Stay Close, Don't Go

Tuesday morning, I didn’t even make it half way to first hour before Janie was next to me, a huge grin on her face. And before I even had a chance to finish asking her what was up, she was practically squealing at me, “I heard yeh kissed Tom!”

“Damn woman,” I muttered, hugging my books closer to my chest slightly embarrassed, “Would you mind not yelling that at the entire school, please and thanks? And who told you because I don’t think word travels that fast.”

“Remember my friend Matt from the party?” She asked. When I nodded she continued to talk, “Well he was over at Oliver’s yesterday and texted me when Tom came home. Said he was red as a tomato and had been at your house.”

Biting my lip and trying not to smile, I looked over at her. Janie’s smile, if possible, got even bigger and she gushed over me, now knowing it was the truth.

“Tell me everythin’.” She instructed, pushing me into first period. When I noticed Tom wasn’t there yet, I agreed to fill her in.

It was weird having a friend who seemed to care about this stuff. I usually stuck to being one of the guys whenever I made friends because girls were also too dramatic and too bitchy to care. But Janie was a small exception I was making; plus, I needed to tell someone before I exploded.

“It’s nothing big anyways, I sort of did what you said to. You know, gave him a quick kiss before acting like it was nothing. It probably lasted a good five seconds before I made us finish our project.” I explained with a shrug, trying to make it off as nothing big.

“So is it all awkward now?” She asked curiously, leaning on my desk.

“I don’t know yet.” I replied honestly. After the kiss we worked on our project like their was nothing wrong, but I didn’t have a clue how things would be today. “I’ll let you know when, and if, we talk today.”

Tom didn’t show up for first period, I didn’t seem him at his usual spot during lunch, and by study hall I was wondering if I managed to scare him away. I didn’t think my kiss could have been that bad.

Sitting alone at my table in study hall, my phone vibrated in my pocket. No one around me seemed to notice, and when I realized the teacher was half asleep, I slipped it out of my jeans and clicked it open to see the sender; Tom.

‘Oliver snatched me away today. Thing with his band. Let me know what we do in science?’

The text, even though it was simple, was enough to calm down my suspicions of him developing a whole new hate for me. At least I knew what he didn’t come to school today, unless he was lying, but in that case he wouldn’t have bothered to text me.

After thinking of an equally simple reply including a summary of science, I stared at my phone now cleverly hidden behind my binder, watching the tiny plastic device like a hawk; waiting.

It buzzed against the counter top for a moment before I snatched it, quickly flipping it open and pressing a button. His next text displayed on the screen; ‘Sounds boring. So project is due tomorrow, all finished?’

‘Yes, all done. Finished yesterday.’ Thinking for a moment, I replied back, not sure if he was secretly wanting me to turn this into a conversation or if he was genuinely interested in science.

I barely set my phone down before it went off again. When I picked it up this time, my eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

‘Why haven’t we fucked yet?’

What? Am I missing something? Is he texting another girl at the same time, or am I really reading this properly? In my mind, I started to try and think of a reply, but almost immediately I got another text.

‘Ignore that! Oliver grabbed my phone and wanted to be an areshole. Sorry.’

That is so typical Oliver. It really is, and I hardly know him, so if I know typical him, that’s pretty bad. I thought for a moment before replying again, not even setting my phone down this time.

‘Oh, haha figures. Flick him behind the ear. Where are you anyways?’

Texting Tom was not good for my mental health. I was now consumed by my phone, eyes set on it waiting. Luckily, the bell had just rang and I was free to obsess over text messages.

‘Friend Lee’s house. His is actually between yours and the school. Drop by?’

Even a text Tom sent could make me giddy. After reading that he wanted to see me, my heart flopped around a little. My shaky fingers texted him back, telling him to meet me half way. What I didn’t realize was half way currently meant three houses in front of me.

Tom walked out of the house, looking over at me in surprise that I was already so close. I think I was giving him the same look.

“Aye Madison.” He greeted as I walked closer. You could tell he was feeling a bit shy, but I knew that behind one of the windows, his brother and friends were probably watching, giving him a small boost of confidence. Before I had a chance to reply, he started to talk again, “I’m warnin’ yeh now. My brother and friends, they’re a bit crazy in a way. Just be warned that they are embarrassin’.”

“Alright then, I’ve been warned. Any trouble I get into is my own fault.” I replied with a smile.

&&

Tom wasn’t kidding when he said the guys were a bit embarrassing. They were loud, had no filter between their minds and mouths, and liked to all pick on each other. It wasn’t hard to say that I liked them right away.

Next to me was Lee, who was my height and adorable. He had that hair where you have to swish it into place every few seconds. He probably thought it was weird that I would watch him flip his hair back into place.

On the other side of me was Tom, whose hand was resting on the couch cushion with mine next to it, our pinky fingers touching oddly. It was, in my opinion, kind of cute.

On a different couch were the two Matts, one I had already met, and Curtis. The second Matt was Matt Kean, who I liked right away. He was one of those quiet guys that, whenever they actually decided to talk, it was something funny or random coming out of their mouth. And Curtis just seemed like one of those live in the moment type people.

And of course there was Oliver, who was making kissy faces at me whenever Tom wasn’t looking. I did all that I could and gave him the finger numerous times, causing Lee to laugh next to me before he would swish his hair back into place.

It was odd that I felt comfortable around them right away. Normally it took me a while to even want to be in the same room with new people, let alone 5 new people and a guy I’m currently crushing on.

Next to me, Tom pulled out his phone, and a moment later mine was going off. Glancing at him, I pulled mine out and read the message.

‘You bored?’

I texted back quickly, saying I wasn’t before slipping my phone back into my pocket. Matt Nicholls noticed are phone exchange and made a deal out of it, “Are yeh two really texting while sitting right next to each other? Yeh couldn’t ‘ave leaned over and whispered?”

“No.” Tom said plainly and started to text me back again. Matt shook his head disapprovingly and muttered something about kids these days.

My phone soon went off again, and now knowing I couldn’t really hide it, I opened my phone obviously and started to read. It took me everything from not smiling.

‘OK, let me rephrase- I’m bored. So you want to go for a walk?’