After school the next day Sarah sat
in the warm coffee shop at near the east side of campus. Not a lot of kids went
there because it was so far out of the way, but it was quite. Her house had
been turned upside down with the arrival of movers bringing some of Kathy’s
things from Houston. To keep herself
from thinking about her stepsister’s impeding move Sarah felt it best to leave
the situation all together. She shifted through her Jane Eyre book trying to figure
out what chapter she wanted to discuss in her newest essay due just before
Christmas break when her cell phone buzzed beside her. Picking up the
calculator sized phone she pressed the answering button without looking at the
number calling.
“Where are you?” Scott said. Shouts
and laughter filled in the background of where ever he was at. She rolled her
eyes as images of him at a circus came to mind.
“I’m at a coffee shop.” She
answered casually. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell him where she was.
When he was around all she could was look at him, and feel her mouth go dry
whenever he looked up from what he was doing.
He was always with her when he wasn’t even around, always on her mind.
Every day it took more and more effort not to tell him how she felt because he
was her only friend. She had attempted to may another friend, a fellow nerd in
her English lit class, but that had been fruitless. As it turns out Sarah
wasn’t very socially graceful as she liked to think. If a person didn’t come
from the imagination of an author she didn’t know how to interact with them.
Which was why her relationship with Scott was so important, he liked being
around her and wasn’t put off with her neediness.
“Well, you need to come to the frat
house before I kill your brother?”
She laughed. “Why what has he
done?”
Scott groaned on the other end of
the phone. Then he pulled the phone away from his mouth so he could scream some
obscenities at whoever was behind him. A
rumple of clothing sounded in the receiver as he pressed the phone against his
body, she could hear his voice muffled.
“Please, can I come over? I have a
calculus test in the morning and your stupid brother decided to throw an all
nighter.”
No! She thought to herself, then she
figured there was no way out of it. She was going to have to spend time with
her friend. Inwardly she groaned. “Sure, meet me there. I should be there in
about five minutes after I pack my stuff.”
They hung up and she leisurely took
her time putting her things away. Being alone with Scott wasn’t going to help
this budding feeling she had about him inside of her heart. After their dinner
slash date she wasn’t sure where the boundary lines were anymore. When he
dropped her off she was sure he was going to kiss her right there on her front
porch right under the light so everyone could see. When he didn’t she was
actually disappointed. However, she couldn’t blame him, she was after all a
simple girl.
She hardly wore any makeup and her
go to outfit always included jeans, when she was home she lounged in some kind
of sweat pants. She sighed as she tugged her back over her shoulder, it was now
or never.
Scott was sitting on the stairs
reading a book when she got home. He looked up the seconded her footsteps
echoed off the concrete. He smiled and it did funny things to her insides.
First by making her breathing go faster and then her heart to plummet in her
stomach. She had to convince herself to look away before he noticed the blush
warming her cheeks.
“Are you warm?” he asked touching
his cool hand to her cheek.
She shook her head, proceeding to
unlock the door. “I was just walking fast.” She rolled her eyes making her way
into her cool house. The weather outside wasn’t extremely hot this time of year
but today had been unseasonably warm.
Scott plopped down on the couch as though he lived there with her. He
grabbed the remote control off of the coffee table and began to surf through
the channels.
“I thought you said you had some
calculus test to study for?” she hollered from the kitchen.
“I do, but I need to unwind first.
All that partying going on has got me in the mood to do something.”
“Like what?” she said taking a seat
next to him holding a bottle of water. Scott sat up took the bottle from her
taking a long pull of it and then handing it back to her. “I don’t know.” He
shrugged. “What do you want to do?”
Sarah bit her lip before the words.
“I need to study, “ came tumbling out of her mouth. He blinked at her while waiting for her to
respond. His brown eyes blinking, staring right into hers, again her mouth went
dry as it always did when he was around.
“We could go see a movie.” She
finally said.
“What do you wanna see?” he laid his
head on her shoulder as a boyfriend would do to his girlfriend. His left arm
draped along her stomach, with his hand dangerously close to her right
breast. She stiffened with the unknown
knowledge of what to do. How did he get so comfortable with her so fast? Last
night had been the closest to being more than a friend they had ever gotten, and
that was still platonic.
“We could go see “Snatch”?” He
suggested.
He had only talked about the Guy
Ritchie move since it premiered a couple of weeks ago.
“Ok.” She said.
Scott picked his head up off of her
shoulder then kissed her gently on the cheek. He interlocked his fingers with
in hers and smiled. “Make sure you bring a sweater you know how the theaters
are freezing.”
She nodded, though she didn’t move.
They remained very still, blinking at one another.
“How many times have you been
kissed?” he whispered.
She shrugged and swallowed nothing
down her dry throat. “A couple of times.”
He nodded in understanding. She
watched as his large hand ran through his soft brown hair, the look of thought
in his eyes. He was thinking so hard she could see the wheels turning in his
head.
“If I kiss you now then we can stop
being so nervous around each other.” He stated.
“You’re nervous?” she nervously
laughed. “You don’t seem like it.” She answered after he shook his head.
“I have wanted to kiss you for some
time but you make me so very nervous.”
“I make you nervous.” She wasn’t
buying it. “You..”
He interrupted her by pressing his lips against hers. They felt soft and wet
against her mouth. His tongue darted out tracing the seam to her lips begging
for admittance. She only obliged when he ran his fingers through her hair and
pressed her body to his. The kiss deepen, all thoughts of the movie began to
vanish as did her fear that she was just to plain for Scott.
“Wow.” He breathed breaking the
kiss.
Dizzy Sarah just grinned like a
goofy school girl.
“Again?” he whispered bringing his
lips to hers again. This time they were cut short when the front door was
pushed open. Kate walked in with her hands on her hips. “You two are always
together.” she snapped. “I’m tired.” She announced. “What are you doing
tonight?” she shut the front door behind her then took a seat on the couch. “I
think I might head out to your frat house Scott.” She smiled at him with wide
wanting eyes.
“That’s cool.” He said taking a few
steps away from Sarah. She was relieved he did that, without him knowing that
she wanted him too. Kate could never know about Sarah’s feelings for Scott, it
would only lead to a mess, and then she would take him away from Sarah.
Something Sarah was all too familiar with since she had first met Kate some
many years ago.
“Ugh you two are so boring.”