordy.”
My eyebrows furrowed at him. There he went, treating me like a little girl again. Would he ever understand that that bothered me? Even after I had yelled at him the day before?
Maybe I should have told him what had happened the night before. I should have told him that he told me he loved me, that he kissed me. But I knew that that wasn’t a good idea. That would definitely ruin our friendship.
“My heard hurts,” Dallas groaned, using both of his hands to rub at his hand. “I never had a hangover this bad before. I must have drunk a lot last night. I can’t remember a thing. What exactly did I do last night?”
I bit the inside of my lip, stopping myself from saying anything to him. If he knew anything about what had happened the night before, our friendship would be over for good. He’d probably never want to speak to me again…
“Um, I have no clue,” I excused with a shrug, feigning complete and total innocence. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him… “I must have been asleep when you came in here. I woke up and you were just here.”
Dallas wagged his eyebrows at me, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what was about to come next. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if in nine months we have a new member to our little family.”
My eyes widened in shock. “Ew, Dallas! Don’t even joke about that! I’m fourteen-years-old! You’re eighteen! You shouldn’t joke about something like that! I can’t be pregnant! I’m not pregnant! I can’t be pregnant! We didn’t do anything!”
I was freaking out way too much for something as stupid as this, but I didn’t know how I was supposed to react. We didn’t have sex, but he had kissed me. And even though that didn’t lead to a baby, it was still a big deal to me…
Dallas blinked at me, but then smirked as he eyed my stomach. Oh, no… Where was he going to go with this? Nowhere good, I was definitely sure about that… “Is there something you’re not telling me, Jordy?”
“I’m not pregnant!”
When the door opened again, I turned to see my concerned looking brother standing in the doorway. “Is there something I need to know about?”
“No,” I snapped, running my hands over my face. “Dallas is just being an idiot. Like always.”
“I resent that!”
“Good.”
“Come on, dumbass, we have to get cleaning,” Austin now said, clapping as Dallas got off the ground. “If my parents see this mess, we’re going to get creamed. I swear, every room is trashed besides Jordan’s and my parents.”
I stuck my tongue out at them. “Serves you right.”
Austin made a face at me. “I sure hope you’re not pregnant. What a poor baby that would be to have a mother like you. You’re still just a little baby yourself. It’d grow up and be a little clone of you. Oh, how terrifying. It’s a really scary thought.”
Ignoring mostly everything he had said, I narrowed my eyes at my older brother. “I’m not little!”
“Oh, but you are a baby,” he grinned, and I felt like pounding his head in as hard as I could have. He knew I didn’t like being called things like that. He was there when I had yelled at Dallas! “Just shut it, Jord. You’re not the one that has to clean everything up. Dallas and I are. Just go back to sleep.”
I couldn’t help but scowl at my brother. “Gladly.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Tell me again why you’re wearing a dress?” Lexi asked me later that day as I paced back in forth in my room as I tried to break in my stupid heals. “I mean, you look gorgeous and all, but I can’t remember a time you’ve ever worn a dress like that.”
“Dallas’s family and mine are celebrating his birthday today,” I told her, biting on my tongue when I had almost tripped over my heels for the fifth time. “Austin and Dallas finally got the house cleaned from their stupid party only a half hour before my parents got home. They’re lucky I’m a nice person and I don’t snitch on them.”
“I still can’t believe they made you stay in your room all night,” Lexi sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she continued to sit in my desk chair. “That was totally inconsiderate of them. You probably weren’t even able to fall asleep at all…”
I wasn’t about to tell her that Dallas had kissed me… She’d probably think that it meant something. I wasn’t going to tell anyone what had happened, because then it would have been real and I didn’t want it to be under the circumstances.
“I’m here, I’m here, what do you need?” a new voice now said as the door to my room opened. Lexi and I turned to see Aimee, Chelsea and AJ right behind her. When AJ saw what I was wearing, she smiled. “Oh… Dallas’s party is tonight, right?”
