When His Eyes Met Mine

Chapter 3

I stand at the kitchen counter, trying not to listen to Jessica and Brielle as they loudly chat about Jeremy, a boy that most likely has a crush on Jessica.

"So, has he texted you?!" Brielle squeals as she eats the french toast I made them.

"Yeah, of course he did. He texts me like every day." Jessica rolls her eyes as she scrolls through Instagram.

"Do you like him back? You haven't told me yet!" Brielle is so excited that she is almost jumping out of her chair.

"No, of course not." Jessica says, though I notice her look away a little as she says it. I narrow my eyes at her as she makes eye contact with me.

"Is that true?" I ask her.

"Totally. Yeah I totally don't like him..." Brielle and I look at each other, unconvinced.

"You can tell us the truth, Jessica." Brielle says.

Jessica sighs and blushes. "Ok, maybe I like him a little..." Brielle squeals and hugs her.

"I knew it! That's so adorable! Have you told him that?"

Jessica scoffs. "Of course not. I was the most popular girl in school. He was that kid that, like, well..."

"What, he wasn't as popular as you?" Jessica nods silently. "That shouldn't matter anymore. You guys aren't high schoolers now."

Jessica screws her face up in anger. "Like you know! You didn't date at all during high school! You weren't even popular!" My face goes red and I look away.

"Well there was that guy after graduation, he looked like he was interested in you." Brielle says.

"A guy? What guy?" Jessica asks.

"I don't know, this guy came up and talked to me."

Jessica's jaw dropped. "Who was he? Did he give you his number?"

I nod. "His name is Nick. He did, it's in my contacts." I look away as I make myself some french toast, hoping Jessica would drop it.

She didn't. "OMG, have you texted him?"

"No, not yet. I don't know what to say."

Jessica rolls her eyes. "You just say hi. Give me your phone."

I scoff. "No, I'm not going to give you my phone. Maybe I don't want to text him."

"Well, do you?"

I look at the floor. "I don't know."

Jessica grabs my phone. "Let's text him." I go behind her shoulder and watch her find Nick in my contacts and text him.

Me: Hey ;)

"Really, a winky face?" I ask.

"Shush." Jessica says.

"He's typing!" Brielle squeals.

We all look down at my phone.

Nick: ...

Nick: Hey :)

"He didn't do a winky face. Is that bad?" I ask, trying to hide my trepidation.

Jessica waves it off. "He's probably trying to play hard to get." Jessica moves to type more but I steal my phone from her hands before she can type any more.

"Hey, wait-"

I cut her off. "I can handle this!" I say as I run up the stairs to my room.

I sit down on my pastel pink quilt that's laid on my bed and try to figure out what to respond with. What would sound cool? What's up? How's it going?

As I write and delete over and over I see Nick start to type. I immediately stop in fear of what he's going to say.

Nick: You've been typing for a while now. You good?

I gulp down my fear and force myself to type. Maybe Jessica should be here to talk to him instead of me...

Me: Hey, sorry, I just don't know what to say. Lol

Nick: Well, you texted first. What did you want to talk about?

I look at his text message. What did I want to talk to him about? Oh no, why did Jessica do this? I'm at a loss for words! I shouldn't have told her about him. No, Brielle did. I haven't said anything for a while, he probably thinks I'm a-

Nick: Hey, do you wanna hang out sometime?

I dropped my phone in surprise. Did he just ask that?

Me: Sure. I'd love to

Keep it cool, I say to myself. Don't scare him away.

Nick: Cool, I won't be free till next weekend. Does that work for you?

Me: Yeah, it does

Nick: I'll text you the details when I figure it out. Text you later ;)

Me: Bye! :)

I sat there on my bed for a few minutes, analyzing whether or not I was too awkward in any way. I decided I hadn't so I hopped off my bed and ran down the stairs to Jessica and Brielle.

"He asked me to hang out with him!" I squealed, showing more emotion than I have in a while.

Jessica's jaw dropped and then she screamed. She pulled me into a hug and squeezed me hard. "Oh my, God! I need to plan your outfit out!"

I looked at her confusedly. "My outfit? I was just going to wear some overalls."

Jessica looked at Brielle and they both giggled. "You need so much help, sis."