The Girlfriend Request

by Jodie Andrefski

  He rolled his eyes.

  I shoved my books and bag down by my feet, then shifted to face him. “Eli?” I asked in a warning tone.

  “Shh…” He reached out and placed a finger in front of my lips to stop me from talking. “You’ll find out. Just relax.” He winked.

  What the…

  He shifted the car and hit the gas. My head flew forward a few inches from the unexpected movement, before whipping back and banging against the headrest.

  I opened my mouth to yell at him to slow down, but he was already shaking his head and making tut-tut noises. “No complaining. And no questions about what we’re doing. That’s the deal.”

  “Why do I feel like I’m on a really bad game show?” I muttered.

  Right before we pulled out of the school’s parking lot, he coasted to the side of the road and looked at me.

  “So, Em. I say we just do this and go have fun. Deal?” His eyes dared me to say no.

  I may be a coward with some things, but I’d never backed out on a dare from him, and he knew it. I started to laugh. Bagging class and taking off was too crazy for words—and exactly what I needed. Tipping my head back, I reached up to pull the headband out, and shook my head side to side to free my hair to blow in the spring wind.

  “You’ve got yourself a deal.” I stuck out my hand.

  He smiled wide, clearly pleased. He wrapped his hand around mine to shake on it. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”

  “Well, if you promise…”

  He grinned and reached out his pinkie. I did likewise, and we did the pinky-kiss we’d done a thousand times growing up. As our pinkies locked, we both leaned in to kiss our own clasped hand, his eyes inches away from my own as we did so. My stomach fluttered as the image of kissing him for real filled my mind. I quickly pulled my hand free and backed away, clearing my throat.

  Brows scrunched together, he shot me a look.

  “Um…what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” I pasted on what I hoped passed for a normal smile, not an I was just imagining jumping on your lap leer.

  He tilted his head toward mine. “Your wish is my command.”

  Unfortunately, his smile looked completely normal.

  Sigh.

  Chapter Nine

  Eli

  “Just tell me.”

  “For the tenth time, you’ll see.” Patience wasn’t really Em’s strong suit. It was kind of adorable how she kept asking for hints on where we were headed, but I wanted to surprise her.

  The past few days had been a bit awkward trying to figure out if Kelli was Emma and how I felt about that if she was. How I felt about my new strange feelings about Em. Was I willing to risk our friendship to try to take things to the next level? So at first I’d taken the wuss way out and kind of avoided her, but I’d decided I wanted to try it. Em was more than worth going to bat for, win or lose.

  I tapped a drumbeat out on the wheel, and glanced over as she reached down to adjust her seat for the third time. I fought back a chuckle. “You hungry?”

  She looked up. “Not really. Why? Are you?”

  “I could eat.”

  “So let’s stop and you can get something. Unless we’re close to where we’re going?” she tacked on, obviously still hoping to get a hint.

  I flashed a grin. “Nice try.”

  Her lips turned down in a sexy pout. I tried not to stare and pulled my attention back to the road instead. I cleared my throat.

  “I saw a sign for a gas station at the next exit. I need to fill-up anyway, so I can grab something while we’re there.”

  She didn’t say anything. Was she mad at me? I thought she’d be happy about taking the road trip together. Or that maybe she’d get a clue by the status I’d posted this morning.

  The more I thought about it after we’d talked so much that first night, or rather, after Kelli and I had talked so much, I thought maybe…that it was kind of a game. I knew Em better than I knew anyone, the way she said things, little things about her. And I picked up on those same things talking to Kelli, too.

  I figured we both knew and were having fun with it, so I’d posted a smiley face this morning when I’d decided to ask her to take the trip together. But now…I wasn’t so sure.

  Was I completely off-base with the whole thing? What if I was the world’s biggest moron and didn’t even realize it?

  I glanced over. She sat close to the window, her excitement from earlier seeming to have faded. I frowned. The wind blew her hair across her face, and I couldn’t see her expression.

