I'm Going to Be A Mom... At 17?!
Chapter 7 - My Best Friend Saved My Life. No Big Deal...
"And he is like SO hot. Oh my gosh. He's so perfect." Emily closed her eyes dreamily, laying a hand dramatically over her heart.
"He better ask you out soon." I flipped to the next page in my biology textbook and started on the next question. "It's been a week."
"Do you think he will?" she squeaked, putting a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were huge and excited. As if this were some huge surprise.
I gave her a flat look. "Em, I think you can answer that yourself."
"I know, I know, but... I feel like I'm 13 again. When it was unbelievable when a guy liked you and there was a possibility that he'd ask you out. I'm just so excited." She bounced in her seat. Yes, actually bounced. I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.
The librarian came over to our table. "Girls, I'm going to have to ask you to be a little more quiet."
"Right. Sorry," I apologized hastily. She pursed her lips and went back to her desk.
Emily was staring dreamily at the wall opposite us. I didn't even bother to snap her out of it - she wouldn't be able to focus on her homework anyways.
Her phone buzzed on the table and she snatched it up, frantically reading the text. She let out a shriek and covered her mouth. I saw the librarian shooting us dirty looks and she stood up, walking over to us. "Girls, this is a lib-!"
"We're really sorry! We're gonna leave right now, right Em?" I snapped my book shut and put away my pen. I put the binder and book in my arm, grabbed Emily's wrist, and started dragging her out. I shot an apologetic smile towards the librarian as we went out the doors, but her expression stayed sour. I'm sorry, but what a bitch.
I took her to the senior's lounge and made her sit down. "Now, take a deep breath," I instructed, "and then tell me what the text said." I had an idea of what it was, but I just wanted to make sure.
She grabbed my arm, her eyes bright and, well, slightly insane. "Jenna," she practically screamed, "we need to go shopping!"
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"I don't know, I love them both!" She looked at me unhappily.
I slowly put a hand over my eyes. "Emily. Just decide. What you're going. To wear."
"But I can't!" she wailed.
"Yes, you can. It's not like this is your first date, why are you so nervous? It'll be fine. It's a double date, so I'll be right there for you, the whole time."
"Thanks." She smiled at me gratefully. "I don't know what I'd do without you..."
"Honestly, me neither." We both laughed. "Okay, I think they're both gorgeous, but he won't be able to see your shirt in the dark anyways, so what difference does it make?" I asked.
"I guess..." she said wistfully. "But what's your favourite?"
"Probably the turquoise strapless one. I really like it, the colour and shape suits you," I said. "Please, just buy one so we can move on to the shoes."
It took Emily another 5 minutes to decide, but she finally chose the strapless turquoise shirt. It was really nice on her, especially with her new black skinny jeans. I suggested she find a pair of strappy beige heels and a long necklace with beige and turquoise beads. Luckily we found both, and after a bit of shopping for myself as well, we went back to her house to get ready. I curled her hair while she did her makeup, then we both got dressed and made all of the final touches. It was almost 6, when the boys were going to pick us up for the movie at 6:30, and Emily was freaking. Out. She must like Ben a lot, because she'd never acted this excited or nervous on a date before (with the exception of her first date). She paced around her room, putting her nails in her mouth to bite them, then quickly taking them back out so she wouldn't ruin the polish. When I was finally exasperated from this ridiculous behaviour, I took Emily by the shoulders and sat her firmly on the foot of her bed. She looked up at me, shocked.
"You," I said firmly, "have had 9 boyfriends. Your longest relationship has been 8 months. There are 4 guys crushing on you right now. You've never EVER had a disaster date. You're beautiful and charming and everyone loves you. And this date with Ben will NOT go wrong. Got it?"
She opened her mouth to speak but merely nodded.
"Great. Now give me a hug." She got up and hugged me, but when we heard the doorbell, she sprung back, her face going white. Oh dear. "Okay, Em, deep breaths. Now remember, me and Isaac are going to be there with you. You won't be alone." I rubbed her arm. "Let's go downstairs. Okay?" She nodded again and went to get her purse from the desk.
"Uh, Emily," I said, panicking. "Say something."
She again opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She swallowed.
"Oh god Emily, say something!" I slapped her arm and she let out a loud "OWWW!" and clutched the sore spot.
"That hurt," she said - rather, squeaked.
I gave a huge sigh of relief and put a hand over my heart. "Okay, you really scared me for a minute there. Now, recite the alphabet for me, just to make sure you still have your voice."
