“So, I’m gonna pick you up at seven thirty,” TJ announces from out of nowhere.
Everyone at the table stops whatever it is they’re doing and stares at TJ. He shrugs off their quizzical glances and continues to shovel even more fries into his mouth. Seriously, for an athlete, this boy eats a lot of unhealthy things. I gag as she chomps down on six fries in one bite and turn my face away from him.
“Is there a particular reason you’re picking me up at seven thirty tonight?” I ask. A sideways glance at TJ shows me his amused face and I instantly feel uneasy. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” he says defensively. He drops the next handful of fried onto his plate and smiles boyishly at me. “I’m gonna take you on a date.”
Again, everyone stops what they’re doing and stares. This time, when TJ stares them down, they don’t turn away. It would seem that our exchange is more riveting than a soap opera and they can’t get enough.
Even I turn to face TJ full on and shoot him a bemused smile. “A date?”
He nods. “Yep,” he pops the ‘p’. “So, will you be ready by seven thirty?”
“Sure,” I say with a shocked undertone to my voice. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there,” TJ winks at me. I must have looked a little panicked because TJ leans closer to me and takes my face between his greasy hands. I squirm and try to get out of his hold, but that just means that I’ve got even more grease over my face. I sigh and give up. “Firstly, you look disgusted and as if you want to kill me. Please don’t, at least not before our date. Secondly, don’t worry too much about tonight. It’ll be fun.”
Even though TJ told me not to worry, I did. I worried about the date for the rest of the afternoon, and on the drive home. Because it was TJ’s turn to take Noah to his weekly drum class, I drove myself to school this morning and it was weird being in the car on my own. I wasn’t so much of a driver, and I’d gotten used to being in the car with TJ, so the drive home was quiet and slightly unnerving.
I played a little punk for the journey home, and bobbed my head in time to Flogging Molly’s Drunken Lullabies album as I drove. No one could understand my love for Flogging Molly but what wasn’t to love about them? Punk music and Irish accents… two of my favorite things in the world.
I parked the car on the driveway and noticed that Mom’s car was home already. My mother was a bit of a work-a-holic and we rarely saw her before six pm, so whenever I came home and she was already here, I always panicked. Call me pessimistic, but it was little things like this that made me think of the worst.
I entered the house and threw the car keys into the bowl on the side dresser near the door. I had expected the house to be eerily quiet- I’d been working on the theory that someone had died- so when I walked further into the house and I heard loud voices, I had to wonder what was going on.
I walked through the kitchen into the family room and saw my mother, two sisters and TJ’s mom all sitting with their feet up as each woman flicked through bridal magazines and sharing ideas for the ceremony and reception. They were talking about floral displays and lost me as soon as they started throwing in names of flowers I didn’t recognize. Why couldn’t Libby just have roses like any other normal bride? What the hell were Tulbaghia and Gypsophilia and Lisianthus anyway?
“What do you think, Cate?” Mom asks when she spots me hovering behind my sister.
Anna and Libby promptly turn to face me, both hurrying to their feet and rushing towards me, excitedly uttering words that didn’t sound like English. In fact, the noise they were making didn’t sound like anything on this planet. It was weird.
“We’re borrowing Catherine,” Anna said. She only ever used my full name when she was trying to get on my mom’s good side. Before Anna got a reply, she took me by my arm and dragged me up to my room, Libby following behind us. As soon as all three of us were in my room, Anna pounced. “So? Did you choose yet?”
I give her a blank stare. “Choose?”
“New Year’s Eve guy,” Anna prompted me. “Or TJ?”
“Annabelle-”
“Don’t ‘Annabelle’ me,” Anna interrupted. “Answer the question, or I will go all shrinky on your ass.”
I sigh and head towards my bed. “It’s not that easy, Anna.”
“Actually,” she says in that listen-to-me tone. “It is that easy. You choose TJ. There, decision made.”
I groan and throw myself face downwards on my bed and scream into my pillow. I feel the bed dip beside me and someone brushing my hair down my back. I knew instantly that it was Libby. Whenever I was upset as a kid and Libby wanted to cheer me up, we would sit together and she would always play with my hair to calm me down. It was nurturing in a maternal way, and it never filed to get me to smile. I twist around to see my sister and give her a small smile in return.
“Do you want to dance this out?” Libby asks.
That’s another thing about my sisters- they always know how to have fun. Being so different, Libby, Anna and I could never agree on songs, but there was one that we all loved, if only because it was a ladies anthem.
