Stay With Them Tonight

“I want Italian. There’s that place a few blocks down, right?” I asked.

“You’re such a girl,” he said.

“What? Just because I don’t want to go out to eat steak and potatoes?” I scoffed.

“Because the first place you think of to eat with a guy is Italian. That’s pretty cliché.”

“No, I just want the breadsticks. Besides, guys are always the first to take girls to eat Italian, so it’s the fault of the male population that you thought it was cliché.” There were a lot of people on the street, because it was in the main part of town, and as we walked by the river I saw that someone had a boat out. Jason’s and my arms kept brushing while we avoided the people on either side of us, going in different directions. I felt sentimental, which is probably why I didn’t think before I spoke.

“You’re not as bad as I thought you were, Jason.” I felt him look at me questioningly. I didn’t know what possessed me to say that thought out loud. “I mean, I finally believe you’re related to Ryan.” He snorted, but otherwise ignored the comment.

*****

KELLY P.O.V.

I laced my fingers through Ryan’s as we walked out of the movie theater, letting him warm my hand up and taking comfort in it. He called Jason, who said that he and Allie were eating at an Italian place nearby. Danny walked beside Ryan, and I wondered why he was so opposed to walking on my side or talking to me much recently; he acted like I had cooties or something.

When I made a face at him, he gasped and made an uglier one at me. Ryan caught me making another face back and started laughing, while Danny tried to hide his grin, not wanting to have fun with me around, I guessed. We made our way over to the food place, talking about the movie we had seen. Danny became animated and forgot to ignore me, gesturing hugely and imitating one of the characters while Ryan and I played the audience.

We found Jason and Allie right away, tucked into a back corner booth and already half done with their meals. Ryan kicked Jason out of one of the seats so he could sit next to me, and Danny sat between Jason and Allie on the opposite bench.

Ryan and I had officially been together for two days. I felt myself smile at just the thought. The booth was pretty large, but Ryan and I were still sitting close together. Everybody was talking all at once, laughing and joking and talking over each other in debate, but they were all laughing. I didn’t have much to say, so I simply listened, laughed with them, and watched.

Ryan and Jason were a lot closer than their personalities would suggest; they always thought along the same lines, they had virtually the same opinion on most subjects, and they played sports in perfect synchronization. Danny was like them, only with a rounder face and more enthusiasm for everything.

My hand froze in the process of moving my drink when I looked between Allie and Jason. They looked at each other in the midst of arguing over Danny’s head, but Jason was grinning and Allie was laughing. Unconsciously, they were tilted towards each other to hear. Ryan and I looked at each other and smirked.

Abruptly, Jason’s face changed, and he backed up. He began a conversation with Ryan, who exchanged a knowing glance with me before letting Jason fill the sudden silence. Allie looked confused, leaning back against the seat, before she shook her head and listened, catching my gaze.

“Bathroom?” I mouthed. She shook her head no. I took the rest of her pasta, seeing as I wasn’t hungry enough for my own meal after the popcorn and drink we shared at the theater.

Jason constantly looked over at Allie, while she seemed completely oblivious to it. She seemed deep in thought, and after knowing her for so long I knew she was thinking about Jason. The funny thing was, neither of them seemed to realize it yet. He liked her, and the feeling was mutual.

*****

JASON P.O.V.

I stared at Allie as she walked out of the living room. I was beginning to feel like a stalker; my eyes always found her, no matter who else was around. Really, it had only been this way for a week or two, but already I felt myself going crazy.

Why doesn’t she look back at me? I must have looked at her ten times in the last five minutes, and only once had she been looking back at me. Was it ego? Just because she wasn’t after me, I had to go after her? Was I after her? Why am I spending this much time thinking about such an irritating person?

Tonight was the last night she would be babysitting; my parents would be coming home in the morning, while we were at school. Much to my surprise, I was not looking forward to getting her out of the house. We had fallen into a strange rhythm of living together, after only a few short days. She was an easy person to live with, and I knew I was not the type of person who warms up to people quickly.

I’m quick to make bad judgments on people; I’m messy, but insist that others pick up after themselves; I won’t do much in way of cooking, but expect others to. Allie was the type of girl that would kick my ass for thinking or saying these things, and frequently did. She doesn’t like me, and I certainly do not. Like. Her.

*****

“Jason, wake up!” Someone whispered. I jackknifed in bed, twisting so I was as far from the edge of the bed as possible. I stared at Allie, who was standing there with a bucket with water sloshing around inside, a slight smile on her face.

“I thought you wouldn’t get up,” she said to my unasked question.

“Why did you have to whisper?” I accused.

“I just wanted to help you with your bodily hygiene, sheesh.” She rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. I made plans to get her back for that, one of these days.

