One of the Boys

“Guess this means your sorry, you’re standing at my door, guess this means you take back all you said before.”

I opened my eyes and looked at my stereo. It was 7:30. My stereo was an alarm clock. I hated the annoying ringing of alarm clocks, so I set my stereo to turn on the radio at 7:30. I pushed the off button and the radio turned off. I got up and got dressed in my uniform for my job. I worked at Wal-mart. I liked to shop there too, I got an employee discount. Working at Wal-Mart was my summer job while I was out of college for the summer. I walked in the kitchen and grabbed a banana and walked to my car.



While I was putting cereal boxes on a shelf my phone vibrated in my pocket. I stopped for a minute and pulled it out. I picket it up.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey Alex, it’s Nick,” Nick said.

“Hey Nick, what’s up?” I continued to put boxes on shelves with my only free arm.

“Nothing much. I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out today.”

“I can’t right now, I’m at work, but after my shift is over we can hang out,” I said.

“Ok, when is your shift over?”

“In 30 minutes.”

“Ok, come to our house. I’ll be waiting at the gates to let you in.”

“Ok. Bye,” I said. I closed my phone and slipped it back in my pocket.

After my shift was over I walked to my car, got in and drove to Nick’s neighborhood. Just like he said he was waiting for me at the gate. He typed in a code and the gates opened. He climbed in my car and I drove through the gates.

“So, where do you work?” Nick asked me.

“Wal-mart,” I answered.

When we got to Nicks house I parked in their driveway and got out. As soon as I walked in the door Frankie attacked me with a hug.

“Alex!” he exclaimed happily. I hugged him back. He let go after a second. I looked up and saw Joe and Kevin walked down the stairs. When Joe saw me he smiled.

“Hey Alex,” he said. He walked up to me and gave me a tight hug. After he let go Kevin walked up and gave me a hug.

“Hey Alex, wanna play football?” Frankie asked. I smiled and nodded. Frankie ran off to the backyard and we all followed at a slower pace.

This time Kevin and Nick were the team captains. Of course I was picked first and since Kevin got first pick. I was on Kevin’s team. Nick picked Joe and Frankie was on Kevin’s team.

We played for an hour nonstop, until Denise came outside.

Denise walked outside and smiled. When she saw me playing football she frowned at the boys.

“Are the boys forcing you to play football with them? You don’t have to play football with them if you don’t want to,” she said to me. Did everyone in this family think girls couldn’t play football?

“They aren’t forcing me to play, I love to play football,” I said with a smile.

“Alex is great at football!” Frankie said. Denise looked shocked for a moment, but quickly regained composure.

“Um…well, ok,” she said. She walked back in the house.

“Lunchtime!” Denise called from inside. Frankie dropped the ball and ran inside and we all followed.

After lunch I had to go home. I had to mow the lawn, it needed it. Nick drove me to my house in his car, it was fixed now.

We pulled up to my driveway.

“Can I come in? I think I left my sunglasses here,” he said. Sunglasses? What was he talking about?

“Huh?” I asked.

“That day we first met, I think I left my sunglasses, that I was wearing here,” he explained.

“Ok, you can look, but I didn’t see any sunglasses anywhere,” I said getting out of Nick’s car. I heard Nick turn the car off and get out. I walked straight to my kitchen.

“Nick you want anything to eat?” I yelled through the house. I knew he was in the house, I just didn’t know where he was.

“I am a little hungry,” Nick said from behind me. I jumped a little. I turned around to see Nick smirking at me.

“Found your sunglasses already?” I asked. He held up his sunglasses.

“Yep, they were under the couch, they must have slid under there when I took them off,” he said. “So, what’s for dinner?” I opened the fridge and looked inside. Crap! There weren’t anymore leftovers, I ate them all.

“I don’t know, I don’t have any leftovers to heat up, what do you want to eat?” I asked Nick.

“Whatever you can fix,” he said.

“I can fix macaroni and cheese,” I offered.

“I have diabetes,” he reminded me.

“Oh, right. Um…grilled cheese?” I offered. He smiled.

“I love grilled cheese!” he exclaimed, just like a 5 year old. I chuckled.

“Ok then. You go do whatever while I fix it,” I said. Nick walked off and I got out a pot, some cooking spray, and other things I needed to make grilled cheese.

I was flipping the second cheese sandwich when I heard Nick say, “I didn’t know you had a guitar!” His voice came form downstairs. Guitar? What was that boy talking about? I didn’t have a guitar. I set the spatula down and walked down stairs. I saw Nick holding a brown and black guitar. Suddenly I remembered.

When I was 15 my parents gave me a guitar for my birthday because I’d been asking for one for months. I took guitar lessons for a year, then quit when I joined the football team at my school so I could focus on that. I remember seeing it when I packed my things to move here two years ago. I guess I forgot about it, until now.

“Where did you find that?” I asked. I walked over to him.

“In the closet, in a guitar case,” he said. “Do you play?”

“I used to, but I don’t anymore,” I admitted.

“Do you remember any chords?” he asked me. He handed me the guitar. I walked to the couch and sat down, and Nick followed and sat next to me.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” I said. I put my fingers on different strings, in what I thought was a chord that I remembered. “Isn’t this the C chord?” Nick shook his head.

`“No, move you 3rd finger to the 2nd string,” he said. He put his arm around mine and repositioned my fingers. “There.” He placed his hand on top of mine and strummed the guitar. I looked over at him.

