-1Think About Me

You turn your pretty head if it gets real

"Manny!"

She stopped on her way to meet Jimmy for lunch and turned warily. "What do you want, Craig?"

"I, uh, just wanted to talk," he said, sounding strangely nervous. "Do you have a minute?"

Manny sighed and checked her watch. "Well, yeah, I guess," she assented reluctantly. She knew Jimmy was probably already waiting, as he was allowed out of class a few minutes early. "But just a minute, seriously."

"Good. I just ... I wanted to apologize to you. About the way I acted the other day, when you told me ... when you told me what you did." Craig wet his lips. "It was kind of a shock, that's all, and I really didn't mean to be such a jerk to you."

Of all the things she'd been expecting from him, an apology had been nowhere near the top of the list. Manny shook herself out of her shock to respond. "Oh. Wow. Craig, that's ... really nice of you. Um. Apology accepted."

Relief swamped his handsome features. The small smile he offered would once have stopped her heart, but she noted the curve of his lips now and felt nothing. "Great. So we're ... okay, then?"

Manny nodded distractedly, in awe of her sudden lack of response to the boy she'd believed herself to be in love with since Grade Seven. "Yeah, Craig. We're okay."

"'Kay. Tell Jimmy ... " he shrugged, at a loss. "Tell him I'm pulling for him."

"I will," she assured, giving him a genuine smile. "See you around, Craig."

With that, Manny did something she'd never thought she'd be capable of - walked away from Craig Manning without looking back.

XXX

"You will not believe what just happened."

Jimmy looked up from his tuna sandwich at the declaration and found Manny standing at his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "Do I get three guesses?"

"If you want 'em," she giggled, sliding into the seat next to him and opening her brown bag with a flourish. "Spike packed me a lunch this morning, how cute is that?"

"Very cute," he laughed with her, loving how excited she looked at the prospect of a homemade lunch. "Okay. First guess. Hmm. Emma told you she was giving up vegetarianism for a life of extra rare hamburgers and tacos with real meat in them?"

"Not in this lifetime," Manny denied. "Em loves her tofu. Give up yet?"

"Don't rush me, I've got two more! Let's see. You scored an A on Kwan's latest paper?"

"A minus, actually, but not what I was referring to."

"Oh, well, congratulations, anyway. Okay. Last one. Gotta make it count. Um ... oh, I've got it. You beat out Paige for captain of the Spirit Squad!"

Laughter bubbled out of Manny's throat, forcing her to pause in her consumption of Spike's delicious meal. "Nice try, Brooks, but are you kidding? Paige owns those girls."

"You're right, you're right. I should've known better." Shaking his head in mock-disappointment, Jimmy heaved a sigh. "Okay. I know when I'm beat. What just happened to you?"

"Craig apologized!" Realizing she had practically squealed the news, Manny glanced around the cafeteria and quieted. "He caught up to me in the hall and told me how sorry he was for being such an ass."

Craig. He should've known. Anything that put such a glow on Manny's cheeks had to be somehow related to that jerk. Jimmy forced himself to act upbeat. "That's great, Manny. I'm happy for you."

"That's not the best part," she brushed aside impatiently.

Jimmy's jaw clenched. Could Craig possibly have realized what a mistake he'd made in letting her go and asked her back out? Were they together again? None of your business, man, he reminded himself, preparing for the worst.

"I realized I'm completely over him!" she revealed. At Jimmy's stunned silence, she nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. I didn't expect it either but I was just looking at him and I realized ... I felt absolutely nothing. The butterflies he used to give me are gone."

"That's great, Manny," he repeated, but this time, the words were flooded with sincerity. "We should celebrate. What do you think? Dinner tonight at the Dot? Eight o'clock?"

Manny's eyes shone as she nodded happily at him over the drink she'd raised to her lips. Swallowing a sip of water, she knocked the plastic bottle against his and winked. "It's a date."

XXX

"Sorry I'm late!"

Manny rushed into the diner at 8:17, hair flying around her shoulders as she hurried to take her place across from him at the table. She fell into her seat, breathless and flushed, and the smile she shot him threatened to put him in a similar seat.

"Sorry," she said again, "It was a little hectic trying to get out of Em's house. That family is absolutely insane."

"It's cool," he laughed, sounding much more relaxed than he'd been a minute ago. "I ordered burgers and fries for the both of us, is that okay?"

"And a Dr. Pepper!" Spotting the second glass on the table, she pulled it closer and took a long drink. "Thanks, Jimmy. You sure know the way to a girl's heart."

"Yeah, well, I'm a bit of an expert," he bragged, puffing out his chest.

"Oh, really, Rico Suave? Do tell."

"A gentleman never tells," he denied her dramatically.

Manny snorted. "That's okay, I don't see any gentlemen around here."

"Ouch. I'll have you know, I have impeccable manners and -"

"Great taste in food," she cut him off excitedly as their meals arrived. "Those look delicious!"

"Try eating them and see how they taste," he advised, and they both dug in.

The meal passed in a flurry of good-natured bantering and periodic eruptions of laughter that caused the other patrons to look up and see what all the commotion was about. Manny covered her mouth when she laughed particularly hard, a trait Jimmy found ridiculously endearing. By the end of the night, he was convinced he had enough courage to make his move.

At the end of the Nelson-Simpson's driveway, they paused, both waiting for the other to set the tone of their good-bye. Manny studied the ground, unconsciously biting her lip, until Jimmy reached out and laced his fingers through hers.

"Listen, Manny. I've been thinking a lot lately and I realized ... I realized something important. Ever since the shooting, I haven't felt like myself. At least, not all the way. There's been something missing since I first woke up. Except when I'm with you." He shrugged. "You make me remember what I was like before. And I think ... I think we have something."

"Of course we have something," Manny cut in. She was panicking. She was in no way ready for what she thought Jimmy might be about to say. "We have such a great friendship, Jimmy. No one besides Emma has ever been there for me like you have. You know how much I appreciate that, right?"

"Yeah. Uh, yeah. That's what I was trying to get at," Jimmy said numbly. He knew exactly what she wasn't saying. "You're a great friend, Manny. I just wanted to thank you for putting up with me and all my issues, that's all."

"Ditto," she smiled, relieved. Bending, she kissed his cheek chastely, and disappeared inside, leaving Jimmy alone in the dark.