Just Friends

by Melody Summers

  “Okay. Why don’t you come join the rest of us?”

  Allison glanced at me and shook her head, knowing that Ashton was with them. “It’s a little too noisy in there.”

  Not at all fooled, Quinn shrugged it off. “Suit yourself,” he said, then vanished back into the living room.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Sure. Let’s go see if there’s any punch left. I think we’re about done here.”

  We wandered into the kitchen, which was littered with empty beer cans, the remnants of finger foods, and crumpled chip bags. I found a bag of Ruffles that still had some crumbs in the bottom while Allison poured us each a cup of punch. I started to take a drink but paused with the cup halfway to my lips as sudden suspicion gripped me. Instead of a swig I took a cautious sip.

  “Doesn’t taste spiked,” I said.

  “Quinn said there would be Biblical consequences if he found anyone messing with the punch this year.”

  “After what happened last year I’m not surprised. I still don’t know how his mom was able to save the carpet.”

  A group of partiers who had obviously been hitting the beer hard chose that moment to swarm the kitchen. Their raucous laughter made any further conversation impossible, and Allison grabbed my arm.

  “Come on,” she said.

  She led me towards the den at the back of the house where it was a little quieter. The people there seemed more interested in talking than serious partying, and we found seats in front of the large picture windows which faced out onto the pool. At least half of the party was out either in or by the water, and we watched them for a while as we sipped on our punch.

  “Why aren’t we with Laney and Molly, or out there having fun with our boyfriends?” Allison asked.

  “Because we don’t have boyfriends?”

  “Why don’t we?”

  “Well, let’s see. You won’t say anything to Seth, and I’ve been too hung up on Ashton.”

  “I don’t get why you don’t just surrender to the inevitable with him? You know you belong together.”

  “Because his parents refuse to surrender to the inevitable, which makes it impossible.”

  Allison made a face. “Why don’t you guys do like every other teenager on the planet and just lie to his parents?”

  “It isn’t that simple. At some point the lies always get found out, and then it’s like World War III at his house.”

  “I’m sorry, Dani.”

  “I just have to live with the fact that we’re not meant to be. At least not right now.”

  “You’re taking it better than I would be.”

  I shrugged. “Only on the outside. And I don’t understand why you won’t talk to Seth.”

  Allison’s face flushed in embarrassment. “I’m afraid to.”

  “But why? You’re not that shy, and it isn’t as though you haven’t dated other boys.”

  “You know I’ve had a crush on him forever. I’ve had all this time to imagine what he’s like, to have a thousand conversations with him in my head. To imagine our first kiss, our first date.”

  “So? He’s just a guy, Allison.”

  “Yeah, but how can this just a guy live up to all the fantasies I’ve built up around him? I’d just be setting myself up to be disappointed.”

  “You’re weird.”

  “Yep,” Allison agreed. “I’m also out of punch. Want a refill?”

  “Sure.”

  “Be right back.”

  I continued watching the crowd at the pool, lost in my thoughts. What was Ashton doing? Was he still with our friends? Had Kelly come to the party? After my last rejection was he going to reconsider pushing her away?

  “I can’t believe I actually managed to find you without your chaperones.”

  I turned to find Dylan leaning against the back of the couch. “Hey.”

  “Enjoying the party?”

  “Not so much as you’d think.”

  Dylan moved around to plant himself on the arm of the couch. “That’s probably because you haven’t found the right company.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Oh, really?”

  “Just a guess. Your friends are all in the living room, but you’re sitting alone out here.”

  “Allison went to get more punch.”

  “I know. I was waiting for her to leave so I could pounce.”

  Well, I’d been wondering if he was going to make a move. I peered down into my cup, unwilling to meet his gaze. “Do I look like I want to be pounced on?”

  “In that costume? I certainly hope so. Greek goddess?”

  “Good guess. Actually I’m supposed to be one of the Muses.”

  Dylan nodded. “Very fitting for a talented artist.”

  “Or just wishful thinking.”

  “Come on. I’ve seen your work in school. There’s nothing wishful about it.”

  For some reason I was ridiculously pleased by his compliment. “So why aren’t you with your friends?”

  “I guess I hadn’t found the right company, either.”

  His blue eyes glittered like electrical arcs as he grinned down at me. He wasn’t Ashton, but I couldn’t deny that I felt an attraction to him. Maybe my friends were right. I couldn’t have Ash, but Dylan was available and interested. So why not?

  “And now?” I asked.

  “I’m right where I want to be.”

  “Well, Allison will be coming back with the punch any moment now.”

  Allison picked that moment to appear and shove a cup of punch into my hand. “And here it is. Bye, now.”

  She threw me a wink and then disappeared back the way she’d come. I stared after her in shock. Had she really just abandoned me to Dylan?

  “I guess she won’t be saving you from my evil plans after all.”

  I laughed, almost choking as I gulped punch down the wrong way. “Evil plans?”

  He shrugged. “Well, maybe not so much evil. Ulterior motives sounds better.”

  “What kind of ulterior motives could you have with me?”

  “Well, I’m not here looking for a study partner.”

  “Oh? What are you looking for?”