  I reached over, hesitantly, and tapped her knee. “Hey, you okay?”

  She didn’t answer right away.

  My stomach dropped. “Em?”

  She played with the braided silver ring she always wore on her right hand and looked up. “Sorry, I’m fine. Ignore me. I think the whole skipping out early just has me nervous.” She reached over and poked my shoulder. “But I don’t want to ruin the day, so no more worrying.” She crossed her heart with her finger and smiled. “I promise.”

  Some of the tension left my body. I reached over to take her hand and squeezed. “If you want to go back, we can.” I didn’t want to let go of her hand. It felt right, like it belonged there.

  “No! No, I don’t, honest.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  “I’m very sure.” She nodded and smiled again.

  “Good.” I gave her hand one final squeeze before reluctantly releasing and reaching over to press the track button on the CD player. “In that case, in the spirit of having fun, this song is for us.” I wiggled my eyebrows and grinned.

  The song was another part of my surprise. She’d know what it meant the second she heard it.

  She cocked her head and waited for it to begin. When it did, her eyes widened.

  “Did you pick this one for a reason?” she asked over the opening guitar.

  I just grinned some more as the upbeat Yellowcard song filled the car.

  “There’s a place off Ocean Avenue, where I used to sit and talk to you.”

  She stared. “Eli! We aren’t.”

  Music poured out of the speakers. I moved my head in time to the beat, and couldn’t stop smiling at her expression.

  “Ummm…yes, we are.” I laughed.

  She squealed, “Seriously?”

  I laughed some more at her enthusiasm. I knew she’d love it. Hell, I loved it. A trip to the beach, just the two of us. The past year or so, we’d played this song over and over while we talked about taking off to spend a couple of days hanging out in Ocean City.

  We’d even made a playlist of all the songs we’d listen to on the drive. Ocean Avenue was first on the list.

  “But wait! I thought we talked about going with a bunch of kids?”

  “We will. This is just a day trip for us. We’re still definitely doing the group trip this summer or Kev would kill me.” I laughed then glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “So, I figure we’ll get there about noon, hang out a while, and head back about five. Sound good?”

  I chuckled as Emma jumped up and down in her seat like a little kid. I realized that it made me feel good inside to make her happy.

  She turned to me suddenly, face stricken. “I’ll have to call my parents. If I’m not home after school they’ll wonder where I’m at.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I know. Me too.” I tapped my fingers on the wheel. “But I figure if we call when we get there, they won’t be too ticked, it’s not like we make a habit of ditching school.”

  Although she nodded, I could see she wasn’t completely convinced that they’d just be cool with it.

  “Or, we could tell them that we’re gonna stay after school to work on some project, and say we have plans to meet Kevin and Sarah or whoever for dinner after that.” I glanced her way. “Whaddya think?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  I turned the music down a little. “It’s your call. We’ll do whatever you want.”

  She t
ucked her legs up beneath her on the seat. “I’m thinking we should go with option two.”

  “Okay. But look, if you decide you want to tell them where we really are, we can do that, too.” Even as I said it, I didn’t think that was the way to go. I knew her parents.

  “Let’s just wait and see what we think later. But for now”—she reached over and pressed the volume on the radio, turning it back up—“let’s have fun.” She smiled, and her whole face lit up, knocking the breath right out of me.

  That’s it. Now or never. I had to find out one way or the other. I really believed my hunch about the profile was right, and hoped if I brought it up, she’d admit it and we could move forward. Because I realized that the girl I wanted…the girl I’d been waiting for without even realizing it…was right next door all along. And I didn’t want to wait one more day to be with her.

  I took a deep breath and faced her, unable to hold back my huge smile.

  “I have to tell you something,” I blurted.

  Chapter Ten

  Emma

  Eli looked ready to explode from excitement.

  “Ye-es?” I prompted him.

  He looked at me like I should somehow know what he was going to say next. Color me clueless because I had no idea.

  My heart nearly stopped when he followed that announcement with three little words.

