At the end of practice, I went into the bathroom and wiped the sweat of my face with a paper towel. I went back into the gym, grabbed my bags and walked outside. I sat down and waited for my mom. I took out my phone. 0 new messages. He was still at practice. I guess practice got done late because I left before they came.
I got home and immediately started my homework to keep myself distracted. My mom yelled dinner and I ran upstairs. She made spaghetti and meatballs. I quickly ate it and went back down to my room. I pushed my homework aside and took out my laptop. I logged on to Facebook and checked who was online. Shane was on. I grabbed my phone off the charger. 1 new message. I got so excited except it wasn't from Shane. It was from Joy. I opened it.
1 New Message: Joy Joy- Hey what's up?
To: Joy Joy- Hey. nothing much. I just finished my homework.
We didn't have random small talk conversations that much anymore. I guess we were just drifting since middle school. My phone vibrated again.
1 New Message: Joy Joy- Oh that's fun, so I have a question.
I was a little nervous for what she was going to ask me. But I replied and asked what her question was. I was a little upset Shane hadn't responded yet. I mean, I know it would be stupid for him to like me. We barely knew each other but you would think he'd at least have the decency to respond to a little text message. Vibrate.
1 New Message: Joy Joy- Do you like Shane?
I stared at my phone for a little bit. I mean she was my friend but like I said, we have been drifting and I didn't really want people to know. If one person knows and that one person tells him then that could be the end of that. I gave up with my internal struggle and told her anyway.
To: Joy Joy- Yeah, i guess kinda.
She replied immediately.
1 New Message: Joy Joy- I KNEW IT.
I didn't feel like talking about it anymore so I didn't respond. I locked my phone and set it down on the bed. It vibrated again. I guess ignoring her wasn't going to work. But to my surprise when I pushed the button on my phone, the message wasn't from Joy.
1 New Message: Shane- Hey, it's cool. I was going to ask for your number through Facebook anyway.
I smiled to myself. He was trying to talk to me. No, stop it, Mia. I knew I was going to get ahead of myself. So I spent the rest of the night making small talk with him until he fell asleep. It was probably one of the better nights I've had in a while.
~
The next couple of weeks were a lot better. I spent almost every single night talking to Shane until he fell asleep. He sat with me at lunch. I tried so hard to make it to his soccer games. Of course it was difficult because I had volleyball. But I managed to make it to the end of one of the games. He didn't play much at the end because he was a starter. When the game ended, I walked over and said hi. He had to carry some of the equipment back to the school. So I walked back to the parking lot with him.
"Are you going to the school fundraiser dinner at the pizza place in the mall?" He asked me. The mall was almost 45 minutes away from my house and it wasn't a very safe mall either. I knew my mom did not plan on attending the fundraiser.
"No. The mall is too far away from my house." He kinda looked disappointed. I helped put the stuff in the coach's car. I said goodbye because my mom started to wave me to the car. I ran into my best friend Anna who was also on the team.
"Hey, do you plan on going to the fundraiser tonight?" Kind of coincidental that she asked me that.
"No, I didn't exactly plan on it." She gave me a look and walked over and started talking to her mom and then walked back towards me.
"Do you want to go with my family?" DO I?! I calmed down enough to say yes and ask my mom. I got in the car with her family and we drove to the mall. I took out my phone and texted Shane the good news. Once we got the restaurant, they sat us down at a table in the back. Straight ahead of me was a wall with a large window, allowing you to see the other tables there. I looked down at my phone which was sitting in my lap. No new messages. I looked around. The small room we were in had four medium sized tables with a few black metal chairs tucked underneath. The walls were painted a dark yellow color. I looked at my menu and when the waitress came, I ordered a personal pizza with pepperoni. I handed her my menu and I looked up and saw a family was now sitting on the other side of the window. And I recognized three faces at the table, one of which was Shane's. I leaned over and told Anna he was sitting there. Anna now knew I liked Shane. In fact, most of my friends did. I guess if I had scared him off, he would've left by now. We spent the dinner making faces and texting each other stupid middle school stuff. We finished eating, so as we left I waved goodbye to them.
In the car on the way home, Anna's mom asked me about Shane.
"So, Mia, do you like this Shane boy?"
Before I could answer, Anna interjected, "Yes, she does. And he likes her too." That was news to me. I mean I suspected he did but never really said it. I was getting confirmation now.
"Did he tell you that?" I turned and looked at her.
"Yep. The other day in English I asked him about you." To be honest I was freaking out a little. Never in my life have I ever liked someone and they liked me back. I kinda just said okay to Anna and went silent again. I took out my phone again. I had a couple unread messages from him. I ignored them and straight up tried to start a different conversation.
To: Shane- So...have you talked to Anna lately?
That sounded really stupid and I regretted sending it the second I hit send. But I guess there was no turning back now.
1 New Message: Shane- yeah she's in my English class, why?
Bingo. Now here's where I needed to make a decision. Do I beat around the bush and get him to admit he likes me or do I straight up ask him. I wasn't much for beating around the bush so I went the other way.
To: Shane- Did you tell Anna that you liked me?
God. This was starting to sound like I was in sixth grade again. I didn't know else to do it. I mean I was just in ninth grade. I have no clue how to deal with boys. What was taking him so long to reply? It was yes or no answer, right?
1 New Message: Shane- Ugh yeah. I didn't think she was going to tell you that. I didn't want to look stupid.
Oh my god. He just admitted it. He liked me. Ok ok calm down. I needed to respond so he didn't feel stupid for telling me that.
To: Shane- Oh...well I like you too.
This was beginning to sound stupider and stupider. Why couldn't I word things more maturely. I quickly typed up a part two to that message.
To: Shane- like I have feelings for you.
Why did I send that? Stupid. He replied though.
1 New Message: Shane- Oh, well that's good for me, I guess.
I guess. I didn't like the way that sounded. No more part twos.
To: Shane- Well. If you like me. And I like you. Shouldn't we do something about that?
I was beginning to sound desperate. I wasn't really sure how else to say ask me out with actually saying, ask me out.
1 New Message: Shane- Hmm maybe.
Ugh he was driving me crazy with this. I had no clue what he wanted and at this point I felt like I was pushing too much so I backed off. But my phone went off again.
1 New Message: Shane- Maybe you'd like to be my girlfriend? ;)
Frick. I was stuck in this car with like six other people. All I wanted to do was freak out and I couldn't.
To: Shane- UHM Yes. Yes I would like that.
Now. You're probably thinking, why would she accept that over text. And here's your answer. I didn't care how he did it. I wasn't the superficial type. I genuinely liked him and if it meant I could be with him, then that is all that mattered to me. So I said yes. And in the chilly September night, (September 12th to be exact, just so you can get a sense of time) I laid in the dark in my bed, smiling at the ceiling.
