Terms and Agreements (on hold indefinitely)

Ow. I Hate Everyone. Especially Jason the Football Player and Mr. Hot Stuff

                                                                            24

When I woke up, Jenna's face was directly over mine, blocking out the sky, and her long red hair was tickling my cheeks. Ugh.

"Oh my god, Ali, are you okay?" She asked, concern etched across her features, her brown eyes wide.

"Um..." I brought a hand up to clutch my jaw, which was throbbing, as was the rest of my head, "not particularly."

"What happened?" She asked, "can you sit up?"

"I...got punched in the face," I replied, letting her assist me as I rose into a sitting position. I squeezed my eyes shut because he sudden movement made my head hurt more.

"Alison!" Ugh. Flynn's voice echoed off the wall beside me. It was his heroics that got me punched in the face. Or was it my heroics? My head hurt too much to care.

I opened my eyes to see him come to a halt beside me and kneel down on the pavement. "Alison, are you okay?"

"What do you think?" I grumbled, still clutching my jaw and glaring at his feet.

"Here, let me see," he said, reaching out and gently pulling my hand off of my jaw and running his thumb softly along the now-swelling lower right side of my face.

"Stop touching me!" I snapped, shoving his hands away.

"Ali, he's only trying to help," Jenna scolded, "don't be a bitch."

I groaned, dragging myself to my feet, and to my dismay, both Jenna and Flynn apparently felt the need to assist me and touched my elbows and stomach. Ugh.

"I think I've earned the right to be a bitch, Jenna, I just got punched in the face!" I tried to shake their hands off, but Flynn's palm stayed pressed into my stomach, over my belly button, and his other hand was held firmly on my lower back.

Too. Much. Touching.

The blind instinct to thrash about and cause pain to whoever was making physical contact with my body ravaged my thought process, and the next thing I knew, Flynn was stumbling backward clutching his nose.

"Ali!" Jenna gasped in horror, "what - what - what?"

"What?" I roared because I'm insane. The feeling of his hand on my stomach wouldn't go away. It felt like it was imprinted there forever.

"Ow, dammit Alison!" Flynn sputtered, and I saw that his nose had begun to bleed. "Why did you do that?"

"You broke the number one rule of the Terms and Agreements! You touched me!" I screamed in defense.

He laughed ruefully. "I swear, I'm beginning to hate those damned Terms and Agreements. I was trying to make sure you didn't fall!"

"Ugh, you know you're not supposed to touch me, Flynn!" I rumbled, clutching at my jaw again and beginning to march to my car so I could go home.

"Well that's a nice thank you from the girl whose face I just avenged!" Flynn shouted after me.

"Save it for the jury, Flynn!" I yelled over my shoulder.

I heard Jenna stammering an apology as she hurried after me, her flats slapping the pavement.

"Is Wes okay?" I asked as we neared my car.

"Yeah, he called his mom to come get him," Jenna said, opening the passenger side door," I'm driving, give me the keys."

I looked at her in shock. "But-"

"I know your weird rule about being in control, but you can trust me," she assured me.

I still clung to my keys.

"And yes, I know you have trust issues, but just let me drive the damn car."

I swear she's the best thing that could ever happen to me.

We were buckled and settled and ready to drive away when Flynn hopped in the backseat and announced that his sister had his truck and he needed us to take him home.

"I thought you were mad at me?" I said as Jenna turned out of the parking lot.

"Meh, nothing a few deep breaths couldn't fix," he said, his voice sounding a bit strange because he had a wad of paper towels shoved against his nose.

"Sorry about your nose," I said, feeling the heat creeping up my cheeks.

I heard him laugh. "I kind of deserved it. After all, I should know better than to touch a dying ostrich."

~

The sun shone through the window as I sat on my bed, reading. But I couldn't focus, because for some reason the song "Yellow" by Coldplay was stuck in my head.

I was singing it quietly when someone sat down on the bed and I looked up. It was Flynn, but he seemed...different. For one thing, his nose wasn't bruised from where I hit it, and there were no other bruises on his face.

He smiled at me, and the feeling of his hand on my stomach came back. Ugh. I knew it would be imprinted there forever.

"Hey Alison," he said. He was wearing a green shirt, and his dark hair had fallen into his face. When was the last time this dude had a haircut?

"Hi." Something was weird. "Why are you here?"

"You invited me, remember?" He laughed.

"Oh, right." Wait, what? I didn't invite him, and why did I just say that?

I sat up and leaned in close to him. "The reason I invited you over is because there's something I've been wanting to do for a while...."

Umm....I'm confused. Why did I say that?

And then something really...icky happened.

I kissed him.

~

I woke up screaming. Well, maybe not screaming, per se, but I jolted into a sitting position and uttered the words "holy shit" before realizing that it was still dark out and...it had been a dream.

Or rather, a nightmare.

Ugh. Ew ew ew! Even if it was just a dream, I ran to the bathroom and washed my mouth. I swear I have a phobia of slobber. I felt the imprint of his hand on my stomach. Great. That wasn't going away any time soon.

Why would I dream something like that! Ew ew ew! Ugh. Blech.

I laid in bed unable to sleep until the sun rose, that stupid hand still pressing on my stomach, and then I decided just to stay up. I was almost afraid to lift up my shirt, half expecting to find the glowing handprint of a one Mr. Hot Stuff over my belly button.

I reached over for my Harry Potter book to read to pass the time, but then I remembered I'd been reading it in the dream and decided to do something else.

Ew.

But maybe it was my subconscious telling me something. That I liked Flynn? No, I think not. Probably, the stupid weird teenage hormones snuck into my brain and messed stuff up.

Whatever happened, I just hope it doesn't happen again.

  Ugh.

~~~

Take that, writer's block! (I guess...I feel like this chapter sucks. Shmerr.)