Milestones: Teenagers

Upon arriving to the school for the game, Michelle couldn't figure out why she'd decided to come in the first place. She hated football. But she knew Val would have begged and pleaded her to join them until she caved in, and something in the back of her head told her to go because of the boy she sat next to in the car on the way over: Brian.

The car pulled into a parking space at just about half past six, and the group of four walked from the parking lot to the playing field, paying for their tickets to get in. Cursing herself for not wearing a thicker sweatshirt, Michelle followed after the other three, feeling the wind pick up.

Walking along the metal bleachers as they tried to find a spot for the four of them to sit, Michelle spotted the familiar face of Zacky in the direction they were heading. There were empty places all around him, and he waved his friends over, where they sat down. Michelle sat next to him and soon found Brian sitting on her other side. Matt and Val were sitting on the bench behind them.

Michelle felt out of place quickly: she was the only one there who wasn't overly enthusiastic about the game, and it had only just started. But after a half hour of the game had passed, along with a half hour of Michelle picking at her nails and shuffling her feet, she felt a shoulder slightly nudge her from the left. She looked to her side and caught her gaze with Brian's.

"Why are you so uneasy?" he asked with a little grin.

"I hate football, and I'm cold," she answered, earning a light laugh from him and a shake of his head before he looked back at the game. Not even thinking about where she was, Michelle pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her back pocket and pulled one out, placing it between her lips.

"Hey," Val whispered, leaning forward and poking her sister in the shoulder. "You're still on school grounds and the principal is right over there," she said, subtly pointing to the principal who was sitting just a little ways down the bleachers.

Sighing deeply, Michelle rolled her eyes as she put the pack back in her pocket, holding the cigarette in her hand discretely.

"I'll be back in ten," she said before she got up, walking the length of the bleachers. She headed back to the parking lot near where Matt's car was parked, and hoped there would be no one around so she could get away with smoking while still on school property. She put the cigarette back between her lips and reached into her other back pocket for her lighter, only to frown when it wasn't there. Searching her other pockets, she came up empty-handed. Michelle tilted her head back and breathed a sigh of frustration through her nose.

Hearing the flick of a lighter from in front of her, she jumped about a foot in the air, feeling startled. She hadn't expected anyone else to be there, but when she opened her eyes and looked she saw Brian standing before her with an unlit cigarette between his lips. There was a lighter in his hand, and laughter in his voice. He hadn't meant to scare her.

"Jesus Christ, Brian! Scare the shit out of me, again, why don't you. Warn a girl next time you creep up on her," Michelle said, clutching her chest to stop her beating heart.

"Sorry, I just thought I'd join you out here so you weren't alone," he replied sincerely.

"I would have been fine without you, but thanks," she said, placing the cigarette back between her lips and leaning into Brian as he let the end of it, lighting his own after. They both took a drag and blew it out, standing there in silence and listening to the noises from the game.

Sighing, Brian looked back at the beautiful girl standing beside him. "So you really don't like football?" he asked, though it was rhetorically meant.

"Nope," Michelle replied shortly, taking another drag.

"Do you like any sports?"

"A few."

"Like..." Brian asked, hoping she'd continue.

"Ice hockey, mostly. But only if it's a live game."

"I see," he said, stubbing the butt into the pavement with the heel of his foot after he finished his fag.

"What about you?" Michelle asked, not yet finished with hers.

"I'm not huge on a lot of sports, but I'll watch them," he answered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So you don't play any sports then?"

"No, you?"

"Nah, I stay home, and lift weights." Michelle snorted. "What?" he asked with a smirk.

"Life weights. That's just a man-thing to say," she said, smiling, and she looked away from Brian and to the football field again.

"I'm serious; I've got guns, baby," Brian said, trying to sound sexy. Michelle looked back at him to see him flexing his arms and couldn't help but laugh. She thought he was quite a character from what he had seen of him throughout the day. Brian joined Michelle in her laughter, and she crushed her cigarette down on the pavement. A chill wind brushed through the parking lot, swirling the leaves on the ground in its wake. The cool breeze caused Michelle to shiver.

"Are you cold?" Brian asked, and Michelle threw him a look that clearly stated she was, and that he was an idiot for asking, causing him to laugh. "Well I can imagine you don't want to go back to the game, so if you want I could go steal Matt's keys and we could hang out in the car until it's over," he suggested. Michelle nodded, folding her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep some warmth in her body. "Alright, I'll be back in a second then," Brian said, and he jogged off, back toward the field.

"Hey, where's my sister?" Val asked him as he reached the spot his friends were sitting at. Ignoring her question, he looked at Matt.

"Dude, can I have your car keys?" he asked, holding his hand out to Matt as if he expected the keys to just fall into his open palm.

