That Girl

“Nice?” He asked with a slight smile, not looking really all-that clear on what I was saying. Or maybe he was just amused and wanted to relive the moment that Stella was really awkward again, I didn’t know. I was feeling to awkward to try and read his expression when I was trying to fight my subconscious (which obviously wasn’t working) to keep my face from turning into a cherry.

“Yeah,” I paused, my stomach falling slightly, almost the way I’d felt when I’d first met Mark Hoppus, you know, my idol, in a coincidence at the VMAs two years ago. “I, uh… yeah.” I finished off lamely, not able to muster up anything witty or remotely Stella to shift the atmosphere that was entirely uncomfortable.

“So I’ll take you to prom,” Alex nodded with a grin, “yeah?”

“Yeah.” I said, almost breathlessly as I nodded, my palms growing sweaty. I wiped them on my flannel pajama bottoms as we stood there, neither of us really moving or breaking eye contact for that matter until Alex took a glance at my pajamas. His smile widened slightly as he reached out, slipping his finger under the fallen strap of the tank-top I wore (I’d taken off the sweatshirt and thrown it at Jeannie’s face when she peeked her head out the door) and pushed it back into place. I swallowed the thickness in my throat, smiling slightly at him as his hand fell back to his side.

“Good,” He nodded, letting out a heavy exhale as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, “so do you want to go downstairs and grab some breakfast?”

“That, uh,” I swallowed again as Alex broke eye contact, reaching towards his nightstand to grab an empty cup to take downstairs, “that sounds good, yeah.”

“Yeah.” Alex echoed, almost mocking me, but the retort that was forming on my tongue jumped out of my reach as Alex’s hand came to rest on my shoulder, effectively guiding the both of us down the staircase while I pondered absolutely nothing of importance like an idiot.

He passed me a plate before grabbing some toast and sticking it in his mouth, pulling me to his chest with the plate wedged between us as he gave me one of his Gaskarth-hugs.

“Got’a go,” he mumbled round his toast shooting his dad a smile as he tore a bit from the bread and said a food-filled thanks to Mrs. G. “Jeannie, c’mon, we’ve got to pick up Jack and Rian!”

“Coming!” She declared, and she was on the landing in a few moments, tossing her duffel over her shoulder, “Thanks for letting me spend the night Mrs. G! See you later, Stells.” She saluted, grabbing her school bag from on the shoe stowing.

*.*.*

“Shopping?” Jeannie’s voice sounded from behind me after school that day, voice tight. I pulled the pencil from my mouth, tearing my eyes away from the song I’d been working on. There were graphite smudges all over my hands from where I’d changed notes in the score, and eraser shavings covered my lap.

“Hm?”

“Prom shopping.” She clarified, smiling slightly at the probably completely dumb look I had on my face that was accompanied by my disheveled hair- looking horribly wavy because I had a nasty habit of running my fingers through it when I was focused on something.

“Are you shopping, too?”

“That’s kind of a dumb question, Stella, of course I’m going!” She crossed her arms, frowning at me. What?

“Oh, sorry.” I apologized in a semi-question, quirking my eyebrow slightly. Okay, something was definitely up there. “Let me grab my jacket and I’ll meet you at the car?”

“’Kay.” She half-grumbled. I shrugged on the ‘Sound in Stereo’ hoodie I’d gotten on a winter tour with TAT a few years back and ran a brush through my hair sloppily.

“Leaving?” Alex asked, his voice muffled by the plastic spoon in mouth as he paused his game of Grand Theft Auto. I shook my head, still trying to adjust to this new dynamic of friendship that Alex and I had now. Zack had a questioning expression on his face, looking very surprised by the interaction between us.

“Yeah.”

“Where to?”

“Dress shopping.” I said and he shifted awkwardly.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “Hey, do you know what’s up with Jeannie?”

“Huh?”

“She’s getting all defensive about going to prom n’ stuff.” I shrugged grabbing my copy of the house key from its hook on the wall before slipping into a pair of dirty Vans.

“Okay, I’ll ask Jack.” He said. There was a brief pause while Zack mumbled something to Alex, “Oh, and Stella?” his voice sounded as I opened the front door. I heard Zack’s chuckle and I turned, seeing Zack staring at my feet.

“Yeah, Alex?”

“Those are my shoes.” He said with a grin.

I colored, quickly navigating myself out onto the patio and closing the door quickly behind me, my jacket slipping down my shoulders as I leaned against the wood. I let out a heavy breath, closing my eyes.

A honk startled me out of my stupor, and Jeannie waved me towards the car impatiently.

Yeah, something was definitely up.

*.*.*

"The tour bus is going to be arriving in a few weeks." I told Jeannie with a grin as we left Hot Topic after seeing a commercial of one of their sponsors going on a tour. I think it was Never Shout Never. That was exciting.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," I smiled as Jeannie pulled me into one of the more fancy shops in Baltimore's local mall.

"When are you guys leaving?"

"Around summer, but we might do some shows between now and then. Venues are pretty slow about getting back to you about spring shows." I frowned at the thought before seeing a dress that looked kind of cute.

Lesson number seventy-six from Pete:

"If you act like one of those angsty teenage girls that's a pain in the ass to shop with and thinks that the world is so horrible for me making you look fancy for the VMAs then I will not hesitate to drop your ass like a bad habit, and you don't want to shop with Ashlee. It's a nightmare. Even for Patrick."

"What?"

"If you pull a fuckin' 'Oh god, shopping is the bane of my cliche existence' while I'm doing you a favor, then you're stuck with Miss Shopping-Is-Life forever. I don't take well to cliche's they're annoying pushovers." Pete grumbled, pulling a dress off the rack roughly only to glance at it briefly, shoving it back onto the shelf more roughly than he'd grabbed it.

"'Kay dad." I chuckled, pulling off a dress to look at myself in the mirror in.