Ahh! So, so sorry! I just get caught up in a bunch of other things and I forget about posting and what not! Really, terribly sorry!
Before leaving, Lara and I exchanged phone numbers. I thought about calling her the entire way home, but I didn't want to seem desperate or anything. Well, not like it mattered because after finishing some homework, my bedroom phone rang. I picked it up casually, wondering if it were her.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Saw you with a girl today." a voice said and I could hear the smile.
"Yeah..." I said awkwardly, knowing who it was. Disappointingly, not Lara.
"Well? Am I going to have to pry it out of you?"
I sighed.
"Her names Lara. She likes me...I like her?" I said, wondering if that was enough information.
"AHHHH!" a totally different voice squealed, causing me to jump and hold the phone away from my ear.
"Claire! I hate it when you do that!" Allison scolded.
"I'm sorry but...Ah! Brian! She told you she liked you?" Claire giggled into the phone. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes. After dinner."
"Dinner? You went on a date?" Claire gasped.
"Erm...no...We were at her house, unpacking and I...I stayed for dinner." I said, sitting on my bed.
"Oh...well, that's still good. I--"
"Does her family like you?" Allison interrupted with a noise of protest from Claire.
"I don't know...I think. I mean...Her father asked me some weird questions." I said, my face reddening at the memory.
"Like what?" they asked at the same time. I imagined Allison giving Claire a look of 'Jerk, you stole my line.'
"If I'd ever been in a physical relationship with a girl before." I groaned.
They both laughed. "What'd you say? Did you tell them about Niagara Falls?" Claire chuckled.
"What happened in Niagara falls?" I heard Allison say.
"Nothing." Claire giggled. "So what'd you say, Bry?"
"I didn't really answer...Lara and her mother kind of flipped out on him...Her mom's kinda scary." I added, remembering her frightening tone of voice.
"All mothers are scary to a boy." Claire said all knowingly. "So what did you and Lara talk about?" she asked. I could tell that Allison had lost interest for the fact that she was no longer talking or telling Claire to give her the phone.
"Um...Siblings and kids in general...her odd ceramic nose/broken heart..." I chuckled.
"Ooh, you're laughing. This is a good sign." Claire said excitedly. I rolled my eyes...again.
"Yeah...Um...We talked about her ex-boyfriend."
"Ooh...not a good sign."
"No, no, not in the 'Oh I still love him way', in the he was a serious creep way." I said.
"Ah. Better." Claire said.
"Wait...Where are Bender and Andy?" I asked, realizing I hadn't heard either of the boys' voices.
"Headed to your place to get the real story...we figured you'd tell them more than you'd tell us, but we wanted to call you anyways. You're having a boys' night. We're having a girls' night." Claire informed me.
"Dammit!" I nearly shouted.
"What?" she asked, suddenly alarmed.
"It's Friday!"
"Yes...the day after Thursday and before Saturday...Your point?" she asked, clearly confused.
"We don't have school tomorow!" I whined.
"I'm still not seeing the negative, here." she said.
"Ugh." I groaned. "I'm not going to see Lara in study hall." I said, flopping back on my bed.
"Oh, poor baby." a voice said from the door. I looked over to see Bender and Andy walking in. "Who are you talking to?" Bender asked.
"The love of your life." I smirked.
"Is John there?" I heard Claire ask.
"Tell her I said 'Hi, Cherry.' " Bender grinned.
"He says Hi, Cherry." I said into the phone as Andy plopped onto my bean bag and Bender sat on the edge of my bed.
"Fuck him." Claire responded bitterly.
"No thanks." I said. "Did you know he has a pair of your panties taped to his locker?" I asked suddenly.
"HE WHAT?!" she shouted.
Bender grabbed the phone and I sat up. "Goodnight, babe, love you, kiss kiss, bye." he said quickly into the receiver before hanging up. He glared at me and then smacked me on the back of the head.
"Owch!" I protested, rubbing my head.
"Dick! Now I'm not gonna get any for a month!" he groaned. I rolled my eyes at him, and Andy joined in.
"So, tell us about the new girl...Laura or Leah or whatever." Andy prompted.
"Lara." I corrected matter-of-factly. "She's...cool." I nodded. Bender gave me a look that said 'Are you kidding me?' "What?" I asked.
"Cool? Is that it? Seriously?" he snorted. "Give us details, Big Bry. Come on." he said.