  “I asked Quinn and Walker about you. They both warned me off of you.”

  Anger flashed through me. What business was it of theirs to play protective older brothers to me? “They had no right trying to protect me.”

  He laughed. “It was the other way around. They were protecting me from you.”

  “What?”

  “They both told me that you were so hung up over Ashton that I’d just be letting myself in for a load of grief.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. Had they really said that? Dylan shrugged at my expression.

  “But I’m willing to take my chances. Especially since you seem to be giving him the cold shoulder lately.”

  “How do you know that?”

  He flashed me a wicked smile. “Oh, I can be pretty observant when I see something I want.”

  So he really had been watching me, just like my friends had said. To my surprise I felt a flutter of excitement in my stomach. Was I that desperate for attention from a boy? Or at least a boy other than Ashton?

  “I guess I should be flattered that you’d pay so much attention.”

  “Fishing for compliments, Dani?”

  I blushed and looked away. Guilty as charged.

  “All right. You’re beautiful. You’re kind. I’ve seen your art. And then we started studying together and I realized that you were something really special.”

  “Wow,” I said, a bit breathlessly. “So you think flattery is going to get you anywhere?”

  His grin broadened. “Won’t it?”

  I found myself smiling back. “Maybe.”

  “The truth is that I like you and I’d like to get to know you better—and not as a study partner. Is that a problem?”

  For maybe half a second I thought about it. “No.”

  “Good. So tell me why you’re really off by yourself
when everyone else is enjoying the party.”

  “Well, you know about Ashton.”

  His expression turned serious. “I don’t mess with girls who have boyfriends. If there’s something going on there…”

  “He isn’t. We just don’t work.”

  “Too bad for him. You’ll forgive me if I’m not all broken up over that. Is that all?”

  “Well, there’s also this art project I’ve been having trouble with.”

  “Why don’t we go take a walk and you can tell me about it where it’s not so noisy.”

  He stood up and held out a hand to me. I hesitated for a moment, then took it and followed him out of the house. As we passed by the living room I spotted Allison.

  “I’m going for a walk with Dylan.”

  Her eyes went wide, but she gave me a thumbs up without any comment. I knew that Molly and Delaney would know about this before I could make it to the front porch.

  Outside the night was clear with a bright moon and the crispness of fall in the air. We strolled down the sidewalk, admiring the Halloween decorations while I told him about my struggles with my art project.

  “Do you have a picture of it?” he asked.

  “Sure. Hold on a sec.” I flipped through the photos on my phone until I found the most recent picture I’d taken. “Here.”

  Dylan studied it intently for several seconds. “Maybe you’re going the wrong way with this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you’re trying to make it real, right? Putting in every tiny little detail. But... What do you see?” he asked, gesturing broadly around us.

  On every side we were surrounded by houses decorated in various fantastic ways. I turned slowly, taking it all in, and trying to understand what Dylan was getting at. Finally I turned back to him.

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Maybe realism isn’t what you want,” he explained. “Maybe it isn’t expressing what you really want to show. Maybe you should try something... Weirder?”

  I stared at the picture on my phone then looked again at the houses around us with their bizarre and grotesque decorations. That picture exploded in my mind, blossoming into a hundred new possibilities that I hadn’t thought of because I’d been so intent on the idea of realism.

  “You’re a genius,” I told him.

  “I know. Why don’t we walk around some more while you think about it?”

  So we did, continuing down to the end of the cul-de-sac and then back while I studied the decorations and finally gathered the inspiration which had been eluding me for weeks. Somewhere along the way I realized we were holding hands. I wasn’t sure who had reached out or when, but it felt good—comfortable, warm, cozy.

  Eventually we returned to the house. Someone had turned off the porch light and we stepped into the shadows still holding hands. It wasn’t exactly a surprise when Dylan kissed me.

  His hands reached up to cup my face as his lips found mine in the darkness, so soft, so gentle. He was nothing like I’d expected, like the rumors I’d heard about him. I relaxed against him to kiss him back. I’d only ever kissed Ashton before and this was different. I didn’t immediately fall into it the way I had with Ashton, but it was nice. Dylan was patient and giving, his kiss sweetly passionate. Despite my earlier denials, he knew that there was something between Ashton and me and he didn’t want to push me too hard if I wasn’t ready.

  I was breathless when our lips parted, and my heart stumbled a little as the realization of what I’d just done sank in. Maybe it hadn’t possessed the tingles and fire of Ashton’s kisses, but it had been pretty powerful for a first kiss. It was good, and the real fireworks would no doubt come later.

  “So you’ll let me take you out sometime soon?”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “I’d like that.”

  Taking my hand again, he led me inside and we went to find my friends.

  Chapter Seven

  Because of the party I managed to avoid too many questions from my friends that night, but I knew that a grilling was inevitable as the sunrise. All I could do was try to psych myself up for it before they cornered me. Not that it would do any good. When it came to boys and relationships, my friends could give lessons to CIA interrogators. For that matter, waterboarding might not be so bad in comparison to a session with Delaney and Allison.

