Popcorn Love

"No dress," Miranda said crossing her arms and looking at her mom.

"Yes," Elena said raising her eyebrow.

"Nooo," the girl whined. It was her birthday and if her mother made her wear a dress, she would cry. Thirteen was a big year and she wanted to wear what she wanted to wear. All of her friends would be at her house in a few hours and she was so nervous. The thought of being thrown into a stuffy dress that would restrict her and make her think twice about her every move pissed her off. She stopped whining and looked at her mom. "I—"

"Maybe not a stiff dressy dress, but a cute dress would make you look even more beautiful than you already are."

Miranda inhaled. "Okay. Nothing too cute, I'm a teenager now."

"Almost," Elena said hugging the girl. They picked out a dress and went back home. Miranda stood in the mirror and stepped into the dress she and her mom had picked out. An inch above her knees, the dress was semi- tie-dyed. The top was white and the bottom was navy blue, her favorite color, and in the middle, the two colors bled together. A brown belt added a flair and Miranda put her new jean jacket, a gift from her grandmother, on top of it to make it more stylish. She eyed herself. Accessories. She needed jewelry. She slid on some bracelets and the necklace her dad had given her for becoming a member of the Junior National Honor Society. "You look so grownup!" Elena hugged Miranda and twirled her around.

Her father, William, walked in her room. "Yeah, too grownup," he said making them laugh. "You look pretty, baby." He embraced her, kissing her cheek.

"Thank you, daddy."

"But remember…"

"Yes?"

"Don't grow up too fast," William said. He shook his finger at her and she giggled. "There she is."

"Who?" Miranda said whipping her head around.

"My little girl." She smiled. "And don't let me see that you were talking to boys for too long."

"Okay," she responded, pouting a little. William raised an eyebrow. Her dad had to work and wouldn't be there, but they would be recording the whole party so that he could watch later. Even on the day of her party, Miranda wasn't sold on the idea, but it would be the only way for her father to witness the event. "I mean, okay."

The party was a big hit. "So much fun, Mandy," someone said as she walked toward her friend.

"Best of the year," her best friend, Beth, said loud enough for their classmate, Tessa, to overhear. The two girls laughed behind their hands. Miranda looked up to see Elena waving at her.

"Yes?" Miranda said walking up to the older woman.

"Have you spoken to all of your guests and said thank you?" Elena brushed imaginary specks from her daughter's shoulders.

"Yes, mama," Miranda said looking around. Her party was going fine without her mother bugging her.

"I don't think you have."

"I have." She surveyed the room. "I've talked to Quincy and Diana and Steve." Miranda hid a smile. Steve was her crush. He was the cutest boy in her class. His brown skin and brown eyes and short black hair made him look like a member of her favorite group, 'New Edition'. Miranda knew that Steve had a crush on her. She also knew that he liked Tessa as well. Nevertheless, Miranda still liked him. "…and Kris and Dominique…" Miranda continued to rattle off the names of everyone in the room who she at least remembered speaking to even if she probably hadn't thanked them. She smiled at her mom. "See?"

Elena cocked her head to the side. "You skipped someone."

"Who?"

"Ben."

"Who is Ben?"

"You don't remember Ben?"

If I did, I wouldn't have said 'Who is Ben?' "No, ma'am."

Her mother smiled and touched her back. "From Raven's wedding. The one who kept chasing you."

"Who invited him?"

"Raven and I did."

"That jerk."

"Excuse me?"

Miranda spoke quickly. She didn't dare play with her mother's wont to snatch her up in front of her friends. "I was talking about Raven." Miranda shook her head. "He kept staring at me."

"You danced with him."

"I said 'no' at first." Elena made a face. "He asked me like twenty times."

"No one made you."

"I was bored."

"You looked like you had a good time to me."

Miranda sighed. "But he was weird, mama."

Her mother chuckled. "I don't care. He's a guest. Your guest. And you need to speak to him and be a good hostess." Miranda started to protest and was met with a stern face and a look that almost ironed her jean jacket. "Now."

"Yes, ma'am." She made her way over to Ben who was standing by the snack table. "H-hi."

"Hi yourself," Ben said. Miranda gave him the onceover. He'd certainly gotten more handsome in the last six years. His hair was in a short afro and unlike the other boys in their jeans; he was wearing khaki pants with a black vest and all-black Converses. He caught her staring. "Do you remember me?"

