"Hey, Q, can you come help set up early for the party after school?" Aaron closed his locker, which was the one two down from mine, and leaned against it. His cocky smile made girls drop like flies. Haha, he wishes his smile did what mine does, though. I laughed at the thought and said, "Fine, I'll set up your damn party, but I'm not stupid." He looked at me in awe. "Yes, Aaron, I know you asked Jessica to ask Alannah to go to this party." He waved his hand and just shrugged off the fact that I had caught his tricky ass red-handed. "Pffft, what're you talking about," he said, then under his breath, he said, "Dammit." We walked to class laughing.
You know, I don't know why, but I just can't resist watching her. I know it's kinda stalker-ish, but I've never cared, and I certainly didn't in fifth period AP Chemistry. I know she hates me, and I know it's wrong, but I can't help it. She's gorgeous, kind (well not to me I guess), and so much more, too. Now, when we were still friends and she had an overprotective boyfriend I would be discrete about me watching her. Now I don't. She catches me watching and she rolls her eyes, whispers to Jessica, and I keep watching. I do my best to make her happy, even if she doesn't want me to, but I do. I wish I could have her back but honestly, I doubt my little favors do anything except make it worse. It's sorta funny, knowing that we were such close friends and now I could be sent to Hell and sentenced an eternity there and she'd thank Lucifer in the flesh. But like I said, I can't help it. Maybe tonight at the party I'll try to leave her alone. I passed my day thinking about her as usual and when the day was done I got in my car and followed everyone else helping to set up at Aaron's.
Once we got there it took her exactly 15 minutes to arrive and have Melissa answer the door. I was the only one who noticed her eyes widen when she realized she was here early and she'd be set up. She walked in, glared at me, and stormed off. I tried greeting her kindly but it just pissed her off. Great. Jordan saw this and patted me on back. "Don't worry, Q, she'll come around sooner or later." I chuckled to myself and said, "Yeah, I guess so." Then I took the last sip of my beer and we went to work on the party.
The guys were subjected to the heavy listing. Since we were all wrestlers, football players, or just athletic in general, we were all listing kegs from Aaron's and Jordan's trucks to the backyard. Since I was actually one of the strongest guys (despite the fact I'm not really a jock nor do I involve myself in much of the jocks stupidity) I did a lot of the work. I found it quite amusing that some of the big oh-I'm-so-great jocks were panting by the fourth keg. Other stuff we had to do was move the freaking pool table from Aaron's basement to the living room. I don't curse much, but holy fucking shit that was heavy. After we were done we all had beers and waited for the party goers. I even went to her directly with one, however, as expected she just set it down and went into the other room.
By five o'clock the party was packed and everybody was having a good time. Everyone except her and I. She kept getting mad cause I kept looking at her from across the room and then I'd get pissed off at myself cause I kept doing it. I wasn't even happy when Aaron called me up for his "surprise" birthday speech that I knew was coming the whole time. I put on a fake smile that only she saw was fake and the reason I knew she knew was that she looked at me like I was the devil. All I could do was look back at her. I was locked in. What broke me free was Aaron handing me a box. He leaned in and said, "When it's time, give it to her." I looked at him in confusion but then he dismissed us to cake. I didn't really see her the rest of the night. I was disappointed at first, thinking she had left, but eventually, I ended up having a good time cause I had faith she was there still.
After the party, when I laid in bed thinking about my night, I felt the small box Aaron had given me in my pocket. I lifted it out and looked at it closely. It almost looked like a ring box. I quickly sat up and ripped open the wrapping and there it was a small velvet ring box. I opened it and it was the wedding ring I had shown him months before. I told him I'd only ever buy something so expensive for Alannah. Also inside was a small piece of paper that said, "Happy Birthday, Bro, now go get her." I laid there the rest of the night with the box thinking about her.
