Snakebite Hearts & Bubblegum Smiles

We walked across my front yard to Brooke’s house. Inside, she grabbed a bag of Doritos from the kitchen and headed for the basement door. I followed close behind, trying to act casual even though my nerves were going haywire. I wasn’t the greatest at meeting new people. I mean my mom invited Brooke over more than I did since we first met. And the whole thing with Jack, well that was just a freak accident—the freak being myself.

“Hello!” Brooke called out as she reached the bottom of the stairwell. “I bring treats!”

In the basement was a matching couch and loveseat set that formed into an L-shape, facing the TV. On the floor were blankets and pillows, and what looked like a plastic bowl filled with popcorn kernels that hadn’t quite popped in the microwave.

“No way, you brought us a girl?” one guy said. There were three of them sitting on the couch.

“Shut up, Alex,” Brooke said. “This is Jane. She’s my new neighbor.”

“Hi Jane,” the three of them said in unison. I felt like I was at an AA meeting or something. She went down the line and introduced me to everyone. I recognized Alex and Rian from around school, but I’d never seen Zack before. Apparently he went to school on the other side of town.

We sat on the loveseat and started watching TV.

“Where’s everyone else?” Brooke asked.

“Kara had to walk her dogs and she didn’t want to go alone,” Alex said. “They should be back soon.”

As if on cue, the front door upstairs opened and footsteps came bounding down the staircase. Two girls came around the stairwell, both looking gorgeous. When I heard someone else coming down, I expected another supermodel-to-be to walk out, but instead I saw Jack.

He stopped when he saw me. “Jane?”

Everyone sort of stopped what they were doing and looked at us. “Hey, Jack.”

“You guys know each other?” Brooke asked.

“We ran into each other at school. Literally,” Jack said, an amused grin on his face. He and the two girls sat down on the floor, each of them grabbing a pillow to prop up behind their backs.

Brooke turned to me and whispered, “Was that the guy you were telling me about?”

“Yup.”

We spent the next few hours watching movies. Brooke ordered a pizza for us, and while she was at the door paying the delivery guy, her friends started asking me questions about myself like where was I from, did I like Baltimore so far, did I have a wild side. That last one was from Alex. They all seemed really welcoming, which I hadn’t expected, but it was nice.

“Pizza guy totally loves me,” Brooke said triumphantly when she came down with a pie of pizza in her hands.

“Don’t tell me you flirted your way out of paying again?” Zack said in disbelief.

“What can I say? I’m irresistible!” Brooke replied, setting the box down in the center of the floor. Jack lunged for it first, taking one of the bigger slices and folding it in half before he bit into it. For some reason I thought it was more charming than rude.

Brooke plopped down next to me. “So Jane, are you doing anything special for spring break?” she asked.

To be honest, I hadn’t actually thought much about spring break. I guess that’s what your dad dying and moving a million states away from your friends did to you. “Not that I can think of.”

“Great! You should stay with us at Rian’s uncle’s beach house!”

“What about my uncle’s beach house?” Rian jumped in the conversation. My anxiety returned and I suddenly felt like he was going to ban me from coming. We still barely knew each other after all.

“Jane’s coming to Jersey with us,” Brooke said even though I hadn’t actually said yes yet.

“Really?” Jack said with a mouth full of pizza.

My stomach did a full somersault and before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “Yes.”

“Yay!” Brooke hugged me. “Now we’ll finally be even with the guys!” she said. Kara and Lisa laughed.

“You’re our hero, Jane!” Kara said.

I couldn’t see my face, but I was sure I was beaming.

When I got home later, I found my mom sitting in our living room, watching the Tonight Show. She was laughing and had a huge smile on her face. I remembered how she and my dad used to watch the show together, before he’d become a residential in the hospital. They loved when Leno would do his segment on newspaper headlines. Sometimes I’d catch them at breakfast, looking over the morning paper together, giggling as they made their own jokes.

“Hey, Mom.” I sat next to her, nestling into her side.

She rested her head against mine. “How was Brooke’s?”

“Fun. I met her friends,” I said, not sure if I wanted to say the rest. I hadn’t considered the fact that I’d be leaving my mom all by herself for spring break when I told Brooke I would go to Jersey with them and it made me feel horrible. How could I be so selfish? “They um…they invited me to the Jersey Shore over break.”

Mom turned to me, her brows raised. She didn’t look mad though. “Really? That’s great!”

I hadn’t anticipated that reaction, but continued my pitch anyway. “Yeah…one of them has a house there on the beach.”

“Any adult supervision?”

“Probably not.”

“Do you want to go?”

I hesitated for a moment. “What about you?” I asked.

“Janey,” Mom said, laughing softly. She pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. “Don’t you worry about me.” I managed a smile. “Do you want to go?” she asked again.

“Yes.”

“Well then we better head to the mall this week,” she said. “Macy’s is having a sale on swimsuits!”

I smiled and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Mom.”