“We’re leaving in five minutes!” I heard her call from outside the door. I jumped up to get dressed.

*****

“Hey, it’s only six. Why are we leaving so soon?” I came downstairs half-dressed, having stopped in the process of putting clothes on after I looked at the time. Allie shrugged, digging around in the pantry. Did she not notice that I didn’t even have a shirt on? What was this girl- a nun?

“I woke up early,” she said, grinning while holding the pancake mix. I looked at it, at her, and back at it. She couldn’t possibly make better pancakes than me.

Feeling the need to show off Deciding to be helpful, I took the pancake mix and stuffed it back into the depths of the pantry. My dad, who was the worst cook I had ever known, used that pancake mix once after he bought it, blaming the burnt pancakes he produced on a bad package mix.

“Hey! I’m making pancakes!” I leaned towards Allie as our eyes locked, noticing with absurd satisfaction when she held her breath. She didn’t pull away, but I knew she would if I really tried to kiss her. I was pretty sure, and I didn’t want to make her hate me again.

I was inches away from her when I reached up my hand and grabbed the flour from the pantry. I turned around, finally smiling as I heard her let out the air she had been holding. So she wasn’t as unaffected as she pretended to be. I gathered the ingredients for blueberry pancakes, looking down to hide my grin when Allie quickly moved out of my way.

“I won’t bite,” I teased. I practically felt her rolling her eyes as she muttered something to herself. I got the skillet out and started warming it up as I mixed the batter. Pancakes were one of the things I knew how to make well, since it was easy and tasted good. Plus, Danny said it was his favorite thing to eat for breakfast (along with eggs, cereal, oatmeal and pizza).

“I didn’t know you knew how to cook,” Allie said, leaning on the counter next to the stove, peering into the bowl. “Why have I been doing it all this time if you can do it?” I slanted a look at her that she returned mockingly. I leaned towards her, raising an eyebrow.

“What if I like your cooking?” I asked, our foreheads almost touching. There was something left unsaid there, but even I didn’t know what that might be. I had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the fact that I couldn’t stop trying to get close to her. Every chance I got, I got moved towards her, and I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking.

“Put a shirt on,” Allie glanced down at my chest and returned her eyes to mine. Was her face a little red? I smirked, trying to return to a lighter mood.

“Make me,” I challenged. She lightly pushed me away from the stove, towards the doorway.

“Go get a shirt on, I’ll flip the pancakes.” She ordered, expecting me to obey. Anyone guy who ordered me around like that, I would have told them to fuck off. I might even tell that to a few girls. So I was surprised at myself as I turned and marched upstairs to put on a shirt.

*****

“Teams. Luce, Schwartz, you’re captains.” I stood up and went to the front of the room. The coach stood between me and Ben as we called out names of the people we wanted on our teams, alternating between guys and girls like the coach told us.

“Tony,” I called.

“Landon,” Ben fired back.

“Allie.” Said calmly, hearing people murmur at my choice. She wasn’t bad, but there were definitely better girls to pick. Allie looked at me, confused as she walked up and stood next to Landon on my side.

“Katie,” Landon called out. Katie was one of the most naturally athletic people I knew- she didn’t even seem to try or care, but always wound up doing well in a sport.

I refused to call his name. It was unusual that Tim wasn’t picked first, and there was no doubt that he was an extraordinary player, but I had seen the way he looked at Allie. I did not want this dude close to her.

“Michael.” I called instead. Ben gave me an odd look, noticing that I hadn’t chosen one of the best players, and called Tim over to his side.

*****

The game was progressing smoothly, my team slightly behind Ben’s, and it was our ball. I faked out Tim, rushing around him and sprinting across the field. I heard something happen behind me, and the guys chasing me slowed down, looking behind us at the other end of the field. I hardly looked, but what I saw made me look again. While I was distracted, Tim collided into me and we fell to the ground. I stood up quickly, thinking I had seen wrong. Allie was on the ground next to one of the heavier guys, who was trying to help her up while she smiled and tried to let him know she was okay.

“Allie!” I yelled. She looked up at me, the smile dropping from her face when she saw me. I don’t know what I saw there- I was looking at the guy, thinking about murdering him for knocking her down. I ran over to them, shoving him out of the way.

“Are you an idiot, Jason? You look like you might change into the Hulk any second now.” She sat back down on the ground while coach came over and I saw that her knee was scraped up and she was cradling her hand.

“She okay?” the coach asked, leaning down to look at it.

“I’m fine,” Allie assured him.

“I’ll take her to check with the nurse,” I said, picking Allie up without thinking. One of my arms slid around her back while the other picked up her legs. She squeaked in surprise and then hit me on the shoulder.

“Put me down, you stupid idiot, I can walk!” I ignored her and walked away while some of the guys catcalled and whistled.

*****