Anna moved towards my iPod docking station and searched for our song. Once she found it, she nodded conspiratorially at Libby who started to shake uncontrollably in excitement. Anna pressed play and as soon as the music began to play, Libby got to her feet and pulled me to join her. We swayed to the beat, but seconds before the lyrics started Anna grabbed my hairbrush from my dresser and jumped up onto my bed.
“I come home in the morning light,” Anna sang in time to Cyndi Lauper. “My mother says when you gonna live your life right. Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate one, and girls they want to have fun. Oh girls just want to have fun.”
“The phone rings in the middle of the night,” Libby continues as she joins Anna on my bed and steals away the hairbrush. “My father yells what you gonna do with your life. Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one, but girls they want to have fun. Oh girls just want to have.”
For the music interval, Libby pulls me up to join her and Anna. They grab an arm each and start to pull me as we dance. The longer we danced, the more I started to relax and enjoy myself. I was laughing uncontrollably by the time Libby handed the hairbrush over to me.
“Some boys take a beautiful girl, and hide her away from the rest of the world,” I sing a little off key. There was a reason I was never going to be the next American Idol, and this was just further proof that I could not sing. “I want to be the one to walk in the sun, oh girls they want to have fun. Oh girls just want to have…”
For the end of the song, my sisters attached themselves to my hips and started to bump into me as if I was a pendulum. We sang together, each trying to outdo the others as we became a little more diva in our singing. When the song ended, Anna demanded that we didn’t get down from then bed, and she rushed over to the iPod and chose another song.
“This is a classic song,” Anna announced as she found it in the music library. “So it has to be done.” She hit the play button, turned to face us with attitude and pouted. “Clock strikes upon the hour, and the sun begins to fade. Still enough time to figure out, how to chase my blues away.”
“I've done alright up 'til now,” Libby and I sing together as Anna rushes to join us. “It's the light of day that shows me how, and when the night falls, loneliness calls.”
We all sing the chorus together, dancing like lunatics on the bed. It occurred to me half way through the song that my sisters and I hadn’t been this close for a long time, and I missed that closeness. When the song ended, I pulled Anna and Libby in for a hug, and thanked them for being the best sisters in the world.
“And you’re right, Anna,” I tell her. She looks taken aback by my confession but smirks nonetheless. “I think TJ is the endgame. I have a date with him in just over two hours and I need to choose an outfit. You two up to the task?”
My sisters squeal. “Yes,” they say simultaneously as they run for my closet.
Yeah… I am so going to regret this.
*~*~*
“Are you lost?” Cate asks from the passenger seat.
Since we left her house, I’ve been driving around, trying to find our destination. I had a vague idea where we were going, but the darker it got, the harder it was to navigate. I was trying to get to this secluded place that Grey and I found years ago, and it was one of my favorite places on earth, but since we found it by accident and it didn’t have an address that I could enter into the navigation system in the car, I was reduced to using my instincts.
I don’t have good instincts when it comes to directions. In fact, I’m pretty useless when it comes to finding my way from A to B without assistance. But I wasn’t about to admit that to Cate. As far as she needs to know, I’m an excellent driver that knows exactly where I’m going.
“You’re lost,” Cate states.
We’re about an hour behind schedule and it doesn’t look like we were about to arrive at our destination any time soon. I turn up a narrow road and drive up a dirt track into the middle of nowhere.
“Where are we going now?” Cate asks as she leans forward to look out the window. “TJ? Seriously, can we just turn back?”
I sigh and pull over at the side of the road, turning the engine off and jumping out of the car. I wander off into the darkness and silently scream at myself for ruining this date. I had everything planned perfectly and it was all just… ruined.
I was going to take Cate up to the secluded spot, set up a picnic blanket and we’d lay under the stars… the same ones that Cate had photographed and tacked onto the ceiling of her bedroom. I’d even studied some constellations so I could impress her, but now what was I going to do?
Turn around, drive back to Hastings and let her think that this was the worst date ever?
“Get back in the car, TJ,” Cate shouts at me. “It’s freezing, we’re in the middle of nowhere and I’m paranoid that a serial killer is gonna jump out at me from the backseat if you’re not in the car with me.”
I laugh. “There isn’t a serial killer in the backseat, Cate,” I say as I walk towards the car. “If anything, there’s one probably hiding in the bushes behind you.”
I have never seen anyone move so quick as Cate rushed back into the car and hunkered down into her seat. As soon as I got in, Cate reached over and pressed the button that locks the doors. I give her an amused raised eyebrow look and laugh quietly.
“What?” Cate demands. “The serial killer could jump into the backseat if the door is unlocked.”
“There aren’t any serial killers around,” I tell her.
“Famous last words,” Cate mutters. “So, what do we do now?”
I shrug. “Cut our losses and go home?”
