When I Say "I love you..."

Chapter 3

We walked into the crowded house after I took a moment to dry my hair with the towel, and put my tank top on. We walked into the kitchen through the slider door. Damen walked over to the fridge grabbing waters.

“Not much of a drinker?” I asked. Damen shrugged this time. Must be a record of how many awkward conversations two strangers could have. I just took a small sip. I could hear the music in the other room it was actually shaking my water.

Andy came into the kitchen backed up by Kyle. I waved at them and they came to join us. They grabbed some cups off the counter.

“What are you two standing around for? We should be partying!” I heard Andy yell. A second later I heard Matt yell that we should all go dance. When we got out there I don’t know how long we were dancing until the rest of the gang came inside. I saw them all slowly introducing themselves to Damen. I didn’t understand why a guy who completely ruined my nose got so much attention from my friends.

I was soon glad that I had gotten a water instead, because it was really warm in that room. It was fun dancing with all my friends. We laughed a lot and sang really loud, not that anyone could hear us over the actual music. Until I was dancing with Piper.

“How are you feeling?” she asked. I was a little confused. I felt fine. Didn’t I look okay?

“I feel fine.” I told her. She sighed and rolled her eyes at me.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” I shrugged going back to dancing. Then I felt someone bump me from behind. I lost Piper. I looked around really confused. Where did my friends go? Then some chick bumped into me from behind, pushing me farther into the crowd. I probably would’ve fallen if I hadn’t been caught by the arm and held in place.

“You okay?” I heard Damen say Kyle and the guy that whistled earlier were right behind him. There was a second of awkward.

“Ya, thanks,” I said trying to get my bearings. He gestured toward his friend.

“This is my brother, Carter.” I waved to him he smiled back. I wondered if he recognized me, and I hoped not. Not long after, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Piper. She cupped her hands around her mouth to yell over the speaker that was closer than it was a five minutes ago.

“Time to go,” Piper cried over the bass. I nodded to show I could hear her. She grabbed my arm and started tugging. I turned back towards Damen, Kyle, and Carter.

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you all Monday.” I said waving as I turned with Piper. They waved bye.

Piper and I walked out into the cold air. That’s when I remembered my jacket. Where had I left it? I couldn’t remember now. I guess I just needed a new one. It was my favorite...

“Where have you been?” I heard Piper running to catch up from behind me. She was wearing her neon yellow converse and red and yellow shirt. Her white pants making her whole outfit look very bright.

“What are you talking about?” I asked walking a little slower for her.

“I didn’t see you all weekend.”

“I was working on the paper that’s due Thursday. You know the one for our Chinese class?” She just looked a little blank. Then she blinked.

“You know I’m not in that class,” she said.

“Well, I am. I still have half of it left to finish.” I told her. She wasn’t mad anymore but she nodded.

“That’s a good excuse. Speaking of homework do you want to come over tonight? I need some help with Math.”

“Ya, I’ll be over at three after our track meeting.” I said and we walked into the school.

Classes were as boring as always and we all ate lunch together. It was fun. Today we all talked about your momma jokes and what we were all going to do for college. Lucky for us school got out early. I would miss gym today, but at least homework was little. Piper and I had math first though, but because of the early out I didn’t get time to work on my paper. I went to the meeting with Piper and Whitney. Whitney didn’t run a whole lot of stuff but she liked the hurtles and short distance. Andy doesn’t do sports, but she does dance with me.

Coach gave us all the schedule and said that there were unscheduled practices every day after school. There were weights open too. I did hurtles and ran long distance, so I didn’t really need to do weights but I did them sometimes just to stay tough. I met Piper at her house at three like I said after our meeting.

“Hey I brought some brownies!” I yelled as I walked in. I saw Mrs. Lewis and I waved to her. “Hi Mrs. Lewis.” I said. Mr. Lewis was in his office from what I could see.

“Piper is downstairs.” She sniffed the air. “Can I have one of those?” she inquired and I smiled, leaning the pan closer.

“Go ahead their a fresh batch.” I warned her. She picked one up.

“You’re right, still warm.” I smiled Mrs. Lewis was always so nice to me. I heard Piper come from the down stairs. She walked through the hallway.

“Addy? There you are. Mmmmmm, I can smell those.” She informed us licking her lips. She took one too. “Hm, still fresh, hu?” I smiled she thinks just like her mom.

We walked downstairs and I waved to Mrs. Lewis. We went to Piper’s room. Her room was in a small part of the basement, but there basement was really big. Piper’s room was pretty big. Bigger than my own. We sat down and we did our math, then we checked together once we were done while listening to Piper’s iPod. Once the math that we had for the week was finished, I worked on paper while I talked with Piper. I actually ended up needing to write only three more paragraphs including the conclusion. However I think Piper got a conclusion of a sort out of our conversation.

“So, what do you think of Damen? I mean, he’s obviously into you. You act like you don’t notice, but I know that’s not you Addy.” She surprised me. We were playing truth or dare, but I was suddenly wishing I had chosen dare like I always do.

“I didn’t even know he was supposed to be my friend at the party. It was just two incidents where we ran into each other...I mean, it’s not like we really even know each other. I don’t think we’ve had a full conversation-” Piper cut me off back tracking a little.

“Wait...two incidents?” She questioned me before I remembered that I hadn’t told her that he hit me in the face with a door.

“Well, I was walking to class last Monday and he kind of hit me with a door. You know where my locker is.” I said and she nodded. When I didn’t say any details she just had to ask for more.

“So what did he say?” she asked me with her eyebrows raised.

“He asked me my name and said he was sorry for hitting me in the nose with a door...” She looked at me like she was waiting for more. “That’s all that happened, and oh ya, I was almost late to math.” I finished. She just sighed. “There’s nothing else to add.” I told her.

“Well, you’ll have to see eventually...” she said. I rolled my eyes annoyed she was just being mellow dramatic and reading to far into this I was sure. I mean Damen wasn’t bad looking, but he didn’t know me well enough to feel that way. I didn’t know him that well either so what I thought about his looks didn’t really count yet. What she said though did make me a little hopeful. I shouldn’t dream though, it could hurt me. So right now we were just acquaintances.

“Well, maybe I’ll wake up one day,” I said sarcastically, “but I’m going to bed tonight.” I told her. She smiled like she knew something I didn’t.