"Dustin!!" Tori yells out my name , the same as everyday, except this time she sounds excited. I feel butterflies fly around in my stomach.
"Dustin!! Dustin!!" She's yelling as she searches around Storm Chargers for me.
Here I am, standing at the doorway to the back room , covered in grease to my chin. Maybe I'll just hide from her...See how mad she gets...
"Waldo!!!!!" There, she said it. Dammit, Tor!
"Hey! Here!! I'm here!! What I tell you about calling me that?!" I say, walking over to her, attempting to clean the grease off of my hands with a dirty rag.
The look on Tori's face was almost scary. She stared at me with big bright eyes and smiled uncontrollably. She looked so happy. And beautiful...
"Guess what!!!! You will never guess what!! " She jumped at me. I flinched, 'cuz you know, Tori likes to beat me up.
"Um...wait...lemme guess..." I ponder, playing with my chin.
"I betcha won't!!"
"Give me a chance! Hold on!" I say as Tori Jitters and jumps around like she's on speed. Hey, maybe that's what it is....
"One guess....then I'm tellin' !!" She laughs.
"Ok..ok ..ok! Um....you won the lottery!!!" I jump up and down. Dude that'd be sweet!
Tori smacks my arm. "You wish!" She says, "No! No! But seriously...."
Ok ...Tor...Now why pause.......Just tell me already!!!
"seriously............" I gesture with my greaseball hands for her to spit it out.
"We got the apartment!!!!" Tori jumps into my arms and hugs me tight. Wait....Did she just say....
"WE GOT THE APARTMENT??!" I grab her shoulders and shake her a little, "That is so awesome!! Dude I am so stoked!!"
"Ha! I knew you would be!" Tori grabs me and hugs me , again. In the middle of this great news, I seem to sink into the moment. Tori in my arms. God if only she knew....
"So.." I quickly break away , "when do we move in?"
"Well.." Tori's smile is amazing... "We can move in by the weekend . And we need to pay the landlord the first two months rent in advance. So that's like..um..ohh..$800 each..can you swing it?"
"Um..yeah..sure..I'm all over it."
"Oh great! Dustin, I am so excited you have no idea! This is going to be so great!!" Tori's face lights up the entire room. "I'll be in charge of the decorating! And we'll have lots of healthy food in the house , 'cuz you know what Sensei always says.."
"Woah!" I say , cutting her off, "Maybe we should, you know, for right now just focus on moving our stuff into the place first." Yeah..now I'm the level headed smart one. Ha! Plus, she's crazy if she thinks we're eating veggies!
"Sorry! I'm just way out there! I can't wait to move in, roomy!" Tori giggles as she nudges me with her shoulder. I wish she'd hug me again..
"Me neither, Tor! Hey, there's no one else I'd rather live with!" Ok ..why did I just say that...I mean it is the truth but..
Tori laughs and squeezes my arm. "Ditto!!" She squeals.
Ouch!! "Ouch! That hurt!" I rub my sore arm, where she had squeezed the life.
"Sorry, D..." Tori giggled. Wow....I really love it when she laughs...Even if it is me she's laughing at.
"So hey ...what are you doing tonight?" I ask, scratching my head. Why am I always so nervous around her now?
"Oh, I dunno..I was thinking of hanging with some girlfriends.." Tori looked down at her feet...then back at me. "Why?"
"Oh ..well..just wondering...I sorta got nothing to do..but it's cool. I'll just eat and watch some T.V. ... same as every night." I laugh feeling a little upset..
Tori places a hand on my head, "Awe!!" She giggles. She pats my head and softly nudges my chin. And I just wish I had the nerve... I glance at her with puppy dog eyes. Is she making fun of me? She makes a pouty face," You know, if you don't mind a bunch of chicks yappin' all night and watching girly flicks, you are more than welcome to come with."
"Wow...well..I'm not sure if that's an invite or a yeah-so-I-feel-bad-for-you sympathy trip." I say, a little defensive.
Tori looks at me with those ' now would I ever do that' eyes of hers.
"Dustin! Seriously! Come with..It'll be fun. And you can get to meet my friends." Tori pleads. Do I really have to think twice?
"Ok...I mean, since you put a gun to my head." I laugh. Tori joins in on the laughter and smacks my arm. She really does love to abuse me doesn't she? Ouch.....
"Great! We're gonna go to my friend Vanessa's house. You drivin' or am I?"
"I'll do the driving.. You need a break." Plus I'm really excited about my new car. It's a silver kia...It's sweet! And driving Tori around in it is an even sweeter deal!
"Thanks..Driving all the time can be a total drag.." Tori puts her hands on her hips. Her white shirt rises just enough to show a small glimpse of her smooth stomach.
"Of course, Tor. So what time am I picking you up?" I say, feeling guilty for totally checking her out.
"Um...around 7-ish?"
"I'll be there."
"You better!" Tori jokes, "Listen, I gotta run and take care of some stuff, so, I'll see ya at 7"
"No doubt." I say, wishing she'd stay for a minute more.
"Alrighty, see ya later, D!" Tori leans in and quickly pecks me on the cheek. She skips, giggling, out of the store. Kelly walks over to me, watching Tori bounce away. She turns to me, still startled –my heart pounding, my skin feeling hot. I must be bright red by now. Dammit, Tori!
"Wow...whats up with Tori? She must be incredibly happy about something , 'cuz I've never seen her..you know..giggle so much." Kelly questioned," Well, I mean, except when she's around Blake, but-"
"Yeah....so..anyway.." I interrupt. C'mon do we really need to bring up Blake and how she feels about him? Not that I dislike him or anything but...
"Did I say something wrong?" Kelly asks.
"No. Sorry, Kel...Tori's just real happy 'cuz we got the apartment." I force a smile.
Kelly's face brightens with a huge smile as she jumps into my arms almost knocking me over, "That's great news, Dustin! Congratulations!"
"Yeah...Thanks a lot Kel."
"What's the matter with you, you don't seem as excited as you should be." Kelly always knows when something's off..even a little.
"Nah...I'm totally stoked.." You know, pretending to be happy isn't all that easy.
Kelly smirks at me. I don't think she buys it. "Hmmm" She sarcastically stares at me as she walks away, "Well, you know what to do if you need to talk, babe!" She yells as she heads back to counting out the register.
"Thanks Kel! You're the best bost ever!" I smile, yelling back.
With a huge sigh, I walk back into the back room to finish the oil changes I was previously working on. As I seem to constantly be swallowed by large amounts of grease, I think about Tori....God, I wish I could stop thinking about her, but for the past six months, it's been hard as hell. I'll start to think of her...how amazing she makes me feel...how beautiful she is...her eyes...her body...oh..her body...uuuugghhh!!! See, there I go again....And I tell myself, okay, no more thinking of her. Just anything but her...and it only makes me think of her even more...Damn these feelings! Oh well...tonight should be interesting.....