Just Friends

by Elana Johnson

  “I’m going to go shower and change and then we can go out, okay?” Ivy said, bounding away before I could answer.

  Lance grabbed a towel and walked toward me. “You and Ivy?” He handed me the towel, but I didn’t know what to do with it. I stared at it, trying to figure out what you and Ivy meant.

  “Might wanna wipe that lipstick off your face before Coach sees,” Lance said, real low. “And don’t think I didn’t see you grab her ass.” He smirked at me.

  The word lipstick jolted me out of the stupor I’d fallen into. Noise rushed at me. The remembrance of Ivy’s lips against my cheek, and how I’d grabbed her to keep from falling down. I turned toward Jade, half covering my face with the towel.

  Both she and Holly were staring at me, Holly with a blank mask covering her emotion, and Jade with shock bleeding from her wide eyes and gaping mouth.

  I rubbed at my face as I strode across the grass toward the girls. Holly leaned in close to Jade and spoke. I really hated that they were gossiping like old friends. Holly hadn’t been all buddy-buddy with Jade before this week—before she knew I liked her.

  “Mitch,” Coach Braeburn called, stopping me before I could cross the field. “Over here!” He waved me back toward him, where Lance waited with his stoic face. Several reporters waited behind them.

  I cast another glance at Holly and Jade before retracing my steps. From there, it was a circus. The questions came fast, and most of what I had to say Lance vocalized before I could. He put on his playboy persona, flirting with the cameras and female reporters, which left me looking cold and impersonal. I tried to smile and act like setting a new personal best was awesome—and it was—but my mind was still on Ivy, Jade, and Holly.

  Cameras flashed as I posed with Lance, as we posed separately, as we both stood with Coach Braeburn. It felt like hours before I could get away, but it was only about thirty minutes.

  “Great job, Mitch,” Lance said as the reporters dispersed. Coach had bustled off with them, leaving the two of us alone. Lance reached for his duffle bag.

  “You too, man,” I said, thankful he wasn’t putting on a show anymore.

  “What are you gonna do about them?” He jerked his head toward the stands, where Holly and Jade were still loitering.

  I exhaled. “Run?” I suggested, which brought a wry smile to Lance’s face.

  “Running would probably be easier. Good luck.” He walked away, calling over his shoulder, “Text me later, lover boy. We can hang out.”

  I watched him go, glad he’d been real with me for ten seconds. And envious when a cheerleader stepped next to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Apparently running wasn’t enough to clear his head either.

  Unable to avoid them any longer, I joined Holly and Jade near the stands.

  “How’d you do?” I asked Holly, who continued to look like she was dead inside; she wouldn’t even make eye contact, instead focusing on something just past my face. I was well aware that I sounded like her dad inquiring after her performance stats. She looked at athletic as ever in her tracksuit, no indication of her hips and chest. It was easy to pretend she was still ten when she was dressed in sweats. Why am I thinking about her hips and chest? Freak. I took a deep breath and glanced at Jade, whose clothes showed every womanly curve.

  “Second in the 100,” Holly said, drawing my attention away from Jade. “Didn’t place in medley.”

  “You will next time,” I said, trying to sound encouraging. I couldn’t smile, and I couldn’t work through why she pursed her lips and a tiny wrinkle appeared between her eyes.

  Jade tucked her hair behind her ears and took a step behind Holly. She’d managed to wipe her surprise away, but now she looked like she might cry.

  “Plans tonight?” Holly asked, too much lilt in her tone for the question to be casual. Finally, she met my eye, challenging me.

  I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “Yeah, a bunch of us are going for ice cream. You guys wanna come?”

  “A bunch of people?” Holly asked.

  “Yes,” I clipped out.

  “Not just you and Ivy?”

  I glared at her for a moment past comfortable. She didn’t flinch. I stepped past her, reaching for Jade. She let me take her hand and lead her away from Holly. We walked for several strides before I found something to say.

