Operation Beautiful

I’m not entirely sure why, but this bugs me slightly. I mean, Emmaleigh and I kinda hit it off just now. In an extremely awkward and uncomfortable way.

“A thing for Matt?” I ask again, not sure if I heard correctly.

“Yup,” Jessica says with a sigh. “Promise you won’t tell her I told you?” I nod, my head still in the clouds.

“But Matt’s really not her type,” I say honestly. “I mean, he’s a player and she’s...really really shy.” Jessica shrugs.

“That’s what I told her, but now I figure,” she shrugs a bit and moves closer to me as someone bumps into her from the back. I step back quickly as a reflex, causing her to frown. “I figure I should help her out. You don’t have to move back, by the way, I don’t have cooties.” Ugh, I’ve insulted her.

“Sorry,” I mutter.

“Do you think you can help me?” she continues.

“How?” I ask. She shrugs.

“I was thinking that maybe we could do a double date or something.” I nearly drop her hand in shock.

“What?!”

“I mean, there’s this carnival coming up,” Jessica says, jerking her head to flip her long blond hair over her shoulder. “And Matt said he’d take me and Emma. So we could kind of manipulate it so it ended up with the two of them going together, right?” I shrug.

“I suppose.” Jessica smiles beautifully at me, only succeeding in making me feel more out of place.

“Thanks, Corey. I knew I could count on you.” She keeps the conversation going for the rest of the dance, and part of the next. At this point, I’m done, but I’m not sure how to say it.

“Thanks for the dance, Jessica,” I say when the song ends. I let go of her and she does the same. “I, uh, I think I’ll go get a drink.” She nods and watches me leave.

“Hey, baby,” I hear a deep voice say as I get to the punch bowl. I look up to see Emmaleigh standing there, a bottle of water in her hand and a rather large African-American senior towering over her.

“Hi,” she says back, stammering slightly.

“Want to dance?” he asks. I take note of the red cup in his hand and wonder just how wasted he is.

“No thanks, I’m not a very good dancer,” Emmaleigh says quickly, backing up.

“Oh, come on!” he pouts. I can see the panic growing in Emmaleigh’s eyes as he steps towards her.

“There you are!” I say quickly, slipping my arm around Emmaleigh’s waist. She jumps and lets out the smallest shriek.

“Oh!” She puts a hand to her chest. “It’s you. Sorry. I’m kind of jumpy today.” She takes a glug of water.

“How are you, Jason?” I ask the muscular football player.

“Meh, not so bad. This chick wouldn’t dance with me though,” he sends a lopsided grin Emmaleigh’s way. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“No!” we both yell at the same time.

“He’s just my chaperon. I’m Jessica’s friend,” Emmaleigh says, sticking a slightly trembling hand out for Jason to shake. “Emmaleigh.”

“Ah, so Jessica’s your girlfriend?” Jason asks me, raising an eyebrow. “I knew it was only a matter of time if you were going to be living with her.” I open my mouth to correct him, but Emmaleigh speaks first.

“Sorry I was so rude. I’m just not a very good dancer and I thought you might be drunk,” she nods to the cup in his hand. Jason lets out a booming laugh.

“You’re so honest!” he says. “Well, I’m not drunk and I don’t mind if you can’t dance, so let’s go, okay?” Emmaleigh looks at me.

“Is that okay, chaperon?” she asks. Jason’s red cup of booze and obvious ability to overpower Emmaleigh if worst comes to worst concerns me, but I brush away the thought.

“Of course. Have fun.” I poke the tall African American threateningly in the chest. “But if she’s not back at the punch stand by the end of the song, you’re going to have at least four guys ready to kick your ass.”

I watch them head off to the dance floor. Jason puts her arms around his neck and they start to sway. The party should be over soon.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asks from beside me. When did she show up?

“Watching over Emmaleigh.”

“Ah. You know, you don’t need to take it so seriously.” I shrug.

