She's Just The White Envelope Girl

Two months passed by. Ash and Mark were best friends again, putting the past behind. Alex and I were friends; it was just a bit rocky. Ash and I were still friends, really good ones in fact. And, Ash got a girlfriend—yes, a girlfriend.

Hannah, her name, was actually really nice and giggly. I thought she had awesome hair, brown with blonde underneath it. Anyways, Ash and Hannah have had been together for four weeks, probably. I didn’t have a problem with it. Alex didn’t either, but once in a while, I could see her glance at them with a sad expression.

Yeah, she still loved Ash. But, she didn’t let that show, most of the time.

“Hey,” Ash said, plopping down next to me, hitting my elbow.

I rubbed my elbow. “Ouch.”

“Sorry,” he apologized, not looking sorry though.

“Mhm,”

He rolled his eyes. “Anyways, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go the mall with Hannah and me.”

I thought about it for a second. “I don’t know,” I said, unsure. “I don’t want to feel like a third wheel.”

“Aw, come on. Mark is coming too.”

Well, if Mark was coming, it wouldn’t be so awkward…if he didn’t ditch me to go flirt with some girl.

“Sure,”

“Cheese buckets of America, great!”

I didn’t even want to ask about that.

○ ○

“DUDE, there is a guy in a banana suit!” Mark exclaimed loudly, pointing at the guy.

“REALLY? Where?” Ash asked excitedly.

I guess guys in banana suits excite them. Who knew?

Hannah laughed beside me.

“Wow, these guys are something,” she said, shaking her head at them.

“Yep,” I agreed, picking at my shoelace with my foot.

Hannah and I were friends, not best friends, just friends. She was nice to talk to, kept the conversation going. But, I practically, almost always, talked about how her hair was so awesome.

You want to know something?” Hannah asked.

I nodded.

“I’ve had a crush on Ash since sixth grade. I got so happy when we got together. I mean, I am happy.” She blushed and giggled; then, she turned serious, eyes wide open. “Don’t tell him that, I mean, the crush thing. I don’t want him to laugh at me and—”

“Hannah, I’m not going to tell him. Don’t worry,” I reassured, laughing a bit at her rambling.

“Thanks,” she breathed out, then giggled a bit.

“We’re back!” Mark obviously announced.

“You don’t say?” I said sarcastically.

He playfully glared and stuck his tongue at me. I stuck mine out too.

“ANYWAYS,” Ash said, glancing between us, “let’s go somewhere cool. That banana guy was getting boring. He kept trying to convince us to buy a crate of bananas.”

“Really?” I asked, not really interested.

“Yeah,” Mark said, “I didn’t want any. Bananas make me go to the bathroom.”

“Gross,” Hannah and I said at the same time. I really didn’t want to know about Mark’s banana problems.

“Let’s go to Hot Topic!” Mark exclaimed, skipping—yes, skipping.

○ ○

Looking at some band CD’s, I heard Mark talking loudly.

“HEY, is that Mikey?” he asked Ash.

“That IS MIKEY. HEY!” Ash said loudly too, waving his hand.

I looked at them. Mikey had just entered the store, looking embarrassed, like it was a bad idea going into the store.

Mark walked toward Mikey and patted him on the back. Mikey stumbled forward, almost falling face first to the floor.

“What’s up?” Mark asked; his voice was still loud.

“Sir, can you raise your voice down?” an employee with piercings all over his face and a Mohawk asked.

Mark looked around embarrassed. “Oh, sorry.”

Mikey took the chance to leave quickly.

Ash high-fived Mark. “That was a nice one, dude.”

“I’m the best, ya know,” he said cockily.

I rolled my eyes and went back at looking at the CD’s.

Someone bumped my elbow. “Sorry,” he apologized.

I looked at the person, ready to say “It’s alright” but I didn’t say anything at first.

He looked familiar, like I’ve seen him before.

“Uh, it’s alright…” I said, still trying to figure out where I’ve seen him.

He smiled. “Awesome.”

“Heeeey, buddy,” Ash said, coming next to me...a bit too close.

“Hey,” I said, a bit confused.

“You look familiar. Do I know you?” I asked the guy.

“I don’t think you do, but you can if ya want,” he said, winking at me.

I felt my cheeks blush badly.

Ash grabbed my wrist, picking at my elastic bands, pretending not to be listening.

“Uh…”

“Here’s my number.” He got a pen from a nearby shelf, wrote on it and gave it to me. “See ya.”

“Ok,” I said, confused.

It had his number and his name, Evan.

Ash grabbed the piece of paper. “Evan,” he said slowly. “That’s such a dumb name.”

“Someone is jealous,” I teased.

“Psh, me jealous? The only thing I get jealous about is if someone is eating really nice cheese.” Yeah, he likes cheese a lot. “So are you going to call that guy?”

I blushed. “I don’t know. But, he looks really familiar.”

“I’ve never seen him around here. Maybe he’s new,” he said. “But, I don’t think you should call him. Ya know, ‘because you don’t know him a lot.”

We’ll see.