Dark Eyed Dreamers

The sun beat down on my face as I walked. The soles of my shoes were slapping against the pavement below. The trees were in full bloom, the vibrant colours of summer made winter a long forgotten event in the past. Senior prom was nearing and the thought frightened me. I had to go; there was no doubt about that. But I didn’t have anyone to go with; it was looking like I’d be turning up alone. I sighed, kicking up a daisy as I turned into my street. I suppose I could always just go with the guys, despite them all turning up with dates. Well I was pretty sure I could just go with Louise. We’d be complaining about how much prom sucks and we wanted to go home. A smile flashed across my face just at the thought. I turned into my front lawn and made my way up the small stone path. I routed around my pockets looking for my keys while approaching the door. Frowning I flipped open my bag searching for the shiny metal.

“Looking for these?” I jumped at the sound and turned around quickly. I slammed my back against the hard surface that was my front door and stared wide eyed at the annoying teenager.

“Alex!” I exclaimed pouting. He giggled lightly, reaching past me and inserting the metal into the lock.

“Sneaky, hey?” He smirked. I rolled my eyes and kicked the door allowing it to swing open. I sighed as I walked in I shrugged off my bag letting it drop to the floor with little sound. Alex was following, slipping off his dunks and following me into the front room. As I picked up the remote I slumped down onto the thick white leather sofa. As I extended my arm and went to press the bold red button, a large weight suddenly landed in my lap bringing instant pain to my thighs.

“Alex you fat ass get off me you’re crushing me!” I exclaimed shoving him onto the floor. He merely laughed and tilted his head to see the image behind him now on the screen.

“You got a date to prom yet?” He asked suddenly. I frowned, what was he, a mind reader?

“Uh, no,” I asked pressing a few more buttons and turning to MTV. I put my feet up and reached over to the table next to me to grab a half eaten chocolate bar. “Why?” I saw his light shoulders shrug as he continued to watch TV upside down.

“Wanna go with me?” He asked. I shrugged as if he could see it, munching on the chocolate before replying.

“Sure, haven’t you got a date already?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Nah, I was gonna ask Louise but I don’t want to risk anything being awkward,” he explained. I raised my eyebrows. A ‘wow’ passed my lips before another piece of sugar did. “Yeah, I dunno she’s a good looking girl, might give it a try,” he sighed.

“I think you should, you guys get on really well, it’d be a good idea,” I nodded before tossing the wrapped back onto the table. “Plus, she’s totally into you, ask her to prom, if she says ‘yeah’ you can go a date or just friends, nothing has to be awkward,” I concluded. I saw him smile before lifting his head to look at me.

“Thank you,” he grinned. “But I’m not gonna ask her until you get someone else, I’d feel bad making you go on your own knowing that I’m not,” he pouted. I rolled my eyes over dramatically and looked at him.

“Alex, if you don’t ask her soon she’ll probably end up not going. Plus, I’d probably end up going alone anyway,” I shrugged. He offered me a blank stare for a long moment. “What?”

“Bri, you can get a date in no time. Seriously,” he argued. I raised my eyebrows giving him an ‘oh yeah, who?’ look before he could say anything else. “Well I know a couple of guys who want to ask you,” he smirked. I gave him another cautious look. “David Brooke,” he started grinning at me.

“Gross! He wants to ask me?” I exclaimed in pure horror.

“Aw, come on Dave’s a good guy,” he smiled.

“No way! He drop kicked some guy last year over something that was totally accidental. He’s such a jerk!” I frowned.

“Yeah only because some guy dumped linguini on you!” He reasoned. I rolled my eyes out of disgust. “He really likes you,” he teased in a sing song voice.

“Can we stop talking about David Brooke? He’s a creep and I don’t like him,” I snapped planting my chin harshly on my fist.

“Whatever,” Alex chuckled. “Uh who else, oh I know Jack’s planning on asking you,” he nodded. I felt my distaste slipping along with my arm. I began playing with my fingers, sadness taking over at the thought of him storming out of the house.

“Is there anyone else?” I asked barely above a whisper.

“Why what’s up with Jack?” He asked. I sighed deeply still avoiding eye contact with him. A moment passed with us enveloped in silence. From the corner of my eye I saw Alex take to his feet, sitting next to me and wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulder. I melted into his side almost instantly, seeking comfort. “Wanna talk about it?” He mumbled into my ear.

“I dunno,” I confessed. “I’m just confused. Something happened on Saturday and I got upset and then he did something that made it worse and then stayed the night. Then yesterday he said he wanted to watch movies, so we watched one and by the end of it things were a little,” I bit my lip in search of the right word. “Weird. But then we kind of, had a little fight and he walked out,” I whimpered. I didn’t like the idea of loosing Jack. It was a horrible thought. Alex seemed to sense this as he let out a long sigh from next to me before pressing his lips to my hair.

“What happened to make things weird, and why were you upset on Saturday?” He asked. I winced lightly.

“Same reason,” I muttered.

“Which is?” He urged me on. I sighed in defeat.

“We kind of... kissed on Saturday after he dumped water on me.” Alex’s eyebrows migrated up his head at the news. “Yeah well, then things got weird. Then when I came home I fell asleep but I woke up because my phone was ringing. I answered and it was Jack. He came over, I slipped out the window and then we walked and talked about what happened at the beach and he kissed me again. But this time it wasn’t an accident and I think he found out I liked him. So then I came back and I was still upset so he stayed. Like I said,” I added turning to look him in the eyes before continuing. “Then the next morning I woke up, got a shower, changed, started checking my mail and Jack woke up and claimed a movie day so we watched a movie and at the end he was, uh,” I blushed before finishing my sentence.

“Is that what this is about?” I heard Alex exclaim pulling down my shirt a little and pointing at the bold hickey on my neck. I groaned and rolled my eyes.

“Yes,” I sighed.

“Well, well, well, there was me thinking you’d been attacked by a vampire,” he smirked playing with his eyebrows. I tried biting back a grin but failed miserably laughing along quietly. “But yeah, then you told him to back off and he got all hostile and left?” He guessed. I let the smile slide off my face and dropped my gaze to my lap, just nodding. “Well, gosh,” he said looking like he’d just been hit with a truck load of new information. “Well that’s just a million times more confusing,” he stated shaking his head. I looked back up, lifting a brow in his direction.

“How so? There’s not really much to digest Alex,” I asked.

“Well it wouldn’t be so hard but he told me today that he wanted to ask you.”