"Yeah, Brian. What's she like?" Andy asked.
"Well, I don't know her that well, guys." I said. "She's funny and kind of weird, but in a good way. She likes bright colors." I added, remembering her stockings. "Um...Her family is alright." I shrugged.
"Ya get any action?" Bender asked, in the cocky way that only Bender would.
"No! I just met the girl!" I said, shaking my head.
"Jesus, Bender, give the kid at least a week." Andy laughed. Bender laughed too.
"Did you even kiss her?" he asked me.
"No. It wasn't even a date...Should I have?" I asked.
"Did she walk you to the door after dinner?" Andy asked.
"I walked her." I said. At their confused looks, I added: "After dinner, we went outside...I walked her back to her door." I nodded.
"Did she stall?" Bender asked.
"I don't know. What's considered stalling?" I asked, looking from Andy to Bender.
"Oh, Brian, I had such a nice time." Bender said, imitating a girl's voice. It sort of creeped me out.
"She didn't say that exactly." I muttered.
"What'd she say?" they both asked at the same time.
"She said she had a lot of fun, despite weird dinner conversation." I nodded defiantly.
"Oh, man, she so wanted you to kiss her! If she had just been like 'Well, see you around!' and walked into her house, it would have been different. But Bry, she stalled! She wanted a kiss. God, you're bad at this." Andy said, shaking his head at me.
"Guess she's just not throwing herself at you the way that girl in Niagara Falls did, eh Big Bry?" Bender grinned.
"What happened in Niagara Falls?" Andy asked, his brow furrowing. I glared at Bender.
"Nothing." I said.
"Damn right." Bender chuckled.
"Whatever...I didn't even ask my mom if you guys could stay over. I'll be right back." I said, standing up and leaving my room. I hadn't even gotten into the living room, which was right down the hall, before Alexis intercepted me. "What?" I asked, looking down at her.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" she asked me, her head cocking to the side. I shook my head. "Mom says you were at a girl's house. A nice girl." she nodded. I just ignored her and pushed her out of my way. I heard her run down the hall and shout "BRIAN HAS A GIRLFRIEND!" multiple times. I rolled my eyes and entered the living room, finding my parents, chuckling on the couch while they watched some weird game show.
"Is it alright if Andy and John stay the night?" I said.
"Any particular reason?" my mother questioned, looking up at me.
"The girls are having a girly night and they have nothing to do." I shrugged.
"Literally!" I heard Bender shout, followed by a harsh "Shut up!" from Andy. I smiled innocently.
"You're not doing drugs, are you?" my father asked.
"What? No, Dad! Why would you even ask?" I sighed, slightly annoyed.
"It's okay. Have fun. Don't get too rowdy. There's chips and dip in the kitchen, you're welcome to it. There's also some punch." my mother said, ignoring my father's rant about 'kids today' and how 'you can never be too careful' and blahblahblah.
"Thanks, Mom." I said before heading back to my room. When I got there, Bender was on the phone, obviously trying to calm Claire down and Andy was flipping through one of my old comic books. I raised an eyebrow. "Is this seriously what we're going to do all night?" I asked.
"We're leaving after your parents go to bed, don't worry." Andy said casually.
"What?" I asked, my voice a little louder than I'd planned. Andy stood up and closed the door.
"It's no big deal. We're just getting the girls and going to see a movie." Bender said. "No, I wasn't talking to you, babe." he added.
"Sneaking out? Wha--Why?" I asked, trying to whisper.
"What else would we do?" Andy said.
"I don't know! Talk about...whatever it is we talk about." I said.
"What if we could get Lara to come too?" he asked with a smirk.
I was silent. It would be fun to introduce Lara to the Breakfast Club...although I was pretty sure that I was the only one who still called us that.
"And if she can't?" I asked, my arms crossing over my chest.
"Then you're out anyways, so why not enjoy it?" Andy shrugged.
I rolled my eyes.
"I don't know. What happens if we get caught?" I asked, as if they hadn't thought of that.
"You'll get a slap on the wrist and be grounded for a week." Andy shrugged again. "We'll not be allowed in your house for a while, but it'll pass eventually." he nodded.
I sighed and bit my lip. It would be worth it to see Lara. And Andy was right, I wouldn't be in too much trouble. I groaned. It was against my better judgment, but:
"Fine." I said.