  “I met someone.”

  Immediate nausea. I quickly reminded my psycho-jealous self that this was my plan, I wanted him talking to Kelli. Unless, wait…what if he meant he met someone else? And that’s why he hadn’t been answering Kelli?

  I pasted on an Oscar-worthy surprised look, and merely responded, “Oh?” Like it was no big deal. I purposely raised my eyebrows slightly, and cocked my head just a tad to the right. Those body language hints I learned in psych class were finally being put to good use.

  He tossed a quick glance my way, and flicked on the turn signal. “Yeah.” A brief smile and nod. “I’ve gotta get gas. Plus I want to see what they have to eat. Maybe they sell those giant hot dogs.”

  Hot dogs? We were seriously discussing hot dogs right now?

  I grimaced. “You do realize how bad they are for you, right? I mean, we’ve had this discussion before.” My mind screamed, Let’s get back to who you met!

  Pulling into the lot of a large Sheetz, which served as a gas station and mini-mart, he waved off my comments about the dangers of eating recycled animal parts. “Don’t even bother. I don’t care if they are made of hooves and eyeballs like you always tell me. They still taste good.”

  I gagged.

  “Hey, you don’t have to eat them.” He flicked me on the leg. “So can it.”

  “Fine, whatever. So…tell me about this girl.”

  Turning the car off, he shot me a mysterious look. “I didn’t say it was a girl.”

  I snorted. “Oh please, unless you decided to switch teams, I don’t think you’d feel the need to throw it out there about meeting some guy.” I rolled my eyes.

  He burst into laughter. “No. You’re right. It’s a girl.” He paused and pushed his sunglasses up on his head, dark hair poking out around the tinted lenses. “It’s weird. She messaged me out of the blue the other day on Facebook.”

  So, he was talking about Kelli. Good. But since in any other scenario I’d be teasing him like mad right about then, I had to stay true to form.

  “Facebook? You met her on Facebook?” I wrinkled my nose. Wait! Was that too much?

  He just stared at me.

  Time to shift gears. Nodding like this was all news to me; I tried my best to project innocent curiosity. “Huh, okay. So, what’s she like?” I was half-afraid to hear his answer.

  “She’s…” He pressed his lips together, considering. “Let me get the gas quick while I try to figure out how to answer that.” He smiled.

  “Oh. Sure. Okay.” The bobble-head nod returned.

  As he got out of the car, he turned to face me. “Do you want anything?”

  Yes! I want you to answer me! I want you to fall in love with me! But since I’m a chicken, I settled for a weak, “No, I’m good, thanks.”

  “All right. Be right back.” He shut the door and walked toward the mini-mart.

  Pushing my bangs out of my face, I bounced my head off the back of my seat several times in a row. Think, think, think. What would he say about Kelli? What was I supposed to say?

  A buzz sounded, temporarily distracting me from my frantic thoughts. I reached down and rooted through the canvas bag until I found my iPhone.

  I glanced at it, then inhaled sharply. It was a Facebook message notification. From Eli. To Kelli! A message he’d just sent.

  A sinking feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. The whole trip was clearly only a means for him to ask for advice on the new girl he had the hots for. It had nothing to do with wanting to cheer me up after the scene in the hall this morning like I’d hoped.

  Why was it bothering me so much that he wanted to talk to Kelli?

  I quickly looked up and searched for a sign of him. All clear. Just a few college age kids laughing and stumbling out of the store with large coffees in hand.

  I went back to the message.

  Just wanted to say hi! Hope you’re having a good day so far. I meant to ask, what made you message me in the first place? I mean, I know you said about common interests, but there has to be a ton of guys who like that stuff too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you did. Guess I was just curious. Until soon, E.

  Gnawing on my bottom lip, I tried to figure out what to say, how to put into words that I messaged him because he makes me smile, even when I’m having a bad day. Because he always holds my door. Because whenever there’s only one handful of popcorn left, he gives it to me, and he knows what kind of ice cream to order for me without having to ask. Because he laughs at my corny jokes, and knows when I need a hug without me saying a word.

