Where He Stands

Chapter Fifteen: The Double Date

“We’ve been gone for two days and there are no welcoming crowd?” Luke complained, wrinkling his nose as the four of us walked inside the school.

Chris patted his friend’s shoulder. “Luke, I worry about your brain. We’ve been gone for a weekend, man. Nobody’s going to notice we were gone,” he explained.

“But still! I feel such a loser.”

I shook my head but there was a smile on my face. As soon as we arrived inside, I took off my sunglasses, just like the boys. It was good to be back at Chicago, though I really miss New York and my brother. “But wasn’t it fun in New York?” I said cheerfully.

“It was,” Oliver agreed, nodding his head slowly.

I glanced at him at the same time he did to me. We never spoke about that heated kiss followed by a heated argument in my room. I never told Jane that I kissed him and I supposed he didn’t say a word to his friends, since they weren’t asking me questions or giving me weird looks. But I’ve been thinking about that kiss a lot of time. Something about that was giving me chills – and I don’t know if it was the good or bad kind.

“Listen, my friends, I have to go and meet up with some ladies,” Luke said, eyeing a group of cheerleaders who were giggling. “I’ll see you all later at lunch.” And then he was gone.

“I’m going to see Jane. I’m asking her help for the homework we had,” Chris said a little too quick and then was off.

“I guess that leaves the both of us,” Oliver said, swinging his hands on his sides.

I ignored what he said. Or tried to, at least. “I’m going to my locker,” I muttered and slowly made my way through the crowd. I heard Oliver give a heavy sigh and followed me from behind.

My locker was just beside his and so when I opened mine to get my things, he also did, too. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you some questions,” he started. We weren’t exactly face-to-face, since there was a locker door separating us.

“Oh really?” I said conversationally. “About what?” I know perfectly what he’s going to ask, but I just pretended that I don’t know.

“About that moment when we were in your room and—”

“Rebecca?”

Oliver and I turned around. Eric was standing in front of me, holding out a single red rose. He was smiling nervously at me and I swear, I saw one bead of sweat trickle down his forehead.

I tried to form a smile. He was just in a very bad timing. “Eric,” I said. “Hi. What’s with the flower?”

One full second passed and then his hands were suddenly on my shoulders and his lips were on mine. My eyes were wide open as he started kissing the life out of me. But I was too shocked to respond. I just stood there awkwardly. When he pulled away, he was looking at me expectantly.

“What… what was that for?” The question didn’t come out of my mouth. Instead, it came out of Oliver’s.

Eric glanced at him, shocked. It was as if he never noticed Oliver before. Then he turned to me again and handed me the rose that he was holding. “Here’s for you, Rebecca.”

I didn’t take the rose. “Eric, what was that for?” I repeated what Oliver said. “You can’t just kiss me like that and don’t explain! For God’s sake, you have a girlfriend—”

“Lavender and I broke up.”

Well, that shocked me a lot more than when he kissed me. “What!” I exclaimed. “You broke up with her? Why? I thought you loved her more than anything in this world!”