Torn Between

Junior Year

Pt 2

"Hi, I'm James. Stella right?"

"Uh yeah, I'm Stella. Nice to meet you James," I was anticipating him bringing up whatever happened a half hour ago.

"It's nice to meet you too Stella, I'm sure your dialog will sound really good tomorrow," he politely suggested, I smiled in return.

"Yeah, let's just hope you don't stare at me again, then I won't get nervous," It didn't process what I had just said until it left my mouth, "sorry, I didn't mean to-."

"No no, I'm the one that's sorry. You're just so uh," he rubbed his neck and twitched his head to the side, looking down, "you're really pretty," he glanced back up and chuckled to himself. I felt myself blush.

"Oh uh, thanks that's really sweet," I forced an unsettled laugh.

"If you want, you can come by my house later and I can help you with your dialog?" he offered, rubbing his neck once more.

"Sure," I felt immediate regret. I know this guy's interested in anything other than my dialog.

"Great great, I'll get you at your last class and you can ride the bus home with me?" we discussed our classes and made a plan for later. I wasn't all that sure what I had just agreed to. I made it a point to call my mom in between classes to let her know I'd be at a 'friends' house. And when I saw Bessy and told her the plan, she danced around the hallways.

"Stell finally has a boyfriend!" she continuously chanted. I got a hold of her shoulders to stop.

"Bessy what the hell?! People are staring! And also he's not my boyfriend, I'm not interested in anything like that," I crossed my arms.

"Oh come on," she chuckled, "you even said yourself he was cute. Just let yourself have fun for once! This could change everything, you know?" we walked on and those last words lingered with me. This could change everything, literally everything. For the better or worse too. I guess I could have fun with this.

School was over and I walked out of my class to see James standing on the side of the wall waiting for me. Our eyes met and he swiftly lifted from the wall to join himself at my side.

"Hey, you ready?"

"Yep, let's go," I was so tense I could've thrown up. We walked to the bus while making small talk of the events of our day. As soon as we sat down and settled in, three boys walked on and all their expressions were lit up the second they found us sitting together.

"Hey Murray!" one of them yelled. I watched the boy it came from, and I couldn't help but stare at his smile for as long as he kept it on display.

"Sal!" I'm guessing this is the one Bessy was telling me about. They came over and sat in the seat next to us and in front of us.

"Who's the hot girl, Murray?" Sal asked winking at me, I watched James come to that familiar place of polite discomfort.

"Haha, he's blushing!" they all mocked.

"This is Stella...?" James waited for me to finish his sentence.

"Marino."

"Marino, Stella Marino. She's in my theater class, she's coming over, I'm gonna help her with her project," they all looked at each other making suggestive smiles.

"What is it, a make out scene or some sh*t?" one of them interrogated and they laughed in unison. I wanted to be anywhere but here, this was so humiliating, I wasn't used to being talked about so bluntly.

"No it's not a**holes. Um Stella, these are my d*ck friends. This is Sal, Brian, and Joey," and they all waved when he mentioned their names. I gave them a small smile and wave.

"She's pretty Murray, the hell are you doing with a douche like him?" Brian teased and I awkwardly snickered.

"He just offered help, and I figured I should start putting myself out there and make more friends."

"Tons of other people to be friends with besides him," Brian retorted.

"I can tell you guys like to make fun of each other huh?" I inquired.

"Yeah we do, it's all in good fun though...most of the time!" Joey said and they roared in laughter again.

"I dig it, my best friend and I are the same way."

"Oh she has a friend?!" Brian questioned and side eyeing the other guys.

"I mean she's pretty popular, it's Bessy-"

"Bessy?! Damn she's pretty," Joey wholeheartedly smiled.

"Yeah I know, she has lots of boys on her," I chuckled.

"You're really pretty too though?" James nodded towards me. I felt my cheeks get hot.

The bus finally arrived at James' house and the boys all whistled and wished us good luck. James flipped them off before we stepped out. We made our way inside.

"Your parents home?" I asked surveying the living room and clutching the straps of my backpack.

"Nope, they work so they don't come home till around 6," I could already hear his intentions, "You live around here?"

"Hm maybe about 10 minutes from here...Um where's the bathroom?" I asked, I guess he could pick up that I was nervous. He walked up to me and grabbed both my hands.

"Hey," he looked in my eyes, "don't be nervous okay? This is just studying, nothing to worry about," I let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"You're right, thank you. I've just never done this before. Hang out with a boy I mean."

"Don't even worry about it, we can be friends okay?" I smiled. We went upstairs and to my surprise, just practiced. He was so...kind and considerate. Gave me tips and made sure I got it down. After I was finished, we were talking and sitting on his floor against his bed.

"You know this has been actually really fun, I'm glad I did this James. Thank you a lot, really," he smiled in response.

"I'm glad, I had a lot of fun too. And it's no problem, you're really talented, you just got nervous. I'm sorry about that again, and about my horrible friends," he looked down and chuckled.

"Haha, you're okay James. Your friends actually seem really funny."

"They are, they're like my brothers. We've know each other since freshman year," there was a pause, "And also I meant what I said, you are really pretty," he spoke and waited in anticipation for my feedback on his bold statement.

"Thank you, I think you're actually really cute too," I expressed while putting my hand over his hand. I looked down at what I just did and a smile was growing while he observed my face. We locked eyes for a few moments and I felt myself slowly draw closer to him, as did he. And before I knew it, our lips met. It was a short kiss but it was sweet. We gently pulled away and we awkwardly laughed at what just happened.

"Did we just kiss?" James asked

"Yeah," I laughed lightly, "I think we did. If that's okay with you?" I asked

"That's absolutely okay with me," he smirked.

I couldn't help but smile along with him as he held my stare. He had snapped out of his trance and shook his head, "Damn it, wait, my parents are gonna be home soon."

"What? What time is it?"

"5:40!" my mouth dropped open.

"How? That went by really really fast."

"Too fast. We definitely need to do this again Marino."

"For sure. Maybe you should make me mess up more huh?" I smirked.

"I'll make sure to," we both smiled and I felt the butterflies in my stomach flutter.

James walked me home, we should've realized this before we walked all the way to my house. But it felt shorter since we talked the whole way. I was really connecting with him, I was having so much fun with him, it felt like time was flying by.