Dane
It was early Monday morning and opposite to contrary belief that this day was one of the worst days of the week, I think they're the best- primarily because Jacquelyn promised to visit me every Monday morning or afternoon to help me with my math.
Waking up to a brand new week still sucks, but at least I got something to wake up and look forward too.
My head was over cloud nine this morning, and I couldn't sleep last night. Like a little kid on Christmas morning, I kept waking up at hour intervals hoping that it was eight in the morning already.
Even with all this energy skipping through me, I was probably delirious.
The night before, I only got two hours of sleep and that was because I pulled an all night Psych marathon with my brother's new girlfriend, Ashlyn.
I only did it because the poor girl had a tough first day here. No one properly introduced her to the family and she had to undergo the awkward tension that happened between dad and Mike the first night. She also had to go on a insufferable date with my brother, who still has bitter feelings about their fight.
Mike was pretty pissed when I came back home with Ashlyn after we went shopping, and now I have a pretty good idea why.
Although they were fighting, I should keep my distance away from those two. Mike could easily confuse my generosity and sympathy with some possible form of attraction, and I don't want to give him those vibes.
Ashlyn was his girlfriend and if he wanted me to back off I will.
I won't lie. Ashlyn and I hit it off pretty well when we first got to know each other. We had so much in common it completely blew me away. The other scary part was how she could be Jacquelyn's identical twin.
Their personalities were so similar, but the only difference was that Ashlyn was a little more laid back.
Jacquelyn tends to be a perfectionist and does not accept failure when Ashlyn doesn't care at all. To be honest, Ashlyn would be an amazing person to hang out with.
It would be great to know little more about her, but I don't want to make Mike jealous and have it come between us. Besides, I couldn't see what Mike would be jealous about. He knows that Jacquelyn and I were dating- I think.
I don't know what happened between us.
It was three days ago when Jacquelyn kissed me, but after that we haven't talked much. Over text it was extremely awkward, and when I tried to call her once we kept it to small talk and arranged these Monday appointments.
One moment I'm excited to see her but the next I'm sick to my stomach and afraid of what might come out of this.
My sleep deprivation might be kicking in already and making up all these ridiculous thoughts.
I better get some pie out from the fridge. If there was going to be any tension between us, the pie should be able to break the ice for a little bit and give me enough room to think of something good to say.
But what do I say after that?
We could be silent and ignore what happened on Friday as long as we wanted, but it wouldn't get us anywhere. As awkward, embarrassing, and painful it might be, I had to bring it up again. I had to know what was going on.
For the longest time, it has been bouncing between friends and something more. We never had this problem before. It all happened with that kiss during last Homecoming and the problem isn't going away.
Deep down I know in my heart that I want it to be something more, but I don't know if she wants it to be.
She's sending me all these mixed signals. Jacquelyn was the one that kissed me but then she was the one putting the wall between us.
It was like she couldn't make up her mind.
"Dane?"
No one was supposed to be here yet. The door was locked and door bell didn't ring, so it was impossible for anyone else to be in this house.
I was home alone, or that's what they wanted me to believe.
Don't tell me that I had the door unlocked all night long. Dad left at midnight and told me to lock the door behind him, but I was so busy finishing up my math homework from last week I must have forgot about it.
Someone could have killed me last night if they wanted to. Who knows, they could still be after me.
From the minor heart attack that I experienced a few seconds ago from my unexpected visitor, I nearly dropped the small plate of pie I was carrying into the living room.
Thanks to Mike's ridiculously plush rug, I tripped over it and face planted onto one of the couches like those klutzes in a horror film that trip over nothing. Miraculously, the piece of pie stayed on the plate so I guess the couch cushioned the landing.
"Seriously?" A voice teased and giggled right afterwords.
Immediately, I recognized the voice to be Jacquelyn and my blood finally stopped racing at Sonic the hedgehog speed and put my fight or flight instincts down a few notches.
For a second, I thought it was a crazy mass murderer coming to chop me up into bits with his axe. I guess this shows that I watch way too many crime solving shows to the point it causes paranoia.
