This Is Not an After School Special

I honestly believed that the whole thing had been a dream. I was too scared to open my eyes and find myself in my own bed. Because of my denial, it was a huge shock when I felt movement beside me.

I sat bolt upright, looking around wildly. Josh opened his eyes, but his gaze looked unfocused as he looked up at me. I felt my cheeks get hot as I grasped the edge of the bed sheet and attempted to cover myself. Josh started to snicker at my shy attitude.

"Morning, sunshine," he smiled, stretching.

"What time is it?" I demanded, trying to find a clock in his room. I'd never noticed if he had one before.

Josh rolled over and picked up a small, digital alarm clock from his nightstand. "Almost six. Why are we up so early?"

"Because I snuck out. Meaning that I have to go and sneak back in." I began patting down the blankets around me, trying to find my discarded clothing.

"Oh, shit," he murmured. "I forgot about that."

"So did I. I really wish I didn't have to, though."

He sat up and pulled on a pair of boxers beneath the sheets before getting up and flicking on the light. I found it somewhat amusing how we were both careful not to expose our bodies, even though we'd already seen everything a few hours before. Josh helped me find my clothing quickly, and like a gentleman he turned his back while I got dressed. He wasn't sure how early his parents would get up, so instead of taking me back upstairs he simply gave me a boost through his window. A definite adventage of having a room in the basement was that I could easily crawl out onto the lawn.

"I'll call you when I wake up for real," Josh told me as I pulled myself through the window.

"Have a good sleep," I grinned back at him.

"Believe me, I will. I love you Becky."

"I love you too," I replied, getting to my feet and dusting myself off. "Talk to you soon."

I hurried through the streets as the sun began to rise. My window was much more difficult to get through than Josh's had been, but by this point I was used to it. I felt like I was building some serious upper-body muscles by my constant late-night escapades.

I threw on an old, ratty pair of pajama pants before crawling into my bed. I hadn't felt tired until now, but I was suddenly relieved to have my head against my pillow.

When I woke up the second time around, it was late in the morning. I groaned and rolled over, wishing that I could have slept longer. A boring conversation with my parents couldn't compare to the night that I'd just relived in dream form.

"I was starting to wonder if you were even at home," Dad attempted a joke as I stumbled groggily into the kitchen.

I gave him a fake smile, wondering vaguely if he had any idea how close he was to being right.

"How can you sleep that long?" Mom asked. "By the way, we finished the coffee. You can make more if you want some."

I opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. "No, that's okay. I'll survive without it. And I guess I was just really tired."

"Were you up too late Friday night with Josh?"

I snorted. "We went to a concert, Mom. It was over at eleven-thirty. I was home just after midnight. I think I over-exerted myself yesterday when you made me vaccuum."

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes. "I'll bet that's what it was."

I poured the juice into a glass, but it didn't even fill it halfway. I set the empty carton on the counter and swallowed the juice in two gulps. Abandoning the empty glass, I returned to the fridge. I wasn't usually hungry in the mornings, but today I was famished. After a long moment of searching, I gave up and settled for a muffin that I found on the counter. I picked at it without really noticing what I was doing. I was too busy thinking about what I'd done the night before.

"What's on your mind?"

I looked up from the muffin to find my dad staring at me with a questioning gleam in his eye.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I was just thinking about some stupid teenage drama. No big deal."

"You don't look like you're thinking about stupid drama, Becky. You look too happy for that."

"You caught me. I was just remembering my date with Josh the other night." I smiled softly as I recalled the events of the weekend.

"You're a really good pair, aren't you?" He asked, grinning at me. He looked almost proud.

"Well, I think so. And I'm pretty sure that he thinks so, too."

"Your mother is starting to think that way, too."

"So I've noticed. She hardly mentions my non-existent romance with Matt anymore."

"How's he doing? I haven't seen him around lately."

"He's coming over on Tuesday. We're having a horror movie marathon for Halloween."

"That's good," Dad sipped his coffee. "I'm glad to see that you're balancing your friends and your boyfriend."

"Friend," I corrected. "There isn't a plural when it comes to me. The only people I need in my social life are Matt and Josh, so it's fairly easy to juggle them both. Sometimes we all just hang out together."

Dad frowned. "What about Josh? He's got to have other friends that he wants to spend time with."

"He does. His closest friends are Andrew and Chris. I've met them a few times before. He hangs out with them when I'm with Matt. We make it work."

"I'm glad to hear it, Becky. Clearly, you're more mature about all of this than I was giving you credit for. I'm glad you've proved me wrong."

"Thanks... I think."

"So what are your plans for today?" Dad asked, though he seemed to have lost interest in the conversation at this point.

"I think Josh is going to call me in a bit, but I'm going to stay home today. I've got a bit of homework to catch up on."

"Good idea. You don't want to fall behind in school."

I picked up the muffin from the countertop and headed into the living room. I felt like my talk with Dad was over, so there was no point in remaining in the kitchen when I had no other reason to.

I was just finishing my breakfast when the phone rang. I stretched my arm over the side of the couch and pulled the cordless telephone from its resting place in the base. I propped my feet up on the coffee table as I hit the appropriate button and answered the phone.

"Charlie's Pizza; thinnest crust this side of Winnipeg. Can I take your order?"

I could hear laughter on the other end. "Did you get a part-time job, Becky? I know I didn't dial the wrong number, and I doubt that your mom would answer the phone that way."

"Hey, Josh. How did you sleep?"

"Alright, I guess. How about you? How are you feeling today?"

"You make it sound like I'm ill. I'm totally fine. Why do you sound so worried?"

"Well, I just thought... You don't regret it, do you?"

I considered his question from all possible angles before I replied. "No, I don't regret it. I feel pretty good about it, actually. Don't you?"

"Of course I do. I just know that sometimes it seems to be a bigger deal to girls. And I was worried that I might have ruined what we have," Josh confessed.

"Nothing's ruined. Don't worry."

"Good."

We talked for a little while longer, but soon enough we both had other things to attend to. I didn't bother to ask what was on Josh's list of things to do, knowing that I wouldn't get a straight answer anyways.

I spent the majority of the afternoon in my bedroom, trying to focus on my homework. I managed to finish it all, but immediately after I became distracted by my DVD collection. I started going through all of my movies and picking out any horror movies that I owned, and then tried to remember which ones Matt liked.

Something told me that I would have to put in a little extra effort with him nowadays. I needed to be able to prove that, even though Josh and I had taken our relationship further, I was still able to put Matt first when I needed to.