“I’m not. It’s just that she’s dancing with some drunk guy.” I nod over to Jason and Emmaleigh. We’ve established the fact that Jason isn’t that drunk, but I don’t want Jessica getting the wrong idea about me watching them.

“Come on, Emmaleigh can take care of herself,” Jessica says. “Let’s go dance. You’re a lot better than the other guys here.” I turn to look at her.

“Dance?”

“Hey, back off pal!” Jason’s deep voice snaps me back to the dance floor. Some wasted guy is trying to take Emmaleigh from him.

“Oh, come on!” the dip-wad in question protests, his words slurring like crazy. “Just one dance, huh? Come on, baby!” He tugs on Emmaleigh’s arm. She turns to Jason first, then whirls around to find me. Her eyes are wide and she looks terrified.

“Do you want six guys to kick your ass?” Jason asks, his deep voice cutting through the beat of the music.

“There’s only one of you man,” the drunkard says, giggling like crazy. Jason puts one arm around Emmaleigh and grabs the douche by his collar.

“I can make you see triple, bastard.” Two strides later, I’m by his side.

“And I can make you see the other three,” I snarl. The music stops and the lights turn on.

“Someone called the police, they will be here in ten minutes. Everyone get out,” Matt says as loudly as possible. I don’t move. Matt’s “get rid of all guests in under ten minutes” strategy is underway.

“T-thanks,” Emmaleigh says to both of us as the drunkard flees. Jason smiles down at her and pats her on the head.

“No prob, babe. You were a pretty good dancer by the way. I’ll see you at school, okay?” He gives her a quick squeeze and turns to me.

“We made a good team, didn’t we man?” Despite this feeling of annoyance in the pit of my stomach, I go through the hand-clasp-chest-bump greeting with him.

“Yeah. Thanks.” And with that, Jason disappears.

***
“Oh my God, I’m exhausted!” Matt yells, throwing yet another red cup into the garbage bag.

“Where did the girls go?” I ask. Matt waves a hand towards the stairs.

“Bed, damn them.”

“Did you already clear out the upstairs?” I ask. Matt nods.

“I put that stupid fence up remember?” In order to stop people from going upstairs, Matt had invested in a screen door and stapled it to the wall. Hopefully, his parents won’t notice the holes when they get back

“I think that’s the last stain,” I say from the carpet, throwing the chemical-soaked towel in the sink. Thankfully not too many people spilled punch. There was some throw up in the toilet, though.

We climb up the stairs slowly.

“Hey, I’m going to use the bathroom, okay?” I say, grabbing my PJs and heading back into the hall. I hear some yelling from Jessica’s room, so I stand outside the door. It feels sneaky and wrong somehow, but that doesn’t stop me.

“Well then, what do you think you were doing?” Jessica demands.

“It wasn’t my fault, okay? It just kind of...happened,” Emmaleigh says, just as loud.

“We’re going to the carnival on Sunday, so you better not screw up, okay?” There’s a silence. “Emma?!” Jessica almost screeches. “You promised me, didn’t you? You promised!”

“Yeah, I know,” Emmaleigh says with a sigh. “I’m just kind of...”

“Don’t tell me you’re regretting it. You’ve been crushing on Matt since, like, sophomore year!”

“But Jess, he’s n--”

“Emma, are you my friend?”

“Of course!” Emmaleigh’s voice is indignant.

“Then you’ll keep to your word. I wanted you to stay away from him and what did you do? You went and--”

“I’m sorry okay?” Emmaleigh says loudly. I hear footsteps coming up to the door and back away slowly.

“I’m trying to help you Emma. You can’t back out on me!” Jessica yells. I quickly scuttle into the bathroom.

Who the heck are they talking about? Who did Jessica want Emmaleigh to stay away from? What “just happened”? I think back to what Jessica told me on the dance floor.

Matt. I guess Jessica’s still annoyed with Emmaleigh falling for her brother. I lock the bathroom door and shake out my pajamas. My batman boxers fall to floor and with them, a small pink post-it note.