6-James
Mitch arrived about the same time as us, and the first thing I did was look for Ally. But as Mitch exited his car, and no girl came from behind him, I began to wonder what had happened to her.
I wasn't the only one that had noticed her absence. Ben and Tyler were looking at each other, wondering the same things that I was.
"Dude…where's your sister?" Ben asked, immediately after we had all gathered in the parking lot. Mitch sighed in annoyance. "Can't we just not talk about my dumb sister for once?"
Everyone was surprised with Mitch's snappy comment, even me. But apparently, that wasn't enough for Jarrett. "But man…wasn't she supposed to come?"
Mitch let out another deep sigh. "She decided that she'd better not come. She had…homework." Jarrett, Ben, Tyler, and I immediately looked at each other. The disappointment was written all over their faces.
I quickly looked away, cleverly hiding my thoughts. I didn't need the guys to know that I, too, liked Ally. Especially not Mitch. If he knew that I liked his only sister, I would be a dead man.
"Well," Mitch said, suddenly, breaking the silence. "We had better get inside. I'm starving." The rest of us filed into the pizza place without another word, but I wasn't much hungry, anymore.
It felt like…something was missing, and that definitely did not sit right in my stomach. Every possibility that I thought of that might give me this feeling did not seem to fit. But as soon as Ally popped into my mind, I knew that that was the problem.
I knew for sure, because as soon as I saw her beautiful face in my mind, I thought I might hurl. "I…I'll be right back," I told Mitch, and rushed to the one-person bathroom.
Of course, as soon as I got there, I just couldn't throw up. Instead, I turned on the faucet and splashed some water onto my face. I stared at myself in the mirror. I couldn't help but wonder what she felt about me.
I wondered if she had even considered me as more than just a guy she knew. It was true that you could hide so much behind a simple smile.
When I was sure that I had pulled myself together, I exited the restroom and rejoined the guys. Mitch was sitting with the rest of the team at a long table, and I slipped next to him.
Mitch patted my back. "Are you ok, buddy?" I nodded, though I really wasn't quite sure, myself. "Yeah, I just had a little stomach ache," I said, and looked to see what the other guys were doing.
"Oh, hey, look!" Ben exclaimed. "Look guys, the pizzas!" Sure enough, four large pizzas, carried by a couple people, were coming our way. As tempting as they looked, I couldn't eat. I still felt a gnawing in my stomach.
"Hey, man, eat something!" Jarrett said, devouring a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Yeah, James," Mitch agreed. "We need more of that energy. What you showed us today is what we need."
I smiled a little. "Don't worry about me, guys. I'm just not too hungry, tonight." They shrugged it off and just kept eating, while I kept thinking. The thing that I pondered most of all was that, if I hadn't come to practice today, would I have not suddenly like Ally?
Or would I instantly begin to think about her that way? I knew I shouldn't think about what could have been, but I really wanted to know. It was killing me to not know what Ally felt about me.
The time slipped by faster than I thought possible, and finally, everyone began to head out of the pizza place and back to their houses.
Mitch and I were the last to leave. He was smiling hugely for some weird reason, and at last I had to know the reason. "James," he said to me, before I could ask him. "Look behind you." I turned around, curiously, and saw nothing but couple of girls cleaning tables.
"What?" I asked, turning back to Mitch. He sighed. "The girls. Look at them." Mitch hissed, and I quickly took another look. I saw nothing especially striking about them, except their good looks, and that was probably which was what Mitch found so interesting.
"They go to our school," he told me and I listened, but not really caring. These girls might mean something to my best friend, but certainly not to me. All I wanted was Ally, and it was like, I couldn't think of any other girl in that way. "Aren't they hot?" Mitch went on, and I shrugged. "Yeah, sure, man."
Mitch acknowledged my non-interest and sighed. "Dude, what's eating you? You've been all…slow, all night." I only shrugged at him, and he shook his head. "You need to loosen up, man. Watch me." He cleared his throat a bit, and walked in the direction of the girls.
I watched him, like he had told me to do, but without much interest. He seemed to be talking to them, and soon after, he returned to me. The pretty brunette with the really curly hair smiled at me weirdly, and I quickly looked back at Mitch.
"Dude," he said as returned. "We now have dates for tomorrow night." My mouth dropped open. "You can thank me, later," he quickly added. "Mitchel Torres," I heard myself say. "You are NUTS!" he just smiled at me, and we walked out of the pizza place.
I couldn't believe Mitch had actually set me up on a date, with a girl I didn't even know. I didn't want to do it. I couldn't! I had fallen for Ally, not this random chick. And besides he couldn't make me go out with her. I would tell him that I wasn't interested. But how exactly would I tell him?
As I wondered how to do this, he and I split, and I got into my car. Oh, well, I thought as I buckled my seat belt and started the car. I'll tell him tomorrow. It's getting late. I yawned and pulled out of the parking lot, tiredly.