  “I’m not going out with Ivy,” I said. “I mean, I asked her to get ice cream, but that was nothing.”

  We marched on. Left, right. Left, right, before she spoke.

  “You should make sure it’s nothing to her too.” Jade pulled her hand away. We stopped, looking at each other from a few feet away. It felt too far.

  “We can still go out tomorrow, right?” I asked.

  She forced a smile. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “You should make sure it’s nothing to Ivy,” Jade said, folding her arms and raising her chin.

  “It’s just that I asked Ivy—as friends—on Monday, when I was, you know, sort of freaking out about Holly and Greg, and I just—I didn’t want to be alone—” I stopped myself and raked my hands through my hair. This was going all wrong.

  Jade peered at me. “So you asked out Ivy because you didn’t want to be alone.”

  The way she stated it as a fact brought back the urge to run anywhere fast. “I didn’t ask her out. I invited her to get ice cream.”

  “You invited her to get ice cream.”

  “But it’s not a date.”

  “To you.”

  “Right.”

  “So you invited her to get ice cream because you didn’t want to be alone, because you’re freaked out about Holly and her boyfriend.”

  “Right. I don’t like Ivy like that.”

  “So Ivy is your fake-Holly.”

  I stepped back at the accusation in her voice. “What? No.”

  The evening shadows fell across her face, but I still saw the shimmery tears in her eyes.

  Maybe I could’ve stepped into her personal space and wrapped her in a hug. I’d done it before with other girls.

  Maybe I could’ve said again that I was not using Ivy as my fake-Holly. That the idea was ridiculous.

  I stood there while she waited for me to explain myself. What had Holly said to Jade? Where was Ivy now and would she ever speak to me again if I canceled? How could I fix this thing with Jade?

  “Screw everything,” I said, pacing away and then back. One tear had escaped and trailed down Jade’s cheek. I wiped it away as softly as I could. “How about we go out tonight?”

  She nodded and sniffed, her eyes trained on my feet.

  “Yeah?” I said.

  “Yeah.” She nodded again, this time turning away and wiping her face.

  Ivy did not take the news well. “But you said—”

  I pinched my eyes shut. “Please, Ivy, this is important to me.” I opened my eyes, silently begging her to play nice.

  “So you’re dating Jade Montgomery.” She was practically yelling so everyone within ten yards could hear, and it was no accident. At least the reporters were long gone. I could just imagine the headlines. Long distance runner Mitch Houser argues with female teammate.

  I saw no point in denying it. “Yes. And she thinks we’re going out, and since we’re not…” I sighed. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “How? By bringing me two salads during lunch?”

  I regarded Ivy. I’d run with her six days a week over the summer. Sure, she only kept up for the first mile, but she talked and talked during our cool down. After Holly stopped running with us and couldn’t absorb all—her—words—Lance rolled his eyes on more than one occasion, though neither of us suggested we train without her.

  For once, I was thrilled Ivy had diarrhea of the mouth, because I knew how to get what I wanted. “I’ll do your geometry homework.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You play dirty, Houser.”

  “Come on, Ivy.”

  Her eyes practically shot fir
e. “Geometry homework. For a whole month.”

  “Two weeks.”

  She leaned in closer as if she could read something in the lines on my face. She seemed to find what she wanted, because she said, “Fine, two weeks.”

  The balloon in my chest deflated. “Thanks, Ivy, you’re the best.” I sort of half-reached, half-lunged at her. I patted her shoulder awkwardly and got the heck out of there.

  11

  I took Jade to Ethel’s, like I’d been planning. My first mistake. On Friday night, the oldest diner in town was also the most popular. We waited next to a guy who smoked and his girlfriend who kept showing us her tongue piercing.

  I could barely breathe between the cigarette-fried food stench. When a spot opened up on a bench outside, we claimed it.

  “Holly said you ran really fast today,” Jade said.

