Retarded In Love

I drifted in and out of a light sleep for a couple hours. Dico would shift every now and then, and at around 4:00pm I decided to get up. I opened my eyes and realized that we had moved a little in our sleep. Dico was lying on his back, his right leg bent and hanging off the couch. I was wedged into the small space between the back of the couch and Dico, my head on his shoulder. His left arm was wrapped around my waist loosely. I sat up slowly and somehow managed to maneuver my way off the couch without waking him.

I could hear voices in the kitchen, and decided to see who was in there. I ran my fingers through my hair lightly as I walked through the doorway. Liz and mom were just starting to cook dinner. I walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and heard giggles coming from behind me. I ignored it, and stood beside my mother.

"Where did that happen?" She asked, not looking up from the onion she was chopping.

"What?" I took a swig of my water.

She looked up at me like I was retarded. "You and Brandon, that's what. Duh."

"Today, I guess. I mean I've always had a little crush on Dico and since I'm single I seized the opportunity," I lied, turning to face Liz who was still giggling to herself. "What's so funny, Liz?"

"Nothing, I think it's great," she looked up and smiled. "You two are cute. It's nice to see you with someone who cares for you."

I could tell she was being honest, and I'm guessing she was cluing me into the fact that Billy was a bad idea. I knew that, that's why I didn't even try to keep in touch with him... I felt bad at first, but all in all it didn't really effect me. People do that stuff all the time...

I turned to leave, but my mom caught my arm. "Johnny called while you were all snuggled into Brandon," she giggled, "He said it wasn't really important and he'd call you again later."

I nodded and walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into my room. I sat down on the bed and sighed heavily at the mess I had gotten into. Things were starting to work themselves out, but I didn't know if it was what I wanted. It really wasn't fair to Bran, but... Oh well.

There was a light knock at the door, and then Bam popped his head inside. I smiled weakly at him, and he walked over and sat down next to me. It was silent for a while. A long, awkward silence.

"Are you and Jess mad?"

"No, I'm not mad... And Jess was more shocked than anything..."

I looked down at the floor, basking in the awkward silence.

"Do you like him?" Bam asked, nudging me.

"What kind of a question is that?" I shuffled my feet on my pale carpeted floor.

"I'm serious, Ell. Look, I called Dico the other day from California when you were shooting with Johnny at that bull riding school. He told me what had happened and that he truly does care about you."

I nodded and continued to stare at the floor, and he continued. "If you don't want to be with Dico, then don't, but if you're just going along with it for Dico's sake, and you're not happy then I'm going to end it for you, and even if you lie to me I'll know because I can tell when you're not happy."

"If I didn't want to be with him, I wouldn't be with him..." I tried my hardest to convince myself that, and to be honest it was partly true.

He sighed and left. I watched him walk out the door, and then collapsed back across the bed. I closed my eyes but was unable to drift into sleep. After a while I heard someone open my door, so I pretended to be sleeping. The next thing I knew my body was crushed under someone.

"Hello there, little one!"

I opened my eyes quickly to stare into the face of Johnny Knoxville, who was laying on top of me.

"Johnny! What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd keep in touch. Me and Jeff came to shoot that stuff, and well, I wanted to be here for my girl's birthday." He smiled widely and pulled me into a hug.

"She's not your girl," an angry voice called from the doorway. Johnny sat up quickly and I looked over to see Dico, fists at his side.

"Right, you're right," Johnny said, fighting giggles. "I'll see you later, Ellie." He got up and left, laughing as soon as he passed Bran. I rolled my eyes and sighed, and Dico started off down the hall in the other direction.

"This is going to be fun..." I mumbled to myself, closing my eyes once more.

"Yeah, it is..." I heard a chuckle from the doorway once again.