"You know," Jacquelyn laughed again as I heard her footsteps pad behind me "you would think a giant like you would be have a good aerial view over things so you wouldn't trip, but I guess not. Your the clumsiest giant that I have ever seen."
I laughed and propped myself up by my arms, still sprawled out on the couch and not pulling myself back onto my feet.
While I was down here, I might as well reach out for the plate and put it on the black low rise coffee table Mike got a few weeks ago. I can't understand why Mike bought this puny little thing. When you're standing up and want to put something on the table, you practically have to squat to put it down and even when you are sitting you have to bend over a little bit.
"I may not know physics as well as you do, but the taller you are the harder it is to balance." I grinned as I looked behind me and found her shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips.
"Sure," she grinned "whatever. Now are you going to greet me or what?"
Jacquelyn opened her arms and expectantly waited for her hug and smirked as she watched me squirm to get up from the couch. She could have helped me up but it is classic of her to watch me fail and struggle.
Once I was back on my feet, I laughed and gave her a huge hug. "You could have helped me up, you know."
"Psh," she smirked as she shook her head to clear out the hair from her face and poked my bicep a few times with her bright neon green pinkie nail. "I'm doing you a favor and helping you build up these muscles. That way, you would be able to balance more at that sort of height."
Jacquelyn winked at me and made her way over to the table, smirking as she slung her pink striped tote bag off her shoulder and opened it to take out her math book.
"What are you implying by that?" I questioned with a grin as I flopped down on the couch to sit next to her.
Her eyebrows curved into a mischievous arch while she flipped through her math book to find the right page. "Why do I have a feeling you already know?" she replied while the corner of her lip curled into a smirk.
I opened my mouth to say something but the comeback fleeted past me and left me speechless - like always.
Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people that have comebacks spewing out of their mouths like fountains, but it was the curse of the Nor family to be failures at them.
We may appear to know exactly what we're doing and seem to be unfazed by anything, but the one thing that gets us every time like krytonite is a handful of comebacks.
These moments are one of those moments where I wish I got my mother's genes.
"So," Jacquelyn began as she took out her favorite blue mechanical pencil from her pencil pouch. "what are you having problems with?"
A little smile crept up my face as I temporarily ignored her question and looked at her pencil, remembering how long she kept it from the day we met. It was fifth grade in English class when I ran out of pencils and had to use one of hers.
We weren't even friends at the time, and when I asked her it was only because she was the only person sitting in front of me. She willingly let me borrow the pencil for that class only, but I forgot and carried it with me through out the whole entire day.
Being the fifth graders that we were, Jacquelyn was pissed at me for stealing but I tried explaining it all to her that I didn't mean it and returned her the pencil immediately. After that, I tried compensating it by giving her my chips, giving her my candy, and giving her one of my own pencils.
She forgave me right away, but I felt so guilty about it I couldn't stop giving her things.
One time, it was raining and the huge umbrella my mom always forced me to carry around came to use. Not a lot of the kids in my grade who walked home had one, including Jacquelyn, so still feeling guilty about the whole thing I walked her all the way home with my umbrella.
The walk lasted for at least thirty minutes and we got to know each other really well. A few days after that, we were best friends.
Jacquelyn tells me now that she thought it was the funniest thing ever and that it was kind of cute how I felt so guilty over a single mechanical pencil. It wasn't funny for me at the time, but I guess it was worth it.
Without that silly little accident, I wouldn't have found such a great relationship. I still can't believe how our whole relationship started from one small mechanical pencil.
It was crazy that she still had that thing.
Clearing her throat, Jacquelyn set her pencil down and looked at me. "I guess you don't need any help since you don't have any questions."
"Oh," I started as I threw my hand back into my hair and tried snapping out of memory lane, "I always had problems with factoring and finding out the angles."
Her blond pony tail bobbed as she nodded her head and quickly flipped through the early pages of her old text book to find the chapter that I was on. The Albert Einstein sitting next to me probably didn't need to flip back into my book. She was already in Calculus.
"Okay, so let's first talk about the angels-"
She began explaining everything and a few things started to make sense, but I couldn't help but get distracted and ponder about our current relationship since a few minutes ago I was thinking about how it started.
Everything seemed okay. Our greetings weren't awkward, and we started off the day like we usually would have with a hug.
