March 16th, 2009
A horn beeped from the driveway, making me jump and curse as I dropped my mascara brush. I capped it quickly, tossing it on the dresser, before heading outside. As I closed the door behind me and jumped off the porch, the little black Jetta started to roll backwards.
"Paul," I sighed, loudly enough so he would hear it through his open window.
When he kept going I shouted his name, rolling my eyes. Through the windshield, I saw Carrie reach forward from the backseat and smack his arm. He shot her a look, his lips moving, but stopped the car. Before he started it again, I ran over and jumped in, slamming the door closed because I knew it would bother him.
"Bitch," he said, speeding away from my house.
"Jackass," I replied.
"Okay you two, that's enough! Jeezus, Josh doesn't need to hear you two fighting every time he comes out with us!" Carrie exclaimed, shaking her head.
"That's okay," Josh replied from the front seat. "It's pretty entertaining. Like watching an old married couple."
In spite of myself, I laughed along with Carrie and Josh, though Paul just shot his friend a look. It was only the second time Josh had come with us someplace, but it seemed as though Paul was making it his mission to both get Josh a girl and get him introduced to everybody that we ever knew. He was succeeding in the latter, but I had no idea how the girl quest was going. The party we were headed to was supposed to be relatively small compared to the last one we were at but Paul had said the kid's parents would be checking in every once in a while.
On the ride over, Carrie told me about the guy she wanted me to meet while Paul described to Josh the girl he was planning on hooking him up with. I let Carrie babble on about what this guy and I had in common, and how cute we would be, nodding every once in a while. As she talked, I looked up in the front to watch Josh and Paul's conversation. But as Paul continued to describe the girl, I realized Josh wasn't even listening, his head turned as he stared out the window. His eyes caught mine in the side mirror then, and I found it impossible to look away. I felt myself frown as I looked at Josh's dark eyes, the way they seemed to bore right through me.
"Tory!" Carrie scolded loudly, at the same time Paul shouted Josh's name. We both jumped, looking back at our friends.
"Were you even listening?" Carrie asked me, her eyebrows furrowed. From the front I could hear Paul arguing with Josh, who apparently did not want to meet the girl Paul had picked out for him. I was about to answer when Paul stopped the car and I realized we were there.
"Fine, whatever, I'll meet her!" Josh exclaimed, holding his hands up in surrender as we climbed out.
"Yeah, I was," I responded quietly, following the guys into the house. "Let's go find him so you can introduce me."
We walked into the house, Carrie swearing up and down that the guy was worth it. She spotted him right away, pulling me into the kitchen to introduce me. I let her take my arm but not before I threw a desperate look back over my shoulder. My eyes flew around the room, trying to find someone to save me, when they landed on Josh. He was walking in the opposite direction with Paul but at that moment he turned around, his eyes meeting mine for a brief second before the kitchen door swung shut.
"Well, what did you think of him?" Carrie asked me as Paul pulled into the driveway a good three hours later. The house was dark, the driveway empty, and it took me a minute to remember that Aunt Kayla had taken the kids to my grandma's house for the weekend.
"Maybe," was all I said, shutting the door and waving as Paul pulled out and drove away.
The moon shone through the cracks in the blinds, illuminating certain Glo Stars on my ceiling. I lay in bed and listened to the house creak around me as it settled for the night. My mind briefly ran over the party and Jimmy, the guy Carrie had introduced me to. He had been a great guy, really fun and interesting, but the entire night it had felt as though something was missing. So when Jimmy had leaned in to kiss me at the end of the night, I had turned my head, so he caught my cheek. Gently, I told him I wasn't looking for anybody at the time, and like the nice guy he was, he nodded and smiled, still giving me his number.
I was just about to grab my phone off my bedside table and send him a text when I heard a small ping. I froze, my arm hovering over the pillow, when I heard it again. As I sat up I realized the sound was coming from my side window. Slowly, I slid out of the covers and padded across the carpet, parting the blinds ever so slightly to look out.
The screen door squeaked as I stepped out the back door. Quietly, I stepped down from the porch and walked around the corner of the house. Josh turned at the sound of my bare feet brushing the grass. Before I realized what I was doing, I had run across the short expanse of grass and jumped onto Josh, wrapping my legs around his waist. He put his arms around my own waist, touching his lips to mine as I tangled my fingers in his hair.
"She was completely wasted by the time Paul introduced us," Josh whispered, pressing his lips to mine again.
"He wasn't you," I whispered back.