"Yes, I do. From Raven's wedding."

"Yep," he said popping the 'p'. Ben picked up a small plate from the table that was piled high with popcorn and miniature Kit-Kats. "You weren't very nice then." He chuckled at his own joke.

Feeling the eyes of her mother, she smiled politely. "Thank you for coming to my party." Ben nodded. "Wait! What do you mean I wasn't very nice? I was."

"You were kind of…"

"What? Kind of what?" She was starting to get angry now. How was he going to come to her party and talk bad about her in front of her!?

"Mean?" He offered. He put a piece of popcorn into his mouth and chased it with a Kit-Kat. "Want one?"

"No!" She screeched under her breath. He wiggled his eyebrows. She'd just proven his point. "Sorry, yes." She put her hands on the plate at the same time he did. Their fingers wrestled briefly before she pulled up a piece of each item. "Thank you." With a full mouth, he said that it was no problem. "And, um, sorry for calling you 'weird'."

"You didn't."

She shook with laughter. "I did. At the wedding and just a few minutes ago."

"Mandy! Come here!" Beth said frantically waving her over. Miranda noticed that her crush was standing next to her best friend. Miranda's heart jumped. She heard him ask about Ben.

"Miranda," Ben said.

"Yes?"

"That is a nice dress." She looked down, touching the dress. She was so glad that her mother had convinced her to get it. "Even better than the one you wore at the wedding."

"How do you remember that? I don't even remember that," she laughed and took some more popcorn.

"Mandy!"

She ignored them. "How?"

"Because you were so pretty. You are so pretty." She watched him blush.

A touch on her arm broke their eye contact. "Mandy! Steve wants to talk to you," Beth said trying to control her whisper.

"Okay. But—"

"You can go," Ben said. He smiled at her. Smile's still the same. "I'll catch up with you later."

"No, he can wait," she mumbled. Beth looked between Ben and Miranda and walked off.

He seemed genuinely surprised. "So, uh, what are you going to wish for?" She looked at him. What kind of thirteen year old asked that kind of question? "When you blow out your candles?"

"I don't know. Maybe some new skates, a Walkman, something like that." He shook his head. "What?"

"You're thirteen."

She pointed to the large sign behind him that read: "Happy 13th Birthday, Miranda!" "I know that."

"I'm just saying, you have to wish for something really good because the thirteenth wish is supposed to come true."

"Really?" Miranda finally understood what he was trying to say. Ben nodded "What did you wish for?"

"Well, I'd just moved to a new neighborhood and a new school so I wished for at least one new friend."

"And?"

"Still waiting," he confessed, his cheeks getting even redder than she thought was possible. He ate a piece of chocolate. "But this isn't about me. Just make it good."

Standing in front of her birthday cake, Miranda looked across the table into the glowing faces of her guests. She looked at her mother who was holding up the camera recording her. Her last glance was to the two faces directly in front of her: Steve and Ben. Everyone finished singing and Miranda took a deep breath and blew out the candles.

Beth had already made plans to spend the night. When the girls were in their pajamas, they lay on the floor and gossiped about the party. "What did Steve say to you?" Beth asked. Miranda shrugged. Steve wasn't much of a talker. When she'd gone over to him, he'd just said that the party was nice. He also told her what gift he'd bought. How did she never know how quiet and almost… uninteresting he was? Miranda told this to Beth. "I don't know. But I think he likes you."

"Or he still likes what's-her-name."

"Who was the boy you were talking to? At the snacks."

"Just an old friend, I guess," Miranda smirked. She'd known of Ben longer than she had known Beth. She said this to her friend. The thought amused her to no end and she rolled on her back, laughter overwhelming her. "A boy I met at Raven's wedding."

"You two talked for a long time."

"No, we didn't," Miranda argued.

"You ate stuff from his plate."

"So?"

"You like him."

Miranda could feel herself turning red. "I like Steve."

Beth yawned. "Okay. But you and—"

"Ben."

"That's his name? Well, he's cute. If you don't like him, could you give me his number?" Beth laughed.

Miranda gritted her teeth. "I don't have it," she confessed. "Plus, Steve asked me out."

The other girl popped up. "He did not! Tell me everything!"