“I called you because I need your opinion,” Lexi sighed as she answered Aimee’s first question. “Do you think the heels are too much? Jordan wants to wear them, but she can barely walk in them.”
Aimee looked down at my feet in silence for about a minute, and I was afraid of what she might have said. “Dallas’s mom told me to dress fancy,” I explained, just in case that might change her decision.
Aimee nodded, finally looking back up at me. “Definitely wear them. They’re totally cute with that dress. As long as you can walk in them it’s fine.”
“It’s not that hard,” I sighed, wobbling just a little as I continued to pace around my room. “My feet my hurt a little later, but it isn’t anything that I can’t deal with…”
“Are you sure Dallas isn’t going to get the wrong idea with that dress?” Chelsea now asked as she and AJ both plopped down on my bed. “I mean, it’s super short and pretty low-cut. It looks awesome on you, Jord, but he may think that you’re wearing it to seduce him or something.”
“I like the dress,” AJ told me before I could defend it. “It’s cute and it fits you perfectly, Jordan. I don’t think Dallas will think anything out of the ordinary when he sees you in it. Chelsea’s just being paranoid.”
My friend with glasses shrugged. “You never know. Just don’t be surprised if he’s staring at you the entire time during dinner. He’ll probably be undressing you in his mind.”
“Chelsea!” I squeaked, covering my burning face with my hands. “Don’t say things like that!”
She shrugged. “It’s probably true.”
“Let’s do your makeup,” Aimee sighed, rolling her eyes at our bickering. “After we’re done, we’ll do your hair and you can continue to walk around in your heels. How long until you have to leave?”
I looked over at the clock that sat on my nightstand. “I have to go at seven,” I informed them. “So we have three hours to do my makeup, hair, and get me used to these stupid shoes.”
Aimee grinned. “Just the right amount of time.”
Three hours later, I was finally used to walking in the stupid heels. My hair and makeup was perfect, and I couldn’t wait to see the look on Dallas’s face when he saw me dressed up like a woman and not a little girl.
“Time to go!” I heard my mom call from downstairs, and I turned back toward my four best friends one last time. They all smiled at me, and I nodded before making my way down the stairs, the girls following me and slipping out the front door before anyone in my family could even see them.
When I locked eyes with my brother, he was frowning just like I thought he would. I grinned sheepishly, knowing that he didn’t like what I was wearing right then. But it wasn’t his birthday, it was Dallas’s…
“Go back upstairs and change.”
I puffed my chest out defiantly. “No.”
“Jordan…”
“I think she looks great, Austin,” my mother informed my brother quickly, pushing both of us toward the front door to get us going. “Now hurry up and get in the car. I swear, you guys are worse at leaving on time than your father.”
“Way to go,” I snapped under my breath at my brother as we both made our way outside to the car. “Now you’ve gotten her even more stressed out.”
Austin shrugged, still not looking happy. “You know the only reason she’s not making you change is because we’re late.”
I was the one that shrugged now. I did know that that was the reason why my mom let me leave the house dressed this way, but it didn’t matter to me. I sure hope Dallas and his parents didn’t have to wait at the restaurant too long…
Five minutes later, we were finally on our way to the restaurant we would be eating at. We left ten minutes later than we were supposed to, and my mother definitely wasn’t happy about that. She was the type that needed everything to be on time, and I couldn’t help but think it was annoying every once and a while.
When we finally got into the restaurant, my dad gave Dallas’s family name and we were being led into the restaurant to wherever they were sitting. As we got closer and closer to wherever their table was, I was getting more and more nervous. Why was I wearing something like this? Dallas was probably going to make fun of me!
When I saw their table, Dallas’s back was to us. His parents smiled at my family, but Dallas didn’t turn around. Austin sat to Dallas’s right, and my parents let me sit to his left. He finally looked over to me, immediately acknowledging what I was wearing. He looked me up and down, and I couldn’t help but bite the inside of my cheek as I felt them heat up. What was he going to say?
“What a cute little girl you are,” Dallas teased, playing with my hair that I had done specially for him. “Little baby Jordy got all dressed up for my birthday! How cute!”