  I let my hands hang between my knees. “Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t want to talk about why I’d run so fast, or about anything really. I should’ve canceled everything with everyone and gone home, maybe texted Lance and gone over to his house after his giggling cheerleader left. At least then I wouldn’t have to talk. Lance would toss me a soda and put Star Trek on the big screen, and that would be that.

  “Holly said—”

  “I don’t want to talk about Holly,” I said.

  Jade put her hand on my knee, and I just stared at it. She didn’t say anything for the longest time, and I didn’t look up. By the time we were called for a table, the sun was sinking behind the trees in the park across the street.

  The best part about Ethel’s was there were only five menu choices, which meant the service was really fast. Our hamburgers and fries came quickly, and Jade managed to steer the conversation into safer waters, but that meant we were talking about the press conference, and Mrs. Nordstrom’s class, and the SAT. Nothing exciting. Nothing about her.

  Everything felt wrong. I looked at her, really looked, and saw the tension in her smile. I felt like a huge idiot for causing it, but I didn’t know how to make it go away.

  I paid, and we left, but instead of heading for the car, I reached for her hand and laced my fingers through hers. I exhaled as I relaxed. “Let’s walk through the park,” I said. “Is that okay?”

  “Okay,” she said.

  I stuffed my other hand in my pocket as we went, enjoying the cooler night air and relative silence outside the restaurant. “Thanks for coming to the meet,” I said. “My mom usually comes, but no one else.”

  “Drew was there,” she said.

  “Yeah, but she doesn’t usually come. She’s just in trouble right now, so Mom dragged her along.”

  “In trouble?”

  “Something about her clothes,” I said lightly. “And her new boyfriend.”

  “She has a boyfriend?”

  “Omar Juavez.” His name didn’t come out with as much venom as usual. Maybe I was getting used to him dating Drew. Or maybe I just didn’t have the energy to care anymore.

  “He’s one of your best friends, right?” Jade asked.

  “And a senior,” I added, and this time the darkness entered my tone.

  “That must bug you.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “I think I have some idea,” she said.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. You’re squeezing my hand pretty hard right now.”

  I released her fingers at the same time my heart rate spiked. “I’m sorry. He just—she—I don’t know.”

  We circled a duck pond at the far end of the park. The trees erased the navy sky, leaving us only darkness punctured by pools of lamplight every ten feet. We neared the mouth of the park before Jade spoke.

  “I won’t say I understand, because I don’t.” Her voice barely carried between us. “But you can tell me whatever you want, and I won’t tell anyone else.”

  Not even Holly? snarked through my mind. I wanted to ask Jade about their sudden friendship. Instead I said, “Thank you.”

  We made it back to the car before Jade brought up Holly again.

  My phone rang and I silenced it without checking it. If it was my mom, she’d be pissed. She never called unless it was important. “Listen, I won’t lie. Holly is my best friend.” I frowned, thinking the words didn’t sound quite right. “Or she was. Or—yeah. Friends. We’re friends.”

  “Do you tell her everything?” Jade asked.

  “Oh, that’s what you’re worried about?” I almost started laughing as I turned onto State Street and rolled my window down. “No, I don’t tell her everything.”

  “What about Lance?”

  “I tell him even less,” I said. “Trust me.”

  She accepted my answer, and when we pulled into her driveway, she waited for me to come around and open her door.

  “So what’s with the phone exchange?” she asked as we took the tiniest step toward her front door. “Does she read all your texts?”

  I swallowed, thinking about maybe kissing her on the porch. Was that still acceptable? Or should I have done it in the park? Would she let me at all, this being our first date and all?

  “Mitch?” Jade asked. “The phones?”

  “Oh,” I said, stumbling over my own feet as we continued our gradual migration toward her porch. “Yeah, it’s just something we’ve been doing for years. Started as a gaming thing. Now, when we switch, we play our words in Scrabble and then write notes to each other or whatever. It’s not a big deal.”

  “But not notes about—” She gestured between us.

  “Let’s just say that our current debate is about whether or not the unicorn is superior or inferior because it only has one horn.”

