Dear Liz

It wasn't that long until we met again.

Next party we both attended I spotted her just as she entered the house with Jackie by her side. It wasn't after a while that she finally ended up next to me and we started talking, though.

"Hey, listen…I owe you this," I said after a couple of minutes of chatting. She looked at me curiously as I pulled out a pack of smokes from the back pocket of my jeans, took out one of the cigarettes and offered it to her.

She gave me a sheepish half-smile as she took the white and yellow roll of tobacco and placed it behind her ear. I smirked and nodded my head towards the door that led out of the house. She understood and began walking towards said door and I followed.

Once we were outside, she took a seat on the curb of the road and I sat beside her.

"You really didn't need to, but thanks anyways," she said as she stretched her legs and kept her gaze glued to her feet.

"It's alright." I smiled. "Your treat next time." She let out a small laugh.

"And your treat again the time after that?" Her smile didn't falter. I shrugged.

"Sure. Why not?" My smile turned into a grin and, as I lit my cigarette, our short conversation became silence.

Until she began humming, that is. And the song she was humming as she laced her boots was familiar. I couldn't place it, though. I tried singing it in my head.

'How'd the lyrics go..? Uh… over this place…something…mid-west wind– Wait. What?'

"You've go to be kidding me," I said in disbelief. "Is that Right Girl?" At first, she turned to look at me with a an arched eyebrow, not realizing what I meant. Then her eyes widened slightly as she realized what she had been humming.

"Wow…It must have been my subconscious. Y'know… with you being here an all." she finished letting a small laugh leave her lips. I smirked.

"So you're a fan, huh?" She laughed again.

"Don't flatter yourself, O'Callaghan. I just enjoy a couple of your songs," she said as she laced her left boot.

"Fangirl." Her smile became wider and I could pretty much see all of her pearly white teeth. I wanted to keep teasing her…maybe that would make her laugh again.

"Do you see me asking for an autograph?"

"Would you like one?" One last knot and she was back to paying attention to me and only me instead of her boots. Her smile was still in place but her eyebrow was arched once again. She half snorted and half laughed as she took the cigarette from behind her ear and searched for her lighter.

"Maybe some other time," she said and ignited the cancer stick. I couldn't take my eyes off of her as she took a drag and slightly made an "o" with her lips to exhale the smoke.

"So, besides my amazing band you're obviously a fan of…" she rolled her eyes and turned to look at me with a sweet smile, "what other bands do you like?"

And just like that we began talking. And talking. Talking about music for God knows how long…and about life in general too.
We had a similar music taste and, for the most part, the almost exact same views on so many things. It was amazing.
I didn't even notice we had spent nearly two hours talking outside.

"I think I should get going. It's pretty late," she said looking at the time on her cellphone's screen. I nodded and got up at the same time as her and walked inside the house. Once we made it to where everyone was, we saw Jackie walking unsteadily towards Liz.

"Elizabeth Rhodes! Where the hell have you been!?" she said pretending to be angry –and obviously a bit tipsy.

"I was hooking up with loverboy John here, mother. Now let's get going before you do something stupid you'll regret in the morning," Liz joked, taking her best friend's arm and making me slightly embarrassed –though I hid it pretty well– with her answer. "Bye, guys," she said waving as she dragged her friend towards the entrance.

"Wait, Liz," she stopped on her tracks and turned to look at me over her shoulder. I felt a bit taken aback when her gaze met mine but that didn't stop me from asking. "Can I have your number?" She blinked a couple of times before smiling sweetly. When she did I couldn't help but smile too.

"Sure." I handed her my iPhone so she could type in her number and when she was done she handed it back with a lovely shine in her eyes. "There you go."

"Thanks." She only nodded and took Jackie's arm again, who had curiously observed the whole scene.

"See you, John."

"Bye, Liz."

I watched her back as she finally left for the night, and I would have watched until she was lost from view if it weren't for a familiar voice behind me.

"So what's the deal with you and the Rhodes girl?" I turned around to face Eric. I chuckled.

"What's my deal? What do you mean? She's just a friend."

"A friend. Right." I rolled my eyes at the face he was making. It was a face that said he knew I wasn't lying when I said she was just a friend –could she even be considered yet a friend?– but, I obviously was interested in something more than friendship –truth be told, I wasn't sure if that was really what I wanted myself. "She's cute."

"Yeah. She is."

I'm quite certain I saw her in my dreams that night.