I really didn’t know what to say, but I had a feeling that Matt wouldn’t let me out of this without some kind of answer.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“He’s really not your type,” Matt added.
“Hey, I know he might not be my type, but it’s still my decision,” I replied in frustration.
“Whoa, back off,” Matt said with a defensive gesture, “I’m not here to judge who you date, but I’m your friend, and I wouldn’t have expected you to even show the slightest amount of interested in someone like that.”
“I’m really not sure if I have,” I replied.
“He’ll probably be at my party if that entices you to come,” he said.
“I’m still going, I give you my word,” I replied while giving him a friendly punch on the arm.
We continued to talk and had a small bite before I broke off and returned home. I was partially hoping that I wouldn’t run into Jeff at the party, and partially hoping I would.
3.
I took special effort in getting ready for the party. I wore the sexiest underwear I owned, for one. For two, I picked up a slinky dress that I only wore once before. Matt even told me I shouldn’t wear it again because it garnered too much attention from somewhat unsavory characters.
I felt the need to unwind tonight; my head was twisted in so many different directions. My classes were difficult and distracting, continually occupying every facet of my being. So, I prepared for fun.
My dress did a lot to show off my long and toned legs; along with my slight and skinny curves. And, while I might not have had a gigantic chest, I knew how to make do with what I had.
I left for Matt’s place at eight in the evening. It was getting chilly this time of the year, so I brought along a comfortable jacket. I glad that he didn’t live that far away, so I could just walk instead of taking a cab.
“You made it!” Matt shouted when I stepped up to the door.
He seemed to have some kind of sixth sense about my arrival as I hadn’t even knocked, yet. I rolled my eyes at his exuberance, an expression that he was more than used to seeing.
“Hey, Matt,” I said sheepishly, trying to pull my dress back down to my knees.
He looked me up and down and smiled broadly.
“So, who are you trying to impress tonight,” he asked, “Cause I hope you know that I’m taken.”
I punched him in the arm and entered, slipping my jacket off on the way in. There were only a couple other people there, and they were barely talking.
“I thought you said this was going to be a party,” I said.
“Most real parties don’t start until after ten; you’re early.”
I made the most of my time; starting out I helped him set up a couple of tables and gathered a large bucket of ice. He constantly reassured me that I didn’t have to help, but I felt like a dutiful guest. I’ve thrown parties myself in the past, and while they weren’t the standard college affair, I never minded having help setting up.
Then the door opened to a flood of guests. It didn’t take more than five minutes before there was a keg setup in the kitchen and enough snack food to serve a small army.
I laughed at how efficient college students could be when they had something to do that they were interested in.
I did my best to stay social, trying to talk to as many people as I could. Matt was hard to find in the midst of the chaos. He was a popular guy, so it was completely understandable that he would be hard to find. Still, he was one of the only people here that I knew. I would have liked to spend more time with him. Perhaps he could have introduced me to some people that I might have enjoyed talking to.
I got more looks from the guys than I was expecting. I constantly would shuffle and adjust my dress to make sure it wouldn’t ride up so much. To say the least, I was regretting wearing something so revealing.
Then I saw someone that I really didn’t want to see in the slightest. Albert walked in the front door with another girl in tow. I didn’t recognize her at all, but I was flustered seeing my ex already in a new relationship.
I ducked behind a dividing wall in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice me.
“Who are we hiding from,” said a familiar voice.
I looked over, and Jeff was sidled up to the wall with a handful of cheese puffs. I didn’t know how to put things gently, so I just put them bluntly.
“I’m hiding from my ex,” I said.
“Which one is he?” he asked.
I pointed at him from around the corner. His new girl was about my height with short hair and a curvy body. I bet she was the one I caught him in bed with. I was furiously reliving the entire event when Jeff looked at me with a mouthful of those cheese puffs, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“He doesn’t look like much,” Jeff said.
“Yeah, but he has everything that I look for in a man,” I said.
Jeff cocked an eye while staring at Albert and appeared to be deep in thought before he turned back to me.
“Boring?” he asked.
I laughed again. He wasn’t completely wrong.
“Boring guys aren’t really boring; they’re just stable. You know what to expect,” I explained.
“Then why did you guys break up?” he asked while sipping on a beer.
“He cheated on me,” I said.
“With her?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t get a good enough look when I caught them in his bed,” I said.
“Wow, sounds like there are a lot of girls interested in boring guys,” Jeff said, “I bet you didn’t see that coming.”
I smacked my head against the wall, perhaps a little too hard. I didn’t even think Albert went to parties like this.
“Funny that he’s out with Carol; she’s slept with half the starting lineup, not me, though, she’s a little too … err … open when it comes to relationships,” Jeff commented.
I giggled. While he wasn’t exactly the most cultured person I met, I found a special charm in his ability to just tell things as they are.
“Hey Carol,” Jeff shouted and walked toward the two of them.
