“Oh, right,” I said, smiling. I have to admit…there have been some times, during this switch, where it has been kind of fun to be on the other side and see the things that girls sometimes do. They can be so funny.
Once again we said our goodbyes as Caryn, Meredith and I headed to Spanish class. Ms. Contreras didn’t have any pop quizzes for us. We spent the class time reading a story in Spanish. We took turns reading paragraphs out of the story. We didn’t really need to even remember what we read. It was more of an exercise on pronunciation.
The class bell rang, I said goodbye to Caryn and Meredith and then I headed to government class.
It seemed like I could watch each second of class tick off the clock. Government was excessively boring today. Everything was review of what we had been studying the last several weeks. I wasn’t even in this class a week ago, and I’m not missing a beat. Of course, I do have the same teacher, normally in fifth period, but it’s pretty apparent she doesn’t change it up from class to class.
Personally, I think Ms. Canterbury had her sights set on the weekend already. We could have skipped the class today, and I would have been in just as good of shape.
Normally I’m not like this, but I was already packed and ready to go when the final bell rang. I quickly headed to my locker to gather all of my books for the weekend.
Mike and Nicole met me at my locker as I was shutting the door.
“Boy, I’m glad to see this day end,” I said. “If I had fallen asleep in government, it would have been an improvement today.”
“If only the day were over,” Nicole said.
“It’ll be okay,” I offered. “At least it won’t just be the two of you.”
“Yeah, maybe that should be making me feel better right about now, but it’s not.”
“Maybe,” Mike said, “but you’d feel a whole lot worse if it were just the two of you.”
“True,” she said.
“You know,” I said, “you could have used my mother’s car so you could have driven.”
“Well, that’s good to know now. That bit of information would have been really good a few days ago.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was going to happen. It didn’t occur to me to tell you until today.”
“Well, something to look forward to for our next date,” Nicole said sarcastically.
“Look, just stay together with the group. It’s not like a whole lot can go wrong if we are all there. She’s not going to attack you…right?”
“No, probably not,” she conceded.
“Hey,” Mike said, “if you want I can offer to take you home tonight. I’ll just ask if you want to hang out at my house afterward.”
“That would be great! Thanks, Mike,” she said, seeming relieved.
“Sure. So, what are we going to do in the meantime?”
“I don’t know,” Nicole replied. “Normally, I would get all of my studying done for the weekend, but I’m not sure I will be able to focus right now. I’m a little ramped up.”
“Why don’t we just go to my place and hang out,” Mike offered. “Then, one of us can take you to Jake’s house before Jessica picks you up.”
“Okay,” she said.
We started heading out to our cars when Mike broke the silence. “You know, it’s too bad that Jessica has a thing for you, Jake. I could totally go for her. She’s pretty cute.”
“Really?” Nicole asked. “That’s funny. A week ago, I would never have thought she would have gone for either of you, but now…I could kind of see her being into you, Mike. Actually, I could see her with you a lot more than I could see her with Jake.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“I just mean that, now that I’ve gotten to know you both better, I think Mike and Jessica have more in common than you and Jessica do. Another bit of information that would have been good a few days ago. We could have probably set the two of you up, and I wouldn’t be a wreck today.”
“Yeah, well, if you two don’t get married, maybe I’ll ask her out,” he said with a laugh.
“Funny, Mike,” I said.
“Yeah,” Nicole added, “real funny.”
“Hey, I have my moments.”
Mike and Nicole both drove in his car, and I followed in Nicole’s car to get to Mike’s house. I was sure Nicole would have preferred to drive with me, but it seemed more appropriate to have Jake ride with Mike.
It was actually kind of a nice distraction for the next couple of hours. Mike and I got to play video games for most of the time. Nicole actually tried a couple of games too. She probably figured she should be better if she’s going to be playing games as me in the future. At least, that’s what I was hoping she was thinking.
At a little before five, Nicole’s mother called to update us on Tyler. He continued to improve, which we were all thankful for. We kind of have our hands full tonight without having to worry about Tyler, too.
After that, we decided we should get Nicole to my house. Nicole informed me that I needed to go to her house and get clothes for the sleepover at Jessica’s house tonight. I would need night clothes and clothes to change into tomorrow morning. She told me she usually showers at Jessica’s house, so the routine would be pretty much the same as at her house. She wrote down a list of things to bring and directions to Jessica’s house.
“Good luck,” she said. “Just remember, the less you say, the less trouble you can get into. If you get in a pinch, go to the bathroom and text me.”
“Right. See you guys in a little while,” I said.
I drove off to Nicole’s house while Mike took Nicole to my house. When I got inside, I walked straight up to Nicole’s room and packed up the list of items that Nicole gave me. I could have probably figured it all out on my own, but I was still happy to have the help.
Once I had everything together, I headed downstairs and out to the car. I had about thirty minutes to get to the restaurant. I figured it would only take about fifteen to twenty minutes to get there from here, but it was still raining, and I figured it would be good to have the extra time.
Mike and Caryn were the first ones to arrive at The Pasta House. I arrived after them, and then Meredith showed. Finally, Jessica and Nicole arrived.