  They held off until the four of us went to brunch the next morning. I kept waiting for it all during the drive to the restaurant, while we were seated, and as we waited for our order, but it wasn’t until the waiter had brought out our food that they got down to business.

  Delaney waved her fork at me. “So, tell us all about Dylan.”

  Taking a sip of orange juice, I gave her my best innocent look. “Well, he’s about six feet tall, has sandy blonde hair and sky blue eyes...”

  “Dani!” Allison said. “You know what she meant. Give!”

  I batted my eyes at her. “Whatever do you mean?”

  Molly leaned forward. “Did you kiss him?”

  I couldn’t help the blush that heated my face. When Delaney saw it, she hooted in delight.

  “Of course you did. What I want to know is whether it blew your mind?”

  “It was nice,” I replied.

  Molly tilted her head with a puzzled frown. “Nice?”

  “Yeah, nice. He’s a nice guy. And a good kisser.”

  “But were there any fireworks?” Allison asked.

  “Guys...”

  Delaney’s voice was disappointed. “No tingles? No butterflies?”

  “It isn’t a big deal,” I told her.

  “Sure it is. Don’t you want all of that?”

  “Of course I do! But you don’t understand...”

  Allison shook her head. “I don’t get it. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I can’t believe there’s no spark there.”

  “Look,” I said. “It really was nice. It was just... Different.”

  Molly’s eyes lit up with understanding. “It wasn’t Ashton.”

  “Right. I’d never kissed anyone but Ashton before. It wasn’t bad at all. It was just different. I just need to get used to it being... Not Ashton. And maybe there will be butterflies and tingles later.”

  Delaney gave me a look brimming with skepticism. “Are you sure?”

  “No, I’m not sure. How could I be? There’s only ever been Ashton. It feels weird being with someone else. But I really like Dylan, and I do think there could be fireworks with him someday.”

  “Does it really work that way, though?” Allison asked. “Or is it something that’s just either there or not?”

  Molly shook her head. “Lay off, Allison. That’s not fair. She can’t answer that.”

  Taking another slice of bread from the table, Delaney slathered it with butter. “All right. Just one more question.” Her eyes lit up with a mischievous twinkle. “Are you going to kiss him again?”

  “Maybe,” I admitted.

  What I didn’t admit was that I already had, during the course of the party. Several times. I’d just been careful to slip away so my friends wouldn’t catch me. Dylan and I had found a discreet corner in a quiet part of the house and worked on getting better acquainted—our lips, anyway. I’d been enjoying myself right up until I opened my eyes to see Ashton turn away and stalk out of the room.

  My heart had frozen in my chest. Ashton! My first instinct had been to go after him, but what was the point? He wasn’t mine. I wasn’t his. The sooner we both got that through our thick skulls the better off we’d be. It wasn’t anything I wanted to confess to my friends, though, or even think about any more than I could help, so I did my best to steer the conversation in other directions until everyone was ready to leave.

  Once I was safely home I got out my sketchpad and went to work. My fingers flew over the paper, barely able to keep up with the images flooding my mind. I was going to use the same format for my project as before—four frames, each with an image of the same woman displaying different emotion
s. This time, though, I threw realism out the window.

  The first picture I tackled was sorrow. Tears flowed in thick streams from six eyes while an impossibly wide mouth spread to release a soundless wail of grief. As I finished the rough outline of the sketch I took a step back to study my creation. It still needed some extra touches to flesh it out, but this was it. I’d nailed it. It was exactly what I wanted.

  I went back to work to get the rest of the images started. Two hours passed in a flash before my phone dinged with a text and jolted me out of the zone.

  Dylan: Whatcha doin?

  Me: Working on my art project

  Dylan: Making any progress?

  Me: Yes! Finally

  Dylan: Cool! Can I see?

  I took pictures of the new frames I was happiest with and sent them to him.

  Dylan: These are amazing

  Me: Thanks. And thank you for the inspiration

  Dylan: I didn’t do anything except give you a little push

  Dylan: And a few kisses

  Me: Hahaha! Well, you got me out of my creative rut

  Dylan: Fresh pair of eyes, that’s all

  Me: So what are you doing?

  Dylan: Just got back from the gym. Having lunch and watching some Netflix. Want to hang out?

  Me: I’d love to, but I can’t. This project is due in a week and I’m still way behind

  Dylan: Gotcha. I’ll leave you to work then

  Dylan: See you at school tomorrow?

  Me: Sure!

  Dylan: Happy drawing!

  When I went back to my sketch pad I was humming a happy little tune to myself. I felt as though I’d hit some kind of turning point in breaking free of the past. I still missed Ashton, but I couldn’t keep pining over the boy forever. I was moving on. While Dylan might not be the love of my life, he was at least a step in the right direction. And he had broken me out of my rut when no one else could. That had to mean something, didn’t it?

  At school the next morning my friends were waiting for me in the quad like leopards waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting gazelle. Delaney struck first.

  “So, did you see him again?”

  “No. He texted me yesterday afternoon, but we only talked for a minute because I was busy with my art project.”

  Allison shook her head in mock dismay. “Dani, your priorities are seriously messed up. Cute boy or art project? Let me think which one I’d pick...”