  Jade laughed, and I couldn’t help smiling.

  “What’s your argument in that one?” she asked.

  “It’s clear that the unicorn is superior,” I said. “Even with only one horn.”

  “Hmm, I might have to debate that one.” She put her foot on the first step, but I pulled on her hand gently to get her to stop.

  “Thanks,” I said. “For tonight, for waiting while I talked to the press, and, you know, not freaking out about Ivy, and for understanding about Holly.”

  She stepped closer, and I looked into her eyes. “I’m not sure how much I understand yet,” she said. “But there’s time to find out.”

  My mouth felt too sticky, and my heart pulsed in my throat. Not because of what she’d said, but because she was leaning toward me.

  “Thanks for dinner, Mitch.” She put one hand on the left side of my face and kissed my right cheek. Then she quick-stepped it up to her front door. She paused with one hand on the doorknob and turned back to me. “See you tomorrow?”

  I choked out “Tomorrow,” and she disappeared inside. I stood there for a second, and then I shuffled back to my car.

  I drove home, parking in the driveway but staying in the car. I checked my phone and saw that my missed call was from Charity.

  Show choir. I was supposed to call her after school on Wednesday and set up a time to practice. I hadn’t, and I didn’t want to call her tonight. I checked in with Mom and collapsed onto my bed still fully dressed, grinning stupidly about completing my first date with Jade Montgomery.

  12

  I was flirting with sleep when my phone buzzed against my chest. I was prepared to see Jade’s name on the screen—she had been asking if I let Holly read my texts. I assumed she’d wanted to make sure it was okay to text me gushy-cheesy messages, maybe about how she’d like to kiss me under the bleachers after the next track meet.

  But the text was from Lance. u still up?

  yep, I texted back.

  Dads gone for the weekend. want to come over?

  I glanced toward my window and the darkness beyond. I’d never snuck out before; there’d never really been a reason. Omar and Lance mostly hung out over here. If not, I’d already be out by now. My curfew on weekends was midnight, and it was well before that. But I’d already checked in with Mom… and I k
new she wouldn’t let go though it was only ten-thirty.

  or maybe ur busy… with jade?

  not busy on my way, I sent. Lance only lived a few blocks away, and Mom had likely fallen asleep as soon as I poked my head in her bedroom and told her I was home. I knew Drew was here, because she’d been on house arrest since the wardrobe discussion.

  I slid up the window and unfolded my frame through it. The air was cool and welcome in my lungs. I perched on my roof, unsure of how to get down without breaking my leg. Parkour wasn’t my strong point.

  Next door, Holly’s window was black. Whether that meant she was inside sleeping, or out with Greg, I didn’t know. I wished I didn’t care, but I kinda did. I certainly wouldn’t be texting her to find out.

  I stepped to her patch of roof and paused. I needed a plan. I couldn’t just vanish from my bedroom. What if Mom came up to check on me? Or worse, Dad? I sent a message to Drew, asking her to call me if someone came upstairs.

  Why? came the reply. Where are you?

  I’m zipping over to lances for a few min. be back soon

  Right, she responded. If you’re going over to Jade’s and I have to lie for you… you owe me big time.

  not going to jades, I sent, then I pocketed my phone and shimmied down Holly’s porch post. Because of my height, my feet met solid ground after only a few seconds. My phone vibrated against my leg, but I ignored it. Drew could deal with whatever-whatever. She’d call if Mom or Dad came upstairs, and I’d run to make it back to my roof before they knew I was gone. I hoped.

  Lance’s windows were dark, his yard overgrown. His dad didn’t do anything around the house, but Lance usually mowed the lawn and put away the dishes in an attempt to meet societal norms. Like usual, the carport was empty and the front door unlocked.

  I found Lance in his bedroom after successfully navigating through his cluttered living room and past a bathroom that smelled like it needed a thorough cleaning. He lifted a piece of pizza in greeting and gestured toward the open box on his immaculate desk.