Totally Not Average

“I’m late!” I cried as Alex pulled up on my street.

He laughed, “Calm down, Mandy.”

My eyes widened, “How can I calm down when my Dad’s going to freak!” I crossed my arms over my chest, “Plus, he thinks I was with Trish!”

“You were with Trish,” He pointed out, shooting me a sideways glance, “I just borrowed you for a bit.”

“You make me sound like I’m an object.” I muttered, looking out the window.

Alex stopped the car, “No, because if you were an object, I couldn’t do this.” He put two fingers under my chin and turned my head so I was facing him then pressed his lips against mine.

“You could, but it wouldn’t be the same.” I mumbled against his lips, smiling.

He sighed and pulled away, grinning at my behavior, “I swear, I’m a bad influence on you.”

I laughed, “I know, that’s why I hang out with you.”

“Because of my bad ass ways?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Bad ass?” I snorted, “Yeah, right.”

“How rude.” He put a hand to his chest, mocking hurt.

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes and opened the car door and put one foot out of it, “Bye Alex.”

I was about to get out of it completely when he grabbed my elbow and pulled me back. I had a strange sense of déjà vu of the first time I rode in his car, but this time, instead of warning me about Zach, he pulled me close.

His face was dangerously close to mine, too close to let me speak. I was frantic; my mind wasn’t forming coherent thoughts and my breath was coming rapidly.

I risked looking into his dark brown eyes and felt my breath catch in my throat. He was looking at me so intensely, so full of emotion that I couldn’t take it. It was overwhelming.

“Bye Alex.” I breathed, not taking my eyes off of his.

His lips turned up into that signature smirk I knew so well. My heart thumped faster in my chest—painfully I might add!—so loud, I was sure that he could hear it.

Centimeters, that’s all it would take for his lips to be against mine. Just centimeters.

“Bye Mandy.” He pecked my lips lightly and then pulled away, settling into the driver’s seat.

I stayed in place, trying to process things while my heart was starting to calm down. My eyes were on Alex’s face, and I was still wondering why on Earth he set me up like that, just to pull away in the end.

Alex winked at me, “See you tomorrow.”

There was one thing I knew for sure now: Alex was a player.

---

“You’re late.” My Dad said as I walked through the door.

I stopped in my tracks, “Um, yeah. Sorry.” I bit my lip, “Trish’s car had some problems.”

“Really?” He didn’t believe me, I could tell from the tone of his voice, “Because Sage just called me saying that she wanted to hang out with you and that she was at Trish’s house.”

Oh, crap. Why did Sage have to do this? “Um, are you sure?” Stupidity was what I was going with, “Because I was just with Trish and she didn’t tell me about Sage.”

“Hmm, okay. Go up to your room, Amanda.”

I didn’t say anything else, just followed orders and went up to my room. I closed the door to my room behind me and took off my shoes, setting them in my closet. I sat down on my bed and sighed, my eyes wandering all around the room.

My eyes stopped at a small calendar hanging on my wall, long forgotten. The only thing I was focusing on, though, was a date circled in red.

The anniversary of Mom’s death.