“No thanks,” she says. “What were we going to do tonight? Can we still do some of it?”
“I was going to set up a picnic for you,” I blush, embarrassed by how corny it sounds out loud. “Then I was going to point out some constellations for you.”
Cate laughs. “That’s sweet.” She reaches across the center console and plants a kiss on my lips. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but there’s a field out there and we can still do all of that.”
I look out the window, and then look at the outfit Cate wore. She looked incredible in her colorful printed skirt and a high neck silk top that showed off her irresistible shoulders that I wanted to kiss all the time. She had a pair of heels on her feet which boosted her height somewhat, but her outfit wasn’t made for the outdoors. She would freeze to death and a picnic blanket would only do so much to keep her warm.
“Or,” I offer as an alternative. “We can jump into the back seat-” Cate doesn’t look too impressed. “-And we can have our picnic back there and just talk.”
“Talk?”
I nod. Cate shrugs and starts to make her way to the back, by climbing between the front seats. She twisted awkwardly as she tried to make sure her skirt didn’t ride up and give me a view of anything I shouldn’t be seeing, but eventually she fell into the seat and motioned for me to join her. I went to open the door and walk my way to the back seat, but Cate insisted that I climb over… she really was convinced there were serial killers lurking outside.
I grab the picnic treats I had packed and gave Cate s choice of all things salad. Her face lit up when she saw the slices of cucumber I’d brought, and she greedily took them in her hand. She offered me a slice but I turned my nose up at it and instead ate the potato chips I’d brought. I went for my favorite barbecue flavor seeing as I knew Cate would refuse to eat them and I could just enjoy every last morsel myself.
It was silent for a long time, until Cate started humming a tune to herself.
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun?” I ask as I recognize the song.
Cate Nods.
“Why that song?” I enquire. “Did someone do a punk version?”
“No,” Cate shakes her head after thinking about the question. At least, no one’s done a version that I’ve heard of. I do like other genre of music, you know.”
“I didn’t know but now I do,” I tell her. “Banked in my memory for future reference.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t really know all that much about Cate. She liked punk music and horror movies- not that you’d know that from the way she was jumpy about serial killers- and she was into photography. She was really bad at sport and a klutz, but other than that, there wasn’t much I knew about her.
“Let’s play Truth,” I tell Cate as I turn to face her, moving to sit with one of my legs crossed under me. Cate looks a little skeptical, but nods anyway. “Ok. Who was your first crush?”
Cate laughs nervously. “Um… Elliott Keating in kindergarten. Yours?”
“Rebecca Mason,” I laugh. Cate laughs too. “How old were you when you had your first kiss?”
“Fifteen,” Cate blushes. “Is that too old? How old were you?”
“No, it’s not old and I was thirteen,” I tell her. “If you could go on a date with anyone, who would you go on a date with?”
Cate ponders the question for a while. “Real or fictional?”
“Either.”
“Oh, well that’s easy,” Cate smiled dreamily. “It’d have to be Ron Weasley.”
I choke on the soda that I’m drinking. “Ron Weasley?”
“What’s wrong with Ron Weasley?” Cate asks defensively. “Fine, how about Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind?”
“That could work,” I say. While I’m not sold on Cate obsessing over someone that charming, Rhett Butler is better than Ron Weasley. “I’d go for Marilyn Monroe because, well, she’s Marilyn Monroe.”
Cate laughs. “Blonde bombshells are your type, huh?”
“No, just Marilyn,” I smile at her. “Ok, how about- ever kissed a girl? On the lips.” Cate shakes her head slowly. “That’s a shame,” I laugh. “Who was the first person you had sex with?”
Cate looks at me carefully before answering. “First? What makes you think there’s been more than one?” She pauses. “What makes you think there’s ever been anyone?”
I stammer. “I didn’t- I wasn’t- I’m not-”
Cate laughs hysterically. “Oh, you’re face was hilarious,” she says through her giggles. “You won’t like the answer, but I slept with Adam when we were together.”
“You’re right,” I frown. “I don’t like that answer. My first time was- please don’t ever repeat this to anyone- was with Grey’s older sister, Natalie, when I was sixteen.”
“For real?” Cate sounds shocked by my answer. “I take it that Grey doesn’t know.”
“He’d kill me,” I quickly say. “It wasn’t my proudest moment, believe me. Right, who is your current crush?”
Cate leans in closer, her breath tickling my lips as she speaks. “Do you really need to ask?”
*~*~*
So... who would be your ultimate fictional crush? Mine would be Mr. Darcy- but not the one from Pride and Prejudice... the one from Bridget Jones, because I have a weird thing about Colin Firth!
Sarah, xx
23:37 30th Jan.