An Average Girl

I Love Him, Honest.

Pulling up to Christine’s house, I couldn't help but stay parked on her drive way marvelling at the grandeur of it all. I had never realized that she was rich before, never once had I seen her flouting about school showing off the latest outfit or toy her parents had bought for her, while on their trip to Milan. I got to give her credit, being modest isn't something easy to do when high school demands that you have to be pretty and rich to be popular, and after all being popular is every girl's dream. It wasn’t mine though and clearly it wasn't Christine’s either. A surge of pride washed over me at my achievement of picking quality friends. People put up fronts that they want you to see, qualities that they want you to admire in them, but it's the aspects of one's personality that one doesn't flaunt or gloat about that show you who they really are.

Stepping out of the car, I found myself on Christine's doorstep, staring at the mahogany doors that locked away her family and all those private moments they shared. I rang the doorbell, listening to the soft melody that chimed throughout her house. The door flung open, revealing Matt in a pair of burnt red swimming trunks and a white v-neck shirt. I let a smirk fall onto myself, reminded of our evil plan.

"Are you as excited as I am for this?" I asked. Entering the foyer I carelessly dropped my bag at the side next to a pile of other bags and pillows that I assumed belonged to the others.

"Oh yeah, do you have your swimsuit on under there, or do you need to change? We're just about to head out back to the pool and I've been dying to show off my new tattoo," he whispered the last part at me, sending me a conspiratorial wink for emphasis.

Giggling at our antics, I told him that I was ready and he led the way to the backyard. The landscape was professionally done, with large trees with shady leaves lining the perimeter, preventing noisy neighbors and wandering eyes from invading any privacy. Iris was lying down on a lawn chair in an itty bitty green bikini, with large black sunglasses covering her face. Next to her was Christine, who was laying flat on her stomach, the two clearly gossiping about something. Attached to the pool was a tiny Jacuzzi that was currently being occupied by Honey and Greg as they made lovey-dovey faces at each other. Lucy wasn't here yet, but I didn't have enough patience to wait. If I didn't act soon, I'd probably end up spilling the beans before our grand performance.

Striding over to the two girls, I stripped off my purple tank top and ripped jean shorts. I laid down flat on my stomach, next to Iris, causing the two girls to stop their conversations and turn to greet me. 

"Hey girlie," Iris started when her eyes zeroed on the ink on my lower back causing her to pull off her shades and do a double-take. "Is that a tattoo?" she asked in astonishment, "Wow, I didn't think you were the type of girl, what does it say?” I threw Matt smirk over my shoulder, keying up for the big scene I was about to cause.

"OH MY GOD! NO WAY! You have Matt's name on your body? Our Matt?" came pouring out of Christine's mouth in a spurt of disbelief and amazement. By now, all eyes were focused on me. Even the two love-birds were shooting curious glances my way.

"Yes, it's Matt's name. Matthew Storm's name," my voice was calm but the melodramatics were just beginning. "Yesterday Matt and I ditched school together, and we had the most wonderful day. We had a picnic on the beach and watched the sunset together. And as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, our gazes locked and we kissed," by this point I was throwing every cheesy romantic date in the book into this lie, "Then he told me that he loved me".

I stood up from the ivory chair I was seated on, as if my hopeless romance wouldn't allow me to spend another second away from my dear Matthew. Grasping his hand in my own, I once again faced them. This time their jaws were dropped, the confusion evident in their features. "I knew right then and there that Matt was the only one for me and we made love under the moonlight, proving how much those words meant. We decided then to get matching tattoos, so we would always remember the passion that we shared, and how our hearts will only ever belong to each other". I have to admit for an improvised spiel, it wasn't half bad. Even Matt looked like he was buying into what I was saying, and he knew for a fact that it was all a work of fiction.

To add the final icing on the cake, I reached up on my tiptoes, and lightly whispered in Matt's ear, "Kiss me". Needing no more encouragement, he lips found mine and we moved in synchronization. His lips were soft and warm against my own, he was a pretty good kisser, but I wasn't all that surprised considering how fit he is. Pulling away from his embrace, I smiled up at him as he untangled his fingers from my black raven hair. I don't even remember when they got there to be honest. We faced our friends eager to see what their reaction would be to our undying love for one another.

"You're joking right?" came the deep smooth voice from Greg. When neither of us uttered a word, silence fell upon us once more. Shifting their weight nervously, the four of them could do nothing but stare at us while sending incredulous looks between them. Before anyone else could question us or our sanity, the doorbell rang breaking the tension in the air.

"I'll get it!" Iris yelled sprinting to the front door, taking any chance to escape the situation. I was just about ready to burst into laughter at how ridiculous they all looked, but I kept my face composed.

It took a couple seconds longer than it should have for Iris to rejoin us with Lucy, and as soon as Lucy was insight of Matt and I she shrieked, “What the hell is going on? Do we need to have an intervention?”.

It was a combination of her tone, and the How I Met Your Mother reference that finally broke me and I collapsed into a fit of giggles with Matt, our laughter getting louder and more rambunctious. Anytime I was about to calm down, all I had to do was look at their still dumbstruck faces and it set me off again. I could barely breathe, let alone get a word out to explain.

“Sara,” Christine began slowly like I was a mental patient, “was this all a practical joke?”. Her voice tensed a little at the end but Matt and I were still laughing, and all I could manage was a simple head nod.

It wasn’t an immediate reaction but the next thing I knew, they were heading towards us and slapping us viciously. The smiles on our faces diminishing slightly at their violence, sometimes people take life way too seriously. I mean what if Matt and I weren’t kidding; they should have respected and supported our decision.

“OH MY GOD YOU LITTLE SHIT,” Iris yelled. On second thought, if I was them I would be reacting the exact same way. Though I probably would have pushed someone into the pool by now for revenge, oh shit revenge, I never thought about that.

“THAT WASN’T FUNNY,” Honey screamed. Despite their cries of indignation both Lucy and Greg were smriking to the side as Iris, Honey, and Christine pummeled us.

“Okay, calm down,” Matt cried in an attempt to soothe the girls, “we were just messing around. No harm, no foul”.

“No harm? No harm? You nearly gave me a heart attack!” was all Iris replied with.

The crazy antics settled down, and soon we were all relaxing in the pool. Occasionally splashing each other and playing chicken. I wasn’t that good at the game, so I just sat back and watched. It was a lot more amusing from my position anyways.

Matt made his way over to me, leaning against the pool wall. Water dripped from his shaggy hair and glistened in the late sun.

“Your tattoo is almost gone,” he quietly told me. I glanced at my back, trying to get a glimpse of it and saw that he was right. The chlorine from the water must have helped it fade away, it was still visible but the colours weren’t as vibrant as they were a couple of hours ago. My gaze made its way to Matt’s arm, seeing the same affect.

“Yours too,” there wasn’t much else to say. I mean they were meant to disappear anyways. There was no ever-lasting love between us. No need for a permanent symbol of something that never existed. “But you know they’re going to try to get revenge, don’t you”. It had been bugging me for the past couple of hours. It was probably going to be sometime tonight. There was no way I was sleeping with these hooligans. They’d probably draw on my face in sharpie while I slept or put my hand in warm water.

“Let them try,” Matt began, “We can handle a little prank. The key is not to let it affect you. If you don’t show any reaction to whatever they do, then they can’t win”. His words made so much sense; there is no victory unless someone loses. And you cannot know you won if you don’t know if your enemy has lost.