She rolled her eyes and tried to get past me, but I blocked the doorway. "Not until you recite the alphabet," I said firmly.
Emily frowned. "Fine. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. H, I, J, K, L M N O P. Q R S, T U V. W X, Y and Z. Happy?" she said, sounding like normal.
"Yes, overjoyed, actually!" I said with a laugh. "Okay, remember what I told you about coming down the stairs. Ready? Go."
We exited her room and walked down the stairs. Soon Ben and Isaac came into view, and as us girls walked down the stairs, their faces were shocked. Ben was looking at Em like she was a goddess...
And Isaac was looking at me the same way.
I blushed profusely and looked away. When my eyes flickered to him again, he was looking down, too. What the heck was going on? And when Isaac looked at me like that... why did that make me feel so good?
"Hi guys!" I said cheerfully, giving them both hugs. "How are you?"
"Great!" Ben responded. "Are you girls ready?"
"Yeah," said Emily with a smile. She looked normal and sounded normal, too. "Let's go."
Emily's parents wished us a good time, and we went out the door. Ben offered his arm to Emily and she took it gladly with a smile. Isaac looked at me then gave a grin, offering his arm in a joking way. I took it with a laugh, just for fun, but for some reason my heart was pounding. I chose to ignore that and I knew, without a doubt, that Isaac was just doing this in a friendly way. I mean, he wouldn't do it any other way, right?
We took the 15-minute walk to the movie theatre, chatting and laughing about unimportant things. It was a mild evening in late March, and the cold weather had died down quite a bit. It was a perfect evening for a date.
Once we got to the theatre, Ben printed out the tickets and we made our way to the concession stands for some popcorn. Ben bought Emily and himself their snacks, of course. I got out my wallet.
"Hi, a small popcorn, light on the butter. Also, a medium Fruitopia." The lady punched in my orders.
"Is that all?" she asked.
"Yes-"
"Sorry, could I also add in a medium popcorn, extra butter, and a large coke? Thanks," interrupted Isaac.
I turned to him, trying not to smile. "Yeah, sure, I'll pay for it! Why not?" I said in a falsely sweet voice. I finally laughed. "Okay, so how much-" I stopped short as I saw the lady counting the change then smile at Isaac and say, "Thank you, your order will be here in a second." She went to go get the food.
I turned to Isaac again, frowning, my mouth open to speak, but he cut me off. "I got it. It's a treat on me tonight." He was grinning.
"C'mon guys let's go," said Emily.
"Um..." I started to say but they were already ahead of us, so I picked up our food and started walking. We gave our tickets, and went into theatre number 9. Emily had chosen a new comedy movie that she knew all of us would enjoy. Emily took Ben to a higher row in the middle, the perfect seat. I shot her a wink and mouthed Good luck and went to sit a couple of seats away with Isaac so we could give them privacy. Isaac let me go in first, and he sat down next to me. I handed him his food and put down my purse and jacket, then turned my phone to silent mode. I noticed Dad had sent me a text saying Have fun Jen. :) I texted him back, thanking him, and put away my phone just as the lights went down. Isaac was already halfway through his popcorn.
I laughed, putting some more popcorn in my mouth. This movie was hilarious! I looked over at Isaac to see that he was laughing too. I turned back to the screen, a large smile on my face, putting some more popcorn in my mouth. Suddenly I felt something brush against my hand and a shock went up my spine. I let out a little gasp, knowing it was Isaac's hand, and then, of course, started choking on my popcorn. I coughed hard, tears coming to my eyes, trying to clear my windpipe.
"Jenna, are you okay?" I heard him ask. I heard annoyed whispers behind us. Dammit, stop coughing, I thought, but my lungs were demanding oxygen now. I kept coughing and coughing, until, all of a sudden, no sound was coming out. Shit. I was fully obstructed.
I hurried to the aisle to go to the bathroom so I could pass out there. But my vision was going blurry and my whole body burned for oxygen.
"Whoa! Lady, are you okay? I'm trained in First Aid, do you need my assistance?" came a voice.
I nodded vigorously. Please, help me.
I felt hands come around me and start punching into my stomach. Holy mother effing crap, that hurt so much. Ow ow ow. Why was this person hurting me? Blow after blow. My vision started going black.
I felt the hands around me let go all of a sudden and I toppled over backwards, landing on my butt. My whole body was in flames, pain was everywhere and I felt an enormous, red-hot, iron band around my lungs. I blacked out.