One of the Boys

“So when does the movie start?” I walked up to the front and found out the next showing was in an hour and a half. I walked back to Joe.

“12:30,” I said.

“So do you want to get some lunch while we wait?” he asked. I was about to agree when I remember how Nick had wanted to pay for my meal and his when we were at McDonald’s. I didn’t want to have that problem again.

“Only if you let me pay for my meal,” I said. Joe laughed, but stopped abruptly when he saw that I wasn’t laughing with him.

“You were serious?” he asked me. I nodded. “What kind of guy do you think I am? I asked you out on a date, I’m paying for your meal.” I sighed. Here we go again.

“Joe, I am fully capable of paying for myself.” I argued.

“I know you are, but I’m the guy, I’m supposed to pay for your meal, that’s the way I was raised.” He said. I sighed again. I didn’t want to fight, so the only thing to do was give in.

“Fine,” I groaned. “But next time, I’m paying for my meal.” Joe shook his head.

“Don’t count on it.” Was all he said before walked out of the movie theatre with me following. We drove to a place called Chipotle. I’d never heard of it before, but it looked cool from the outside. It looked like the building was made of big scraps of metal, but they totally pulled of the look.

“Do you like burritos?” Joe asked me as he parked the car.

“I love them,” I said. Joe smiled.

“Then you’re going to love this place,” he said. Just like before he got out and opened my car door for me. We walked inside and the first thing I smelled was the burrito’s. The first thing I saw was the longest counter I had ever seen in a restaurant. There was a long glass panel separating the customers and the employees’. On the employees side there were endless topping to pick from to go on your burrito, there was chicken, turkey, guacamole, and a lot of other things. Joe and I walked to the end of the line.

I looked at the employees shirts and saw one of them had a shirt that said ‘that’s the way we roll’. Didn’t the Jonas Brothers have a song called that?

“Hey Joe, don’t you have a song called that’s how we roll, or something?” I asked him. I did not expect Joe to do what he did next.

“And I know we get a little crazy, and I know we get a little loud, and I know we’re never gonna fake it, we are wild, we are free, we are more than you think, so call us freaks, but that’s just the way we roll.” Joe sang, at the top of his lungs.

EVERYONE in the whole restaurant turned to stare at us. Smooth Joe. I slowly back away from Joe. I didn’t want people to think I was crazy too. When they finally turned around I walked back over to Joe.

“Never do that again,” I begged him. When it was my turn an employee named, Hannah, got a soft tortilla shell and put in on a tinfoil and moved down the counter to where the topping were.

“Chicken, turkey, or ham?” she asked me.

“Chicken,” I said. She got some chicken from a little container on front of her and put in on the tortilla shell. We continued down the counter and she continued to put stuff on my burrito. When we got to the end I didn’t think she could fold the burrito, the thing was HUGE, but she did. Then she wrapped up my burrito in the tinfoil and put it in a red basket. I got to the end and tried to pay for my burrito before Joe got to where I was, but he was too fast. When he saw I was about to pay for myself he rushed over to me, leaving the employee who was making his burrito, standing there, waiting ’till he got back to tell her what topping he wanted.

“I told you I was going to pay for your meal,” he said. I sighed.

“Yeah, but it was worth a try.” I said with a shrug. He took out his wallet and paid for my meal, then he walked back to the lady who was making his burrito. While he was still in line I decided to find us a place to sit. I saw they had tables outside and nobody was out there, so I walked outside and sat down. This place was nice, I can’t believe I never heard of it before. I sat there waiting for Joe. I heard the door open and turned to see a boy, about 18, with wavy blonde hair, and dark green eyes walking towards me. He smiled when he saw that I noticed him. He walked right up to me.

“Are you sitting here all alone, beautiful?” he asked, trying to flirt with me.

“No, she’s not alone, she here with me,” Joe said, appearing behind the boy from out of no where. He didn’t say it angrily, but I could tell he wasn’t happy. The guy just walked away awkwardly. Joe sat down across from me and smiled at me.

“I don’t get it,” I mumbled to myself, but apparently Joe heard me.

“You don’t get what?” he asked me.

“I don’t get why guys like me. Back home I was one of the boys, no guy wanted to date me. They all wanted me on their football team or soccer team, but they never wanted to date me or anything, so why is it different all of the sudden?” I said, confessing everything to Joe. I don’t know why, but I could always tell him everything.

“Maybe it’s because you grew up with them, when you became a beautiful young woman they still saw you as the girl next door, or maybe it’s because none of those guys could see something perfect was right in front of them,” Joe said. I smiled. Joe always made me feel better. We ate our burrito, which took us a while, because they were as big as our heads, literally, then we went back to the movie theatre.