"Why? What are you gonna do with them?" Matt asked, his voice joking but also a little suspicious.

"I'm not taking it anywhere. Michelle is cold so we're just going to hang out inside and get warm until the game is over."

Val narrowed her eyes at Brian's words, as if warning him. "Brian..." she said pointedly at him, questioning his motives.

"What?" he asked, on the verge of defensive. "Nothing's gonna happen, jeeze."

"You better not touch my sister or I'll kill you, you hear me?" she snapped, and Brian could see the venom in her eyes. He knew that he used to get around in the past two years, but he had sincerely changed his ways. Val knew that, but she couldn't help but feel protective of her sister.

Val sighed and waved her hand off, as if dismissing the conversation as Matt handed Brian the keys.

"Thanks, dude," he said, and he walked back to the car, seeing Michelle standing against it.

"What took you so long?" she joked as he unlocked the doors.

"Nothing," he answered, leaning in the open driver's side door and putting the key in the ignition, turning it until the battery turned on. Michelle had already gotten in the backseat, and he joined her, shutting them out of the cold. It was quiet between them for some time until Brian decided to raise a question he'd wanted to know the answer to for the last hour or so.

"So why have I never met you, or even seen you before? I mean, I've known Val for a couple years now, and I don't think she's ever mentioned you before."

"I was a bookworm and I never went out places with her. And it's not my fault that Val decided to never talk about me," Michelle answered, and he nodded in response.

"Well, since I don't really know you, you should tell me some things about yourself," Brian suggested, settling back farther in the seat. Michelle shrugged and reached into her back pocket, pulling out her wallet and tossing it into Brian's lap.

"...Your wallet?" he asked as he picked it up and started at it.

"I figure you can learn a bit about a person by looking through their wallet," Michelle said, leaning back against the corner of the seat so she could get a good view of the attractive male sitting next to her.

"Huh," Brian sighed in reply before opening the snap on her wallet. The first thing he looked at was her Driver License, and he had to squint and bring it closer to his eyes to read the small print in the oncoming darkness.

"Michelle L. DiBenedetto. 893 Stanford Street, Huntington Beach. What's the L stand for?" he asked, looking up at the owner of the license after reading aloud.

"Louise," Michelle answered, and Brian nodded.

"Michelle Louise..." he said, pausing for a moment. "That's pretty; I like it," he complimented before reading off the rest. "Date of Birth, April 7, 1982. Sex, female... Yeah, no kidding. Eyes, hazel. Height, five feet seven inches..." he mumbled, and then looked over the accompanying picture. "Your picture is halfway decent, too. Better than mine, no doubt." With that, he continued to look through the rest of her wallet.

"Oooh, a credit card."

"No, that would be a debit card," Michelle corrected him.

"Linked to Daddy's account?" he asked with a smirk. He was only kidding around though - he didn't really think Michelle or her family were like that. She showed his arm lightly and smiled.

"No, it's linked to my account, thank you very much."

Brian chuckled to himself before pulling out a tan card. "You have a Library Card?" he chortled.

"Yes, what's wrong with that? I like reading."

"Nothing's wrong with it..." Brian answered, shrugging as he continued to go through the various cards in Michelle's wallet. He found a calling card, a Student ID card, old movie and concert stubs. Opening the money pocket, he pulled out a wad of bills that was almost half an inch thick and just stared at it, wondering how much money he was holding at that moment. "Do I even want to know how much this is?"

Michelle shrugged. "I don't even know much it is." With that, Brian started to count. After a moment he looked up at her.

"Why exactly are you carrying one hundred and sixty three dollars on you? Because firstly, that's a totally random number to have, and secondly, it could easily get stolen.

"It's from working," Michelle answered, "and I just haven't had a chance to put any of it in the bank. That, and I like to keep some on me incase I ever get into trouble and need cash fast." Leaning back into the door a little farther, she looked at Brian who nodded his head.

"What's your job?"

"I baby-sit for people. You got a job?"

"Yeah," Brian nodded, "I work with my uncle's company for laying cement-work. It's pretty crappy and tiresome, but I need the money." Shrugging, Brian put the money back in Michelle's wallet and handed it to her.

"Now I get to see yours," she said with a smile as she held her hand out to him. Brian reached behind him, lifting his hips as he pulled his own wallet out of his back pocket and handed it over.

Opening it, Michelle looked over his Driver License first like he had done with hers. Seeing the picture on his, she couldn't help but laugh. "You look like an escape convict. That's creepy," she said, and Brian laughed as well because he knew it was true. "Your hair was way shorter back then, too." Her eyes drifting, Michelle then read over the rest of it, though she kept it to herself.

She saw that his name was Brian E. Haner, and he lived at 45 Jefferson Avenue in Huntingon. He was born on July 7th, 1981 - he was almost a full year older than her - and he had brown eyes (which Michelle had to admit were quite attractive as well). He stood at five feet, eleven inches.

