"Pass the jam, please, Lili. Lili?"
I look up to see my mom staring at me with a confused look on her face.
"Um... Please pass the jam..." She says.
I laugh a little and apologize for not paying attention very well. I hand her the jar of jam that I've been holding for a while now.
"Are you... Are you feeling okay?" My mom asks me, narrowing her eyes.
"I'm perfectly fine, Mom. Why do you ask?" I smile at her without thinking.
"You've been spreading that jam over your waffle for about five minutes and smiling at the wall," she observes. "It's a boy, isn't it?"
A boy? Drew. He's a boy. He's a very attractive and funny and nice and had those eyes.... Oh, he's a boy alright.
"Lili?" My mom asks, laughing a bit.
"Yeah?" I ask, picking up my waffle with my hands and biting into it.
"What's his name?" She asks.
There's a knock at the door. I sit up quickly and my head whips around. There's a figure standing in the door. As soon as I see the hand go through his hair, I know who it is.
"Drew."
I throw my waffle onto the table cloth and run my fingers through my hair while walking to the door. I take a deep breath before opening the door.
"Hey, Lili," Drew says with a bright smile.
"Hi," I reply. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
"You know, I thought to myself... I thought,'It's a Monday. Nobody likes Mondays. Why don't we wait until Tuesday to go to school?'" He winks at me.
"Are you suggesting we ditch school?" I ask with a smirk.
"Yes. Of course, you must have heard that Brendan asked us all to meet at his house tonight to hang out, so we'll be there in time for that," he explains.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," my mom's voice comes from behind me. I flip around and find her standing in the doorway a few feet back. She winks at me.
"Then, it's settled," Drew says.
"Um... Could I maybe get dressed first?" I ask, looking down at my Mountain Dew T shirt and sweats.
"Yeah, just meet me down here when you're done," he tells me.
I run up the stairs, being careful not to trip on any steps, then open my bedroom door and immediately go to my closet. Dress? No. Skirt? No. Jeans? Yes! Those dark ones are cute. I grab a blue top and grey flats before throwing everything on. I brush out my hair and throw it in a braid, then I wash my face and put on minimal makeup.
By the time I'm downstairs, Drew's sitting on the couch talking to my mom. They both look up and smile when they see me. I feel immediately worried about what my mother was saying to him.
"Hi...." I say cautiously, looking between the two of them.
"Shall we?" Drew asks, standing up and holding out his hand.
I nod my head with a smile before putting my hand in his. We exit the house with a short goodbye to my mom, and walk down the steps and towards his car. He opens my door for me and waits until I'm all the way inside to close it. I buckle my seatbelt and he starts the car when he gets in the other side.
"Where exactly are we going?" I ask, looking at him curiously.
"You'll see," he replies, backing out of the driveway. He turns left and starts driving. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he takes me left hand in his own.
I try to ignore the butterflies in my stomach by turning to look out the window.
*•*•*
"We're here."
My eyes open and I look around. Drew is already at my door, opening it for me. I take his hand and he helps me out of the car.
"What is this place?" I ask, putting my hand above my eyes to shield the sun.
"Pinewood Lake," Drew says, then he opens the backseat and pulls out a cooler.
My eyes widen and I take in the surroundings. There are pine trees all around us in this parking lot. I can't see any further, but there's a pathway that I assume leads to the lake.
He holds the cooler in one hand and holds mine in the other. We walk carefully down the dirt path towards the sound of water. When we get to the bottom, Drew lays down a blanket in a shaded area. He places the cooler down on it, and we sit side by side on it.
"This is much better than math class," I say with a smile.
"You haven't even seen the best part yet," Drew says with a grin.
I look at him suspiciously, tilting my head to the side.
He opens the cooler and pulls out two gallons of ice cream buried in ice cubes.
"No way," I laugh, shaking my head.
"Oh yeah," he nods. "Which one do you want? I've got Butterfinger or chocolate fudge."
"Butterfinger, for sure!" I exclaim, taking the gallon from him.
"Oh, crap. I forgot spoons," Drew says, laughing.
I raise my eyebrows. "Really? Well I'm fine eating this with my hands."
"I was kidding. Take a spoon," he pulls out a plastic one and gives it to me. "But it's great to know you would go that far to eat that."
"Yeah, what are you, trying to get me fat?" I ask, shoving a spoonful into my mouth.
"I don't think you could if you tried," Drew smiles.
"I'm pretty sure I could, but thanks for being polite," I shake my head.
We sit silently, eating bites of our ice cream for a while. I think of how before yesterday, this would be considered an only friends thing. Is this still an only friends thing? Are we still considered only friends. I don't know.
"I think I want to jump in the lake," Drew announces.
"What? Are you crazy?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
"It would be fun," Drew shrugs.
"Fun? In November?" I ask, shaking my head and putting down the ice cream.
