Priceless

~~~

“Halloween Party on the 29th. Make sure you’re coming,” were the first words Erin told me that Monday morning. But the stern voice she was trying to use didn’t match the big smile on her face, which was, according to my suspicions, because of John Cornelius O’ Callaghan V.

I smiled as I linked my arm with hers. “So I take it as my two best friends aren’t single anymore?” I asked the obvious.

Her smile never left her face and she basically looked like she was high in the heavens. “We had a talk after you hung up, and he just told me he’s been in-love with me for a long time, and that you knew about it,” she started. “Then I told him that I’d thought there was something going on between you and him—and like you, he denied it down to the bones, and he told me it had always been me. I pretty much said the same thing to him, and after that, we had—”

“Skip that part, please,” I said quickly, guessing what they had done after the talk. Erin laughed, confirming my suspicion.

“Well, after that, we had lunch outside and then later that day, we drank at Jobe’s and everybody found out about me and John,” she said. “And guess what, Jobe had also thought that you and John kinda had a thing. So did the Go bros. Told ya, you two are pretty much attached to the hip so you really can’t blame us all for thinking that.”

I shrugged. “John O’s really just like a brother to me,” I stated. “I thought everybody saw us that way as well.”

“Yeah, well now we all understand that.” She dropped it but started a new topic, “So, tell me about Paris and Alex. How was it? How was he?”

This time I smiled, remembering how it went between Alex and I. It might have been classic, but he brought me to the Eiffel Tower and there, he just told me about his relationship with Amanda Morisson, and how after that, he had promised himself never to get cheated on again, ever. And after that, I had started telling him about how I never liked the way my parents controlled my life. I had a good night with him and it ended with an innocent kiss on the lips. I suddenly remembered the way his lips lingered on mine—I had felt a sweet sensation then, and I knew that I wouldn’t mind sharing another kiss with him again.

“Are you just gonna smile, or are you gonna tell me what happened?” Erin asked impatiently.

I rolled my eyes a little at her, but spoke anyway. “I had fun. With Alex, at least. We got to know each other more. We had this conversation in front of the Eiffel Tower.”

“That’s so fucking romantic,” she said, sounding slightly disgusted.

I knew Erin was not fond of that kind of romance, so I just laughed it off. “I don’t know. It kinda suits him, since he’s nice and all. But anyway, our conversation went great. We’re going out again this Saturday before he goes to L.A.,” I said.

“Oh my God,” Erin said, sounding kind of sad as she removed her arm from mine. I looked at her, confused. “I just told you, our Halloween Party’s gonna be on the 29th—that’s on Saturday.”

I opened my mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but then ended up closing it again as I thought of something I could possibly do to attend both. That Halloween Party of ours where we never dressed up, just drank and watched Halloween movies, had been a tradition of ours for six years—the constant goers were Erin and I, The Maine, Tasha, and Trey. Well, I guess now we were going to ask Brian and the others to join us, and it was going to be cool, I knew that much. Except for the fact that I had a date with Alex. I could just invite him to the party, but I wasn’t ready yet to introduce him to my friends.

Erin sighed and I looked up at her. Her face had softened already. “If you promise to join us for breakfast on Sunday morning, you can go on that date,” she said, and I couldn’t help but give her a hug. She obviously wanted to make me happy, and I was nothing but thankful for that.

“I love you so much, I’ll cook lots of pancakes for you,” I said, knowing how much she loved pancakes.

“You better,” she said with a short laugh as she softly pushed me away and started to walk towards her room. “See ya later!” she called out with a wave.

I started walking once more until I reached my room, feeling sad about missing this year’s Halloween Party. It was one of the few times of the year that you would witness a quiet John O, mostly because he couldn’t stand gory zombie movies, ones which Garrett loved. John usually hid his face behind everything he could use as a blockage so he wouldn’t see the blood, and also to keep himself from shrieking. The funniest time was when Halvo was there, John’s best friend from A Rocket to the Moon. It was about two years ago, maybe. He and the rest of the band joined us and Halvo took off the pillow John was using and the latter just kept screaming at him. We had a good laugh about that.

I entered the room, avoided Serena’s and Lacey’s gazes and took my usual seat beside Justine and Amy. As I sat down, my phone vibrated against my pocket. I pulled it out, supposing it was Alex. But a smile tugged on my lips upon seeing the name.

See you this Saturday, yeah?

That was all Stephen’s text said, but as usual, it made me smile. Maybe it was because we barely talked in person that was why there was always this slight excitement I got whenever he sent me texts. The last time he texted me was when I was in Paris, and I had a small conversation with him about how boring it was to be with my mom. I stopped replying when I had to get to the event, though.

