Unexpected Love

Unexpected Love part 10

Chapter 10

Mark Flankster? What's so important about that? My mom stared at me. Waiting for a response. I looked at the newspaper, reading the article until something caught my attention. It said, 'a father of two kids, who both attend Lincoln City High School, Janice and Grant Flankster. And a husband of...' the article went on. That's why Janice was so sad! Oh my god! Her dad! I finally looked up and met my mom's stare. She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you were at Janice's? Because I heard that her family is going through a rough time right now." I didn't know what to say. I could continue with my lie and say yes. Or I could makeup another lie and say sorry I didn't tell you before I just thought you wouldn't understand. Or I could tell the truth...from the beginning. Oh my gosh I cant believe Janice didn't tell us? I thought she'd at least tell Angie. Angie's been her best friend since like...well, I don't really know how long.

"Yeah, I was at Janice's." I finally concluded that it's best to just stick with my lie. I'll tell my mom what I was really doing...sometime. I'll tell her when I think she's ready to know. Right now is not one of those times. "I just can't believe she didn't tell us. How long ago was this?" Uh, oh! I knew right away that I slipped up. "Us? You and..." My mom pressed. "Me and Angie and Monica. Oh, I forgot to tell you, they were there too." I just kept falling deeper and deeper into this lie that I don't know if I could continue much longer. "And again I'll ask, how long ago was this?" I tried to change the subject. My mom stared at me. She gave me the 'I think you're up to no good' look. After a long pause she finally told me. "Well, they found the body about two weeks ago. And the family was notified about three days later. He was so badly beaten up that it took them a while to identify him. The family's taking it pretty hard." I was shocked. How could this happen. I barely knew Janice but I ached so much for her. This must be just terrible. I continued to read the article.

"They think it was a homicide?" My mom nodded. "Yeah, they said that this couldn't have possibly been an accident or anything. It was definitely something done from an insider. Sources say, that it had to of been someone who's killed before because the body was so beaten up, yet they couldn't find any sort of evidence of who did it. And it had to be someone either close to him, or a stalker, because they knew where he was going to be that day." I still was speechless. "I...I can't...I mean...oh my gosh! That's just..." I stuttered. My mom just rolled her eyes. "I have to call Janice!" I exclaimed. My mom shook her head. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. She's probably going to be getting a lot of calls soon. She might be too bombarded. If you're really her friend you'll stay back and be there for her. She needs that. I bet the last thing she would want right now is to explain all this to her friends." I stopped at the stairs. My mom's right. Janice is really quiet and she probably wouldn't want everyone calling and asking for details. She's also a tough girl, and she probably doesn't want everybody's sympathy either. I sighed. "Okay..." I replied.

After that I decided to free my mind of Janice and her dad and focus on TV. So the rest of the day went by pretty quickly. Soon I dozed off on the coach, with Spongebob Squarepants playing in the background.

***

"So you are coming!" Bubba said, ecstatic. I nodded and laughed. "Yes, I will be there." He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a big bear hug. "This is awesome! This party's gonna rock!" Then he sat me down as I panted for air. "Why would you want...me to come...so bad?" I asked between breaths. "Because, you know how to get people partying! I can tell! You don't have that much energy but you know how to make people act like themselves. I think it's a gift you have." Bubba explained. I nodded. I don't know if it's actually true, but if Bubba says it's true, I guess I trust him. "Thanks Bubba. That's probably the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a while." He laughed. "I doubt that. A pretty girl like you?" He laughed again. "I'll bet you get better compliments than that everyday!" I shook my head. "Yeah, I do. But they aren't truly sweet like that." I told Bubba, then pecked him on the cheek. Bubba blushed a little, then cleared his throat. "Oh." Is all he said. A smile spread across his face slowly.

"I got to go though. It was fun watching you practice. Thanks for inviting me." I said as I saw AJ walking out of the boys locker room. Bubba wiped some sweat off his brow and adjusted his football gear. "I wasn't the only one who invited you I see." He said as AJ approached. AJ came up and put his arm around my waist. Then he pulled me up and kissed me. "Hey babe. Oh, hey Bubba." AJ said.

"Hey AJ. So are you guys like...official?" Bubba asked. AJ laughed. "I don't know. Are we Amber?" He looked to me for an answer. I shrugged. "Uh...I think so." Bubba looked a little disappointed, but then smiled. "Oh cool. Have you guys even actually like, went out?" Bubba asked. Me and AJ laughed. Bubba stared at us, wondering what was so funny. "Yeah, we have." AJ finally said. Bubba nodded. "Cool. Well I'm gonna go get changed. Yo, AJ, I was gonna ask you this in practice, but I forgot, do you think I need to work on my passes? I don't think I was doing that good today." AJ pondered this for a moment, then shook his head. "No, you're good. Andy's the one who needs to work on his passes." Bubba nodded. "Thanks dude. Okay see you later. Bye Amber." He winked, then walked to the boys locker room to change.

I looked up at AJ. He was smiling down at me. "Hey beautiful." He said as he kissed my forehead. I giggled. "Hey." I replied. "So...I wasn't the only one who invited you to football practice?" He sounded mostly joking, but I could tell he was a little annoyed. I rolled my eyes. "Oh don't be like that. Bubba's just a friend. Besides we're 'official' remember?" He laughed. "Yeah, I guess. Still, just the way he looks at you..." He trailed off. I hit him in his rock hard, six pack, abs. "He's a friend! Bottom line! Okay?" He nodded and looked towards the boys locker room, as if to see if Bubba was still standing there. "Okay. Let's go." He said.

***

When we pulled up to Angie's house I was pretty pumped. AJ said he would drive and he promised he wouldn't take his motorcycle because I didn't want my hair all windblown. I would have never thought in a million years that I would ever say that, but Monica worked really hard on it.

I looked in the back and rolled my eyes. "Really you guys?" I said annoyed. Monica and Jordan pulled apart. Monica's faced turned a deep red. "Oh, I'm...I'm sorry Amber. We just..." She laughed nervously. AJ spun around to see Monica and Jordan.

These past few days me and Monica have grown really close. With Angie busy planning everything for the party and Janice dealing with stuff with her dad, we just kind of got together. Since me and Monica were pretty close and every time I was with AJ he would either always be talking about Jordan or hanging out with Jordan. So since Monica and Jordan were both single, I hooked them up. They looked cute together. Jordan was a cute blonde boy who was probably an inch or two taller than AJ. He was also on AJ's football team.

AJ started laughing. "Dude, already?" AJ said. Jordan laughed back. "Well...you know how it is." Me and Monica just stared at them. They continued to laugh until AJ met my gaze. "What?" He laughed. Jordan looked, and got caught into Monica's stare too. We both rolled our eyes. "Boys are so strange." Monica said. "I know right." I replied. AJ and Jordan looked at each other, then looked back at us.

"Okay, are we just gonna sit in the car and make out? Or are we actually gonna go to the party?" I asked. They all laughed. "Okay, okay." AJ laughed and pecked me on the lips. "You look beautiful." He whispered. "I know." I said, then laughed and kissed him again. He smiled, then it faded. "We better get in there." He said. I nodded.

All four of us got out of the car and shut the doors at the same time. I almost laughed because it looked like something from a movie. "Okay. I wanna leave by midnight though. I'm not much of a partier, but I'm pretty pumped." I admitted. AJ walked around the car and took me by the waist. "Okay, okay. Whenever you want. Just say the word." Monica laughed. I turned my head and saw Monica and Jordan. It almost looked like they were mimicking me and AJ. I laughed back. "Wow, we better get in there fast." I said. Everyone laughed then we walked over to the front door to see Angie's party already getting started.