by Kerry Sparks
Chapter 3- A Boy’s Room
“You want to come in?” he asked.
I gulped. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans.
“Sure,” I said shyly.
I wonder what his room looked like. I wouldn’t have to wonder for long.
“You like Pringles?” he asked.
“I love Pringles,” I gushed.
“Calm down,” I told myself, “They’re just Pringles.”
He grinned and grabbed the tube of chips. They were cheese flavored. Then he grabbed two Sprites out of the fridge.
“Let’s go before my mom sees you. She’ll want to play twenty questions with you,” he said.
“Twenty questions? That’s it?” I joked.
He grinned again. His smile was just too gorgeous. I had to look away. I followed him upstairs. We turned the corner, and there we were.
It was a pretty cool room. I could tell that Scott really liked space stuff. His ceiling was painted black, and he had these sticky glow and the dark thingies that were shaped like planets, stars, moons, etc. His comforter was dark blue, and it also had stars on it. He had a microscope, some slides and a magnifying glass on one desk and a laptop on another desk. He had a video game system hooked up to a small TV. It looked like pretty normal stuff for a boy’s room, though I didn’t have many boys’ rooms to compare it to. Scott’s room was my first boy’s room.
“Here,” he said, handing me a Sprite.
“Thanks,” I said.
I twisted off the cap and slowly took a drink. The fizz felt uncomfortable in my throat. I wondered if Scott could tell I was nervous.
“You look nervous,” he said, “Look. I’m just going to get this over with so we can both calm down, and I know you have to get home. I want to go to the dance with you. Do you want to go with me?”
I had been drinking my Sprite so, of course, I choked when he asked me this. He patted my back a few times. I looked at him. His dark blue eyes were so soulful. He concentrated on me through his thick dark glasses. He pushed his brown hair back away from his forehead. A few pieces were wet with sweat. I guess Scott was nervous too. I looked into his eyes again. I felt like I could tell him anything.
“I want to go with you, but Lindy wants to go with you. So if I go with you then I’ll lose Lindy,” I explained.
He cleared his throat.
“I already told her no. It’s not like you’re stealing me from her,” he said.
“I know. But she’s my best friend. You can’t like who your best friend likes. It’s just an
unwritten rule,” I explained.
“Sounds like a pretty dumb rule to me,” he said.
And then he was kissing me. This boy was kissing me! His lips were really soft. Did he use Chapstick or something? His breath was sweet. I think he had some orange Tic-Tacs earlier. Orange Tic-Tacs were my favorite. I’d have to buy some the next time I went to the store so I could relive this moment again in my mind. Then he stopped.
“So do you want to go?” he asked.
Yes, yes I did. But what about Lindy? This would devastate her. This would ruin our friendship. This was wrong. I could feel a tear forming in my eye.
“I have to go,” I said.
He grabbed me and gave me a big bear hug. The tear rolled down my cheek.
“I have to go,” I repeated.
“Ok,” he said, “Let me walk you out.”
“No, I’ve got it,” I said.
And I was running down the stairs. I was flying through the living room.
“Well, hello Dear,” said his mother.
She was a gorgeous woman. She had dark brown hair and blue eyes like Scott. She wore a fancy black business suit. Her shoes were fabulous! They were leopard print pumps.
“Hi,” I said wiping my eyes, “I like your shoes. I’ve gotta go.”
And I was out the door just like that. The tears came, and I couldn’t stop them.
Was I in love? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I just had my first kiss. I got asked to go to a dance that I really wanted to go to but couldn’t go. It wasn’t fair. Why was my life like this? Everyone else was going to the dance with a real date, and I had to go with Lindy. Normally, I would be ok with that. But this was not a normal situation!
I had to do something. “Carpe Diem!” as they say. My dad told me it means “seize the day!” It was one of his favorite things to say. But my dad wanted to seize more than just a day. He wanted more money than he could earn so he robbed a bank. He still has fifteen more years of prison time to go. I’m thirteen now so that means I’ll be like twenty eight when he gets out. I’ll probably be married by then. He’ll probably miss my wedding. Well, I can’t think about that right now. I just got done crying, and I don’t want to cry any more. There wasn’t time to cry. I had to brainstorm. Who could Lindy go with?
Maybe that maybe from Tom Bronson would come through. Or maybe Scott had a friend for Lindy, and we could all go together! That would be so awesome. Yes! That could work. I was so excited about my idea I couldn’t wait to talk to Scott about it tomorrow. Wait a minute. Tomorrow is Saturday. That means I have to wait all the way until Monday to ask him. Ugh!
I put my hands in my pocket. Five more minutes of walking, and I’d be home. But I think I’ll make it ten more minutes and stop at the gas station and get some orange Tic-Tacs. Sigh! Orange Tic-Tacs are so romantic.