"Woo!" Andy and Bender both shouted. "We'll be there at midnight, okay?" Bender said into the phone. He sighed at Claire's response. "Babe, please, I'll take them down on Monday, okay? Please just calm down." Bender said in a soothing voice. Well, soothing for Bender anyways. "I'm grounded?" Bender exclaimed.
Andy looked at me.
"Grounded means Claire's not going to fuck him for a while." he nodded. I rolled my eyes.
----
At midnight, Bender, Andy, and I snuck out of my window because the front door would have been too loud and my house was only one story high. We took the bus to Andy's neighborhood and climbed into his dad's beat-up car. From there, we drove to Claire's house. When we got there, Claire and Allison were sitting on the porch, whispering to each other. When they saw us, Allison jumped up and ran to the jeep with a big grin. Claire, however, simply sauntered over to us and then glared at Bender, who got out and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, they haven't been there for long." he whispered, trying to take her hand.
"You're an ass hole." she said, pulling away from him.
"But I'm still your favorite ass hole, right?" he smirked, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Claire tried not to smile and I could tell that she wasn't going to be mad for very long.
We piled back in and drove to Lara's house. We got out and I found her bedroom window and was pleased to see that the light was on. Bender and Andy helped me throw rocks up to get her attention. After a few minutes, I saw Lara's silhouette and she pulled the window open and leaned out with a confused expression. Her face was covered in some green facial stuff and her hair was up in a sloppy bun on top of her head. She gasped when she saw me.
"Brian!" she said. In her haste to get back inside, she bumped her head on the window. "One second!" she called out, her hand waving erratically out the window.
I looked at Claire confusedly.
"She's mid-beautifying. No girl likes a guy to see her like that." she said in a knowing voice. Allison rolled her eyes.
After a few minutes, Lara stuck her head back out. Her hair was now down and wavey like it had been earlier, and her face was free of all greeness. "What are you doing here?" she said quietly.
"We're...Well, to be honest, I don't know what they have planned, but you should come with us." I said. "Please?" I added.
She bit her lip and then smiled slightly. "Alright. Meet me at the dining room window." she nodded. She shook her head and laughed, and then shut her window.
"She's kinda hot." I heard Bender say as we walked around the house to the window of the dining room. "Owch!" he said after a small thump. Claire had probably smacked his chest. "Easy! You know I prefer red heads."
A couple minutes later, I looked up to see Lara climbing down again. This time, it made me nervous. When she got to the ground, she grinned at me and then looked at everyone else.
"Hi. I'm Lara." she said with a wave.
"These are my friends. Andy, Allison, Claire, and Bender, or John. Whatever you want to call him." I said, pointing to the correct people. "And these are the people who convinced me to kidnap you." I added.
"Okay." she laughed, pulling down her dark blue sweater. She wasn't dressed as oddly as she'd been earlier. She'd opted for a dark blue, v-neck sweater and a simple pair of jeans instead of her brightly colored ensemble from earlier. "So, what are we up to?" she asked.
"And sneak into a drive-in movie. There's one thats open all night tonight." Bender nodded. Lara's nose wrinkled.
"What? Not a movie fan?" I asked.
"It's not that...I don't like drive-in theatres unless I'm actually in a car." she said. "It's hard to focus on the movie with so much happening around...I swear I have A.D.D." she laughed.
"Well, then I'll drive and pay for Allison and I, and you guys can hide in the back." Andy nodded. "We'd originally been planning on sneaking in through the hole in the fence out back." he chuckled. "Sound like a plan?" he asked.
No one objected so once again, we piled into Andy's car. Now, Claire was sitting on Bender's lap and Lara and I sat next to them in the back, while Allison snuggled up to Andy in the front as we drove.
Before we got there, the four of us in the back had climbed into the way back and covered up with a smelly tarp. It was sort of awkward. Bender and I were butt to butt while Lara had her back pressed against my chest in the cramped space. My arm rested on her side and I hoped she didn't mind. After a few minutes, she gave me a clue that she didn't when she pulled my arm tighter around her. I grinned stupidly.
We got there in fifteen minutes and the whole time, my arm was around Lara's waist and her hand covered mine. I couldn't stop smiling the whole way. Well, at least until we got to the point where you had to pay to get in. I always got nervous at this point.
"Twelve dollars." I heard the guy say. "Thanks." I heard him say after a few seconds. And then we were off. Andy drove closer to the front and then got out. He opened the back door and I relished in the feeling of the cool air, but reluctantly let Lara go. She smiled shyly at me as the four of us piled out.
