AN: wow, my new story, THE LIST, got more reviews in 24 hours than this got in an entire week. :P WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? D: more reviews, faster updates... which leads me to think that people don't really care about updates for this one. SIGHH. okay. enough pity-hooring ;D
DISCLAIMER: BY GOLLY, it's disclaimed.
Massie Block typed furiously on the black keyboard of her MacBook Air. How dare her roommate, Claire, bring in some new girl without asking Massie's permission first? It was Massie's little clique—her MAC (Massie and Crew)—or at least that's what the unspoken rule was.
massiekur: lyons! wtf were you thinking?
clairebear: um, happy thoughts? :)
Of course Massie didn't mind the new girl. Kristen seemed nice enough and not power-hungry at all. Massie didn't have anything to worry about, not her group's reputation or her own. She'd allow this girl to slide under the radar for now… or at least until someone had a complaint.
massiekur: you're not completely off the hook yet…
clairebear: hahaha, mass. i know you're too nice to not be jk :P
Massie rolled her eyes. Just her luck that Claire, being the only one of her friends who knew all her sides—even the insecure, not-so-in-control side that she rarely ever showed—also had to be the friend that tended to test Massie a bit too much.
"Ehma—Massie!"
Massie turned, wrinkling her nose when she saw her friend, Alicia Rivera, standing in her doorway, clutching a box of tissues to her ample cleavage as though it was the last pair of Giuseppe Zanotti's during a fall sample sale.
"Um?" Massie hesitated, closing her laptop and swiveling in her cushy desk chair. "Can I help you?"
Alicia grabbed a tissue out of the Kleenex box and dabbed away her invisible tears. "I can nawt believe the way Josh was flirting with Kuh-risten."
Massie raised an eyebrow. "Um, how about the way that Chris was flirting with Kristen? Shouldn't that have been the thing bothering you? Just yesterday, you told me how much you liked him."
Alicia pouted, pushing out her gloss-plumped lips (the ones that she always claimed were 100% au naturel). "Yeah, but I had a total epiphany moment and I realized that, like, Chris has been just a rebound for me for the past five months."
"So you're saying you're back on Josh?" Massie said slowly, shaking her head. Alicia was a total beauty but was completely lacking in the brains department. Sure, she had a surprisingly good vocabulary (though she never used it), but lacked in common sense.
Didn't she know that there was no way Josh would just automatically like her again? That all this would only lead to trouble and heartbreak?
"Leesh," Massie said soothingly, trying a different approach. Calm and collected wasn't going to work this time. She needed to act like the great best friend that always knew what was right for her friends. "I really don't think this is a good idea. Have you tried being absolutely single for once? You know, it's actually very nice not being so dependent on boys. For instance, Derrick and I are solely best friends and I—"
"Ehmagawd," Alicia wailed, "but I love Josh with my heart and souuuuuuul!"
Massie exhaled. This was bound to get messy.
--
"So this is where you guys usually eat?" Kristen Gregory asked, surveying around the cozy little bakery. "It's quirky." She said with a grin, taking a sip from her spoonful of clam chowder (in a sourdough bread bowl, of course!).
"You said you're from North California last night, right?" Josh asked, instantly making Kristen feel all bubbly inside as she was reminded by how Josh walked her back to her dorm building after dinner and they ended up sitting on the steps for half an hour just talking. Josh had reluctantly left only because they had to get up early for class next morning, but not before making plans to meet for lunch the next day.
"Yup."
"Well," Josh blushed. "I know it's cheesy and you'll probably get annoyed by how stereotypical I'm being, but I thought that San Francisco has a lot of clam chowder, right? So…" He trailed off, gesturing at what the two of them were having.
Kristen pressed her lips together firmly. God, this guy was great. She could already feel a huge crush developing, and it wasn't just because of his long lashes or perfectly toned body. Or the great tan. Or the perfect smile.
But those were great pluses too.
"You're really sweet." Kristen said.
Josh gave her a funny look and returned back to his food.
Wait, was she not supposed to say that? Kristen furrowed her brows and took another sip of her soup. Kristen was always completely open with people. Like Kemp and his pick-up lines, she was definitely one of those people who just blurted out whatever she was thinking at the moment. Of course her thoughts weren't innuendos, but they weren't that weird either… right?
Josh looked back up at Kristen after a while of silence and sat back in his chair. "And I think you're really different." He said with a smile.
Kristen stuck out her tongue. "Jeez, you scared me. I thought I said something wrong."
Josh laughed. "No, I just stayed quiet because I was thinking what I could say to you. But I couldn't really, you know, just sum it up that well." Josh smiled sheepishly before putting down his spoon on the napkin by his plate. "So, um, tell me about pre-Westchester you."
Kristen wrinkled her nose. What was she supposed to say? That her life was absolutely boring? That she had a lot of friends but none who she felt that close to? That no guy had ever cared to talk to her except to ask for homework help or invite her to play soccer with them?
"I don't know," Kristen said with a shrug. "Nothing too interesting, I guess. Why don't you tell me about pre-Kristen Westchester."
