Rollercoaster Ride

It was Tuesday night and we were playing bowling after school, Neyla also joined us.

Well, not exactly after school.

The seven of us ditched school after the class after lunch and headed for some fun. “Let’s just say we’re partying because our girls finally get along again,” John said. His words – our girls – made me blushed a little and Neyla nudged my side, giving me her grin.

Neyla’s mom freaked out when she called her at 1.45 to tell her that she was going out with us, because she accidentally told her that we ditched school. When Neyla told Mrs. Smiths that she was going out with me too, Mrs. Smiths immediately calmed down. Mrs. Smiths always trusted me, more than other friends that Neyla had hung out with. She always thought I was a nice girl.

I am nice if you don’t get into my bad side.

So we were bowling. After that, we were karaoke-ing. After that, Pat whined that he was hungry, so we all piled into Jared’s SUV and drove off into Secret Recipe.

“Anyone’s up for clubbing tonight?” John piped in.

The whole table dropped into a silence as we turned our attention to him.

John was like the one who screwed up his mind the most. He was the one who texted all of us to ditch the rest of the school hours, and now he was suggesting to go clubbing!

But I like him nonetheless. There are so many great things you’ll find inside of him. Well, besides the fact that his mind is a little bit screwed up, though.

“It’s a school night,” Jared pointed out.

“So?” John insisted.

“Mr. Simmons is gonna kill me if I fall asleep in his class again,” Kennedy reasoned.

“Besides, there is SOMEONE who is too child-like to go to a club,” Garrett grinned and we all turned our heads to Pat.

“Hey, at least I’m 16 already! Daphne isn’t!” Pat defended himself and the others turned their heads to me.

“Well I look old enough to go to a club,” I said, annoyed because I was the youngest in the group. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t more mature than somebody… “You look like what, 14?”

The table erupted into giggles.

“But hey Pat is right, Daphne’s birthday is tomorrow, right?” Neyla said. She remembered my birthday? Oh wow. 3 years of bitching her she still remembered my birthday. Did I remember hers? Was it 5th of June? Hmm…

“Oh yeah!” Kennedy said.

“Kennedy, you sound like you don’t remember my birthday. You’re my brother, for fuck’s sake! How can you forget your own sister’s birthday?” I whined and he only grinned.

The conversation about my birthday carried on, until we decided to leave. We went to Dairy Queen after paying the bills.

We spent another few hours in Dairy Queen, until we realized that we were the only customers left. Noticing it was close to 10, we all decided to go home. Our parents would be concerned – their parents, at least. My parents were in Ottawa, remember?

Because today Kennedy and I didn’t drive and went to school together with Jared, Jared didn’t need to drop us off at school first to get our car. I was glad of that; school was creepy at night.

So we were all in Jared’s SUV. Jared was driving; Garrett was on the passenger seat; John, Pat and I were on the middle seat; Kennedy and Neyla were on the backseat. The last time I took a glance to the back, I saw the two were making out. I shivered at the view and immediately looked back to the front.

Thinking of my best friend making out with my brother made me shudder.

Pat was sleeping next to my left, his head leaning against the window. I looked to my right and tried to take a breath at what I was seeing.

John was handsome with the night lights moving outside, behind him. Just like Pat, he had his head rested against the window. His eyes looked tired, and I giggled at that. He asked us to go clubbing earlier but he was already sleepy right now.

He heard me giggling and turned to look at me.

“What’s funny?” he asked. His voice sounded heavier than before.

“Nothing.”

Even he looked so attractive when he was sleepy. And his eyes… oh god.

The next thing I knew he was nuzzling into my neck while his arms were encircling around my waist. He made his position even more comfortable by sliding down a little bit from his seat.

I could feel my heart was racing.

Oh my god.

Stop it, he will notice it!

Seemed like he didn’t notice at all.

“Daph…” his lips moved against the crook of my neck and sent vibrations through my skin.

“Hm?” I asked, trying to calm myself.

“No school tomorrow, right?”

I nodded. My birthday was on Columbus Day which was on October 12, and every year our school was closed during that day. Cheers for that.

We kept our voice down so no one would be hearing.

“Let’s go out,” he offered.

“Of course, that’s what we always do in every birthday. We celebrate it together—“

“No, I mean, just the two of us.”

I froze.

Like a date?

I couldn’t ask that.

“Just for once,” he said again.

I couldn’t speak, so I nodded my head slowly.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow, then.”

I nodded again, still couldn’t speak.

I felt he was moving his head. I felt him pecked maybe 0.5 centimeters away from the corner of my mouth, and then he laid his head on my shoulder again.

This time, he intertwined his fingers with mine.

I could feel my heart was going to jump out from my chest.