Nicole looked nervous, like she didn’t know what to do. Jessica was fine, walking close to Nicole with a big smile on her face.
“Hi guys!” she said enthusiastically.
Everyone smiled. Nobody had made reservations, so we had to wait about ten minutes to get a table, which wasn’t too bad considering it was a Friday night. Fortunately, Mike had put his name in when he arrived. He had apparently already been waiting for about fifteen minutes.
Dinner was interesting, to say the least. I’m not sure Caryn and Meredith would have felt the same way, but they weren’t seeing things from my point of view.
It started with Jessica asking Nicole what she was going to have. Nicole looked at me before deciding on the lasagna. As a matter of fact, it seemed like Nicole looked at me after every question or decision she needed to make. I couldn’t say anything, but I was trying to give her a look that said ‘just relax and do what you want.’
When Nicole said she was going to have the lasagna, Jessica decided that sounded good and ordered the same thing. Nicole ordered iced tea to drink and so did Jessica.
While we were waiting for our food, Jessica kept trying to start conversations with Nicole. I could tell Nicole was trying to be conversational, but she hesitated before every answer. I’m sure she was trying to be careful not to say the wrong thing, but she just ended up looking really uncomfortable.
“So,” Jessica started, “have you ever been here before?”
“Oh, uhh…yeah. I’ve been here a couple of times before, with my…mom.”
Actually, I’ve never been here before, but it’s not like Jessica is going be verifying this somewhere later. I wasn’t really worried about how Nicole answered these types of questions. She seemed worr
ied, though.
“So, what’s your favorite thing here?” Jessica continued.
“Uhh…the lasagna.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense.”
“Is lasagna your favorite, too?”
“Well, no…my favorite is the fettuccine, but I thought I’d try the lasagna tonight. It sounded good when you ordered it.”
I’ve always thought first dates were awkward. Not that I’ve been on a lot of them. But, from what I’ve noticed, people just seem unnaturally uncomfortable. They try so hard to say and do the right thing because they are afraid the other person won’t like them.
If people could just be themselves, there would probably be a lot more successful first dates. Of course, Nicole can’t be herself, since she’s trying really hard to be me. So, this date was kind of shot from the beginning.
The food arrived, which was a relief. They both ate without any real issues. Nicole seemed a little more comfortable talking about the food than everything else.
“Do you like your lasagna?” Jessica asked.
“Yes. It’s delicious. How about you?”
“Yeah, mine is good too. Is this what you usually get?”
“Mmmhmmm,” Nicole said with a full mouth.
“Yeah, like I said, I usually get the fettuccine, but everything I’ve had here has been delicious.”
For a while it seemed as though they were starting to relax a little. Then the bill came. Nicole reached for the bill first. I would have done the same thing, but Jessica had other ideas.
“Let me get that,” she said.
“No please, let me,” Nicole countered.
“Yeah, but, I asked you out, so I should get to pay.”
“You drove. Let me buy.”
They went back and forth for longer than necessary. I would have preferred to have paid. Maybe it’s a guy thing. But, when Jessica insisted on paying, I probably would have let her pay just so I didn’t offend her. I don’t know if Nicole was trying to do what she thought I would do, or if she was just raised that the guy always pays. Either way, Nicole reluctantly agreed to let Jessica pay for dinner, as long as Jessica let Nicole pay for the movie. Jessica agreed, but neither of them seemed that pleased with the outcome in the end. If I had to guess at this point, I would have to say that Jessica and Nicole are not going to become an item.
We headed out to the movie with about fifteen minutes to spare. Nicole bought their tickets and snacks. The rest of us paid our own way, and we went to find our seats. There was about five minutes left when we got inside, and it was pretty packed, so we ended up sitting in the front part of the theater. The seats were still pretty good, even being that close.
Jessica sat next to Nicole, of course. I sat on the other side of Jessica, then Mike, Caryn and Meredith.
After about twenty minutes into the movie, and Nicole seemingly sitting in her seat stiff as a board, Jessica put her head on Nicole’s…well, my shoulder. She not so subtly scooted her hand Nicole’s way. Nicole, taking the cue, put her hand in Jessica’s.
They stayed like that for most of the rest of the movie. Jessica would play with Nicole’s hand from time to time. Nicole seemed to be trying to return the gesture, but not as much.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for them both. It was obvious to me that Nicole was uncomfortable, and for understandable reason. The real question was what was Jessica feeling about all of this? Was she picking up on Nicole’s discomfort and, if so, how was she interpreting the signals?
As the movie ended, Jessica removed her head from Nicole’s shoulder and looked at her.
“Did you like the movie?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah…it was funny. Did you like it?” Nicole asked.
“I did. It was really good.”
We all got up and started walking out of the theater. Jessica grabbed Nicole’s hand and led her out after me.
“Well,” Nicole said after a minute, “I had a good time tonight.”
“Me too!” Jessica said enthusiastically. “So, what do you want to do next?”
“Uhh…I thought you and the girls were getting together tonight.”
“Well, we are, but it doesn’t have to be right now.”