I peeked around the corner since Jeff probably had the two of them distracted. Over the music, I could just barely make out their conversation.
“I was, but I met Albert here a couple of weeks ago, and I just can’t imagine being with anyone else,” Carol said, kissing Albert on the cheek.
Albert had a weird and disgusting smile on his face. I wanted to walk over and smack it off his face.
“You mean, forever? Or just this week,” Jeff asked.
I blurted with laughter which I immediately had to staunch with my hand. I hoped they hadn’t heard me, and it didn’t look like they had.
“No, Jeff. Albert is a good guy; he’s much better than all the other guys I dated,” she said.
“Well,” started Jeff, “you might want to speak a little quieter because just about all the other guys you dated are at this party.”
Carol had a frustrated look on her face, and she looked at Albert to defend her, but unfortunately for her, he remained tight-lipped.
“I didn’t come out tonight to get made fun of by a linebacker,” Carol said in a vain attempt to puff herself up.
“I didn’t know I was making fun of you. I just wanted Albert, here, to know what he was getting himself into,” Jeff said.
Carol, obviously flustered, stormed out the front door, followed closely by her date of the evening. I couldn’t stop laughing at how handily Jeff had dealt with the couple.
“You didn’t want them here, right,” Jeff asked as he walked back up, “cause if you want them back, I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
I reached out and wrapped my arm in his.
“Jeff, you just made my night,” I said.
“Let’s get you a drink and pick up where we left off the other day,” Jeff said.
I nodded, and he poured me a glass from the keg. I wasn’t much of a beer
drinker, nor was I much of a drinker in general, but Jeff had earned at least one drink from me.
We adjourned to the tiny backyard of the house. Christmas lights were wrapped neatly around the trunks of the sparse trees that provided cover in the backyard. A picnic table sat against the fence, and the tables that Matt and I had setup earlier were currently occupied by people trying their best at beer pong.
We grabbed a couple camping chairs and sat them on the grass away from the crowd so we could chat.
“I didn’t know you were a linebacker,” I said.
“Well, I don’t exactly advertise my position. Besides, the people that come see the games know my position; the people that don’t see the games just don’t care. I don’t care enough to tell everyone my life story.”
“So you’re saying you don’t tell people that don’t watch games because you don’t think they’ll really care that much,” I asked.
“Exactly. It’s like your mock trials, why would I care if someone was a judge or a prosecutor, it kinda just feels like an unnecessary label, doesn’t it?” he said.
I laughed at the silly train of thought. But, he had a few good points, I honestly didn’t care what his position was, and knowing it wouldn’t have made me think any more or less of him.
“How’s your mock trial prep?” he asked.
“It’s going well,” I said.
“That’s all I get?” he said.
“Well, what else am I to say? It’s just busy work. Besides, it’s been driving me crazy lately.”
“How so?” he asked.
“If you want to present a good case, you have to do a lot of research. You have to check precedent cases, and gather any evidence you can in order to defend your client. I think I’m in a good position, but there’s really not much to tell.”
He sat there a moment in thought. It seemed that he liked to try to pick his words rather than just blurt out anything. It was different from when I first met him; his demeanor seemed almost professional today; as though he were an expert chess player looking to gain the upper hand on his opponent.
“Why do you do it?” he asked.
He had already asked me this question before, or some version of it. I wanted to give him the same answer as it still seemed relevant, but I didn’t for some reason.
“It’s expected of me,” I replied.
“They expect you to be on the mock trial team?” he asked.
“No, not that,” I said.
I didn’t really know what I wanted to say. I was caught in this odd moment of trying, to be honest with not only myself but with another person.
“My parents always wanted me to get ahead in life. They wanted me to be the best I could be. I’d always do my homework with them, and they would make sure it was right. I’d exercise and eat right, I’d make friends with people my parents would approve of, and I didn’t do anything crazy.
“I’m expected to be smart. I’m expected to get good grades and have a nice job in a boring office, with a boring husband. I don’t know what I really want; I don’t know whether that’s my parents in my ear or if it really is me that wants those things,” I tried to explain.
He nodded and sipped more of his beer. For a minute he didn’t say anything, he just sat there rubbing the scruff under his chin. I started feeling embarrassed for saying something like that so soon. Even Albert didn’t hear that little piece about me.
“My parents were barely there,” he started, “I’d come home and be alone from the moment I got there until almost bed time. But, my dad would always come in and read me a bedtime story to put me to sleep. Sure, I’d grown out of it eventually, but even today I still miss it. I spent every waking minute trying to make time go faster, so I joined any afterschool events I could. Football was the first one that clicked.
“I might look like a messed up kid, getting in with the wrong crowd, making bad decisions, but those decisions were made by me and me alone. I never got a helping hand from my parents, but I loved them just the same.”
He returned to his beer. We sat in silence for an undetermined amount of time. I don’t think either of us had anything to say. It felt like we had just skipped past the point of going on dates and were already well into the relationship stage.