It would have been a usual day meeting up with Jacquelyn, but my stupid brain couldn't figure out if things have changed after the kiss or if we both had a silent ultimatum to pretend that it never has happened.
Would it be better for me to bring it up or ignore it?
Jacquelyn stopped talking and put her pencil down, her voice on edge showing her frustration. "Dane, are you even paying attention?"
I was about to say yes, but I couldn't lie to her- or anyone to be exact. Maybe I could avoid the subject and pretend that I was paying attention by saying something involving angles.
"According to angles and heights, you would be an acute girl and I would be an obtuse guy."
She paused for a second trying to comprehend what I just said and burst out laughing. "Oh my god, the way you said that was priceless." Jacquelyn kept laughing and nearly swept the pie off the table.
I shook my head. "I don't get it and watch the pie. It's for you."
She kept on laughing and I had to warily hold out my hand and prepare myself to leap across the table to save that dish. My father had those imported from China- the delicate traditional chinaware not the cheap made in china stuff- and they were priceless.
If one of those dishes broke, my father would have known it, and he would stop at nothing to find who did it.
Anyway, all that I was trying to say by that comment was according to proportions, I was taller than Jacquelyn and to me she was small. Like an acute angle she was smaller than I was. I knew that it was a weird thing of me to say, but it wasn't that funny.
"Oh!" She smiled as she picked up her fork and took a slice of the pie."Thanks. Anyway, say what you just said slowly in your mind."
I did and automatically picked up where I went wrong, realizing a minute too late that I inadvertently called Jacquelyn cute and myself dumb. It was two embarrassing comments in one sentence.
My face flushed into a deep red, and I tucked my head down for a few seconds before I was able to face her again. She probably thought that I was a big idiot and a klutz. All I ever do around her now is make mistakes and look like a fool.
I don't know what gotten to me. Ever since that kiss, I have lost my mind and every time I'm around her all my logic flies out the window. I get so nervous and afraid that I would do the wrong thing around her, I end up doing everything wrong.
"Well, if you thought that was clever you should be surprised. My math puns are never ending and it goes on forever like pi."
Jacquelyn bent over and covered her ears, smiling and laughing. "Oh my god, Dane that was too far. Stop! But really, were you paying any attention?"
My heart plummeted down to my stomach and I felt sick. I could feel the acid burn my heart up and threaten to come up my throat. I didn't know how to put what I wanted to say in the right way. Everything might turn out wrong and this stone would be better left unturned.
"Something has been in my mind, and I can't get it out of my head." I started, hoping that it would be enough to fulfill her answer.
Her blue eyes widened in interest and stared at me in concern. "Oh." she whispered as she sat further back in the couch and folded her hands in her lap "No wonder you couldn't concentrate on what I was saying. Just let it all out so we can get started on your math again. You said that there was going to be a math test a week after Thanksgiving break. We need to get as much time down as possible."
I let out a shaky sigh and looked at her and back at my math book. "It's kind of hard to say."
Playing a mini thumb wrestling battle by myself, it felt like years waiting for her response. I hoped that she wouldn't ask further and make me say it.
"Hey," she cooed as she leaned in closer to me and gently set her hand on my knee "whatever your holding from me, it's eating you up. It will feel better for you to let it all out, trust me. I won't say a thing."
When did asking one simple question become so difficult?
I tilted my head and peered up at Jacquelyn studying her soft blue eyes, heart shape face, pink thin lips, and long locks of perfectly curled blonde hair. The world lighted up every time she smiled and when she laughed nothing could sound sweeter.
I didn't want to lose all of this from one silly question, but I had to take a leap.
Nervously laughing, I shook my head and bit my tongue when I looked back up at her again. "The funny thing is that I need you to talk back to me on this."
She held her breath and her eyes fluttered down to her hand that was on my knee, which she rigidly seceded it back onto her lap. "Oh. Okay." She replied hoarsely. "What is it?"
Heavy amounts of tension gathered in the space between us and it got so hard for me to speak. My throat almost collapsed into itself and my mind kept trying to flee from the idea of taking a chance and risking it all.
