Kissing Is the Easy Part

Chapter 2 The Ritz Carlton suite

Janet was my second closest friend, and I actually got to know her because of Sean. At first I was under the impression that she only talked to boys, but then I found out Sean was one of those boys. Along with this knowledge was the discovery that he was not in a single one of the classes I took in freshman year.

Like that's gonna stop me. Janet sat right by me in math class and I thought why not. There was no harm in being friendly, right? Not that I was deliberately trying to use her.

We talked about math at first, which was a depressing enough topic itself, let alone when taken into account of how she clearly sucked as bad as I did. After a bit of prodding, I managed to fish out that she had a band! Rock bands were definitely one of the cool things to have in high school (as well as college boyfriends and a MacBook Air), and I was genuinely impressed with people who could sing. I took a closer look at Janet and realized that she had the potential to be attractive if only someone could donate her a makeover.

"I think you can totally go for the Avril Lavigne look, now that I've given some thought to it," I said.

Janet frowned skeptically. She was really thin, washboard thin, with straight listless platinum blonde hair that screamed lack of conditioning. I refrained from telling her that. She looked like she randomly threw on some rock band T shirt and called it an effort. At least the shirt looked ok.

"I can do your makeup for you," I said. "Surely you need to look...dynamic on stage?"

"Well, you really don't have to."

She wasn't overjoyed at the offer, to say the least. I'd probably be alarmed too if someone out of nowhere suggested giving me a makeover, but Janet didn't know what a pro I was.

"I know I don't have to." I rolled my eyes. "And that's what makes me such a great person! I mean, you really have nice features and I bet you're dying to learn about makeups and stuff. It can't hurt right? Who knows? Maybe you'll gain more popularity at your next gig."

"Our band is more about the lyrics and tunes, rather than me looking pretty." She smiled, probably amused at my enthusiasm.

"I'm sure your band is awesome, but these days everything is about marketing, my friend."

Janet agreed on the condition that I didn't make her into Marilyn Manson, and I was in her bedroom that very afternoon under my insistence. We talked for hours, and not once did the subject of Sean come up. Janet was funny with good-natured sarcasm, and she had the best collection of CDs imaginable. I even stayed for dinner (her brother was nice to talk to but not so flirt-worthy, so I kindly left him alone).

I checked her band out, of course. I dragged Sandra with me to one of her gigs, and we both agreed Janet was amazingly radiant on stage. When she sang her scores on the hot-o-meter went right up, brutally outshining everyone else. The drummer Andrew asked me out afterwards and at the time I considered it the bonus of the day. He turned out to be a lousy date but my friendship with Janet stayed.

I confessed to Janet a few weeks later about my initial intentions, after I felt that the friendship was secure.

"Jan, you do know that I love you and I sincerely value your friendship, right?" We were in her bedroom listening to some new band she just discovered. "You're a great person to know and I say this from the bottom of my heart."

"Flora, are you breaking up with me?"

"I just want you to know what we have is real."

"Okay...where is all this drama going?"

"It's just that at first when I started talking to you, I really was just trying to get through to your friend Sean." Before she could answer I rushed on. "But that was just in the very, very beginning because I honestly thought you were cool once I got to know you, and I started being your friend for real. And Sandy adores you too." I threw in Sandra just to make this friendship more appetizing, although Sandra would never say she adored anyone in a million years.