Twisted Turnaround

Chapter 1

ANDREA

"You slept with Miles Watson?" my friend shouts as soon as I'm done talking. I don't know how to reply other than nodding on my spot in my chair, scared of her reaction. I didn't want to tell her of my night with Miles, as I knew she would react this way. Truthfully, I kind of wanted to see where it would go with him before I got my friend involved in my situation. I wanted to see how fast it would evolve, but it has been a week since the night and everything has been radio silence on his part.

I thought he would maybe call me. But then I thought about how he didn't have my number, so that wasn't likely to happen. But he knew I went to school here, and he knew where I lived. I had a dozen scenarios where he would plan to accidentally meet me outside my dorm and that we would start to talk. Then he would invite me over for coffee, and as we sat there in the school cafe, I'd find that this thing between us could be real.

But none of that happened.

It's been a week, and another hockey game was going to happen today. I was still covering the sports section this semester, so it wasn't like I wouldn't see him today. I didn't want to go into today without consoling with my best friend, though.

Her head whips back to me now, and she softens her voice. But her whispered shout still echoes through my room. "You slept with the Miles Watson?" When she sees me nodding in my spot once more, she repeats, "Like Miles Watson? Are you sure?"

I think back to our interaction. How we had gone from introducing ourselves to kissing, and there was so much between us that it was all that we did. Were relationships this easy in your elder years? This would have never happened in high school—not to mention that I'd never let it happen that way. But this was different. I had let it happen, letting it play out instead of planning it for once in my life.

"I'm pretty sure his name was Miles," I tell her, not taking the nail out from under my teeth. Jennifer shakes her head and stares at me for a long moment. Then her face breaks out into a skkke, and in under a second, she is shaking in laughter. It's a different kind of laugh, one that tells me she manically approves of my actions. It makes me shriek in my spot at her excitement to bevagse truly; that's how I had felt. I had felt that much excitement in that moment, especially in the morning after. But I'd been holding it in, but as my friend had laughed, I felt the excitement all over again.

"Oh my god," Jennifer says with a smile afterwards when she is more clam. But then she makes eye contact with me, and then she is laughing again. I join her in the laughter now because I'm not afraid to conceal my feelings any longer. But after a minute, I sigh, my nails going back under my teeth. "Uh, Jen," I state, getting her attention, and she abruptly stops.

"What?" she asks, and I can see the horror on her face.

"It's probably nothing," I say in reassurance with a shake of my head, but I have gotten my firsts attention, and she sits on my bed beside me. I take a deep breath in and then say, "Uh, he hasn't made contact with me yet."

"But it's been a week!" Jennifer shouts, and when she sees me nodding, understatement dwans on her. She nods, and we sit in silence for a little bit.

"So what do you think it meant?" I ask her, and she doesn't answer for a little bit. Then she says softly, "If you were to ask me, I'd say that maybe it was a one-time thing."

That's the worst answer. The one answer that could hurt me very badly. This is why I hadn't typically done something this way because I was afraid of this. Always. And yet I let it happen this time.

"But," my friend says. "Did he mention he'd want to see you again?"

"After we spent a little bit of the morning together," I start, which makes Jennifer raise her eyebrows at me. I only laugh at that, a little flush making its way to my neck. I push it away and say, "He left, but not before saying that he'll see me again."