iCan't Explain

I woke, up, Saturday morning, totally confused. Where to go? What to do? So I got

dressed and sat around. After a while, I called Marissa.

"Is Jamie picking you up, or something?"

"Can he drive?" she asked.

"No…he's a ninth grader."

"Then it won't look cool. So no."

"What? Are you nuts? If Casey was picking me up"—

"You'd scream in joy, you'd hold his hand, and you'd find a way to somehow kiss him during the walk. Then you guys would be a thing and he'd carry you the rest of the way."

"Way to be cliché, Marissa." I said, rolling my eyes. Nothing could ruin this day, not even Marissa teasing me about Casey.

Marissa then didn't have any other advice on what to do. Maybe I should call Casey myself? Okay, so that was an option. I sat around thinking for a while, when the phone rang.

Like, forever.

Finally, I picked it up. Exasperated I said, "What?"

"Sammy" Casey's smooth voice asked.

His unmistakable laugh filled my ears through the phone. "Oh. I guess I understand why you snapped."

"Eh…" I laughed nervously. "Eh…hehe.."

"So? Meet me at…the mall? Six?"

"Why?"

He laughed again. "The dance, remember?"

"Right." Right.

After Casey hung up, I walked around. I walked to the bathroom. Foxed my hair. Opened it. Then I fixed my shoes. I tied them, for once. Then I pulled my shorts down as much as possible.

I got another call.

"Hellllllo?" I asked.

The first thing s Casey said was: "By the way, where is you grandma?"

Oh, right. I forgot to tell him that part.

"She's gone on a trip for a couple of days. With practically half of the building. It's an oldie-thing."

He laughed. "You know, there's never a time I've been with you that you haven't made me laugh."

I blushed, glad he couldn't see. "Well, I don't know…I'm never actually funny around guys. You, though…you…"

His voice sounded so happy that it almost made me blush again, "I what?"

"I don't know!"

"Yes you do. You hesitated."

"Casey! Stop!"

Then I heard a voice in the background. "SHE HESITATED BECAUSE SHE'S MAAAD;Y IN LOVE WITH YOU, CASEY!"

"Who the hell was that?" I demanded.

"Billy. It's on speaker phone."

"You could've told me!"

"Well, the reason I called was to invite you over. Before the dance, y'know?"

"No."

"Well, just to hang out. You, me, and Billy. And Danny, too."

To tell the truth, it sounded fun. But I wasn't sure. It might be awkward, you know? One girl, three guys. But I really did want to go, so I said, "Yeah, sure. I'll be there. In twenty minutes. It takes a while to get down there."
I could now hear Billy whooping in the background. "GO URLACHER!"

"Um…Do I wan't to ask?"

"Nope." he said. Then he added, "See ya in twenty!"

"Yeah." Then I hung up.

When I got to Casey's house (finally), there was music playing.

"Come in!" Casey said, smiling. He led me into his living room. "My dad's gone for the day. So he won't mind if you're here. Normally he woulda gone crazy if a girl was here with three guys." He knew it sounded weird, so he added, "For the sake of the girl, right?" really quick.

I smiled and said, "Uh-huh."

When I actually heard the music playing, I almost choked. The first thing I said to them was, "AC/DC? You freaks!" Now, I have nothing against AC/DC. (A/N: Sorry, AC/DC lovers. I don't have anything against AC either I just had to put some guys thing for Sammy to hate. But some guy thing for her to love. :D You'll see.)

I picked up the black iPod that was on the deck, and flipped through it. Finally I came to my favorite song. Time is Running Out by Muse. (A/N: I am in Muse obsession right now. Spare me for putting too much Muse in here. And Time is Running Out is my favorite song at the moment.) Billy said, "Hey! You listen to this stuff?"

I turned to him. "Who doesn't?"

They all shrugged. Casey whispered something to Billy. Billy grinned. At me.

So we talked and hung out, like friends should. Danny was looking at me suspiciously. Well, not suspiciously, but the whole time he was just staring at me. Like an idiot, with his eyes wide open and his jaw dangling open, too. Like an idiot, like I said. I wouldn't be surprised if drool started to come out of his mouth. I wasn't planning on commenting on the drool, either, 'cause I've learned that drool is a sore subject for me. (A/N: Do I rock r what? I managed to fit in a "drool" line! Yeahh! OK, sorry for the commentary. This is not supposed to be a story with a fanfiction-author commentary. I'll save comments for the end.) After that song ended, we just sat there.

"So," Casey said getting up. "Anyone hungry?"

All the guys got up to eat, so I figured I'd get up, too. There was popcorn, and I never liked popcorn in the first place, so I didn't eat it. There was, though, barbeque chips, which I occasionally ate. Billy and Danny decided to go to the basement and play ping pong after that. Which led me and Casey. Alone. In his living room. On a couch. Together. Alone.

Where was I going with this?

Then smiled. "Nervous?"

"For what?"
"The dance?"

"Not really. I'm excited, though."

He laughed. I swear, I could see his hand move closer to my knee.

Uh oh!

We talked some more, but his face was glued to my face, and my face was glued to his eyes. Stupid huh? Half a year or even a month ago, I would've looked down or away or something, not directly making eye contact. How had it come to this? Now I was sitting inches away from him and looking deeply away into his eyes while we talked?

"So?" he asked.

"So what?"

"We were talking about how you felt."

"About what?"

"Me?"
I was very confused. His hand moved onto my knees. I could feel an electrical current run through me. It was even worse for him to do this today, because I was wearing shorts!

"How you, um, feel about me?" He asked again.

When I didn't answer he said, "Well, you know how I feel about you, right?"

I shook my head. I was too stunned to speak.

He started to lean close to me, as if telling a secret. But I knew it wasn't that. It was much, much more. So much more I didn't want to go too deeply into it.

I woke up. It was around 4 o'clock now, and Casey was sitting up on the couch with me, his legs curled up besides him. He was watching CSI (A/N: Sorry for the comment. I love CSI!)

"What happened?"

"You fell asleep."

"Where are Billy and Danny?"

"Trying to hold a world record."

"For what?"

"For Longest Game of Ping Pong Before a Valentine's Dance."

I laughed. That was so Billy to think of something like that. But that wasn't what was bothering me at the moment. What was bothering me was the fact that I vaguely remember feeling something before I fell asleep. Was it… I didn't remember. I remember, though, that I felt this feeling of being so close to someone that…I don't know.\

I remember the sensation running up and down me as we kissed.

As we kissed…!

"Casey, did you kiss me?"

He looked at me. I guess I had said it kind of accusingly. Like, "Why did you kiss me when I didn't want you to?"

"You kissed back!" he said, defensively.

I laughed. "I'm not mad. I just didn't remember. That well."

"You don't?"

"Not really."

His smile got bigger and giddier. "Do you want me to make you remember?"

I didn't answer. I just let his arms slip around my waist and my hands around his neck, as I began to remember how it felt to be kissed my Casey Acosta.