Just the simple thought of him brushing past me in the hallway was enough to
put me in a mental tailspin, heading faster and faster towards the center of
the earth. Was it the simple way he said my name when asking me for the notes
he missed after ditching class for the umpteenth time? Perhaps.
"Paige!" spinning around quickly, I was face to face with him.
His little smirk rose from the corner of his mouth, eventually stretching all
the way from ear to ear, as he slowed down to a complete stop, before
delivering his heart stopping, "What's up?"
His crystal blue eyes gazed out from under his sunglasses, and his blond hair
made him amazingly brilliant in the fake lights of the school.
"What are you doing on Saturday?" he asked.
"I have no clue, why?" I questioned.
"A couple of my buddies are coming in from Cali, want to hang with us?" he put
his hand on my shoulder and gave me his best puppy eyed look.
"I guess I could. I'll call you about it later, Kay Brad?" I confirmed, my
eyes still looking at his shoulders, since he's about two or three inches
taller than I am.
"Sure, but it'll be rad, so I hope you can come."
By the time those last words escaped his lips; I was in fantasy land, walking
around in a daze.
Bradley, Bradley, Bradley. What have you sucked me into?
As I trudged up his driveway, I was nervous. Okay, so nervous was a SEVERE
understatement, I was petrified. His friends were older than I was, and I knew
it would be more difficult to fit in with his kind of crowd without getting
high or wasted. But I had been Brad's best friend since ever, so I put on my
best fake smile as I ascended those last few steps and opened the door.
There was no music as I entered the small house, only Brad sitting on the
couch watching home movies.
"Where are your friends?" I asked him.
"I told them they had to leave before 9:00." he responded, heaving himself
off the couch and walking slowly towards me.
"Oh, so what are we doing?" I realized how dumb that sounded after it left my
lips.
"Well, I figured we could watch a couple of movies." He wrapped his hand
around his head. "I mean, unless you don't want to."
"Sure I do." I told him as I stretched myself out on his couch.
He shook his blond hair away from his face and pressed play.
"Do you remember this?" he questioned.
I look towards the screen. I can clearly recollect this moment, me clumsily
falling off my bicycle and scraping up both my knees (which resulted in some
pretty gnarly scars by the way) and Brad picking me up and carrying me home.
He smiled at me as the tape played, and even grimaced when he remembered how
bad the bleeding was for a nine year old kid. The tape stops right after my
mom was done cleaning me off and bandaging me up, and once again I'm out
there, being with Brad, as he expertly rides his bike through the neighborhood
and leaves me in the dust.
He chuckles and presses pause again, freezing time.
He presses fast forward and the tape makes the whiny sound like the audio is
on instant caffeine overload.
"Brad, quit itt!!" I insist.
"Make me. I'll make you a deal. If you can catch me, you can have the
remote." he said stubbornly.
"Fine." I retorted.
I sprang off the couch and tried to catch Brad, but he slid across the
kitchen tile and hysterically laughed as I missed the corner.
"Brad, get back here!" I screeched, giggling.
"Only if you can catch me." He said.
I reached towards Brad, caught him by the shirt and twirled him around.
Then, he did something totally unexpected.
He took me by the waist.
And kissed me.