“I can teach you how to play guitar again,” he offered. I smiled.

“Ok. Thanks,” I said. Nick repositioned my fingers again.

“This is the G chord,” he said. We strummed the guitar. I felt his hand tighten around mine. I looked over at him. He smiled at me and I smiled back. We stayed like that for a few minutes, just looking in each others eyes. I felt his hand leave my hand that held the pick. He gently placed his hand on my cheek, then he slowly leaned forward. I knew what was coming and I didn’t try to stop him, instead I leaned forward too and closed my eyes. A second later I felt Nick’s lips on mine, with his hand still on my cheek. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned forward, deepening the kiss. A few minutes later we both pulled away, out of breath. Nick smiled at me and I smiled back. Suddenly his expression got mad.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. He let go of me and stood up.

“Nothing,” he said angrily. He started to walk toward the stairs.

“Nick, what’s wrong?” I asked him again. I knew something was wrong and I was going to find out what.

“Nothing!” he said a little louder this time. He started to go up the stairs. I got off the couch and ran after him.

“Wait!” I called after him. He stopped on the top step, while I stood at the bottom of the stairs. I was mad. What was his problem?

“What’s your problem?” I yelled at him. He turned around.

“You are!” he yelled back. I stood there confused. He walked out of my sight and a few seconds later I heard the front door slam. He kisses me, then he walks off mad and calls me a problem? This kid really was bipolar. I walked back upstairs and ate my dinner. If he was going to act bipolar I wasn’t going to hang around him. Suddenly my cell phone rang. I reached across the table and looked at the caller ID. Caller Unknown. It was probably Joe, or worse, Nick.

“Hello?” I answered hesitantly.

“Hey, it’s Joe,” Joe said. “Did something happen at your house? Nick came home and he looked really mad. I asked him what was wrong and he said he didn’t want to talk about it. What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.

“You sound like Nick,” he said with a laugh. I wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

“Joe, I’m not in the mood to talk,” I said.

“Well, Ok. Talk to you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. I hung up and finished my dinner then I went to bed, hoping to forget about my problem with Nick.



I woke up with a headache. I didn’t sleep too well either. I was tossing and turning all night, and it was all Nick’s fault. He was being bipolar. I got up and took some Tylenol for my headache.

My cell phone rang. I went into the kitchen and picked it up from the table, where I left it last night. Caller Unknown. Didn’t these people ever leave me alone?

“Hello?” I answered with no enthusiasm.

“Hello, sunshine. It’s Joe!” Replied a perky Joe. Sunshine? I didn’t feel like sunshine. Was he hyped up on Red Bull?

“Are you ok?” I asked him.

“Yeah, but I think I had too many poptarts this morning though, and I had a couple Red Bulls,” he said really fast. I was right. I could just imagine him bouncing off the walls. “Anyways do you wanna go out today? We can go shopping, go swimming, go see a movie, go out to eat, or-” he said enthusiastically, but I interrupted him. When he said ‘go out’, did he mean go out on a date?

“Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked him.

“Maybe,” he said mysteriously, I could almost see him smirking on the other end. It would be the perfect way to forget about Nick, and Joe was really funny, and sweet.

“Well, I’d love to go out with you,” I said with a smile.

“YES!” I heard him cheer on the other end.

“Great, so I’ll pick you up at 11?” he asked.

“Sounds good,” I said. I hung up and walked to my room. I wasn’t going to wear a dress or a skirt, but wasn’t going to wear a tank top and sweat pants either. I picked out a black shirt that said ROCK! in big white letters, and threw it on. Then I picked out a pair of white shorts and put them on. Then I put white flip flops. I ran a brush through my hair then I put it in a ponytail to keep my hair out of my face. I made scrambled eggs and watched TV while waiting for 11 o’clock. This was my first real date. I had been on a date before, but the guy was just dragging me around to all the places his ex-girlfriend would be at to get her jealous. Back in my hometown no one wanted to go out with the girl who was one of the boys. I don’t know why Joe wanted to go out with me of all people, but I wasn’t going to complain. At 11 o’clock I head a car horn honk outside my house. I walked into the kitchen and placed my plate in the sink for me to clean later and walked outside to meet Joe. He got out of the car when he saw me come out and walked around to my side and opened my door. I got in then he walked around and got in his side and we drove away.

“So where are we going?” I asked him. He smirked.

“Can’t tell you, it’s a surprise,” he said. A few minutes later we pulled up at to the movie theatre. Before I could open my door and get out, Joe was already opening my car door. I got out and we walked in.

“So what movie do you want to see?” he asked me. I looked around at all the movies showing. I smiled when I saw one I been wanting too see.

“That one,” I said, pointing to a movie poster. Joe eyes got slightly widened.

“Are you sure? Most girls wouldn’t want to see that movie,” he asked. I wasn’t sure if he was scared to see the movie or if he was really surprised that I wanted to see that movie.

“What do I keep telling you?” I asked him.

“‘You’re not like most girls’. Ok, we’ll see that movie, but don’t blame me if you have nightmares, and if you get scared I’ll be right there next to you,” he said with a smirk. Yeah right.

“I bet you’ll get scared way before I do,” I said.

“Wanna put your money where your mouth is?” he asked me. I smiled and nodded.

“I bet you $10 that you’ll get scared before I do,” I said. He smiled and held out his hand for me to shake. I grabbed his hand and shook it.

“You’re on,” he said. I was so going to win this bet.