I watched as his eyelids relaxed and his mouth curled into that lazy grin of his which never failed to kill me. Then he nodded his head almost imperceptibly as he breathed out one, remarkable, little word.
“Yes.”
There was no misreading the way he was looking at me, or his words, or his intent. I was pretty sure that this was the night when everything was about to change between us.
It figures that there I was without makeup on, dressed in sweatpants and my hair all tied up in a ponytail. But none of that was about to stop me from finding out what promises awaited behind that look in his eyes.
“Okay, Lemme just come down and unlock the door.”
I closed my window and started to turn toward the hallway, but just then, at that exact freaking moment, I saw the headlights of Dad’s car coming down the street.
I thought, “Dear God, really, are you kidding me? Now? Really?”
It was positively shattering to realize that my life-altering night was being crushed.
After my initial devastation, I was able to recognize a bit of humor in the moment, however. As Dad’s car had been pulling into the driveway, Trip had been diving for the bushes.
Even through my despair, I found it funny the way he felt the need to hide away like some fugitive just because my father had come home. Dad had already met him a handful of times and he knew that we weren’t a couple or anything, but Trip was acting like he’d just been caught with his hand up my shirt and his pants around his ankles.
Maybe I should have let him in a few minutes earlier.
Chapter 17
AWAKENINGS
I knew that Trip and I had crossed over into some exciting new territory that night and I was just dying to find out where it was leading. I mean, a guy doesn’t just show up outside his buddy’s window late on a Saturday night to tell them how much they were missed at some school dance, right?
The minutes felt like an eternity, waiting for the phone to ring. I spent my wait trying to decide if I should play it cool when he called, maybe a little hard-to-get. But then I realized that was probably pretty stupid and he wouldn’t buy it anyway. He knew me too well. And really, here was everything I’d wanted for so long unexpectedly dropping into my lap. I’d have to be an idiot to go and play games with it.
I figured I’d played it cool long enough. If Trip wanted to be my boyfriend, then I was going to let it happen, ecstatically, without toying with his head.
I stayed awake until midnight that night waiting for the phone to ring.
It didn’t.
I stuck close to home all day on Sunday, because I wanted to be there when he finally decided to call, or better yet, maybe stop by. I’d made a point to shower and put on a decent-yet-casual outfit in case he made another appearance on my doorstep. I wanted to look a little nicer than I did the night before when he caught me without makeup and wearing a pair of sweats. I wasn’t going to let him catch me looking like such a frump the next time he decided to spill his heart out.
By dinnertime on Sunday, I still hadn’t heard from him and I started to wonder if I’d only imagined what was going on between us. I started to wonder if maybe there wasn’t even an “us” to begin with at all.
I began kicking myself for being such an idiot, “panting after Trip like a stray puppy”, just like Lisa had said. She said that everyone knew about my crush on him, and at the time, I thought she was just trying to be hurtful. But did everyone know? Was I the butt of some cruel joke, people whispering behind my back for being some pathetic, love-struck loser who was way out of Trip Wilmington’s league? Is that why everyone voted for us at homecoming, as a big setup to put me in my place? Was there a bucket of undumped pig’s blood hovering above the stage at that very moment? I mean, he was dating Tess Valletti for godsakes. Did I really think I stood a chance of stealing him away from a girl like that? Me. Layla Warren. Semi-converted wallflower and longtime tomboy.
Yeah. That’s what a guy like Trip wanted. A fraudulently popular, obsessive-compulsive dork with a wicked jump shot.
I washed the makeup off my face and went to bed.
*
The next morning, I woke up late as the phone was ringing and nearly fell out of bed when I went to answer it. My head was dazed from sleep, but my heart was beating out of my chest as I fumbled for the receiver and choked out, “Hello?”
At first, there was a deafening silence as the clock ticked off the seconds, the hours. The anticipation was killing me. “Hello?” I said again.
And then at last, I was met with, “I’m sorry.”
Lisa.
I sank back into my pillows and let out the breath of air I hadn’t realized I was even holding in.
“Yeah, I know.”
I could hear Lisa fiddling with the cord on her end as she laughed out, “You know? What the hell is that?”
I laughed, too.