Josh smiled. "Well… it could take a while."
"It's okay!" Kristen assured, ripping off a piece of bread from the bread bowl's "lid" and dropping it into the soup to soak. "I've got this entire meal to eat while listening."
"Okay, well, long story short," Josh puffed out his cheeks for a second before continuing, obviously trying to organize all the thoughts and memories together. "Massie and Cam sort of had a 'thing' in the beginning of the year but nothing really happened, but you should've seen the tension. You could totally sense they wanted to kiss each other and all that fun stuff but they were too busy trying to just be friends to avoid the whole awkward, liking best guy friend thing. After all that happened, Massie became really close with Derrick because Cam went to the winter dance with Claire, but they're really just friends too. But Claire and Massie are really close so Massie didn't want that to become awkward and—"
"Hold up," Kristen interrupted. "This whole thing is about Massie. And it's really confusing too. Skip to the parts I can understand." Kristen joked.
Josh laughed. "Fine. Shortened long story short. Massie and Cam liked each other but never got together. Massie thought Claire and Cam liked each other so she ditched Cam and became best friends with Derrick. Chris was always a player, but he and Alicia have been 'hooking up' I guess since near the end of last year? I don't really care, even though I guess everyone's expecting me to since Alicia and I went out for a while last year. But it was freshman year and that's when you learn a lot about yourself, you know?"
Kristen tilted her head side to side. "Not really for me. But maybe sophomore year's the year for that in my case?"
"Maybe," Josh grinned. "Kemp's cool, even though sometimes he acts like a total perv. Chris is really nice too. He just has a funny way of showing it. Derrick's really chill, except he kind of has a rep for being a teensy bit of a flirt, but honestly, that's not what he wants. And Cam's really nice.
"He has cool eyes." Kristen's eyes widened.
"Chyeah, he does." Josh laughed. "Dylan's really nice too. A bit bold, but nice. Claire's always happy and always up to good. Alicia… well, she has her really good moments too. And Massie's just Massie. She's cool when you get to know her."
Kristen smiled. All this talk about the group made her feel like she was really in it. Permanently. Yet she wondered if that was really the case.
"So Josh Hotz," Kristen said in a semi-serious, hushed voice. "What do you want to happen this year?"
"This year?" Josh repeated. He closed his eyes for a second, thinking about it seriously. "I think I like what's happening already." He said after he opened his eyes and looked at Kristen.
Kristen blushed on the outside. But on the inside, she couldn't help but hear that nagging voice in her head that was telling her that this didn't feel quite right.
--
Derrick Harrington stretched his arms and tilted his head back against the comfortable sofa that he and Massie were currently sitting against on the floor. Their homework lay around them in desperate circle, trying to look organized and doable.
But they hadn't really been making much progress.
"Mass," Derrick groaned. "Do we really have to do this today? Mr. Jacobs didn't say it was due until—"
"Do I look like a procrastinator?" Massie tapped a pencil against Derrick's opened notebook. "Do you need help or something?" She said, scooting closer to take a look at the Algebra 2 textbook on Derrick's other side.
Derrick wanted on hold his breath—Massie being in such close proximity was making his hands a bit clammy and his heart (and his thoughts, damn hormones) a bit racy—yet he couldn't help but get a sniff of her clean-smelling shampoo. Leave it to Massie not to buy anything fruit-scented or floral.
It was just clean. Crisp. Fresh. Simple, yet so perfectly classy. Just like Massie herself.
"Actually, I kind of do." Derrick said, glancing over at the piece of notebook paper Massie had on top of the Pre-Calc book. "But I'm sure you don't need any, you smartass."
"Shut up," Massie laughed, elbowing Derrick playfully.
Flirty moments like these really made Derrick wonder. Were they really just friends? Or were they more like he always hoped so? Had Massie been making him watch too many chick flicks?
All this self-questioning was starting to make Derrick feel more and more feminine.
"Oh yeah, Josh told me he really likes that new girl." Derrick brought up, changing the subject before he blurted out something about how good Massie's hair smelled or how he really, really, really loved her.
Massie turned to Derrick and gave him an odd look. "You don't like her too, do you?"
Derrick froze. Why the hell would Massie think that? "I don't." Derrick said, blinking back at her stare.
Massie stayed silent for a while before shrugging. "Okay, so what about Josh and Kristen?"
"How's Alicia dealing with it?" Derrick asked. "You know, being Josh's ex and all."
Massie sighed, looking at Derrick with sad eyes. "That is the last thing I want to be talking about right now."
"So what's the first?" Derrick suddenly sat up. Maybe they could talk about the two of them. They could have the whole "let's talk about us" conversation that would end with a sappy one-liner (or two, if Derrick thought that was the smoother way to go) and a romantic kiss.
Massie tapped the eraser side of her pencil against her lips lightly. Derrick noticed how she had forgotten her usual gloss, yet her lips look softer and more kissable than ever.
God, he had to learn how to control his thoughts.
"Let's talk about math."
Disappointment, anyone?
must i beg...?
V