Cross Your Fingers

“So…” Stephen said. Him and Izy were standing next to each other in the kitchen of the Godsey’s house. John had left five minutes ago. Izy was quietly fighting with her self. She leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms across her chest and his hands were in his pockets.

“Is that all you have to say?” Izy asked him.

“Of course it isn’t, but I thought you might want to start. Also I haven’t really been getting the best reactions from you.”

“Well what do you expect when you just randomly go around kissing people? It made me have to think about a lot of things.”

“And what have you been thinking about?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
She looked over at him but looked away before speaking. Instead of looking at him she chose to look down at her feet.

“You already know that I liked you last year. I had thought those feelings were completely gone, but they just won’t go away and I don’t know what to do,” she said still refusing to look at him.

“Well maybe I could help you out,” he said. Lightly he placed his hand at the side of her face and turning her head to make her look at him. He started to lean in but she cut him off.

“Stephen don’t. I don’t want to break up with John and you kissing me isn’t really helping at all.”

“Fine I’ll make it easier then I won’t kiss you again, but if you were to choose to kiss me I wouldn’t stop you.” He leaned in a little closer daring Izy to close in the last few inches and she wanted to. She really wanted to but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, because of the person still in the back of her mind.

“But John…” she tried to protest.

“Doesn’t have to know,” he finished for her. Once the words were out of his mouth he couldn’t believe he had actually said them. Being around Izy just made it hard for him to think straight. He knew it would be wrong but as he moved slightly closer basically begging for her to kiss him he didn’t care. She was so close to connecting their lips, but at the last minute she pulled back.

“I just can’t do this right now. You can’t just rush someone into a decision like this. I need time to think or to at least pretend that I can talk myself out of this.”

“Fine,” he said and let out a frustrated sigh. “Well I’ll be around when you finally make up your mind.” She watched as he walked out of the kitchen and headed back upstairs to where he and Justin had been hanging out. A few minutes later she followed him up the stairs but instead of going to hang out with the two of them she went into her room. She quickly changed into some old sweats and fell into bed.

It had seemed like she had just fallen asleep when her alarm woke her up. Reluctantly she rolled over and shot up when she saw the time she was already late for school. “Crap of course Justin couldn’t wake me up,” she thought to herself. Rushing she grabbed the first t-shirt she saw, a red Glamour Kills tee, and a pair of cut off jean shorts. Her parents had already left for work so she grabbed a granola bar slipped on some flip-flops and started the walk to school. When she got there she headed to the office where she was supposed to sign in for being late. As she walked in she saw a new girl waiting for someone to tell her where to go. She had dark brown hair and Izy thought she looked like a cool person. She signed the attendance sheet and was about to leave when the person working in the office stopped her.

“Wait Ms. Godsey this is Jessica Bowen would you mind showing her around?”

“No of course not,” she answered and turned to the new girl. “Hi I’m Izy.” She held out her hand for Jessica to shake.

“Hi I’m Jess,” the girl introduced herself.

“Cool so can I see your schedule?” Izy quickly looked it over and saw that Jess was a senior like Stephen.

“Yeah go for it,” Jess said and handed over her schedule.

“Hmm you have band now. I don’t take band but I can show you where it is.” Together the two girls started walking. “So what do you play in band?”

“Drums I’ve been playing for awhile,” Jess informed her.

“That’s so cool I’ve always wished I had been blessed with musical talent, but sadly I wasn’t. Have you ever thought about joining a band?” she asked thinking about what John said about wanting to start one.

“Yeah I have but nothings ever really worked out,” she said.

“Well my boyfriend and his brother are trying to start one. I could introduce them to you if you want. Then you could see what happens,” Izy offered.

“Sure that sounds cool and maybe it will work out.” she smiled at Izy as the two of them walked in front of the band room door.

“Great I’ll find you at lunch and introduce you to everyone. You might actually meet Stephen before then.”

“Oh is Stephen your boyfriend?” Jess asked.

Izy cheeks started to feel a little hot. She knew there was no way Jess could have known about everything about what was going on with her and Stephen. There wasn’t even any way she could have known about her and John. It was that she almost wanted to say yes. “No he’s the brother my boyfriends name is John. Have fun in band I should probably get to my class now.” The two of them went there separate ways Jess to band and Izy to English where John was waiting for her. She took her time walking to the English room and quietly walked in and took her seat next to John. “Hey I have a surprise for you,” she whispered to him.

“And what is it?” he asked smiling at her.

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise,” she told him in a duh tone. He pouted a little looking like a child who was just told he couldn’t have a certain toy. “Hey not fair but I’m still not telling you. You’ll just have to wait until lunch,” she told him.

“Fine it’s not that long a wait anyways. You slept through most of the morning,” he pointed out.

“Don’t remind me I had to walk here,” she complained.

The two of them walked into the lunchroom holding hands and walked over to the table where Stephen and Justin were already eating. “So now we are in lunch what is the surprise?” he asked her.

“Not yet,” she told him while she looked around for Jess. “This is for Stephen too,” she added still looking away in the cafeteria. Stephen looked up when he heard his name but Izy didn’t notice. She stood up quickly when Jess walked in she yelled over to the girl, “Jess over here.”

“So this is a surprise for Stephen and me and it’s a girl. I don’t understand,” John said.

“Well you will soon enough,” she told him as Jess was walking over. “Guys this is Jess,” she introduced the girl and she gave a small wave in their direction. “Jess this is John and Stephen,” she said pointing to each of them as she said their name.

"Hey what about me,” Justin cut in.

“Not everything is about you,” she turned to him. “This is my brother, Justin by the way,” she informed Jess. ”Jess is a drummer I thought she could help you too start a band if you all get along well and stuff.”

“Thanks babe,” John said as he put his arm around Izy and kissed her cheek.

“Your welcome but you know how I just want to be able to say my boyfriends in a band,” she teased him.

“You two are really cute,” Jess told them. Stephen looked down and was suddenly really interested in his food. The rest of the lunch went really well Jess was pretty chill and seemed to fit in with their small group.