28 Things Guys Don't Know

Secret #2: She needs to hear that she's beautiful

"Siri," a familiar feminine voice broke through Siri's dreams, "Siri, wake up."

Siri groaned and turned over, pulling her covers up over her head. "Five more minutes," she mumbled.

She felt a pair of hands shake her and the voice called again, "No, Siri, you have to get up! It's ten-thirty."

Siri's eyes popped wide open and she threw the cover off of herself. "What?!" she shrieked. "Are you serious?"

"Fully," Kelsey confirmed, "Now get dressed. Your date starts in less than half and hour."

Siri quickly got out of her bed and ran to her bathroom to take a quick shower. "Kelsey, can you pick me out something to wear?" she called as she stepped into the warm water. \

She proceeded to take the fastest shower of her life. She stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. The bathroom door opened a crack and Kelsey stuck her arm in, her hand clutching a handful of clothing.

Siri grabbed the clothing from Kelsey and quickly slipped it on, blowing her hair dry after she put on the pair of skinny jeans and a simple spaghetti strap tank top that Kelsey had chosen for her. She hurriedly straightened her hair and applied some makeup. After she was finished in her bathroom, she rushed back into her bedroom.

Siri stuffed her cell phone in her back pocket of her jeans and slipped on her grey converse. She and Kelsey doodled all over them over the years she had them, and they were her favorite pair of shoes. Siri turned to Kelsey.

"So, how do I look?" Siri asked, spinning around and striking a goofy pose.

Kelsey laughed, "Perfect. Now, let's go. I'll drive you."

"Jett's house is just down the block," Siri said, "I can walk."

"No, no, no, my dear," Kelsey insisted, "It's already eleven right now. You don't want to be even later, do you?"

"Fine," Siri shrugged, opening the door that led from her room to her backyard. She didn't bother with locking it behind her. In this town, nothing ever happened. "Wait, you don't have a car. How did you drive here?"

“My mom let me take her car,” Kelsey explained, getting into the driver’s seat. Her parents would’t get Kelsey her own car until her eighteenth birthday, which was, thankfully, only two weeks away.
She drove Siri quickly to Jett’s house, which was just a few minutes’ drive away. They got there in record time and, soon, Siri was hopping out of the car and walking down the long path to Jett’s elegant front door. His house, or rather mansion, was huge. It had a slightly Victorian flair to it, looking quite grand in its solid white color. It had three floors and many windows speckled its walls. The door itself was quite impressive, tall, wooden, with a brass knocker ornamenting it. She couldn’t see the back yard, but was sure that it was impressive as well.

Siri reached for the doorbell and the melodic sound of chimes sounded through the air. A moment later, a faint shuffling could be heard and the door opened, revealing a very excited Jett. Siri smiled and shook her head slightly at his eager expression.

“Good morning,” Siri greeted politely. “Sorry I’m late. I just woke up, like, half an hour ago.”

Jett chuckled, “It’s alright. Come on in.”

He stepped aside so Siri could walk in. She kicked off her shoes in the foyer where a few other pairs of shoes were laying. She looked around her at the high-ceiling, brightly lit room. The first thing she noticed, after how elegant this house was, was how quiet and empty it was. Besides her and Jett, no one could be seen. It was quite odd.

“Where’re your parents?” Siri wondered.

“Traveling,” Jett told her, a trace of sadness coloring his voice. “They’re hardly ever home.”

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Siri said sincerely. “It must suck being home alone all the time.”

“It kind of does, but it’s no big deal,” Jett smiled. “I’m used to it.”

They did’t speak further on the subject, but Siri had a feeling it wasn’t as small of a problem as he claimed it to be. He led her along a hallway and into a large room that was obviously the kitchen. Granite counter tops and chrome finishes gave it a very elegant look, and various ingredients for whatever they would be making were laid out next to the stove.

“What are we making?” Siri asked, wondering whether attempting to cook was a mistake or not.

“Just pasta,” Jett grinned, “And a simple salad. Don’t worry, it’s really easy to make.”