"Girls! It's late, go to sleep," William called from across the hall.

"Okay, daddy," Miranda shouted. She gestured for them to lower their voices. "When I finally talked to him, he said that he was having a good time, all the usual stuff. Then we were quiet and he said he liked me and I said that I knew and that I also knew he liked Tessa." She paused, enjoying the attention that Beth was showing, hanging on her every word. "And he said he didn't like her anymore and he asked if I wanted to go to the movies on Saturday." Beth squealed. Miranda's eyes widened.

"Sorry! So you have a date?"

"Maybe. But my mom and dad probably won't let me go out with a boy by myself."

Beth thought for a second, not ready to let the idea die. "What if we went as a four-pack?"

"Who's 'we'?"

"Me, you, Steve and… and… Oooh! The… Ben!"

"Ben?" Something in Miranda stirred. She didn't want Ben to be there while she went on a date with Steve, but she didn't say that to her best friend. "I don't know, Beth. I don't even know him like that. And neither do you."

"Do you want to go out with Steve or not?" Miranda nodded. She really did. She was already quite popular and that would grow even more when the awesomeness of her party got out. But going out with Steve would elevate her status to an unreachable level. And in the 8th grade, status was everything. "Exactly."

"I guess I could get his number from Raven." Beth yawned again with a nod and put her head down on the pillow underneath her. Two minutes later, the pig-tailed girl was asleep. But Miranda couldn't sleep. She saw a flashing light coming through the crack of her bedroom door. Someone was watching TV. She put on her robe and went to the family room. She saw her father in his pajamas with a bowl of ice cream and cake watching her thirteenth birthday party video. "Daddy?"

"Yes, baby," he smiled up at her. "You caught me."

"You're watching it now?" He nodded. "I thought you were going to bed."

"I'm allowed to change my mind, no?"

"Can I have some more cake?"

"A little. And don't tell your mom or she'll kill us." The two of them laughed the same laugh. As she ate her ice cream, Miranda looked on the screen and saw her conversation with Ben end, video Miranda tossed a laugh to video Ben over her shoulder. William looked at his daughter sitting next to him and made a face. Miranda buried her head into her dessert bowl. Then video Miranda walked over to video Steve. Her back was almost against the wall and she surveyed the room as his lips moved. "Which one of these knuckleheads is the one you like?" William called every little boy a knucklehead.

She giggled nervously. "N-no one. Neither. They—Raven... And he, uh, oh—Just a boy from school."

He ignored her sputtering. "So which one of them do you like?"

Miranda got up to pause the video and pointed to Steve. William made a noise. "Yep."

"And he likes me, too," she told him with a smile.

"Does he?"

"Yes. He told and he…askedmeoutforSaturday."

William ate a spoonful of pie. Miranda noticed that he wasn't eating both the pie and ice cream even though they were in the same bowl. Like Ben, he was eating each item separately. Her heart raced as she thought of Ben. "Okay."

"Okay?" So far in her thoughts, she'd lost track of the conversation.

"But I think you should go out in a group. You know, with a bunch of your friends."

Miranda nodded. Beth had predicted this. "Beth likes Ben."

"Who's Ben?" Miranda got up again and rewound the video pausing when she saw Ben. The screen capture saw her smiling on her way to another conversation that she didn't even remember and a smiling Ben staring at her. Miranda pointed to him. Another noise from William. "Oh. You talked to him for a while. Too long in my opinion. Do you like him?" Miranda shook her head. He nodded to the picture. "Looks like you do."

She sat back down and had some more ice cream. "I like Steve," she said again, softly.

Her father turned to her. "It's okay, you know? If you like two boys at the same time. No one should judge you and… it's okay." William gave her a short smile and turned back to the video. "Why do I remember that kid?"

"He was at Raven's wedding. He kept bothering me," Miranda said laughing.

"Oh, yes. You were near hysterics running from him." She nodded. "Little knucklehead turned out alright."

"I guess." She waited. "So I can go, dad? With Steve?" William nodded. She hugged her father tightly and kissed his cheek. Miranda fell asleep watching the video and when she opened her eyes, she was back in her room on the floor next to Beth. She became giddy when she remembered that she could go out with Steve. Her first date. Miranda went back to sleep with a smile on her face.