Chapter 3: January 12, 2011
Recently, I had been taking a lot of time off of school. Time that I probably shouldn’t have been taking off. Since my mom had her new job, she wasn’t home during that day and I had to rely on the bus to get to and from school each and every day. Well you know what? I didn’t like the bus. So you know what I did? I took time off of school. The school didn’t have the correct number to call to inform my mom that I had missed school that day, so it all worked perfectly. My mom left before I “headed to the bus stop” and she got home after I “got home from school.” Getting my make-up work was never a problem. My neighbor Dolores had most of the same classes as me, so she just brought me whatever work we did in class. She was a sweet girl, but we were never really friends, even when we were younger. We’ve gone to the same school for a while now and I think the only reason she really ever talked to me was because of Daniel.
My family and I had a little party to celebrate the holiday a few weeks back, and we invited all the neighbors and of course I invited Daniel. I didn’t want to be stuck at the party with a bunch of little kids, or a bunch of adults when I couldn’t even drink alcohol, so Daniel was the perfect company to have. Unfortunately, about half way through the party, Dolores decided to invite herself over to where Daniel and I were conversing, and she thought it would be a great idea to join our discussion. She had always had a massive crush on Daniel, but you couldn’t blame her. Daniel was cute, and he had a great personality. He wasn’t judgmental, unless he really didn’t like someone, and his sense of humor was just fantastic. I never really thought about myself having a crush on Daniel until that night.
To my relief, Dolores’s little sister, Abbey, who I used to babysit a few years back, came over to Dolores and told her that her parents were ready to leave. She told Abbey to just tell her parents that she would meet them at home later, but her parents wouldn’t let her stay. Thank god. It’s not that I didn’t want to hang out with Dolores, but I was really enjoying my alone time with Daniel. It was… nice. After Dolores left is when everything changed. Daniel and I became a little flirtier with each other, and our conversations weren’t the same. They began to sound more like things that ridiculously annoying new couples would say to each other over text message. You know, things like “No you’re cuter” and he even called me sweetheart a few times. It was never like me to act like that or say things like that. I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me, and I wasn’t exactly sure if I liked it or not just yet. Then it happened, Daniel and I kissed. No, wait; it was more than a kiss. I don’t know even know how it happened. I mean, Daniel was my best friend, and now we were kissing? What was even worse, I actually think I liked it. When our kiss broke, it was super awkward. Neither of us knew exactly what to say or do for that matter. Do we kiss again? Do we just pretend like that never even happened? We kind of just sat there in silence for a few moments, until Daniel spoke up.
“I guess I better get going. It’s getting kind of late and I don’t want my mom to worry too much.”
We both stood up and I walked with him outside. We stopped in my driveway and I just stared into his eyes, unsure of what to do at this point.
“So I’ll see you on Monday? That is, if you actually come to school.” He joked.
“I’ll definitely be there.” I responded.
Daniel leaned down to give me a hug and as soon as he let go I wasn’t sure whether he was going to kiss me again, so I just kind of stood there waiting. He saw then unsure look on my face and just kind of laughed it off, giving me a small kiss before walking back to his car. I watched him walk to his car and just before he got in, he looked at me and just waved. I waved back, and walked back inside. The party was still going on, but I really just wanted to go to bed. The music wasn’t as loud upstairs as it was when you were hanging out downstairs, but it was still too loud for me to fall asleep. I didn’t know if I actually couldn’t sleep because of the music or if it was because my brain just wouldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. What did this mean for me and Daniel now? Were we a couple? No way, Daniel and I definitely weren’t a couple. Just because we kissed once… erm… twice doesn’t mean we are a couple. Does it? I guess I had to wait until Monday to figure it out.