"You know when you came over the other day?" I rushed out before I could have the chance to climb out of the inevitable.
"Yeah." Jacq lightly smiled-doing her part to help break up awkwardness "I came over for pie."
"And then uhm- when you uhm- kind of," I threw my hand behind my head and I could feel the heat gathering in my face as I continued to stutter. When I relived the moment when I felt her lips quickly peck mine, I squinted my eyes together and felt my face burning like the temperature of the sun "it's not really kind of. You did it. Well you- you-"
She laughed gave me a warm smile. "Kissed you."
I could feel myself and all the pressure deflated out of me like a balloon. A sudden wave of relief swept over me, and I felt weightless. All my problems seemed to dissolve and the stress and sweat filled moments I spent were for nothing.
"Yeah." I blushed.
"And," she continued as she leaned in closer to me with her shoulder gently rubbing into mine "you're probably been wondering what that makes us right now, right?" Jacquelyn breathed tentatively as she looked into my eyes and read me like an open book.
My heart hammered against my chest as I stared back at her, trying to figure out what was going on. I must be the most oblivious person in the world to not know if she was moving forward with me or not.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wrap my head around this. I was frozen stiff like ice.
Even though I was completely out of it, I managed to tilt my head and crack a little embarrassed smile. "To be honest, yeah. After Friday, I've been thinking about it a lot, and I don't know what to make out of it."
I have no idea how she manages to read my mind every single time, but I was thankful for it. She was able to pull things out of me that I couldn't get out myself.
As she grew closer to me her eyes shimmered with a certain glow that I have only seen last Friday. For a few moments, she seemed hesitant like she didn't know what she was doing. I don't blame her. I don't know what I was doing either.
"Then," Jacq paused as she scanned my face once more and smiled when she closed her eyes, coming closer to me "will this clear things up for you?"
Then it happened. She kissed me but instead of the quick peck on my lips like last time she wrapped her arms around my neck and went all the way.
At first, I was shocked and I had no idea what was happening but I eventually went with it. I couldn't believe what we were doing. After seven years of just being friends with having so many borders that we couldn't cross, this whole thing felt so wrong but right at the same time.
When our lips interlocked, it was perfect and I didn't need anything else. Jacquelyn was all I needed.
Time ceased to exist and when she pulled away from me I wished that it would have lasted longer, although it was probably long enough.
I blinked as she backed away with the widest grin that I have ever seen on her face. We were both in disbelief and it felt strangely relieving.
"Wow," I gaped as I looked at her "so I guess we're more than best friends now, I guess. Right?."
Jacquelyn bent over laughing. "Did you just figure that out genius?" Her hands still rested on my shoulders but she then cupped my face with her hands, "You dummy face," she teased as she pecked my lips again, leaving me to want more "maybe this second kiss will give you a more clear answer."
"Maybe a third kiss will do the trick." I smirked, trying to lean in closer to steal another kiss.
"Oh please," she giggled as she pressed her hands on my chest and held me back "I think two will do for now. Anyway," Jacq sighed as she straightened out her hair and tried to put on a professional act although a smile was lingering on her lips "let's get back to your math."
I nodded and agreed. Now that the problem was out of the way, I felt so much better and my concentration was at high.
The two hours of tutoring that she had promised me went by faster than I have imagined and for once I feel that I can pass a math test with a B.
Jacquelyn slipped on her jacket and started packing her stuff. "I hope everything made sense."
"Oh," I smiled "you helped a lot. Should I walk you outside or-"
"That's not needed." She grinned as she hugged me once more and made her way out the door, standing by the coat rack and holding her arm. "So I guess this is goodbye then, until next week of course."
Nodding my head and tapping my foot, I didn't know what else to do. We were having such a good time, it was kind awkward for it to end and say goodbye. So many things changed in such a short amount of time, I kind of expected us to talk about it.
"I guess so."
The door opened so I assumed she left but I heard her running behind me. "Oh, Dane! I have something else to say."
My hopes nearly shot through the roof, and I couldn't remember being so happy and excited to see someone. "Yes?" I answered eagerly, walking towards her and holding my breath to hear what she was going to say.
