Breaking All the Rules

Ž One

Crap.

I FELT drained already. Window-shopping in L.A was definitely not my thing! I was still standing by the glass windows of one of those hand-me-down cloth stores Nicole was making us look at, muttering about how like a voyeur this whole shopping thing (only we were not actually buying stuff) was making me feel. I had expected my best friend to say something reprimanding in response but when I looked beside me, which was where she had been standing minutes ago, I discovered that I was all alone. Typical of Nicole to quietly escape without a word when I started getting irritated about something.

I turned around and saw that she was leafing through some magazines at a newspaper stand on the other side of the street. She looked so engrossed, I could not help wondering that I must have been standing alone and talking to myself at that cloth store for a long time.

I waited for the traffic to thin before crossing over to her side. Only a brief glance at me indicated that she was aware of my presence. Whatever it was she was reading in there... she was definitely enjoying it to be shutting me out this way.

"Seriously Nicole... this is how you want to spend your day-off?"

"Have a better idea?" She hadn't even bothered to look at me, her eyes were focused on the CANDYgirl magazine in her hands.

"We could stay at home, order pizza... watch t.v or something!" I suggested. According to Jordan O'Connor's weather forecast, this was really not a day to be spent outdoors if like me, you were not considering serious suntanning "I mean, we don't even get to do things like normal people anymore!"

"No, thanks. I'll just read my magazine!" She mumbled dryly.

"This is not cool, Nicole... I wouldn't do this to you!" I muttered with a cute dog expression, trying my last option at getting her sympathy.

For a moment, I thought she was going to read on and pretend to not have heard me but then, letting her hands drop to her side, she sighed, "What do you want, Jordie?"

I knew my friend too well to know that she only called me that annoying nickname when she was trying so hard not to get angry.

"I am hungry!" I flailed my hands dramatically as though that explained it all.

She chuckled with dry amusement. "Seriously, you are impossible!"

Sporting a goofy, triumphant grin, I quickly waved down a cab. Through out the fifteen minutes' drive to the diner, neither of us uttered a word to each other. It seemed as though we both just found it easier to keep our thoughts to ourselves.

"Just some French fries, please..." Nicole told the waitress that was taking our orders as we sat facing across from each other in the diner.

"Um, turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, gravy, buttered carrots, and apple crisp." The middle-aged woman smiled at me indulgently as she wrote down my order.

"That's a lot of calories!" Nicole tsked, her head hidden behind the magazine.

I flipped her off with my fingers, "I love food, duh!"

"You sound just like my daughter." The waitress told me good-naturedly with the same smile. Before I could say a word in reply, she had moved to the next table.

"Jordan! Check this out!" Nicole screamed all of a sudden, slapping her magazine on our table in excitement. Yeah, she has terrible manners like that! I was so embarrassed; everyone in the restaurant practically knew my name by now.

I tried to make sense of the words on the page she held open in front of me but I could not catch most of the words since her hand was actually covering all of the details.

"What?" I asked, truly befuddled.

She scoffed. "Five years and you don't remember anymore? Puh-leeze!"

"Your hand is over the page, I can't see a thing!" I shrugged.

Nicole burst out laughing the instant my eyes zoomed in on the picture. I could feel my cheeks flaming with all degrees of embarrassment possible. I pushed the magazine away from me and fixed her a killer stare. "You find this," I began, gesturing at the picture she had meant for me to see, "Funny...?"

The grin that was beginning to spread across her face told me she wasn't bothered about my unease, "You are blushing...again" She pointed out.

"That's besides the point!" I snapped indignantly.

Even five years after, I was still as touchy about having this discussion with anyone, even with Nicole who, unfortunately, happened to only have an idea. I wasn't the crazy, inexperienced girl who had never been kissed but the slightest mention of anything relating to that night just managed to stir up memories I have desperately tried to bury so I found it irritating that my heart still fluttered carelessly by staring at that Zachary-or-whatever-his-name was guy!

Just the thought of the kiss he had stolen from me still made me touch my fingers to my lips self-consciously. It might have been brief but it had served its purpose. The kiss had told me one thing: that the cocky, self-conceited bastard did not want me anywhere near him, interfering in his business. And as usual I had done the only thing I knew to do best- Run!

As though Nicole had read my mind, her voice snapped me back to the present. "You can't keep running away forever, Jordan. This was bound to come up sometime, you knew that!"

I looked away. The memories of that night were still so freshly etched on my brain. Dashing blindly through the anteroom, into the kitchen, past the startled Mrs Gibson and Nicole... the mean-looking guys at the exit and Jeff. I had even completely ignored Jeff's good-natured plea that I get in the car and opted for a cab instead.

"Jordan, are you okay?" She asked, observing me with worried eyes. I did not even notice the food tray in front of me until I saw Nicole picking at her chips guiltily.