Chapters On A Page

Two weeks. Two weeks ago I was celebrating one of my best friend's birthday with no worry of school starting up. Two weeks ago it had been almost three weeks until school did start back up. Now I had three days. One whole weekend before I was back at a place that I didn't know, faced with the same fears I had had the weekend before my only week there. I didn't want to go back there. I wanted to go back to Towson, the school I had been just fine in for three years with my best friends and my cousin. I felt like a child that simply didn't want to see the summer go, but my reasonings seemed much more petty. Even the knowledge that I would get to see Dominic as well as Rian and Jack, James and his group of friends wasn't making me anticipate my second start at Dulaney. I was just hoping to get over these irrational fears during this final -and hopefully dragging- weekend slice of summer.

I had been at Gwen's for a week, really only leaving her house to go to work at the restaurant. Her family was loaded and they were still always fighting for more money any way they could. Surprisingly, her house was a moderate size, not some monstrosity in the middle of a regular neighborhood. But the pool house was all Gwen's and it was just as big as a comfortably large apartment. When Murph, Nic, and I stayed with her, we had the entire place to ourselves. We stayed up late and blasted music until the sun came up, ran around the house while playing flashlight tag and told stories for hours. It was the perfect place to hide out with or without my friends, checking in with my mom everyday just to reassure her that I hadn't skipped the country. I didn't see any reason to leave until sometime Sunday when I knew I'd be forced to.

We had all been sleeping in the living room which had quickly become nothing but a nest of blankets scattered about the floor. With the realization that it was nearly noon, I emerged from my own cotton cocoon and looked around the room sleepily. Three lumps in the mess marked the places where my friends were still sleeping. I worked my way out of the tangle of blankets, feeling the cold air spitting through the vents onto my skin as I stood to pick my way toward the kitchen. I tripped over Gwen's foot and stumbled knee-first into the coffee table, but she barely stirred as I continued on. We had fallen asleep with nearly all the lights on and the kitchen was no exception. The light above the stove was casting a bright glow on the metal underneath and the overhead light overpowered the sunshine pouring through the windows.

Rubbing at my eyes, I shuffled almost awkwardly to the fridge and pulled the door open. I had always wondered how her parents could really justify buying double the amount of groceries just to let Gwen live in the pool house, but then I had to remind myself of the money each time. I reached into the chilled contents and grabbed a carton of eggs to begin the breakfast routine I would be returning to in only a few days. The smell of cooking eggs and the popping of sizzling bacon seemed to rouse the others. One by one they trickled in to join me in the kitchen, sitting around the table in the middle of the room.

"How are you always the first one up anymore?" Nic asked me with a yawn in the middle as I slid the pan onto the table. All three of them reached for a plate and fought for the spatula to scoop eggs from the pan. Murph eventually won.

I had to take a moment to think back on the past week and the other recent times we had all slept in the same house to answer Nic's question. "I don't know," I answered honestly with a shrug, turning back to the stove. I gingerly took hold of the handle to the pan that held the bacon and then swiftly brought it to the table. Another mad rush ensued to get at the meat. "It's just something that's happening, I guess," I continued, falling into the remaining chair that lined the table.

"I know why she's up first today," Murph sang, managing a teasing tone around the pile of scrambled eggs in his mouth. He gave me a smirk and a quick but suggestive raise of both his dark eyebrows when I pointed a glare at him.

"Oh yeah. Dominic's coming over today," Gwen pondered after remembering. She clearly didn't mind because she simply continued to eat, only pausing long enough to pop up and skip to the fridge for a bottle of ketchup.

Nic glanced at me, a question already forming in the back of her chestnut eyes. "Are you sure you want to have a date here? I mean, we've turned it into a bear's den for God's sake. Wouldn't you be more comfortable at your house?" she wondered, sounding more mom-like than curious. She scraped her fork around her plate to make it look like she was eating, but her eyes kept flitting to me sitting to her left.

"You really want me out of here, don't you? It's good to know I can always count on you to want me around," I joked. Instead of protesting, she only rolled her eyes because we both knew she didn't want to kick me out of Gwen's. "It's not a date anyway. He's just coming over to hang out. I want you guys to actually meet him and get to know him," I said, addressing all three of them and not Nic only. Since Murph's birthday, I had been investing a lot of my time in my relationship with Dominic. Maybe I was trying to distract myself from the fight I'd had with Alex, but I really did feel guilty about barely paying attention to Dominic all summer. I hadn't thought much about starting an actual relationship with him, but I knew it was time to start thinking and to continue to see the boy that liked me.