That was what he was going to say to me after hours of getting ready just for him? He really was an asshole! I’d liked him pretty much all my life, and he went off and teased me whenever I tried to do something nice to him!
Even though everyone at the table was laughing, I felt my face growing hotter and hotter with every second.
“Stop it!” I shouted, jumping up from the table now. Everyone at our table stopped, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Dallas. “Stop laughing! All of you! And stop calling me a little girl! I’m about one hundred percent sure that I am ten times more mature than you, Dally! And if you really thought that I was just a stupid little girl, you wouldn’t have kissed me last night!”
Dallas’s eyes went wide, along with everyone else’s at the table. But all I could do was gasp, slapping my hands over my mouth when I realized what I had just said. Not only did I just tell Dallas that he had kissed me, but I had also told both of our parents and my brother!
I felt hot tears fill my eyes, and I didn’t want anyone to see me cry. I turned around, almost knocking the chair over as I quickly ran out of the restaurant. I could hear Dallas shout, “Jordan!” from behind me, but I wasn’t about to stop.
I ran as fast as I could. I didn’t even know where I was going. As long as I was away from Dallas, I was perfectly fine.
“These… damn… heels…” I gasped for breath as I collapsed onto a bench in the park only a few blocks from the restaurant. “I’m… never wearing heels… ever again…”
The sooner I got home, the better I would feel. If I could have just stayed in my room forever, never to see Dallas again, I would be very happy.
“Stupid idiot,” I mumbled, letting the tears run down my cheeks, not even rubbing my eyes because I didn’t want to screw up the makeup that the girls had worked so hard on, but I knew that it didn’t look nearly as good as it had earlier that night.
“Emery! I didn’t expect to see you here!”
At the sound of this familiar voice, I almost screamed in frustration. It was never ending for me today! Not only did I have to deal with Dallas, but I had to deal with this idiot now, too!
“It’s not safe being out here at night, Emery,” Jesse informed me with a smirk, but I was too upset to get angry with him. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that? You’re lucky I’m here to protect you.”
“I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now, Jacobsen,” I sniffed, wiping at my eyes as I tried my best to not mess up my makeup. I had done everything just for Dallas… and he ruined it all. “Just get out of here and leave me alone.”
Obviously noticing my tears, Jesse’s smirk immediately disappeared from his face. He sat down on the bench next to me, but all I did was scoot away from him. I did not want to deal with his crap right then…
“So… do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Not really.”
Jesse sighed, placing his elbows on his knees and leaning forward so he could get a better look at me. I didn’t want him to see my messed up makeup, because I knew he was going to make fun of me for it.
“Is it that Dally guy?”
I snapped my head toward him, surprised at what he had called him. It was only fifteen minutes before then when I called Dallas by that very nickname to mock him.
“Dallas didn’t do anything,” I lied, wiping under my eye to stop another tear from falling. Damn emotions… “I’m perfectly fine.”
Jesse looked at me flatly. “Yeah, because crying your eyes out totally shows that you’re perfectly fine.”
“It isn’t any of your business, Jacobsen,” I snapped, turning away from him and crossing my arms over my chest. “You’d probably just laugh and make fun of me anyway. So there’s no way I’m going to tell you what happened.”
Jesse rolled his eyes at me. “You definitely are stubborn.”
I glared at him. “I’ve been told.”
“Come on, just tell me what happened,” Jesse tried now, leaning even closer to me. If I tried to scoot away, I would fall right off the bench. I didn’t feel like hurting myself, so I was stuck where I was. “I won’t make fun of you. I promise.”
“I don’t believe you,” I snapped, turning away from him so I didn’t even have to look at him. “You’re the boy that glued my hand to a racket. You also glued my hand to yours.”
“Actually, you did the last one,” he grinned, and all I did was glare at him some more.
“Just go away, okay?” I almost pleaded, not even looking at him now. “I’m really not in the mood to deal with you right now. I’m not in the mood to deal with anything.”