Suddenly, the last name he carried rang a bell in Michelle's head, and she looked up at her companion.

"Are you in my physics class? During eighth period?" she asked, remembering the name from roll call.

Brian cocked an eyebrow at her, intrigued at how she knew he was in a class he'd never made an appearance in. "Yeah, I have it eighth. I just haven't showed up because I don't want to be there and the teacher is weird," he answered, and Michelle nodded before searching the rest of his wallet. All she found was a few past-due parking tickets, twenty seven dollars, and his Student ID card.

"Huh," she said to herself in amusement.

"What?"

"No condom..." Michelle said with a laugh as she tossed his wallet into his lap.

"What, am I supposed to walk around with one incase I meet someone on the street I want to fuck?" Brian asked, chuckling. "I, personally, keep them in the top drawer of my right bed stand, in case you ever needed to know."

"Thanks for sharing."

"So," Brian began, stretching his legs out in front of him a little more, "what else should I know about you?"

"How should I know?" Michelle answered, though not rudely. "How about, since I know just as much about you as you know about me, you ask a question and we'll both answer it," she suggested.

"Okay," he answered, sitting up farther and clearing his throat. "Who is your... best friend?"

"Val."

"That's funny. My best friend is Jimmy. What-"

"Who's Jimmy?" Michelle cut in, not familiar with the name.

"He's that tall, gangly looking guy I hang out with at school with the crazy blonde hair. He likes to run around chasing and scaring the freshman; it's actually pretty funny," Brian explained. "What is your favorite color?"

"Black."

"Mine too... How old were you when..." He trailed off, looking up at the ceiling for a moment as he thought, "...when you got your first kiss?"

"On the lips and not from a relative?" Michelle clarified, and Brian nodded. "Probably twelve with the neighbor kid."

"Neighbor kid," Brian laughed, thinking her choice of words humorous. "I was nine I think?" he replied after wracking his brain.

"Was it with a little girl in a sandbox?" Michelle joked.

"No," Brian answered indignant, "it was by the swings during recess. And the next day I kissed her best friend."

"Wow, what a pimp," she laughed.

"Do you play any instruments?"

"Nope, you?"

"Mmhm: Guitar and piano," he mumbled as he pulled out another cigarette. "Matt will probably kill me for this, but I don't care." Placing the stick between his lips and lighting it, he took a drag. "You a virgin?" he asked, and blew out a plume of smoke into the car.

Feeling her cheeks grow hot, Michelle barely nodded her head. "Yes."

"That's different. It's hard to find a pretty girl that can keep her legs closed these days," Brian commented, smiling sincerely, and it only caused Michelle to blush even more - he had called her pretty.

"What about you?" she asked, fiddling with the strings on her hoodie, though she already assumed what the answer was. With Brian's charm and looks, there was no way he hadn't been able to bed a girl.

Taking another drag of tobacco, Brian confirmed her thoughts. "Nope."

"Can't keep it in your pants?" Michelle asked, smirking as she mocked him.

"No, I can. I don't whore myself around or anything," Brian answered truthfully. "I mean, I used to, but I grew out of that phase."

A few moments later, the game ended and Matt and Val wandered back to the car to see Brian and Michelle together in the back seat, facing each other as they talked. Opening the door, Matt could smell smoke coming from inside his car, and when he sat in the driver's seat he reached around and swatted at Brian, pounding on his leg.

"Thanks for smoking in my car, douche bag," he growled, and Val got into the seat beside him.

"So, what'd you guys do while you were in here... alone?" she asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Brian asked back, raising an eyebrow at her after the accusations she had made earlier. Completely oblivious to the conversation Brian and her sister had shared when he left to get the keys, Michelle smirked and decided to joke a little.

"We fucked, all over the car. In the driver's seat, the passenger's seat, and back here..."

Narrowing his eyes at Michelle, Matt glared. "You better not have. Not in my car."

"Well, we did. If you don't believe me you can check out the bruise on my back from the steering wheel... Brian got a little rough," she answered, insisting they believe her. Brian just chuckled and decided to go along with it.

"... There's no bruise on your back, because you two didn't do anything in my car," Matt growled.

"She does, man," Brian piped up, before turning to Michelle. "I'm really sorry about that, by the way."

"Brian, what the fuck did I tell you!?" Val hollered, shooting daggers at him. "Get out of the car, now!"

Confused, Michelle looked up to her sister. "Sis, chill out, we're kidding."

"That's not even funny, Michelle. Don't joke like that," Val spat with a glare to her sister and then again to Brian before facing the front. Matt started the car and pulled out of the lot, and Michelle looked over at her new friend next to her and couldn't help but smile.