Nic only shrugged in response, not objecting to my intentions of the day. Conversation branched out to other topics as they ate, but I didn't join in. Instead, I decided to slip away to the bathroom down the hall to shower and change out of the pajamas I felt like I had been wearing for three days straight. When I came out again, tendrils of steam following behind, I found the living room clear of our makeshift beds, all the blankets folded and piled into a corner. I was still the only one dressed, but I was also the only one that felt the need to be. As I got closer to them all sitting comfortably, I noticed that there was one more person than there had been when I had left them.

"Don't you guys play shows ever?" I asked Jack as I plopped down on the edge of the chair pressed up against the wall opposite him and Gwen on the couch. "I mean, you do still have a band, right?" I wondered idly, my face scrunching up in mock thought.

Jack laughed, running a hand through his straight brown and blond hair. "The band is still intact. We did a small tour at the beginning of summer," he claimed, sounding as if I should have easily remembered this. "And we've been playing one or two shows every weekend, some in the area and a couple out of state. I can't recall seeing you at any of them though," he accused, his face mimicking my own twisted one. He broke out in another chuckle after just a second though because he was never one to make someone else feel guilty.

My tone still light and joking, I crossed my legs at the knee and leaned forward. "I don't recall being told about any one of these shows," I countered, raising my light eyebrows at him in a question I didn't expect answered. I broke from my stance then, throwing myself back into the cushions and letting both of my feet touch the soft carpet of the floor once more. "So what's up? What brings you here this fine afternoon?" I inquired, peeking at him from my extreme slouched position on the fluffy cushions.

"Gwen invited me," he answered simply. I shot Gwen a look that I tried to conceal from Jack, but soon remembered that it wasn't much use since they were sitting right next to each other. It wasn't a stern look, only a curious one. Jack surely caught it, but he didn't comment on it. "It sounds like you guys have had a fun-filled week. Is that why you and Alex haven't been hanging out? Because you've just been shut up here?" It was an innocent enough question and he obviously didn't mean anything by it.

I felt myself tense though, my limbs growing stiff and my spine straightening to make me sit up. I tried to play it off as nothing, shaking my head after what I hoped was only a second and attempting to relax my body. "No," I answered, "I've just been busy." It wasn't exactly a lie since I had been spending a lot of time with Dominic, making me too busy to see Alex. But it was also the only excuse I could really use because it wasn't like I had told anyone about the fight he and I had had in the woods. It would require revealing too much and that would leave my friends angry with me. I could have only told them about what he had said about Gwen, but it would surely leave me in trouble still because I hadn't said anything right away. So I would just keep pretending as if we were too caught up in other things to be friends for however long I could.

Thankfully, no one questioned the reasoning that sounded too rushed in my ears. Whatever they began talking about after that made no impression on me. The words met my ears but they hardly made any sense. My brain wanted nothing more than to relive that stupid fight and to dig into whatever reasons may lay behind it. I didn't want to think about whatever he had thought we had been doing those nights we acted more than friends, because I didn't even know myself. At the very least, I knew that I didn't want to kiss him again, and I was questioning if I would ever even speak to him again. I had better people to share my words with, one of which I was fairly certain was knocking on the door of the pool-house-turned-home. I excused myself, speculating to the others that it was probably Dominic, and headed down the hall to let him in.

When I pulled the door open, he was there, his torso twisted so he could look at the deep pool and its surroundings. He must have heard the slight creak of the hinges because he spun around, an incredulous but amused expression on his face. "Did you know that Gwen lived back here?" he asked, to which I nodded with a smirk stretching my lips. "I went to the door of the house house, and some cleaning lady -who was very rude, by the way- told me that you guys were probably back here," he told me, not stopping or resisting when I took his hand and began pulling him inside.

I reached up on my toes when I was certain the last word had left his lips and pressed my own against them. His arm went around my waist and he held me lightly, just to make the kiss linger. "I'm sorry I forgot to specify where to go," I apologized when we broke apart, smiling up at him. "But if I remember correctly, your house isn't all that small either," I considered sarcastically as I began to slowly lead him back to the others.

"Oh that wasn't my place," he informed me like he was surprised I hadn't figured it out already. "My grandparents left it to my dad and he just doesn't want to sell it," he explained shortly.

