The Way it Was
I was sweaty and smelled bad and probably had stripes of dirt streaking my face. But I was riding bikes home with Zach, and he always makes me laugh, so I was happy. I gave him a sidelong glance and wondered, yet again, what each of my friends saw in him. He was immature and childish and wasn't even cute. Like I've always said, blond hair and blue eyes, so what? Who cares what his hair looks like or what color his eyes are?
I sighed and looked and him. He seemed to understand what was going on, because he asked, "Sloane? You alright?" I nodded.
"Yeah, just a little bummed out about practice," I lied sullenly. Actually, it wasn't a lie. I was mad about that, it just wasn't what I was mad about right now.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Coach is like that to everyone, and you know that. So what if he decided today you were his chew toy?" Zach made it sound like no big deal. It occurred to me that he was showing some passion, and was actually trying to make me feel better.
"Norton? You ok? No fever, right?" I joked.
"What, I can't worry about my best friend without her thinking that I'm sick?" Zach teased. Best friend? Since when was I his best friend? And he'd called me a "her", so he didn't think of me as just one of the guys. I found that I like the first part, but wasn't too sure whether I wanted to be one of the guys with him or not. This was odd for me. I love being "one of the guys". I am. Lately though, I've been acting more like a… like a girl. Ew.
"No, you can. But you never have before, so I just wondering," I replied simply. I didn't have a jokey comeback, but it was ok. What I said felt right somehow, to me. At least, I think it did.
"Sloane? You going somewhere other than your house?" Zach asked.
"What? Oh, oops," I said in lieu of thanks. I had biked past my driveway. I turned in and keyed in the code to open the garage. I began to ride in, but the sound of my name stopped me. Only he didn't say "Sloane" like he normally did. He said "Cassidy" and up until then, I wasn't even sure if he knew my first name. "Yeah?" I got off my bike and walked out of the shade into the sunlight again. Big mistake.
Two lips met mine, with such force that I was almost fell over. And I would've, if it weren't for the hands on my shoulders that studied me. Just as I was about to push him back, he pulled away. But he didn't move his hands from my shoulders, or step back, or speak, or do anything except lower his eyes.
And then I realized what the big fuss was about. His eyelashes were long. Long and what my sister would call "thick" (how can eyelashes be thick?). He glanced up at me and I looked him in the eyes. Crap, mistake number two. His eyes, they were…well they were blue. Very, very, very blue. Dark, but light at the same time. I broke away from his gaze and stepped out of his grasp.
"Zach, I…I gotta go," I stuttered.
He nodded but still didn't speak. I was going to have to make something up when I got into the house. I knew I wouldn't be able to hide the fact that something happened, but I could lie well enough that they would never know that I'd enjoyed Zach's kiss.
Even though I had. A lot.