i sit in lily's basement, eagerly rocking back and forth. everyone is coming over to watch a movie, a horror movie, as requested by corey. i'm so nervous, i know he's going to want to sit next to me. the whole day i've been jittery and quiet.
steve talks loudly in my direction, "what's the matter, lydia? missing corey?"
my head shots up, "no." he gets a laugh out of this and lily, who is sitting next to him, gives him a playful punch.
wil and kimmy are also positioned on the recliner's seats. their legs are tangled together and kimmy has her face buried in his chest.
"fun fact, this movie was only rated 3.5 stars." wil consults the blockbuster film case.
"no way! i saw this in the theaters!" kimmy's head pops up quickly as she snatches the case out of his hands. i look over to elsie who is laying back with her eyes closed.
all i can think about is the moment corey shows up. he'll want me to cuddle, everyone will see. they're gonna make so much fun of us, it'll be embarrassing. the more i think about it the more nauseous i feel.
i feel a tug on my arm and see elsie next to me, "are you okay?" i shrug a little and she pulls me up to the main level, leaving everyone else downstairs.
"i'm so nervous, like i feel sick to my stomach." i pace around the living room as elsie leans back on an ottoman. she's the only one i told about corey's plan for today. if lily and kimmy figured out it would be absolute torture.
"you like him don't you?"
"i guess? i mean, yeah, i do."
"then there's no need to worry. he's obviously interested in you too. you know corey, he won't make it awkward."
"yeah, it's fine, i'll be fine." as i reassure myself, elsie grabs me a glass of water from the kitchen and leads me up to lily's room. i sit at the huge vanity she has in the corner and dab on a little lipgloss.
"i forgot my lighter, be right back." elsie huffs.
20 minutes later elsies not back and corey and river still haven't arrived. corey is always late so i understand why, but i wish he would hurry up. in the three days since we've seen each other, corey and i haven't talked. i mean, i didn't expect him to call me or anything, i just didn't have much notice until i would see him again. but this morning at around 10 am, kimmy called and explained our plans to watch a horror movie tonight, she also giggled about how it was all corey's idea.
it's now 9 pm, i lay back on lily's twin bed and stare up at her bleach white ceiling. i hear the sound of frogs croaking and some neighborhood kids laughing outside. the sound of feet pounding up the stairs and elsie bursting into the room interrupt my thoughts.
"coreys here." she says. "sorry i never came back up, i was stuck down there, wil spilt the hawaiian punch on the carpet then lily and kimmy got in another cat fight. i'll explain later, just come downstairs."
i stand up shakily, "okay, i'll just uh, i gotta use the bathroom, 'kay?"
after about a good 15 minutes of sitting in the bathroom pointlessly, i convince myself to go downstairs. i can do this. i can hear the sound of the movies intro rolling from the landing.
the only person that i notice when i make it downstairs is elsie, who smiles at me encouragingly. i glance over to see corey sitting on the part of the recliner closest to me. he's leaned back, looking pretty invested in the movie, but every couple seconds he starts bouncing his knee crazily. is he nervous too?
i throw myself down next to him, "hi."
his blue eyes stare back at me and he starts to grin, "hey! i saved you a spot." he motions for me to scoot closer to him. i close the foot long gap between us, just a couple more inches, i tell myself. once our thighs are touching corey smiles down at me, he then snakes an arm around my shoulders. god, why is it now that my pores are oozing with sweat?
