My Backstage Boyfriend | teen fiction

act 1, scene 7 - confusion

Jessie had to leave early to go to her new job (at the Pretzel stand, which I unfortunately never heard back from), so after rehearsal I stood outside with Nick waiting to get picked up. As everyone else was an upperclassmen, they could all drive or were good enough friends with the others to ask for rides.

"What do you think you'll dress up as for Jess's party?" He asked suddenly. He called her Jess. It meant nothing, really. It was just another nickname.

"Oh, geez, I hadn't really thought about it." I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, contemplating what to say that wouldn't make me sound like an idiot. "I don't know, it could be funny to be Cindy Lou Who."

He burst out laughing, "You mean, like the Grinch?"

I couldn't help but laugh too, "I mean, yeah. People have told me my nose kind of looks like hers."

"Oh God that's horrible!" He exclaimed in between breaths. He looked at me a moment, as if studying to see if it were true, and then lost it again.

"See! It's so true! If I have to have this nose, I might as well have fun with it." We chuckled until we eventually calmed down.

"I mean, if you're just picking something based on how you already look, you could just as easily be Barbie or something." My mind immediately shot back to my body being on full display on Jessie's Snapchat story and my cheeks flushed. Wait! He had just told me I looked like Barbie. I feel like it could've gone either way, but that he meant it as a compliment.

"Haha, thanks," I mustered.

It was still then, for a moment. The crisp autumn breeze rustled my hair and sent a chill down my legs. I felt almost like there was electricity between us. Part of me wanted to ask him to hang out that weekend, go see a movie or something. But that would never be me. As flirty as I could be in conversation, I always got cold feet when it actually came time to do anything.

I went to ask him what he was thinking of going as, but stopped as I watched his mom's car pull up. She waved at me from the front seat. It brought me back to the days when our moms ruled the PTA. If only.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Penny." God, he looked so cute in the moment. Looking nonchalantly back at me over his shoulder, an easy smile spread across his face, hair tousled in the wind. My heart melted a little.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." I tried to look pretty as I waved.

And then it was just me. I checked my phone only to see that my mom had only texted me about eight million times. She had to go in for an emergency in her office and wouldn't be able to get me.

Great.

It was getting colder. The doors to get back into the building were locked, so I sat with my back against the brick in the quiet. I hugged my bare legs to my chest. Shorts probably weren't the best idea, but I was so determined to not let summer go. My phone had low battery. I couldn't even call anyone to come.

I was mentally preparing myself to walk the several miles home when the door opened right next to me. I jumped up so it wouldn't swing out and hit me.

"Oh, crap! Penelope, you really scared me." It was Christian. He had dropped some of his music and I frantically went to go pick it up.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," my words came out all rushed and hurried. I felt terrible.

"No, no, don't worry about. It's all good. What are you still doing here?" He actually looked really concerned.

"Oh, I can't drive and my mom was supposed to come get me, but she had to work late. I was just about to walk home."