Joe bought our tickets, even thought I put up a fight, saying that I should pay for the tickets since he paid for my meal, but we were holding up the line, so I caved and he bought our tickets. We went into the movie theatre and sat down just in time. He movie started and we sat through what felt like an hour of previews for movies that were coming out next year, then the feature presentation came on, The Haunting In Connecticut. For the first few minutes the movie wasn’t scary, just a regular family moving into a new house, then things got a little weird, but I wasn’t scared, yet. I was determined to win the bet. I glanced over at Joe. He looked fine, like he was watching a comedy. Things started to get weirder in the movie, shadows started to move along the walls, things started to pop up, but I still wasn’t scared. When I was little my brothers loved to watch scary movies just to freak me out. After a while I got used to it.



Joe and I walked out of the movie theatre.

“I think you owe me $10,” I said with a smirk. He sighed. A deal was a deal. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a $10 bill and handed it to me. I put it in my pocket.

We walked to his car and he opened the door for me. He walked around and got in his side. I thought he was going to drive me home, but when he parked in the malls parking lot I knew the date wasn’t over. We got out and walked in the mall.

“So what’s your favorite store?” he asked me. I thought for a minute.

“Sports Authority.” I said. Joe laughed.

“Of course,” he mumbled to himself, but I heard him. I stopped in my tracks. He stopped and turned to look at me, confused.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked him.

“Well, most girls would say Hollister or some other girly store,” he said. “But you’re not like most girls.” I nodded. He got that right. We continued to walk again.

“What’s your favorite store?” I asked him.

“Limited Too,” he joked. I laughed.

“Is it because they have shirts with pictures of you on it?” I joked. He laughed.

“Duh,” he said. We both laughed. Suddenly I felt Joe grab my hand and intertwine our fingers. I smiled.

We continued to just walk through the mall when Joe suddenly pulled me in a store. He pulled me over to a section filled with dresses. He picked one and handed it to me. I looked at him confused. He better not be handing me dressed to try on or something cause if he thought I would wear a dress he was out of his mind. He handed me another dress then he turned to face me.

“Try these on,” he told me. What?

“I’m not a Barbie doll and I hate dresses. I’m not trying these on,” I told him. I handed them back to him.

“Come on, you would look cute in a dress,” he said. Cute?

“No, I’m not trying on those dresses,” I told him firmly. He sighed and put the dresses back.

“Fine,” he said. “What kind of clothes do you like to wear?”

“T-shirts, shorts, jeans,” I answered immediately. He walked over to where the jeans were and I followed him. He picked up a pair of sparkly jeans and handed them to me. Sparkles? You have got to be kidding me!

“Joe, I don’t like sparkles!” I told him while I put the jeans back. “Why do you want me to try on all these things?”

“I want to buy you some clothes,” he said simply.

“Why?” I asked him.

“Most girls like it when I buy them clothes,” he said.

“Well, I’m not-” I started to say, but Joe cut me off.

“‘You’re not like most girls’, yeah, yeah, I know,” he said. “Well, if I can’t buy you anything what are we supposed to do here?”

“We could walk around and look in the stores, and if I see anything I want, I’ll walk in and buy it with my own money,” I said.

“Ok,” he said. We walked out of the store and walked around, looking in stores. We walked around for a few hours, and surprisingly we didn’t get bored. We even found a photo booth and took a couple pictures. The pictures were just us being silly, me giving Joe bunny ears, Joe making a funny face. It was fun. When we got hungry we walked to the food court and I bought my own meal, which wasn’t easy. I had to loose Joe in the people and order something and pay for it before Joe found me. Joe wasn’t too happy about that. Joe got himself something to eat and we sat down and ate. We didn’t talk, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. When we were done we walked back to Joe’s car and he drove me home.

I stood on my front porch.

“I had fun today,” Joe said.

“Me too,” I admitted, even though he paid for my meal and tried to buy me a dress I had fun.

Suddenly Joe leaned forward and kissed me. I was caught off guard, but before I had time to react he pulled away. It was just a peck on the lips, but I felt guilty about it. I felt like I cheated on Nick. I know it was stupid, but that’s what I felt. Nick and I weren’t dating, I didn’t even know if he liked me; he kissed me but then he called me a problem. I don’t know why I felt guilty. I shouldn’t feel like that but I did. I sucked it up and smiled at Joe.

“Goodnight Joe,” I said.

“Goodnight Alex,” he said back then he got in his car and drove away. I walked in and sat down on my couch, confused. I kiss Joe and I feel guilty about it because I feel like I cheated on Nick. I would explain why, if I could. I didn’t understand it myself.

I walked into my room and stood in front of my full length mirror. I looked at myself in the mirror in my room. I had medium length auburn brown hair. I had light blue eyes and freckles all over my face. I didn’t see a supermodel or a pretty girl. What did Joe see when he looked at me? I knew he liked me. When I was still in high school I wasn’t the popular girl, I was one of the boys. I was on the football team since 9th grade. What could Joe possibly see in me? And what about Nick? Sometimes it seemed like he liked me and other times it seemed like he didn’t like me. I sighed. How could my life turn into a soap opera in a matter of days?

I sighed. I should go to bed, I have to work tomorrow. I took a quick shower, changed into my pajama’s and went to sleep, hoping I would wake up tomorrow and forget all my troubles.