My Crush On The New Girl

Oh Mother!

"Hmm." Silence for a few seconds. Probably her contemplating. I think I hear the intake of a breath. She speaks. "JUSTIN CASE! ARE YOU IN YOUR ROOM? CLEAN YOUR ROOM!"

The sounds of her stomping up the stairs echoes throughout the house.

Ohhh, I know what you're doing. I tense up and look at the door; Julia stares at me, wide-eyed. The door swings open. My mom stares at me for a moment, and starts glancing at both Julia and I. She seems to be in a state of awe, but quickly recovers.

"Hello there!"

"Hi, Mrs. Case."

"Oh, just call me Jennifer." My mom puts her hand out.

"Okay!" Julia relaxes a bit and smiles, shaking my mom's hand.

"Well then, I'll just leave you guys alone now." She discreetly winks at me. I narrow my eyes at her until she leaves the room.

"Anyways, now what do we do?" Julia asks me.

"Do you want to study... up here?"

"Ooh, yeah, sure." She grins, making her dimples more noticeable.

So we go downstairs to get our stuff. My mom is in the kitchen, and stops us to ask a question.

"Hungry? I could get some snacks ready."

"What do we have?" I ask Mom, while glancing at Julia, who is looking down shyly.

She replies with a simple nod of the head towards the pantry. "I can make chips with spinach dip."

"Does that sound good?" I say to Julia. Becuase I hope to impress you with my mom's homemade cooking/food preparation skills, which is totally normal.

"Sounds delicious." She must know she makes me crazy.

"It sounds good, Mom!"

As she prepares for war (making those chips and dip from scratch is harder than it seems), we bring our study materials up to my room. After a considerable amount of time passes, we go to the kitchen to grab our snacks. We lay the food on my desk and continue to work on the project at my bed.

As Julia looks at her blueprint, she squints at the paper. When she does that, she bites her bottom lip. Hard at work, it seems. I scoop a chip into the spinach and give it to Julia. Without looking up, she takes it and eats it, mumbling a "thanks." I eat my own food. Julia finally looks up and starts to speak, looking nervous. But my mom knocks and asks to enter. Julia doesn't say anything.

"Come in." My mom opens the door.

"I thought you guys might want something to drink." She holds two glasses of water with ice. She places them on the desk. We both thank her; she's been so attentive to us. Maybe it's because of Julia, our guest? The Girl of My Dreams?

Before she leaves, my mom asks, "Justin? Can I talk to you for a minute?" She motions toward the hallway.

"Uh, okay." I get up from the bed and follow her outside the hallway into her room. I start speaking before she can.

"Mom, wait. Let me tell you something first." If it's about the status of the "relationship" I have with Julia, I need to set it straight with her.

"Okay, but hurry." She looks around the room nervously.

"I know it seems I'm interested in Julia, and I really am. Like, a lot." This is embarrassing. Makes it even harder to finish. "But she has a boyfr-"

"Oh, Justin!" She pulls me into her arms. I hug back, mentally telling my tears to go away. I don't care about how long I've known Julia or how sensitive I'm being or whatever; I really wish she'd love me as much as I love her.

"Mom, it's okay."

"Okay, okay." She releases me, still looking a bit concerned. "But now, let me tell you something." She hesitates. "Well, there's this man I've been dating... for some time now." Her eyes flicker side to side, obvious signs of nervousness.

"Go on," I urge her. This bit of news is surprising, but I want her to finish.

"He and I... we've been together for three months."

THAT LONG?

"THREE MONTHS? AND ONLY NOW YOU TELL ME?" I widen my eyes, realizing I just yelled at my own beloved mother.

"Sorry! I'm sorry," My mom says. She sincerely looks guilty for keeping this secret.

"No! I'm sorry. I overreacted. It's okay. So, uh, when do I meet this guy?"

"Actually, he's coming over later. You can meet him, and then we can all go out to eat. So once Julia leaves, go take a shower, wear casual attire, and help me clean the house." She shivers, as if in fear of what the outcome will be of me meeting this mystery man.

"M'kay." I walk back to my room and find that Julia has finished the blueprint. She gives me a sarcastic look as if to say, Great, you're finally back. The blueprint is finished, no thanks to you. I sheepishly shrug in apology. Her mouth turns up slightly.

I feel anxious and scared about meeting the guy my mom has (secretly) dated. She did seem to like her relationship with him, and she desperately wants things to go smoothly, I can tell. I don't recall her ever dating someone (to my knowledge). I'm still mad about her hiding it from me, but I want to give this guy a chance.

PLEASE LET THIS GO WELL!

After finishing two weeks of homework (yes, two weeks), at around five o'clock, it was time for Julia to go home. I walk her across the street to her house. We get to her porch, and after ringing the doorbell, a tall man answers the door.

"Hello, Mr. Yiruma." He raises his left eyebrow, probably suspicious of the awkward boy next to his precious daughter.

I shift and fidget, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Dad, this is Justin. He helped me in school today."

"Okay. Bye, Justin. Come in, Juju." His quick, standoffish response makes it obvious he wants me to leave.

I see Julia roll her eyes. She mumbles, "I told you not to call me that in front of my friends."

Once she gets in, he slams the door in my face.

WHAT A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION!!! (If Ander could see me now, he'd be laughing his head off.)

I take another shower. Meeting Julia's dad made me sweaty enough. I throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with the phrase Then I stay in my room, waiting for the door to ring. I try to busy myself with cleaning, studying, anything to distract from the knot in my stomach. Finally, after years of waiting (about forty minutes), I hear the chime of the doorbell.

I tread downstairs, as I hear mother open the door.

"Suprise, Justin! It's me!" A familiar voice says. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I look up. Thime eyeballs must be decieving me. I watch as Mr. Reese leans in to kiss my mother's cheek.

"Mr. Reese?!" Mixed emotions swirl through me. I currently feel:

1) Furious

2) Ecstatic

3) Confused

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!