I somehow felt comfortable around Jeff; he knew something about me that I rarely shared, and I knew something about him that seemed personal.
“Do you want to make a choice for yourself?” he asked.
I stared at him with a confused look.
“Well, a decision that only you can make,” he said.
I nodded, hoping he would get to the point.
“I thought I’d take you to-”
“Holly!” I heard Matt shout at me from behind.
“Matt!” I shouted back a little less than enthusiastically.
“I thought you might want to meet my Girlfriend, April,” he said while shoving a lovely young lady in front of us.
She was dressed in a simple sun dress and heels. She was cute, with Islander features and a petite build. She looked just right for Matt, if not a little out of place considering the height difference.
“Hi April, nice to meet you, would you excuse Matt and me for a second,” I said.
I grabbed Matt by the arm and led him away from the other two. I was doing my best to hide my frustration.
“Matt, you just had to butt in at the worst time,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Oh, come on now. It’s a party. You can’t expect to sit in a corner the whole time,” he replied obviously drunk.
“Listen, I’m going to get out of here. Maybe you can have me meet April some other time, and we can go out for lunch or something. I’m going to take off with Jeff,” I said.
Before I could walk away, Matt grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back.
“Okay, do what you want, but be careful around Jeff. I think he might have some other motive for trying to get close to you,” Matt said.
“I think I’m going to make this decision for myself this time,” I said while pulling his hand off my arm.
“That’s fine, just remember what I said,” he added as I walked back to Jeff.
“Come on, Jeff. Let’s get out of here,” I said taking him by the hand and leading him toward the exit.
“Lovely to meet you, April,” I said with a smile as I continued to walk off.
Jeff stumbled along behind me, seemingly surprised by my haste.
“Let’s see where you wanted to take me,” I said.
4.
His car rumbled down the road. Thankfully he hadn’t had more than half a beer the entire night, so he was practically sober. I didn’t know where we were going, but it certainly was taking a while to get there.
We didn’t have much to talk about in the car at first. I was still a little annoyed at Matt jumping in like that. I would’ve thought that if he saw me talking quietly in the corner with someone that he would have given me some space.
I also didn’t know what to talk about.
“If you’re mad at Matt, you shouldn’t be. He’s a good guy, and he means well. How long have you known him?” Jeff asked.
“Too long,” I said.
“At least, you have a good friend. I’ve only known him a year or so now, and I can tell that he’s one of the good ones,” He said.
“I know he’s a good friend, but even good friends can be frustrating at times,” I said.
“Point taken,” he replied.
We were back to silence again. I tried to reconcile my thoughts as best I could. I could feel myself nearing my wits end, and not because of Matt in the slightest. It was like the culmination of everything that I’d been told not to do was driving me in a car towards a destination I didn’t know. I was scared and excited all at once, and mostly I wanted to know what I wanted.
“It’s a ways, I know. But, the views of the city are spectacular,” he said.
“I can’t wait to see it,” I said monotonously.
> We pulled off the main road and drove through a heavily forested area. Were it not for the tire marks in the grass I doubt I’d have had any idea where we were headed.
I couldn’t fight my insecurity any longer.
“Pull over,” I said.
The car came to an immediate halt, and I leapt from the passenger door only to throw up behind a nearby tree.
“Are you okay? Did you drink too much?” he asked.
I held out a hand to quiet him and keep him away. I needed some space so I could breathe.
I looked around at the nearly pitch black forest. I was more than a little frightened. Then I looked up. Through the line of trees, I could see little pinpricks of light occupying the night sky. I was in awe of how small I felt.
I turned back to Jeff, who was leaning against the front of the car waiting for me. He perked up and walked over.
“Feeling a little better?” he asked.
I nodded and stood up, my head still swimming.
“We’re actually here, already,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow, confused with his statement. He just gestured to the other side of the car and beckoned for me to join him. I tip-toed my way around in the grass until I finally could see what he meant.
We must have been about half a mile above the city, on the overlooking hills. I hadn’t seen anything so spectacular. It mirrored the night’s sky; the lights twinkled in the streets and cars zoomed around in the early evening.
“I like to come up here when I have to think. I don’t know why I find it so relaxing to look down on everything,” Jeff said.
“I can see why you like it,” I said.
We sat on the hood of his car, just watching and taking it all in. I felt my anxiety that had built up during the car ride, start to fade away.
I leaned over and gave Jeff a kiss on the cheek.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“I thought it was a good time,” I replied with a smile.
He kissed me on my cheek.
“What was that for,” I asked.
“It felt like a good time,” he replied.
I leaned and kissed him on the lips. He returned the kiss with a passion I hadn’t felt from any other man I’d been with. For a while, we were locked in an epic struggle of affection.
Romance: Young Adult Romance: The Perfect Game (A Highschool Football Romance) (Bad Boy Nerd New Adult Romance) Page 64