Once we were officially out of the car, she wrapped her arms around my arm and I grinned, not even trying to hide it. Claire smiled at me and shook her head slightly. Bender rolled his eyes at me, and Andy and Allison just smiled a knowing smile.
"Well, you guys have the car, and we'll go get the refreshments."
I handed him some money and told him to grab me and Lara each a soda. "What do you want?" I asked her.
"Oh...Um...A coke would be fine." she nodded.
"Same here. Some gummi bears too." I added.
"Ooh, I love gummi bears!" she grinned. I smiled slightly.
"Good." I said, handing Andy another couple of dollars. "Grab two?" I said.
"Yep, no problem. No sex in the car though." he joked.
"No promises." Lara said, leaning her head on my shoulders.
"You'll fit in just fine, I can tell." Claire laughed as the couples walked to the refreshment stand.
"No promises, huh?" I said, though my cheeks were a little hot.
"What can I say, Brian?" she said in a fake airy voice. "You're just so...irresistable." she said, fanning herself.
"Yeah, okay." I rolled my eyes. "Just get in." I laughed. She giggled and climbed in the passenger seat. I got in the driver's seat and she scooted closer to me, her eyes on the screen, watching the previews.
"Delivery." Andy said from outside the door. I took the gummi bears from him and handed Lara her box and then I took the cokes, again handing Lara hers. "Remember. No sex." Andy grinned. I shook my head. As the four walked away, the movie started.
We were watching some weird horror movie. I wasn't really paying attention. I was too preoccupied by her head on my shoulder and her hand on mine. Every now and then she would make a comment about the movie. "I swear to God if I see another boob I'm going to write a letter." "It's always the girls that trip." "Don't open that door!" "You're so stupid, Trixie!" "No! He's over there! Are you serious? Run!"
"Lara, they can't hear you." I laughed.
"I know...people are just so stupid. I'm gonna write a letter to the producer...and the director...and all the actors and actresses. They suck." she said.
I laughed and put my arm around her shoulders. "I think you'd be better off not angering them." I said.
"Probably...And if they write back, their stupidity might infect me." she muttered. "I'm glad that I didn't pay to come watch this. I'd be pissed. I feel sorry for Andy." she said, shaking her head.
"He and Allison are probably off making out. I'm sure they're not even paying attention." I said. "Same with Bender and Claire."
"They all seem so odd for each other, don't you think?" Lara asked.
"It's a long story."
"This is a long, lame movie. We've got time." she smiled.
"Alright...Well..."
I went into the story of the detention from a few months ago. I told her about the fights we'd had, the getting stoned part(she laughed about that), and then how we'd just kind of meshed into becoming friends. I told her about how we were all from different cliques and groups and that it was really hard at first, but no one really cared anymore. We were still friends with our old friends, but closer with each other. She was smiling at the end. "What?" I asked.
"It's just...I don't know...You talk really warmly about them, I guess. You really care about them, don't you?" she asked, still smiling at me.
I shrugged awkwardly.
"Well...yeah. They're um....they're my best friends." I said.
She sighed sadly. My brow furrowed.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I miss my friends...That was the bad part about moving." she nodded. "It makes me wish I hadn't." she lowered her head slightly.
"I can see why. I'd miss my friends too..." I said, leaning my cheek against her head.
"But I can tell you something...You've made it worth it already." she smiled, looking at me, her eyes looking into mine.
I didn't really know what to say. I wasn't good at this stuff, this romaticy 'I like you' type stuff.
"Thanks." I said lamely. She laughed. "What?" I said, not being able to help my smile.
"You're just...funny, thats all." she said with a shrug.
"Why?" I asked.
"You should loosen up. I can tell how nervous you are...You seem afraid to say or do the wrong thing. Let things happen as they want to. Life's more fun that way." she smiled. "Kinda like this," she said.
I was going to ask 'Kinda like what?' but she cut me off by pressing her lips against mine. It wasn't a full on make-out session, but I still couldn't believe it. She kissed me softly and then pulled back, her cheeks a bit redder than before. She covered her sheepish smile with her hand.
"Was that okay?" she asked, slightly apprehensive.
I could only nod. She laughed again and then rested her head on my shoulder. We held hands throughout the rest of the movie.
Again, I apoligize a million times for not updating in such a long time! I hope you haven't forgotten me. I will really try to update more often. I promise!