Price Check On Monogamy

So Winter Ball was probably the weirdest night I’ve had since Milo and I stopped sneaking out together.

After Tandem and I had our screaming match, Heather and Caleb got into something roughly the same level, except inside, and it ended with Caleb almost breaking another guy’s jaw. Whether or not he actually cared about his girlfriend, I had to admit, Caleb was one possessive bastard. After that, Caleb got kicked out of the dance, and Tandem decided that it was time to leave. Jeremy ended up staying and making out with the future Valedictorian-- yes, that Jeremy-- and the ride home was quiet as a graveyard. Once we got home, however, was a completely different story.

“You’ll never regret going to school dances” my ass.

“You can’t just go flirting with other guys to make me jealous!” Caleb was bellowing in the backseat. In the rearview mirror, Heather actually looked scared. “Dammit, Heather! Why do you always do that?”

“Why are you always such a dick?” Heather threw back. “I wouldn’t keep flirting with guys if I thought you actually cared about me!”

Caleb ran a hand through his hair, turning away from her. “Fine. FINE. You want to go hook up with someone else, then do it, Heather. We’re over.”

Heather stood, mouth gaping. For a second, I almost felt sorry for her.

And then she stomped her foot angrily like a five year old and started screaming about how she didn’t need him. Turning on her heel, Heather ran out of our yard, still screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Get in the house!” Caleb snapped at me, stomping into the house and slamming the door.

Well, tonight was going to be fun.

“Looks like it’s time to go,” Tandem said next to me, chuckling. I narrowed my eyes at him; his mood swings were getting seriously old. Leaning in and giving me a hug, I rolled my eyes and gagged when he sniffed my hair.

“Will you not?” I hissed, shoving him back. “God, you’re disgusting, you know that?”

Tandem grinned easily and shrugged, hands in his pockets. “You’ll come around. They always do.”

I scowled. “I’m not another one of your little conquests, Tandem. Treat me like one and I’ll have to deprive you of your children.” My gaze dipped for a second and I grinned sadistically as his hands twitched compulsively. “Watch your back.”

“Oh, come on, you’re no fun, Tiger,” Tandem complained, walking back to his car and taking off.

Sighing and happy he was gone, I started taking off my earrings, walking quickly up to my room and collapsing on the bed. Kicking off my heels and scowling at the mirror, I mumbled to myself under my breath, “Guess who’s never going to another damned formal?”

I was, in fact, so caught up in hating formals that I fell out of my bed when my phone started vibrating.

Getting up and feeling like a total idiot, I picked up my phone and mumbled, “Hello?”

“Tiger?” I froze momentarily, looking at my phone then at the mirror then back again to make sure that I wasn’t imagining anything.

“Tyler?”

That same laugh that made me blush. Then, “Yeah. I’m guessing that’s a, ‘yeah, this is totally Tiger, how did you get my number, you freaking stalker?’”

I laughed, despite the fact that that was almost exactly what I was thinking. “Yeah. Close enough, anyway. So are you going to answer the question, oh stalker?”

“Well…” The pause, even though it was playful, made me hold my breath. I’m not quite sure why, though. “While you were out with your boyfriend, I stole your phone, then stole your number.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” I snapped, instantly feeling bad about how harsh it came out. But my God, was I freaking tired of having to correct that little thought.

Tyler laughed again, making me blush. Again. “Alright, alright, chill. It was just a joke, alright?”

“Sorry…” I mumbled, embarrassed.

“Nah, it’s fine, don’t apologize. You never have to, alright? Anyway, it looked like you were having a rough night to start with, I shouldn’t have pushed it on the first call.”

“The first call?” I asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow on instinct. What did that mean, exactly?

Another laugh, though this one sounded more clipped, a little more forced. Nervous? “Well, I wouldn’t exactly steal your number just to call once, right? Anyway, I was kind of wondering…”

Not even.

“Well, if you were free tomorrow…”

Way too good to be true.

“Would you, umm…”

Say it!

“Want to, like, go to a movie or something?”

My mouth dropped, and I was suddenly very, very glad that we were talking over the phone. Gaping at myself in the mirror, then going back to staring at the phone, I realized that it was suddenly getting harder to breath.

Had Tyler seriously just asked me out on something that could mildly resemble a date?

“Umm… Tiger?”

Cursing myself for being a total idiot, I scrambled with the phone, saying quickly, “Umm, yeah, totally, I’d love to.”

Another one of those weird laughs. Then, “Alright then. I’ll meet you at the food court in the mall tomorrow at noon, alright? It’s okay if it’s just us, right?”

I nodded stupidly, then remembered that this was over the phone. “Umm, yeah, sure. That sounds fine.”

“Well, I gotta jet, Tiger,” Tyler said, talking a little louder as a tangle of voices started calling his name on the other end. I bit my lip with disappointment and way too much excitement. After calling back to the people calling for him, Tyler added quickly, “I can’t wait for tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah,” I said breathlessly. “Neither can I. See you then.”

“Alright. Thanks, Tiger. Oh, and hey,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “I didn’t steal your number. I’m not that creepy. Your friend Tawny gave it to me after you had to leave. Bye!” Click. Dial Tone.

Staring at my phone, I had a quick debate with myself over whether to tackle Tawny later and kill her or give her the hugest hug in the known world.

I decided on the latter, then fell back on my bed, grabbed a pillow, and thrashed around to get the sudden rush of energy out.