“Oh. I just assumed it was going to be right after the movie. Mike and I made plans.”
“What kind of plans? We could all go do something.”
“We…told my mom we’d be home to help her…clean tonight,” Mike jumped in.
“Clean? Tonight? It’s Friday night?”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal because it was just going to be after the movie,” Mike said.
“And we were already going to be there anyway,” Nicole chimed in.
“I’ve got family coming into town,” Mike added.
“Oh, well…okay. So, can I drive you to Mike’s house then?” she asked, sounding a little defeated.
“You can,” Nicole conceded, “but Mike already is going there, so…” She was living on the edge with that response. I hoped she knew Jessica better than I did, because I could definitely have seen Jessica taking Nicole to Mike’s anyway.
“Yeah, I…guess that doesn’t really make much sense. Will you walk me to my car, then?”
A slight hesitation, then she finally responded. “Sure.”
I looked at Mike. Neither of us really knew what to do. Caryn and Meredith seemed a little confused by the abrupt ending of the night. Looking back at the train wreck we just walked away from, I was sure we could have come up with a better scenario than we did.
I felt a little helpless watching Nicole take Jessica to her car. As we headed to our cars, we could see them arriving at Jessica’s car. They were too far away for us to hear what they were saying, but there was no missing the visual when Jessica wrapped her arms around Nicole’s…well, my waist and leaned in for a kiss. I couldn’t see Jessica’s face, but I could only hope she had her eyes closed, because Nicole looked like she was trying desperately to find her happy place.
In the end, there wasn’t much to the kiss. It was short and not much more spectacular than a parent would give their child. I looked around to see everyone quickly look away. Well…this night wasn’t going to win me any awards for best kisser.
Once the kiss ended, they said their goodbyes, Jessica got in her car and drove away as Nicole walked back toward us. As she passed me, she whispered, “Don’t say it…I know.”
I wasn’t going to say anything. As hard as that was to watch, it had to have been harder for Nicole to actually go through.
“Well,” Mike said suddenly, “it was fun. See you Monday?”
“Yeah,” said Caryn, “see you then.” Meredith and I nodded.
Mike and Nicole drove off as Caryn, Meredith and I headed to Jessica’s house. I had my directions in case I needed them, but for now I was just following Caryn.
Tonight was going to be interesting. Let’s face it, seeing the inside of a girls’ sleepover would probably be interesting on any given day, but this wasn’t any given day. It would be interesting to see what their take was of the night, and I was likely going to be the topic of discussion. This may end up being the most uncomfortable night of my life. So far, anyway.
I arrived at Jessica’s house and found a place to park. Jessica had arrived before us and was already inside. I grabbed my things and quickly joined Caryn and Meredith as they walked up to the door. The rain had stopped for a few hours, but it was starting to sprinkle again. Caryn knocked, and we waited for someone to answer.
Just as the door opened, it occurred to me that I didn’t know any of Jessica’s family or how close Nicole was to any of them. I would have to wing it. A lady, who I guessed was Jessica’s mother, answered the door.
“Hi girls. How are you doing?” she asked.
“Good Mrs. Carlson. How are you doing?” Caryn asked.
“I’m fine, thank you. Jessica is up in her room. You know the way.” Not really, but I’m sure the other two know.
We walked u
p a stairway and down a hallway. Jessica’s room was at the end. There were quite a few doors on the way down the hall. Three of the doors had names on them. It looked like she had at least two sisters, named Jennifer and Erica, and one brother named John.
Jessica didn’t have her name on her door. Maybe she outgrew that. Meredith was the first to arrive at Jessica’s door. She knocked and walked in.
Jessica’s room was not as big as Nicole’s, but it was definitely bigger than mine. It was a pretty decent size for a bedroom. We all could fit comfortably in here without feeling crammed.
When we opened the door, Jessica gave us all a half-hearted smile. She was a little down. I was pretty sure I could guess why.
I was the last one in, so I closed the door behind me, and we all sat down on her bed.
“Well, the movie was pretty good,” Meredith started. “Don’t you guys think?”
We all agreed.
“Did you have a good time with Jake?” Caryn asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” Jessica said, seemingly trying to convince herself.
“Did something go wrong?” Caryn asked.
“I don’t know. I thought it went well. I mean, no, maybe not. Oh, I don’t know. Didn’t he seem more quiet than usual?”
“Yeah,” Meredith responded. “Maybe he was nervous.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. And, is it just me or did it seem like he wanted to leave real fast after the movie was done. I mean, do you think he was really going to help clean Mike’s house? That just seems strange.”
Oh boy. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t decide whether to say nothing or to try and fix this. Trying to fix this could backfire.
“That did seem a little strange, but it’s possible,” Caryn said. “They are best friends. You never know.”
“I suppose. I don’t know. It just felt funny. And when I kissed him…nothing. It was like kissing my dad. I kind of wonder if,” she said, glancing my way, “he still has a thing for you Nicole.”
Great. Now what do I say? “You think so? I haven’t really gotten that feeling at all.”
“That would be kind of jerky, to go out with you if he still has a thing for Nicole,” Meredith said.
In My Shoes Page 25