Me,Myself and Life...Oh! And the Boy across the Road

Sunday 12th August

It was 4.30pm and me, Jaz and Lils were laid on my front lawn in the sun, waiting for Jaz’s dad to come and pick her and Lils up to take them both home. We were all laid on our backs, soaking up the sun rays coming from the very rare cloudless sky we experienced in the UK. It had been past 4 in the morning before we all eventually decided to shut up and sleep. And even then, me and Lils didn’t get a good night sleep because, even though I had a double bed, Jaz took up over half of it just on her own. Countless time we tried to move her but to no avail. She just wouldn’t budge. Then, this morning at roughly 8 o’clock, Libby came into my room demanding that we all got out of bed to play with her. Of course we had to obey.

The sun was warm and soothing on my showing skin. I was wearing a pair of little denim shorts and a lumberjack-style checked shirt with a belt fastened just under my bust. I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness, but I was too tired to fight it. I think Lils and Jaz were falling asleep aswell because they had both quietened down.

Starting to surrender to my need for more sleep, I was thinking about the last time we had actually had warm enough weather like this to wear summer clothes and sunbathe outside. It had to have been last summer, we had a heat wave for a week and that was it up until now. I wonder if - I suddenly noticed a change. Previously, the insides of my eyelids were red from the sun, now they were dark.

I squinted up at what was blocking the sun and looked directly above me, only to meet another pair of eyes. A pair of lovely vivid, bright green eyes were looking back at me. Oh no! I knew them eyes! Who else had I met with eyes quite like that? I guess you can guess who it was too, eh? Yep, you guessed it, it was Max.

I sat up abruptly, immediately regretting it as I felt the blood swirling around my head and my vision started spinning. I gasped and faced the direction I thought I’d seen him, my vision had still not stopped spinning, but was slowing down now. And besides, I didn’t want to embarrass myself by having to lie back down or put my head in between my knees.

My sight steadied itself and I saw Jaz and Lils still lying down but gawping up at the figure standing above them. “Make you dizzy did I, Anna? Yeah I often have that effect on girls”, he teased, laughing. It was safe to say that I was speechless. I had forgotten how good his voice sounded and his laugh…it was indescribable. When I find the appropriate words that will do him justice, I’ll use them.

“Oh, hi Max”, I managed to stumble out. I had to do better than this. I had to make my voice sound more confident. As inconspicuously as I could, I cleared my throat. I looked up again and smiled at him.

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but my mom sent me over to tell you that we’re having a BBQ. Tell your mom and bring Libby aswell, my dad worships her.” He laughed again. Oh. My. God. “Bring your two friends if you want. What are your names, by the way? Oh no, hang on. I remember. Jaz and Lils, right?” He smiled at Jaz and Lils then, releasing the full force of his powers.

After a moments pause I said, “Yeah, you remembered! Haha! That’s Lils and that’s Jaz. Well actually, Jaz’s dad is on his way to come and pick them up. That’s why we’re out here, waiting.” I answered for them because it seemed that they were also speechless. I was glad that I behaved more ordinarily than they did. They were both still staring. Oh please, please say something! Stop staring! Please don’t show me up! I begged inwardly to myself.

Thankfully, Jaz was the first to recover. She cleared her throat, then said, “yeah sorry about that, we would have loved to have come. So, Anna has told you about us then has she?” She knew very well that I’d told him about them, I’d told them last night when I’d been under interrogation.

“Yeah, briefly. The day we met. Well, I better go. I gotta go round the whole cul-de-sac and invite all the neighbours. How fun it’ll be tonight!” He paused before adding, “I really hope you come Anna.” He gave me one last grin and then departed. Jaz and Lils waited until he was across the road, then they let themselves go.

“F***ing hell Anna! You’re in there, aren’t you girl?!” Jaz exclaimed, laughing.

“He’s so gorgeous! He’s perfect for you Anna! Oh my god, and his smile! I couldn’t talk at all!”

“Yeah, I noticed Lils. He must be something special, Jaz was speechless! Or should I say tongue-tied?” I laughed at the rare moment. Jaz was never speechless.

“He’s even better than you described him!”

“I know Lils! I told you there were no words, really.”

“You better go to his BBQ tonight! I’ll never forgive you if you don’t Anna!” Jaz sounded like she actually meant it.

“I will, don’t fret! But Lils, you’ve got your own boyfriend! You can’t fantasize about some other boy!” We all laughed at that.

“No, I’m happy with mine thank you very much. Very happy, as you know. But he’s still drop-dead gorgeous. I can still comment on people’s looks, can’t I?” Lils grinned as she thought of Josh. Bless her, she really was in love.

Just then we heard a car turning into my usually silent cul-de-sac. “Ah no! It’s my dad! I don’t wanna go yet, I wanna talk!”

“Go on! I’ll speak to you tomorrow, you can come round or whatever. Besides, I’ve gotta go and get ready.” I gave them a cheeky grin, winked at them both, hugged them and made my way back to my front door. I turned round just in time to wave them off down the road.

Now my next challenge. This BBQ. Should I change my outfit? Will he think that’s too much? I started to panic then. I really wanted to look nice and act sane in front of him. How the hell was I meant to do that when everything he did just blew me away? “Mom!…Mom!” I shouted as I entered the hallway. It was time to take some motherly advice, I think.