It was an easy mistake to make but I still felt blood rush to my cheeks. "Well, I guess you're just going to have to bring me to your house then," I suggested, another smirk on my face that I hoped hid the blush coloring my cheeks. He squeezed my hand in agreement but didn't have time to say anything. He waved greetings to those who were in the living room. Murph was missing now and Gwen wasn't paying attention, shuffling a deck of cards from her new seat on the floor between the couch and coffee table. Just as I was about to ask where the former had gone, he came walking through the doorway from the kitchen, five spoons in his hand. "Man, are you really going to subject us to that?" I asked, directing my whining towards Nic since she was the master at this game and therefore the one that always wanted to play.

"What're we playing?" Dominic asked, confused, interrupting Nic before she could answer my question. He followed suit when I sunk down to the floor to sit at one end of the table, looking at me for an answer.

"The name of the game is Spoons, and you are going to love it," Nic replied from the side across from us, sounding way too happy about it as Murph sat across from Gwen and Jack. Nic snatched the spoons from him and arranged them in the middle of the table so they were easily reached by all of us. "Have you ever played?" she questioned Dominic, glancing at him as she worked. When he shook his head, she automatically began explaining the card game like she had done it a hundred times, aiming most of the words to both Dominic and Jack. As she talked, she began dealing out the cards to the six of us after Gwen had handed them over. She was finished with the explanation by the time we all had four cards setting before us and she placed the remainder in a stack by the spoons.

It was a fairly easy game and I could admit that it was also fun. It was just that I was terribly slow when it came to grabbing a spoon before they were all gone during the melee for one. The only time I really got the chance was when I was the first to get four-of-a-kind, which I was only lucky enough to do once while playing with Nic, Gwen, Jack, Dominic, and Murph. It caused a great deal of swearing to come from my vocal cords and I was out first all three times we played -two of which Nic had already won, keeping her ego up to go for the third.

"I suck at this," I groaned, draping myself across Dominic's lap so I was out of sight of the others. He was still playing, though he had only one more letter before he was out. I still envied him. He had quick reflexes because he actually played a sport. Me? I only baked and took pictures. Physical activities be damned.

With the hand that wasn't currently holding his cards, he pat my hair comfortingly. "You don't suck, you're just extremely slow," he reassured humorously. A round of guffaws came from the others and I even giggled softly while hitting his leg lightly. I heard rather than saw the rush for the silverware setting in the middle of the coffee table that happened then and I felt Dominic lurch forward to join in. But he came back cursing. "And you just made me lose," he chuckled, throwing his cards down. From the other side of the table, I could hear Nic shouting in celebration of eliminating one more of her competition.

As I sat up, I realized that it was already dark outside. We had been playing for hours, which was usually the case. "I'm sorry," I said to him, pouting to appear as if I really felt bad as I lay my head on his shoulder.

He laughed at me again. "It's probably for the best. Another round, and I think I would have been drawn into this game for the rest of eternity," he claimed, his words going unnoticed by the others as they continued to the next round with just the four of them. "I feel like we should go for a drive. What do you think?" he asked, dropping his voice to indicate that he meant only the two of us.

I looked at him, lifting my head from his shoulder and gave a nod full of certainty. He stood then and took my hand to help me up. "We're going to head out for a little bit. I'll be back later though," I announced to my best friends when they gave us questioning glances. I still had every intention of hiding here until Sunday. "See you Monday, Jack," I smiled at the remaining boy and he gave me a joyful wave before Dominic led me to the door.

We drove around for what felt like hours, music playing lowly through his car's speakers as we talked. I had gotten to actually know him more over the past two weeks and I finally knew that there was more to like about him than just his looks and the fact that he liked me, too. He was charming and funny, sweet and engaging. And he made me feel like I was amazing, a feeling I hadn't had in a long time.

After a while, we stopped in an empty parking lot, the store it belonged to too far away to think whoever designed the land's layout was sane. We got out of the car to enjoy the warm night while leaning against the front bumper, talking more and more. But the talking turned to kisses and the night faded into the background. I wasn't sure how long it was before he pulled away from me some, leaning his forehead against mine. "How about we make this thing boyfriend/girlfriend official," he whispered, his words brushing against my lips. In answer, I slid my hand to the back of his neck to pull him forward once more and close the space between us.