"It would be fun. I'm going in," Drew says, then he stands up. I watch in disbelief as he turns to wink at me before jumping into the water in full clothes.
After a few moments, comes up, laughing. "It's not bad. You should join me."
"No way!" I exclaim, shaking my head. "I'd rather not get pneumonia..."
"It's really not even cold," Drew says. "Come on."
I don't know whether it's the fact that he's convincing or I'm just crazy, but I do end up jumping. Immediately I'm drenched in freezing cold water. I come up for air, shivering from the cold.
"You're such a liar!" I yell, turning around to find Drew laughing.
"Come here," he holds out his arms.
At first I reject him for being such a jerk and tricking me into getting me in here. I'm turning around to get out when he wraps his arms around my waist from behind. He rests his head on my shoulder, and I can feel his wet hair against my neck.
"Sometimes you've got to take a risk to create the best memories," Drew whispers.
"I'm pretty sure that quote's referring to breaking into a bank or illegal trespassing, but okay," I smile.
"No, who'd make a quote for that kind of thing?" Drew asks.
"Uh, a bank robbing trespasser," I reply with an eye roll. "Lets get out. I'm freezing."
We do. Once we've packed everything back into the cooler, we wrap ourselves together in the blanket. I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.
"I never really asked you," Drew says.
"Hm?" I ask, keeping my eyes closed as his fingers run through my hair.
"I never asked you, and I should. Would you, Liliana Carol, be my girlfriend?" He asks me.
"I would love to," I reply with a smile.
*•*•*
We drive home with the heat on full blast. It's almost three, and that's when we're suppose to meet at Brendan's. Our plan is to run to my house so I can grab some dry clothes then run to Drew's so he can as well.
We stop in front of my house, and I jump out of the car and run to the door. I try to open it, but it's locked. I knock, but nobody answers. I guess my mom went to work early.
"It's okay, you can borrow some of my sweats," Drew tells me from his car.
I reluctantly nod my head and enter the car again. We drive down a few blocks to Drew's house and hop out.
When we get to his room, he pulls out navy blue sweatpants and a grey T shirt. He tosses them to me.
"You can wear these," he says. "Oh, you can change in the bathroom."
This feels familiar. Walking into his bathroom with sweats he gave me to wear, soaking wet, and having smeared makeup covering my face. I quickly change my clothes into the warm new ones. Then I wash off my face and leave the bathroom. Drew's already changed as well, and we go back down the stairs and to his car.
We drive silently, the heater still blasting at us, to Brendan's house. We walk up to the doorstep hand in hand. Drew doesn't even bother to knock. He just opens the door and walks right inside.
Brendan, Danny, Missy, and Karen sit in the living room talking and stop when we walk in. All conversation ceases and eyes are on the two of us.
"Where were you two today?" Danny asks, raising his eyebrows.
"We-" Drew starts, but he's interrupted.
"And why are you both soaked?" Brendan asks, then he notices my outfit. His eyes widen. "Are those your sweats, Drew?"
"Yeah, we ditched and went to the lake today," Drew explains, and he leads me to the other couch to sit down. Our fingers are still intertwined, and it seems to catch Brendan's attention.
"You get any pictures for that, Lili? Did you bring your camera?" Brendan asks.
"No, we just hung out," I shrug.
His focus returns to our hands. "Then are we missing something?" He looks upset. He looks bothered by the sight of us.
"Yes," Drew says. "Let me introduce you to Lili, my girlfriend."
Danny wolf-whistles. Karen and Missy just look shocked. Brendan looks angry even though its clear he's trying to act normal.
"When did this happen?" Danny asks with a smirk.
"Earlier," Drew shrugs.
"Ah, then lucky you that you've got the job of fake dating, man, an excuse for extra time with the girl," he winks.
Brendan holds my gaze for a moment before looking away. I feel confused, but don't say a word.
I feel Drew's lips against my cheek. "I sure am lucky, aren't I?"
That's when I see Brendan stand up from the couch. "I'll go get some snacks."
"Thanks, man," Danny says. Nobody else seems to think a thing about it. But I know there's something else behind it. I just don't know what.
"Lili, you alright?" Drew whispers in my ear, putting his arm over my shoulder. I smile and shake my head.
"No, just thinking."
He returns the smile and I lean into him. Danny's still overjoyed at the sight of us. He's just sitting there smiling at us both. Missy and Karen are ignoring us, talking quietly. Brendan's still not back.
"What are we doing?" I ask Danny.
"You mean here?" He asks.
"Yeah."
"I don't know. I guess we just haven't really seen much of each other lately. It's always nice to just relax and hang out," Danny shrugs.
Brendan comes back, but he doesn't even glance in our direction. He sets bags of chips in the middle of the table and soda cans next to them. I watch him carefully, trying to read his expression. Whatever's going on with him, I still want to be friends. I should talk to him.