“Sure it is,” Siri rolled her eyes.

Jett chuckled at her and set a pot of water on the stove to boil, “Alright. We need this to boil before we add the salt and pasta.”

“Salt?”

“Yup,” Jett nodded, “it makes the pasta taste better and pasta tends to cook quicker with salt in the water.”

Siri raised her eyebrows. She never expected Jett to know that much about cooking. In a way, it was actually attractive. Siri always liked it when a guy could cook. Siri shook her head. Did she seriously think that Jett was attractive?

“What?” Jett asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Siri blinked, realizing that she’d been staring at Jett. She quickly looked away and blushed. Jett grinned and shook his head, adding some salt to the now boiling water. A moment later, after the salt had dissolved, he added some pasta. He turned to face Siri, holding out a wooden spoon.

“Here,” he handed her the spoon, “We need to stir it every few minutes.”

Siri hesitantly took the spoon from him and stood on her toes to peer into the pot sitting on the stove built into the high counter top. Jett laughed softly at how tiny she was at a height of only 5’3”.

“Need a stool?” Jett asked scooting a stool over to her.
“Thanks,” Siri said, stepping up onto it so she could more easily reach the pasta. “And don’t make fun of me ‘cause I’m short.”

Jett smiled, “I wasn’t going to.”

He quickly made their salad as the pasta finished cooking. After ten minutes, Jett took the spoon from Siri to try a piece of the pasta.

“It’s done,” he announced.

“Aren’t you supposed to throw the pasta at the ceiling?” Siri wondered.

“What’re you talking about?” Jett furrowed his eyebrows.

“They said so in Foxtrot,” Siri said. “You’re supposed to throw the pasta at the ceiling.”

“No, no,” Jett corrected. “That doesn’t actually work.”

He took the pot off the stove and drained out the water. He poured the pasta into two bowls and added some sauce in the bowls to go with it. He brought the bowls of pasta to the table, calling over his shoulder,
“Can you grab the salad?”

“Sure,” Siri said, picking up the salad bowl and bringing it to the table. Jett poured each of them a glass of juice and set the two cups down on the table.

As the two sat down to eat, Jett mentioned, “You look cute today, by the way.”

“Thank you,” Siri smiled genuinely. “Y’know, every girl needs to hear that she’s beautiful every once in a while.”

“Would that be secret number two?” Jett asked, taking a bite of his pasta.

“That it would,” Siri nodded. “It makes us sound self-centered, but girls tend to be insecure about their appearances.”

Siri took a bite of her pasta and widened her eyes, “Wow, this is really good. I can’t believe I helped make this.”

Jett laughed, “You’re probably a better cook than you give yourself credit for.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Siri shook her head. “You have no idea how bad of a cook I am. I tried to make brownies once and they, like, exploded some how. There was brownie batter everywhere. And then I got grounded for ‘ruining’ the kitchen.”

Jett laughed again. “Well, you can always learn. Why don’t we do this every Saturday?” he offered. “You can come over every week for the next three Saturdays, I guess, and each time I’ll teach you to make something.”

Siri looked down at her food, moving a piece of bow tie pasta around her plate as she thought. She nodded and smiled, looking back up at him.

“Sure,” she agreed. “That sounds like fun.”

Jett smiled back at her, “I’m glad you’re being nicer today.”

Siri just shrugged at that comment, “If I’m going to spend the next four weeks with you, it’d probably be better if we weren’t butting heads every two seconds.”

“Does that mean we’re friends?” Jett’s voice was hopeful.

“I don’t know,” Siri shook her head. “I don’t know you well enough yet. I mean, this is only our second date, meaning it’s, like, the second time we’ve actually just sat down and talked. I think it’ll be a little while longer before I consider us friends, but I’d definitely say we’re at least acquaintances right now.”

“I can live with that,” Jett said understandingly. “I’m just glad you’re not bitching at me.”

Siri stuck her tongue out at him. Time with Jett was more fun than she’d imagined. But would they actually be good together as a couple? Only time would tell.