“Hey,” he said quietly, and I was surprised at the sound of it. It sounded so soft… “Are you alright?”
“Does it look like I’m alright?” I questioned, placing my face in my hands as I continued to try not to cry. “I’m not alright! I just ran a mile in these stupid heels and I got all dressed up for the most inconsiderate jerk on the planet! Even more inconsiderate than you! Dallas is an idiot! I’m such an idiot!”
“Hey, listen to me,” he continued in that soft tone that I didn’t think I would ever get used to. “You’re not an idiot. That Dallas guy is a jerk, and he doesn’t deserve someone like you.”
“You’re talking so out of character,” I laughed without humor, wiping at my eyes now. “But you’re right. I don’t want you to be, but you are.”
When I felt his hand on the side of my face, I didn’t jump. I looked up at him and saw a look on his face that I hadn’t ever seen before.
“You deserve someone who’s willing to take a bullet for you.”
Before I even knew it, he was leaning closer to me. And for some reason, I was leaning closer to him as well. My eyes fluttered closed, and I could feel his breath on my cheek…
“Jordan!”
At the sound of this voice, I immediately snapped my head away from Jesse’s. What the hell was I even doing, anyway?
“Jordan, there you are! You scared everyone!” Dallas told me when he finally stopped jogging. He looked over at Jesse, and his eyebrows furrowed. “And why am I not surprised that you’re here?”
Jesse leaned back, crossing his legs. “Eh, it’s all just a coincidence.”
Dallas’s eyes narrowed. “Is it really?”
Jesse nodded. “Definitely, Dally.”
Dallas now scowled. “Don’t call me that.”
“I don’t want to see you right now, Dallas,” I spat at him, jumping up from my seat and starting away as fast as I could. But before I could even take three steps, Dallas slid in front of me to stop me from moving any farther.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his brown eyes boring into mine as his eyebrows furrowed. “You told me that nothing happened. Why did you lie?”
“What was I supposed to tell you?” I hiccupped, wiping at my eyes so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. “It would have ruined everything. You didn’t even know what you were doing anyway. You were too drunk to realize what you were doing.”
Dallas shook his head. “Drunk or not, what I did was unacceptable. I’m so sorry, but you shouldn’t forgive me, Jordan.”
I glanced back over to the bench behind me to see that Jesse was now long gone, and I was happy about this. I didn’t want him listening to a private conversation between Dallas and me…
“I’m not angry,” I sniffed, still wiping at my eyes to avoid eye contact. “It was just… shocking, that’s all. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”
“I took your first kiss,” Dallas shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe what he had done the night before. “I kissed a minor, too. Can I go to jail for that?”
I didn’t know if he was joking or not anymore, but I didn’t really care. In all honesty, I wanted Dallas to be my first kiss. But I was hoping that he would be sober and we’d actually be a couple when it happened…
“I’m sorry, Jordan,” Dallas sighed one last time, shaking his head again. His grip on my shoulders tightened for only a moment before he pulled me forward, pressing my face into his chest. “I promise I won’t do anything like that to you ever again.”
Though he was trying to make me feel better, he did the exact opposite. I wanted him to kiss me more, but he obviously still didn’t understand how I really felt about him. Why did I have to be best friends with such an idiot? And why did I have to love him so much?
“I love you, Jordy,” Dallas smiled once he finally pulled away, hooking his arm around my shoulders as we now began to walk out of the park. “You’re like the little sister that I never had!”
I felt my heart breaking even more, not knowing what I was supposed to say for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, I gulped before saying, “I love you, too.” He grinned at me, and when he finally looked away, I couldn't help but add almost silently so he wouldn't hear, "... Dally."
At least I finally told him when he was able to remember, even if he thought I meant it in a completely different way than I really did.
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I know it's been super long since I've last uploaded! I'm so sorry! My parents like to take my computer away for no apparent reason a lot. >.< I'm going to try to update all my stories really soon!
The song on the side is from AVPM, which I've kind of gotten obsessed over. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story, but it's what I was listening to the entire time I was writing this chapter. ;)
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D