There's a Playground

I don’t think my heart had stopped that suddenly since…well…ever.

I was never more surprised and excited and…every other emotion out there than I was when Max pressed his lips against mine.

It took me a moment for my mind to register what the hell was going on. And just when I was about to start kissing him back, he pulled away and proceeded to look down at me with his pretty jade green eyes. My heart slowly thundered to life and I managed to, somehow, take a breath.

“Max…” I started, but was silenced by him shaking his head at me.

“Wendy, I…” he paused, taking a breath before he continued. “I know that I probably shouldn’t have done that, feel free to hate me or whatever, but I couldn’t help myself.” So…what did that mean? Did Max like me or something? Well…obviously. Ugh. He was confusing me… “I know we’re supposed to be best friends forever and what not, but…I…like you. A lot.”

I think my heart just went through a spasm and I died. There was no way in hell that this was actually happening. Max Green did not like me “a lot.” I did not like him in the same way.

Alright, so I totally did. I just…god that was embarrassing. I didn’t want to have to admit that I was head over heels for the kid that was my best friend since we were both in diapers…

And the chemistry that I keep talking about missing with Craig? Totally there with Max…

So…now what?

I took in a deep breath, biting down on my lower lip nervously as Max watched me. “Max, I…” I couldn’t find the words that I wanted at all. He looked worried for a moment and I wondered why he would be worried. Well…alright, so it made sense why he would be worried. He’d just confessed that he liked me and I couldn’t find words for a response to save my life right now.

“No, I understand, Wendy. I…you should probably get back to your date.” He started walking away and I sighed, frustrated. I reached out and grabbed his hand.

“Max, would you wait a second? Patience is a virtue, you know,” I told him. I thought I saw a brief glimmer of hope in his eyes as I stepped up to him again. “I do like you, Max. It just…you really caught me off guard, you know?”

“You…you do?” Wow. I thought I was supposed to be the shy one of us… I nodded quietly and he grinned at me, wrapping me up in his arms and squeezing me. I smiled and pushed against him to get him to let me go. Not that I wasn’t enjoying his hug, but I couldn’t exactly breathe right now…

“Yeah, Max. Just…don’t kill me, would you?” I said and grinned up at him as he let me go.

“Sorry, Wendy. I’m just…”

“Just…can we talk about it later, please?” I asked, hope in my eyes and voice. He nodded at me quietly, and I smiled as I leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. “Come over tonight or something, okay?”

“Yeah, no problem.” He was still smiling when I left him in the hall to go back to the gym to continue dancing with Craig.

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Overall, the dance was really fun. I danced with Craig a lot, which was fun. I couldn’t help but to feel guilty about what had happened out in the hall between Max and I… I mean, here I was, dancing with Craig when I’d just kissed Max and told him that I liked him. Then again, I suppose that he was the one who kissed me and admitted he liked me first, but still. I couldn’t help but to feel guilty.

Along with dancing with Craig, I danced with pretty much everyone else. Also fun.

After the dance, we all hung out in the school parking lot around Craig’s car for a while before Skye mentioned that she needed to be getting home or else her parents would kill her. I thought it was just sarcasm and she could deal with being a few minutes late, and so did everyone else. But Craig took it incredibly seriously and, after stuffing the both of us in his car, drove her home. There’s definitely something about her that I’m missing… I wish I knew what it was…

After we dropped her off, Craig took me home and walked me up to the front door. It was really sweet…until he tried to give me a goodnight kiss. I ended up catching it in time, however, and managed to turn my head just in time to make his lips land on my cheek. But that whole thing didn’t help with my guilty conscience. It also didn’t help that he asked me out and I had to deny him…

Oh yeah, that didn’t go so well, in my opinion…

“So…Wendy?”

“Yeah, Craig?” I faked a yawn, trying to get him to catch the hint that I wasn’t up to talking right now… Yeah, that didn’t really work as well as I would have liked…

“I was wondering if, maybe, you would want to go out again sometime? Maybe…” I felt terrible because he was being so shy about this whole thing… God, I was a grand bitch… “Maybe you would want to be my…girlfriend?” Great. There it was. I was about to break the poor kid’s heart and I had no idea how the hell he was going to take it… Ugh. I was a terrible, terrible person for doing what I had to him.

“Craig…I’m really sorry. I really like you, but I just…” I sighed, reaching a hand up to tug at my hair slightly. “I just don’t see us as being anymore than friends. I’m really sorry, but I just…can’t…”

The disappointed look on his face was going to break my heart. I sighed and reached over to hug him. “I’m really sorry for leading you on, Craig. I didn’t mean to. I had a lot of fun tonight and I…I’m so sorry.”

“No, Wednesday. It’s…it’s fine. I understand,” he told me as we parted from our hug. I sighed and felt my heart drop because of him.

“I really am sorry, Craig. You’re a great guy, you really are. I just…I don’t really see us being anything other than friends. Which I really hope we can still be…?” He nodded at me and gave me as reassuring a smile as he seemed able to muster up. I sighed and hugged him again. “I really am sorry, Craig.”

“I know, you keep saying that. I’ll get over it, Wendy. Don’t worry about it, okay? I had fun tonight, too.”

I grinned at him quietly. “You really are a sweet kid, Craig. You’ll find someone, don’t worry about it.”

He nodded before bidding me goodbye. I watched him pull out and drive down the street before I went inside. My mom was sitting on the couch, grinning at me. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend, Mom. Craig and I are just friends, please don’t even ask. I had fun. I need a shower before my hair permanently freezes like this. I will then be going to bed because I’m exhausted. Night.”

My mother looked disappointed at my quick self-dismissal but she came up and gave me a hug before going back to sit on the couch. I had a feeling she’d be sleeping out here tonight. Which would work for me, because I still had to talk to Max…

Oh right… Max…