  As I thought of all the reasons I’d fallen for him, a smile crossed my lips, remembering…because he gave me the cherry gobstopper all those years ago. But I couldn’t say any of that.

  When I began to type, my first line almost said, “Supersized to heart from you.” Freaking autocorrect.

  Surprised to hear from you. But def a nice surprise. =) I decided to message you that first time because you seemed different from the other guys I know. In a really good way.

  Crap! He was coming.

  I poked the send button, even though I’d been planning to say more. As I reached down for my bag so I could toss the phone back inside, the strap caught on something under the seat, lodging the messenger bag tightly underneath.

  Dammit.

  I tugged again.

  He was almost around the car, coming to stand on my side to pump the gas. Offering a big grin, he triumphantly waved a partially eaten foot-long hot dog in the air. Tucked under his other arm were two water bottles.

  Unable to work the bag loose, I finally wedged the phone underneath my legs, making sure it didn’t peek out from the side of my shorts. The edges dug into the very top of my thighs, making me feel like I was hatching an egg. Why didn’t I just act like I’d been texting Sarah or something? But it was too late now to do anything about it. I’d look even more ridiculous pulling it out in front of him.

  Just as I was cursing myself for being so stupid, he leaned down toward my window to hand me the water bottles. “I grabbed one for you, too, just in case.”

  “Uh…thanks.” I smiled feebly, brutally aware of the phone beginning to slip between my legs as I reached out to retrieve the drinks. He’d see it pop through my thighs if it moved any more. Slightly embarrassing.

  He shot me a strange look. “You okay?”

  Could he tell? It was all I could do to choke back a snort, “Yep. Good to go.”

  Just hatching an iPhone, nothing to see here. I could barely keep my insane laughter from bubbling out.

  He eyed me quizzically as he took a giant bite of his food. Chewing thoughtfully,
he shook his head. Still watching me, he took another big bite.

  I shifted uncomfortably in the seat. My movement must have caused me to press some button on the phone, because it suddenly made a strange sound, almost like I was farting. My eyes widened, cheeks burning. This had to be one of those weird dreams, like the kind where you show up naked at school.

  “Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?” he asked calmly while still chewing.

  “What? No!” Wrinkling my nose, I vehemently shook my head as I stared at him, aghast. I could see pieces of partially chewed hotdog and bun. Not his best look.

  “Okay. Just checking. You’re wiggling around weird like you have to pee.” Shoving the last of the hotdog in his mouth in one gigantic bite, he turned to flip the lever on the pump. He reached out to open the gas tank, and began fueling.

  He craned his neck toward me and called out, “What time is it anyway?”

  I glanced at the dash, but no time was visible since he had turned the car off. “I don’t know. You have the keys, so I can’t see.”

  He reached his free hand into a side pocket and pulled out his phone. After he looked at the screen, I couldn’t help but notice a tiny smile cross his face before he slid it back in his jeans.

  He must have read Kelli’s message. But he didn’t press any buttons. Maybe he just saw that she wrote back. How nice that it made him so happy.

  “So, what time is it?”

  “Oh, umm, quarter of eleven. We’ll definitely be there by noon.” He swiveled his upper body to replace the pump while he used his other hand to tighten the gas cap and flip the small door closed. “Alrighty! We’re good to go.”

  Even pumping gas, he attracted my attention. Those muscles, those damn muscles.

  He hopped back in the driver’s seat, and proceeded to reach over and grab one of the water bottles, twisting the cap off before taking a long drink. After easily finishing half his water, he lowered the bottle and absently wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “All set?” A drop of moisture clung to his bottom lip.

  I nodded, trying not to stare.

  He held my gaze for a moment, and then slowly replaced the cap on the bottle before he set it back in the cup holder and turned the key in the ignition. As he reached over to fasten his seat belt, he paused and looked at me again.