The Diva Inside

Camryn's Pov

I knock on the door to Natalie’s house.

Taylor comes running to the door. “Hey, girly! Where were you? We’ve been calling for like 20 minutes.” He hugs me, and then I walk into the kitchen.

“Oh, sorry. I went for a jog, then ran into someone on my way back.” I tell them. Emma and Natalie are sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Each has one hand full of popcorn and a cookie in the other.

“Who’d ya run into?” Emma asks, mouth full of popcorn.

“Oh, just…Ben Daniels.” I say casually. Natalie drops her cookie.

I feel my cheeks turning pink. Emma notices and jumps off the counter, squealing.

“Something happen? WHAT HAPPENED?!?” Natalie and Taylor also turn their full attention towards me.

“Nothing.” I reply. I don’t know if I should tell them or not.

I reach for a cookie, but Emma slaps my hand away and says “You’re not allowed one, until you tell us what happened between you and Ben.”

“Fine. Com’on, let’s go up to Natalie’s room.” I couldn’t risk having Natalie’s brother hearing our conversation.

“What about the movie?” Natalie asks.

“Juicy girl gossip or Captain America for the 5th time? I’ll go with the gossip.” Emma says, reaching for more popcorn.

“Okay, but I have to make sure my room’s at least a little clean.” Natalie shouts, jumping off the counter and then running up the steps to her room.

“Natalie, your room is always friggin’ clean.” Emma yells up the stairs. So Brooklyn.

Less than a minute after Natalie went upstairs to “clean” her room, she calls down to us and tells us we can come up.

I shut the door behind me and lay down on Natalie’s bed. Natalie sits next to me on the bed. Taylor sits on the tiny chair that Natalie has had forever and Emma sits up against the wall.

“Ok, time to spill.” Taylor says, crossing his legs. He’s such a girl.

“Well, it was around 4:00 when I felt like a massive cow, so I decided to go for a jog. I jogged all the way to the park and I was standing by the baseball field cooling off when I noticed Ben staring at me or at least I think he was. So, I smiled and waved. Then I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden I got this huge deal of confidence and decided to go over and talk to him. I sat on the ground and we talked for a few minutes.” I stop to think about what had happened this afternoon.

“What’d you talk about?” Emma asks. Nosey as usual.

“Just simple things, we talked about music and why he doesn’t play basketball anymore. Then at around 4:30, I told him I had to get going and he offered to walk me home.” Taylor squeals.

My cheeks are getting redder. “Awww…she’s blushing. So, what happened next?” Natalie says, grinning.

“Then he helped me to my feet. And we walked back to the house. Then we just continued to talk. We kinda got personal, but not really.”

“What do you mean personal?” Natalie asks, putting air quotes around the word ‘personal’.

“Well, we talked about why were friends with our friends. He seems really unhappy. Like he is this great guy, but his friends are the reason he can’t show it. So, finally when we arrived at my house as we were saying goodbye, before I opened the front door, he pulled me closer and kissed me.” I whisper the last part. All three of them stare at me with blank expressions, and then they start jumping up and screeching.

“I KNEW IT!! YOU GUYS ARE MEANT TO BE!!” Emma squeals, I can’t help but smile.

“No, it was just…I don’t know. How could a guy like him really like me? I mean I’m not his usual type.” I don’t usually talk down on myself, but I feel like something’s off. Like maybe it’s not real.

“What skinny, blonde bitches?” Taylor tries to boost my confidence.

“Exactly, why wouldn’t he have a crush on you? I mean your gorgeous, smart and have a great personality. Unlike all the other girls he’s dated. Plus, why would he have kissed you if he didn’t have a thing for you?” Natalie asks, pulling out nail polish from her nightstand.

“No. Yeah. Maybe, he does like me.” I question. “That’s not all that happened.” I add.

“What do you mean? Please tell me, your still a virgin?” Emma asks, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh, god. Yes. I’m not that stupid. But he asked me something. Something that could only mean one thing.” All of them look at me curiously. “He asked me if I had a boyfriend.” Emma starts to squeal again.

“SEE!! He would only ask you that, if he was interested. So, obviously he is.” Emma sounds so sure of herself. She’s been so different since her date with Andre. She’s so much more confident. I love the new Emma.

“Yeah, I guess so. Let’s talk about something else. I need to get him off of my mind.” I say, rubbing my temples.

“Well, I also have boy news. Not as impressive as Camryn’s but it’s still exciting.” Natalie says, looking up from her fingernails.

“Does it have to do with…Joe?” I ask, nudging her.

She starts to blush. “Yes. We talked yesterday after conditioning. I was leaving, as he was going in. I looked horrible, all sweaty and gross after running. I didn’t notice him until, he poked my arm and waved. I couldn’t help but smile. He’s just so adorable.” She pauses to fix a nail, then continues her story. “Well, before going into the gym, he came over and started talking to me. I was so nervous, that I started mumbling, you how I get when I’m nervous.”

“Yeah, we can barely understand normally, let alone when you’re nervous.” Emma jokes.

“Hey, now. But anyway, I was a totally nervous wreck and really wanted to impress him. But all I could talk about was basketball. He eventually had to go, so I shut up. I’m so embarrassed, I just get so tongue tied when I’m around him. I don’t know what to do.” Natalie looks up at us, with sadness in her eyes. She really likes this guy. I mean I’ve never seen her get this way over a guy.

“That’s how I used to get when I first liked Anthony. I would just get so worked up and felt like I had to be a completely different person to get his attention. But you what I learned? You don’t have to be a totally different person. If the person really likes you then they’ll like you the way you are.” Taylor tells Natalie. The room’s quiet. Taylor had gotten deep and none of us knew how to respond.

“Okay, that’s enough girl talk for tonight. How about Captain America for the 5th time?” Emma stands up, stretching her back out and opening the bedroom door.

We chilled out for the rest of the night, we laughed and had a popcorn fight. Then when we were cleaning up the kernels, we decided to try the cinnamon challenge. Natalie kicked out asses. She was really good at it. The rest of the night was filled with a few more movies, a couple more stupid challenges and a lot of laughs. Just a great night.