"Uhm," she blushed and ducked her head, her cheeks turning into a rosy red "I nearly forgot to tell you but you know the raffle contest that Ridgewood had a few weeks ago?"
I nodded. "Yeah?"
A little smile crept up her face as she tucked her head in and pulled her shoulders back, bursting with excitement and ready to announce her huge surprise. "I won the four tickets to go to the Autumn Fair this Thursday on opening night."
My mouth dropped open in surprise. The odds of Jacquelyn winning the raffle at our school was like winning the lottery. The Autumn Fair was the big deal and everyone in Los Angeles had probably scrambled to any place they could to get a ticket.
It surprised me that Ridgewood managed to get four tickets, although our school usually gets special treatment and priority on these kind of things.
This amazing amusement park has been under construction for two years, and it was supposed to be the best in California. It would be an honor to be the first people in that park.
"Congratulations!" I cheered as I grabbed her shoulders and smiled as wide as I could "That is such a big deal! That's amazing!"
Honestly, I felt genuinely happy for her because the past few weeks the amusement park was all she was looking forward to. She kept raving and going on and on about how she would get tickets if she didn't win the raffle.
There probably was no one insane and crazy over amusement parks like Jacquelyn. She was a daredevil and a sucker for the adrenaline injecting rides.
"I know!" She squealed as she grabbed my hands and held them in hers, shaking them from her excitement. "And I want you to come with me."
My hands dropped away from her's, and I stared at her in complete horror. She might as well have came back into this house with an axe, hacked me up into little bits, and dropped my remains in the nearest lake.
"I don't like heights." I muttered ever so quietly, almost as if I said the word aloud heaven and hell would have broke loose and sky rocketed me up thirty feet in the air.
She snickered and grabbed my hands again, swinging them back and forth between us. "Come on, Dane. You're going to be with me. I'll be there for you. And we could take this as a date or something!"
"Date?" I nearly choked on the word from the sudden surprise. From so many years of hanging out, the word date will take a while for me to digest.
Why did I have to be so pathetic? So far this relationship has made me take the female role. I let her kiss me first, and I let her be the first one to ask me to a date. When will I man up for once?
"Of course it's a date, silly." Jacquelyn beamed, but when I didn't respond her grip on my hands loosened and her fingertips delicately held onto my wrists "It will be a date, right? Unless I got a completely wrong impression about today-"
There had to be some way to step up to the plate and man up. I couldn't fail on her or on us on the first date. Our relationship had to work.
"No, no, no!" I rushed out to reassure her that we were now dating "Of course it will be a date. I chickened out for a little bit but you're right. I have you and that's all I need." I smiled and brushed my thumb across her hands, watching her bright cheery smile shine out her concerned frown.
For a moment, we just looked at eachother and smiled but soon a smirk crawled up her face.
Sliding her hands away from mine, she hit my chest with her right hand and laughed. "You jerk, you almost gave me a heart attack."
I chuckled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. If you aren't planning to bring anyone else with those two tickets do you think we could do a double date with my brother and his girlfriend?"
"Of course!" She exclaimed "It would be great! Anyway, I just stopped by to say this but I am running on a tight schedule so I have to go. See you on Thursday night, or earlier if you want." She winked.
Before I could say bye, she rushed out the door and left me grinning like a fool. I couldn't believe all that happened today, and I was afraid to pinch myself because if this was a dream I didn't want to wake up.
A smile was still plastered on my face and it would probably stay there all day until I pick Mike and Ashlyn up from the airport at one. From what I heard on the phone, they didn't have any sleep at all and was cranky as a person could get.
Even when they were awake and completely fine, they're a handful.
It will be one hell of a ride back, so I guess I should enjoy my twenty minutes of freedom as much as I can.
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A/N: So the picture on the right is Jacquelyn Bargers :D That's how I imagined her. ^.^
Does AnnaSophia Robbs look anything like Jacquelyn??? Yay or nay??? Because I thought she was perfect, but of course it's you guys who would know what she would look like xD! What actress would look like Jacquelyn to you? :D
Let me know in the comments below :D!
Anyway vote if you liked the chapter!!! :* (Although I epically failed in making this scene cute xD)
FLAME ON!! XOXO !!