“What do I do now?” she asked.
“Hell if I know. I suck at this, remember? I’m the last person to ask,” I said with wide eyes and a frozen tongue from the final bite of my Slurpee. She laughed at my slurred speech.
“Chris asked me to Homecoming,” I said out of nowhere.
“Oh my gosh, Allie! I’m so happy for you!”
“Maybe Watson will ask you.”
“I’m not going to get my hopes up, but that would be amazing.”
“I guess we’d better get going,” I said, as I shoved the lid sideways into my cup, set it into the cupholder, and put the keys into the ignition. Then I turned to Isabelle before starting the engine to drive her back to her car. “Today was a great day.”
“Yeah, it was,” she said as we cranked the windows closed, turned the radio on, and headed home.
16
The phone woke me early Saturday morning, and my Mom caught it on the third ring, then called to me from the bottom of the stairs.
“Hello? I said sleepily.
“Good morning,” said Chris through the phone. “Your voice is so cute first thing in the morning. What are you up to today?” he asked.
“I think a few of us are going to Regency Mall today. Do you want to come?” I asked, still curled up, half asleep in my bed.
“Sure, that sounds fun. I’ll ask the guys if they want to come. What time are you going?”
“10:00. We’ll meet you at the Food Court. I’m going back to sleep now,” I said through a long yawn. Chris yawned, too.
“Did you know that you only catch yawns from people you care about?” he said. But before I could reply, he said, “See you there,” then he hung up.
I rolled over and fell back asleep until 9:15 when the alarm went off and I got out of bed, still feeling sore from having my muscles rubbed yesterday. It was the first time anyone had worked on the knots of my stress. I tilted my head and rubbed along my neck, remembering what it was like to have Chris’s hands on me, warm and sliding with the sunscreen. It was nice to feel like someone cared.
I made my way to the closet and picked out my outfit. I chose a short jean skirt and a tan t-shirt that showed just a little cleavage. I wondered if Chris would notice. Then I ran a leather braided belt through the loops and chose my favorite brown suede ankle boots.
Today I decided I was going to put on a little makeup. I knew Isabelle would be proud of me for putting in some effort. She always gave me a hard time for only wearing mascara. I opened my teal caboodle, took out the eyeliner, eye shadow, and mascara, and got to work, but I didn’t want to overdo it.
Once I finished, I stepped back and evaluated whether it was too much for a Saturday at the mall, and decided I didn’t care what anyone else thought. How about some eyelid glitter, blush, and lip gloss to top it off? Why not. After the finishing touches, I was ready, so I headed for my Jeep and made my way to the mall.
I parked on the lower deck of the parking garage and found my way through the double glass doors and past Banana Republic to the Food Court. Everyone was waiting there around the fountain, tossing in pennies and making wishes. Isabelle saw me and turned to greet me.
“Holy shit, Allie! You look incredible!” she gawked.
“Thanks,” I said shyly.
“Why don’t you do makeup more often? You are so hot!”
That’s when Chris spotted me from the other side of the fountain and froze for a moment, just looking me up and down with wide eyes and a smile. As I got closer to the fountain, he signaled for me to come to him, so I passed Isabelle and floated towards him as if there was nobody else in the mall. When I got to him, I stopped and stood there, and he seemed paralyzed by my presence until he reached one hand for my waist and another for my cheek.
“Wow. Just when I thought you couldn’t be any more beautiful,” he said. The look in his eyes told me he had noticed my cleavage.
“Hey,” I said softly, then I reached into my pocket and pulled out a penny and held it up to him without saying a word. He smiled, let go of my waist and took the penny from me, and turned towards the fountain.
“Let’s see,” he said thoughtfully, as he looked over at me, then back towards the unnaturally blue water, scattered with a variety of coins at the bottom. Then he smiled and flicked it in. “Come on, let’s go get some food. What are you in the mood for?” he asked.
“Sbarro pizza.”
“Me too,” he said, then he grabbed my hand and we made our way into the food court to the pizza concession stand.