I quickly hit reply and typed in, Can’t! Got dinner with Alex that night before he goes to L.A. But I’ll see you guys Sunday morning.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket and started taking notes as the discussion started, pushing everything else onto the back of my head and focusing on the lecture.

When that first class finished, I pulled my phone out, expecting a reply from Stephen, but there was none. Shrugging, I just shoved it back into my pocket once again and walked down the hallways for my next class.

The day went on fast and before I knew it, I was back in my room, talking on the phone with Alex. He kept telling me about something his father kept bugging him to do, but to be honest I was quite distracted, because I was trying to read and at the same time trying to fight back the slight sadness I was feeling due to Stephen not texting back. It wasn’t just sadness, actually, it was of wonder as well. Maybe it was the mention of Alex—I kinda had the feeling that Stephen didn’t like the idea of him. I mean, the way he called him my boy toy was something. Maybe it was just me, but really, it seemed that way, also because when I’d mentioned that Alex was going to watch the fashion show, he ignored it and just texted something else.

“Well, I have to go now and finish my work. I’ll see you on Saturday,” Alex said, and this was what brought me fully to the present.

“Okay, see you then. Take care!” I said, and then hung up. As I was about to put my phone down, the screen lit up and displayed one new message. My heart began throbbing in anticipation as I hurriedly opened it, and as I’d hoped, it was him.

Ditch him! ;)

He was kidding. He had to be. Ditch him. He made it seem like such an easy thing to do. But did he really think I was gonna do it? I wouldn’t ditch Alex just because he told me so. He was Stephen; if it was Erin, well I guess I could’ve thought twice but no, it was Stephen. He didn’t know me long enough yet to just suggest that.

I thought about what to text him back for a second, but I wasn’t even deep in thought yet when my phone started vibrating and I had to stare at the screen for about half a minute before I processed what was going on.

I pressed the answer button the moment I realized that he was indeed calling me, and put my phone into my ear. “Hello?” I said, trying to sound calm though I was everything but that.

“Hey,” he said with a short laugh and I could almost see him smirking. I started nervously toying with my hair, and I didn’t know why I was nervous in the first place. “Jobe sent that text. The one about ditching your guy friend. Or boy toy. Whatever.”

“Alex,” I corrected, rolling my eyes at his stupid nicknames for Alex.

“Again, whatever,” he said with a short laugh. “What are you up to?”

“Um, nothing.” I shut my book close and decided to just focus on talking to him. “How about you?”

“Just drinking at Jobe’s place,” he replied. “You want to join us?”

“As much as I’d want to, I have school tomorrow, and it’s kinda late notice. My parents would probably get suspicious if I decide to just suddenly sleep over at Erin’s on a Monday night,” I replied.

“Tell them you’re meeting with that rich guy. Bet they won’t mind.”

“His name is Alex,” I said, drawing out Alex’ name. “And I can’t lie about that. I can’t drag him into these sneaking issues of mine.”

“Whatever you say,” he said slyly. “Did you bring me something from Paris?”

“I didn’t buy anything there,” I answered. “Besides, I don’t know what you would’ve wanted.”

“Anything’s fine by me, but Jobe would have requested a model,” he said and that was when I heard Josh yell in the background, “You know what it is!”

I rolled my eyes and smiled a little. “Well, had I known that earlier, I wouldn’t have brought you guys anything anyway, especially Josh.”

He laughed softly. “That’s just rude,” he said. “Well, I have to go. Guess I’ll see you much later. Like, on Thanksgiving.”

I felt my spirits go down the drain upon hearing that. “Why? Are you guys going somewhere?” I asked, trying to remove the devastation in my voice.

“We’re going on tour with The Maine until then,” he answered. “We’re leaving on Sunday evening, but I’ve somewhere to go before that, so I probably won’t be there when you arrive.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. So it was only Stephen I wouldn’t be able to say a proper goodbye to. I didn’t know why it made me feel this down. I mean, he was Stephen and he and I were barely...friends. Or whatever. I had known him for a few weeks; I wasn’t supposed to feel this way just because I wouldn’t see him in a while. But I found myself frowning and quickly saying, “I’ll be there really early. So we could say a proper goodbye.”

“That’s great, then,” he said. “See you on Sunday.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you.”

With that, I hung up, and found myself staring into nothingness, as my mind got clouded with pictures of Stephen; I tried to shake them away as I reassured myself, I’m not doing anything wrong, am I?