Beyond the Cameras

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The weeks flew by after the party. I found myself getting closer and closer to Noland, but . I was actually starting to question whether he liked me as anything more than a friend. Not that I didn't enjoy being his friend, but I really wanted to be more.

I sighed for probably the eightieth time that night. I had been lying in my bed for the last two hours just thinking. I kept waiting for drowsiness to take over, but it never did. So I laid here. When I finally couldn't take anymore tossing in my bed, I threw the covers off and went into the kitchen for a glass of milk.

"It's seems I'm not the only one who can't sleep."

Cal sat cross-legged on the kitchen floor with a glass of milk in his hand. His head jerked up when he heard my voice and a lazy grin made its way into his face.

"Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind."

I shrugged, not wanting to push him, and honestly not caring that much. I had enough problems of my own to worry about.

"Just out of curiousity, are you ever going to ask Lou out?"

He laughed and took a sip of his milk. Very manly, I know.

"What," I asked as I pulled a cup out of the cupboard.

"That's what has me wired. I asked her on a date a few days ago and were going out tomorrow," he glanced at his watch and quickly changed his statement. "Tonight, actually."

I cheeky grin crossed my face and Cal rolled his eyes at my girly-ness.

"I know. You don't have to say it. I'm being a little sissy. Being nervous about this date and all," he took another sip of milk and looked up at me. "I'm just glad she didn't laugh in my face when I asked her."

Finally, when I couldn't hold it in any longer, I let out a quiet squeal and a little happy dance.

"Oh come off it! It's one date."

I quickly poured my cup of milk and sat down beside Cal.

"I'm so happy for you guys! I can't believe she didn't tell us, but I'm still super happy."

"She probably didn't say anything because she's too embarrassed. I should just call her and cancel."

He started to stand up, but I jutted out my arm to stop him.

"Shut up. She's totally into you. She's just really shy and knows we'll all make a big deal out of it."

He still looked a little down, but nodded.

"I hate to ask, but are you and Milton dating yet?"

I grimaced, knowing he was turning the tables on me now.

"No," I admitted. "Just friends."

I'm sure it was a sight to see Cal and I, sitting on the kitchen floor, drinking milk like two little kids. I leaned my head on Cal's shoulder and sighed.

Eighty one.

"I wish we could go back to the days when life was simpler and boys had cooties. Those were the days."

"No way. Girls were the ones cooties. Everyone knew that."

I laughed, then noticed how tired I was.

Finally!

"Well, I think I'm going to try to get some sleep. You going to sit here for a bit longer," I asked.

"Yeah. I think so," he sighed. "Thanks, though. For...you know."

I smiled and pushed myself off the wall.

"See ya tomorrow night," I joked, walking out of the kitchen. I heard his laugh ring down the hallway as I at last, was able to get in bed and go to sleep.

****

It was Saturday and since Halloween was just around the corner, the girls and I decided we would go costume shopping together. Apparently, the town hosted a halloween carnival, mostly for kids, but there was a super scary haunted house that only became scarier as the years progressed. Grace and Kallie said they worked it one year, but that it was far more fun to go through it.

We met at the mall around lunch time to shop for costumes. I had no idea what I wanted to be this year, so I was hoping the girls could help me find the perfect costume.

"I think I want to go as Dorthy this year," Lou said as we sifted through racks of costumes.

"Then you could carry around a cute little dog," I responded, pulling out a crayon suit and grimacing.

"But you would have to worry about it needing to use the restroom and stuff," Jo made a face while she looked through some trinkets on the wall.

"Yeah...," Lou trailed off. "I'll carry around a fake one," she decided. We nodded and she smiled, pleased with herself.

"So Lou, where are you going on your date with Callan tonight?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Lou. She blushed a deep shade of deep and just stood there, with her mouth half open.

"Why didn't you tell us," Jo cried.

"I didn't want you guys to make a big deal out of it," she mumbled, rifling through the racks once more.

"We have to come help you get ready tonight. We can do your hair and makeup and help pick out your outfit..." Grace started going through a check list of things we could do to help, but Lou's eyes went wide with horror before she was even halfway through.

"Noooo. Please no." When she saw the look of hurt on our faces she quickly continued. "Not that I don't want y'all to help me, but I don't want to make a big deal out of this. He proabably just asked me out because he felt sorry for me," she continued as we all rolled our eyes. "Anyway, I just want this to be a casual thing. I know y'all like to go a bit over board" cue the downcast eyes "so I'm just going to do this one on my own. Thank you for offering to help though."

We all grunted our defeats and continued to look for the perfect costumes. A very un-Kallie-like squeal came from my left and I turned to see what the fuss was about.

"This is it," she squealed again. I looked at what she was holding and saw it was a little black dress, but not one you might think.

It had quarter sleeves and was a knee length dress. The only thing that might distinguish it from any other dress was the white collar around the neck.

"You wanna go as Wednesday Addams," Jo asked, a skeptical look on her face.

"Yes! She is practically my role model," Kallie exclaimed. "This is so perfect," she muttered to herself, stalking off to go try it on.

When no one else could find a costume, we waited for Kallie to pay and then went to the next halloween store. This went on until we each found our costumes or something to go with our costumes.

Jo found this old prom dress that she's going to change into an old hollywood dress. She tried it on at the store and I could already tell she was going to drop some jaws as a scarlet, not that she doesn't already as herself.

Lou found a blue dress and some red, sparkly heels to basically complete her costume.

Grace stumbled upon this green dress that could only be done justice by her and her red hair. We figured we could just curl it, tease it a bit and bam, she would be Merida brought to life.

That just left me. When I couldn't find anything that completely caught my attention, I remembered I had the perfect polka dot dress to be Minnie Mouse.

With our hands full of shopping bags and our feet killing us from all the walking, we called it a day.

****

The song in the side bar is 'Just Friends' by The Jonas Brothers. It's pretty old, but I thought it was cute and sorta went with the chapter so thought I would share it with you guys.

xx