One of the Boys

Chapter 6

“Al!  Someone’s at the door for you!” dad yells. 

I groan and roll over on the bed.  Who on earth would come to my house this early on a Saturday morning?  All my friends know I’m a late riser.  In fact, all my friends are late risers too.  Except maybe Zac, but he spends his mornings working out or something.  He’s got to keep that body toned, and honestly, nobody’s complaining.

“I’m letting her in!”  Her?  I don’t have any ‘her’ friends. 

I roll off the bed and onto my back onto the floor.  Ow.  That probably wasn’t the smartest idea.  I quickly scramble up and put on some shorts.  I sleep in an over-sized t-shirt and my undies so there’s no way I’m going downstairs without pants.  I run down the stairs to find Lindsey, looking all sunny and bright in the front room.

“There she is.  Al, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

“Dad Lindsey.  Lindsey dad.” I say, while referring between both of them.  “We need to go to my room now so see ya.”

Dad just chuckles and shakes his head.  “You two have fun.  Glad to see you making some girlfriends.”  Girlfriends?  Really?

Lindsey and I walk up to my bedroom and shut the door.  “Okay, lesson two of being a girl: never let other people see you with messy hair and clashing clothes.” Lindsey says, assessing my current attire.

I look down at myself and realise that only the frayed ends of my shorts can be seen below my brother’s old t-shirt.  My hair is also a huge mess off tangles sitting statically around my head.  I quickly pat it down.  “Lindsey, why are you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious!?”  No.  “I’m here to hear about your date silly!”

‘Well, what do you wanna know?”

“Everything!”

“Like?”  I have no idea where to start with this.

“Like, where did you go, what did you do, did he kiss you?”

“Well, we went to see the Fault in Our Stars.”

Lindsey shrieks.  The Fault in Our Stars is a universal girly show, which I happen to have enjoyed.  “Omigosh!  Was it good?  I need to see that!  Did you cry?”

I am so tempted to say no but I don’t see what the harm is in telling the truth.  “Yeah.  I did.  It was so much sadder than I thought it would be.”

“Aww.  You’re becoming more of a girl already.”  Maybe I should’ve lied and said no.  No.  I want to be more of a girl.  This is a good thing.  “Anyway, back to the date… did he comfort you?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly cry in front of him.”

“What!?  Why?”

“Because of the thing you said about the mascara.”

“Oh yeah.”  She sighs.  “But this was a special circumstance.  Guys love sweet girls that get emotional in sad movies.”  Zac certainly doesn’t.  “It gives them a reason to put their arms around you.”

“He did put his arm around me anyway.”

“That is soooo cute!”  I don’t get why she has to drag out the so, or say any of that so enthusiastically.  Okay, it’s pretty exciting having a guy put an arm around you.  “Did he kiss you?”

“Well, he tried.”

“And?”

“I couldn’t do it.”