My Double Life

|| 7 || Catch Me

The world is slow motion. Each and every raindrop falling in a languid motion, rolling down my cheeks.  My heart starts to flutter when he closes his eyes. It is a rhapsodic moment, a moment where I feel vulnerable yet strong. I start closing mine and leaning in. From this moment on, I feel untouchable like there is nothing that can ruin this flawless moment. But something has to.

My heart leaps all of a sudden. “Oh my gosh! Misty! Get inside, you’ll ruin your makeup!” I hear Claire yell out urgently. Our lips are only a centimetre apart. I can almost hear myself groaning in disappointment.

“Well then.” Ashton clears his throat awkwardly; “I’ll see you on Monday. Bye Misty.” Ashton pats my arm once and runs off to his motorbike. His disgruntlement is undeniable in this instant. Before Claire starts to suspect anything worth gossiping over, I run up Dianna’s marble stairs.

“Bye Ashton!” Emma screams and waves quite desperately. He nods back at her.

“Thank god, your makeup didn’t ruin,” Dianna says while wringing out my hair. I take off my high heels and feel such a relief in my ankles. They throb with a pain that makes me have to leave them to rest.

“So what did you do?” Claire questions eagerly.

“Talked, ate, the usual thing,” I answer. I don’t actually know what the usual thing is; I’ve seen it in movies though.

“Ah, okay. Did you kiss him?” Dianna asks while me while passing me my sweater and jeans. I see Emma squirm uncomfortably in her seat. What’s up with her lately? She’s been acting different today. Did I do something?

“No,” I reply blandly. I hear a loud sigh of relief. I’m not telling them that we nearly kissed because I think Emma might have an issue hearing that. Plus, they would ask how it compares, which is problematic since I’ve never kissed anyone before.

“Well get changed, I’m driving you home in five minutes.” Emma finally speaks. I nod and close the door of the bathroom. I eavesdrop on their very loud conversation.

“Sean is going to be so happy the date worked out. He really wants Ashton to get a girlfriend!” Claire exclaims awfully loudly.

“What about Dianna’s revenge on Josh?” Emma asks.

“Josh will easily get jealous.” I can almost see Dianna shrugging.

“Ashton’s a nice guy, but I don’t think he’s right for Misty,” Emma mumbles.

“What are you, a love guru?” Claire demands fairly obscenely.

“No… It’s just that,” Emma mumbles, panicky, “I like…” I don’t think I want to hear the end of that sentence. I realise that I have already gotten changed so I slam the door open to cut her off. It’s doing her a favour anyway. My legs march over to them and pretend that I never heard their conversation.

“I guess I’m leaving.” Emma stands up and rummages through her purse for her keys. Someone else opens the door in front of us. I stumble backwards so I don’t get hit.

“Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Corbett,” I greet respectively.

“What a pleasant surprise.” Mrs Corbett beams.

“We were just leaving,” Emma mutters.

“Oh okay. Have a nice week,” Mr Corbett says as he walks into the living room. Emma and I hurry ourselves into the car.

There is an awkward ride home because Emma seems a little angry with everyone. As I walk to my front door, I wipe my eyes so it’s not blurry from the rain. My fingers feel unusually sticky for some reason. I look at them and there is mascara spread all around their tips. Oh no, I’m still caked with makeup. I need to find a way to clean this makeup off without my parents noticing I entered the house. My eyes scan the area; I guess luck isn’t my favour. There are a few ways up to my bedroom. One would be climbing up the fence. Another, going through the back door (it would require me breaking into my house though). Last one is pretending to be some preppy girl from my school, looking for myself. Nah, just kidding. I’ll just climb up the fence.