Concrete Angel

"Izzy?" Joey says looking at me. I torn my glance from the picture and looked up at him.

"Yeah?" I say trying to make myself smile.

"Are you okay? You kind of dazed out." Joey says watching me closely. I couldn't read his face. I was starting to worry. I should of never told him stuff without being able to read him.

"I'm fine. Trust me Joey. I am. I'm safe and I'm fine. I just...haven't heard Johnny talk in a long time." I say motioning toward the TV and then I bit my lip realizing my mistake. He didn't know the name. He knew my brother's name but not that boy's name. He didn't know they were the same person. Please don't catch it, please Joey.

"Oh, I get it. I figure it'd be weird if I knew them and then hadn't seen them in years." Joey says causally before laying back and flipping on Harry Potter.

"I love this movie." I say smiling as lean back watching his face carefully to make sure he didn't catch on.

"The last one is the best." Joey says glancing at me. The sixth one was playing.

"No way, this is my favorite." I say kicking my feet up on his lap. He makes a face at me but doesn't remove them. That's my Joey. Wait, my Joey?

I guess I should have seen that coming. He is mine. I have to admit we are really close now. I mean, we aren't like going to date or anything. I doubt he even likes me like that. Right? I mean...he's my friend. That's it. Right? Right. I need to get a friend who is a girl. I can't keep dissecting everything in my head. It might make me crazy. I wouldn't even know who to bring this up to. I don't know any other girls, besides Ms. Hutto.

I fell asleep watching Harry Potter and when I woke up I was in my own bed. Joey had moved me. He always does. I look around to see that he had jumped in the shower. I quickly changed before he could come out. As he got ready I got our school work around and we headed to class after a quick bite at the cafe. By the time we got to Chemistry, I was bored out of my mind. Joey could tell. School had become this boring routine and I needed some life into it. Joey poked me and nodded to his notebook. He had started a drawing and wanted me to add to it. We drew a picture for the rest of the class. It was actually a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon. The only issue was that now I was really lost in Chemistry.

"Ms. Rivers?" Ms. Hutto says as I leave the class room.

"Yes?" I say nodding for Joey to leave as I stay behind.

"You almost forgot your picture." She says nodding to my desk.

"I'm sorry." I say blushing deeply.

"It's fine. If I may ask, are you and Joey an item yet?" Ms. Hutto says smiling knowingly at me.

"No, we're just friends." I say biting my lip.

"I know that it's hard, being an only girl at this age. If you'd like to talk, I'm here. If that isn't weird." Ms. Hutto says laughing.

"I might take you up on that. But it could be a bit strange." I admit laughing with her.

"Just let me know when you finally do start dating." She says smiling.

"I don't think that's going to happen. We're friends." I say.

"Things change." She says turning back to her work. I bite my lip again and then leave, assuming I was dismissed.

I walked absentmindedly back to my room. We weren't playing ball today. Tryouts began next week and we decided to take the weekend as a break. I wish we were. I wanted to clear my mind out. It was full of worry about Leon and now this confusion towards Joey. I started feeling better when I told Joey some stuff, but that had limits to it. I just wanted to talk to Johnny, more than anything. I used to tell him everything. I missed him.

"Watch it Elizabeth!" Scotty's voice says breaking me from my trance just in time to duck from a football.

"I'm sorry." Scotty says running up to me. Jake was with him, he went to grab the football while Scotty helped me pick up the stuff I dropped.

"It's alright." I say shaking my head to clear it some more.

"Are you alright?" Scotty asks me looking at my face.

"I'm fine, just distracted. I have a lot on my mind." I reply laughing it off.

"Well, we are going into town tonight. So that will help clear it right on out." Scotty says laughing with me.

"Town?"

"Yeah, this is the last weekend we can have some fun."

"Izzy! There you are." Joey yells walking up.

"Hey Joey." Scotty and I say together and then we laugh some more.

"Did Scotty tell you about tonight?" Joey asks and I nod.

"This is going to be weird." Jake says walking up.

"What is?" I ask.

"Taking a girl clubbing with us. We've never done that before." Jake says like it was obvious. Clubbing? Really?

"Well, things change." I say smiling at the thought before I walk off and head to my room to find a dress for tonight. Luckily I had bought a few when we went shopping. I picked out a cute black one and then found my curling iron and started to heat it up. Joey came in at one point and changed real quick. He said something about assuming it was going to take me a while so he was going to Scotty's room to give me some room and privacy. I nod and tell him to knock when it's time to go. I should be ready. I wanted to look good. I wanted to look amazing. I slowly curled my hair and let the curls tumble over my shoulder. I then walked to the bathroom and did my makeup. Not much, but enough to bring out my beauty, the little that I have. I then slid into my little black dress and a pair of heels. I curled pieces of my hair yet again and made sure everything was in place. I grabbed a small purse and headed to the door just as Joey knocked on it. We had uncanny timing.

"Izzy! Come on. We're ready!" Joey yells into the door.

"I'm coming!" I say grabbing my bag. I open the door and step in the hallway, walking towards the elevator. Then I realized I didn't hear any steps behind me. I turned around to see the guys just standing there.

"Damn, you look hot." Zack's voice says and I turn my face to see him walking out of his room and towards the laundry room. I blush but glare at him just the same. He just shrugs and walks away.

"Guys?" I say taking a step back towards the boys. Jake was the first to recover. He was in some dark jeans and a button up shirt.

"You are smoking, E. If I didn't want like three girlfriends, I'd hit on ya." Jake says and I just blush deeper.

"You're an idiot." Chris says and I turn to see him in dark jeans and a shirt with a skinny tie. It looked like it was just randomly thrown on in a hurry but in a hot way. Chris smiled at me and told me I looked great.

"Great? She's amazing. No girls will come near us. They'll be afraid with her around." Ron says throwing his arms up dramatically. He was dressed in a button up shirt and dark jeans too. Scotty was smiling at me and I saw he was dressed close to the same. All the guys were. They all looked great.

"Geez, E. We can't take you anywhere." Scotty says laughing and hitting me on my arm.

"Whatever. Get over it. Let's go." I say ready to party. Joey was still staring at me. I met his eyes and he finally closed his mouth.

"You look beautiful." Joey says and he takes my arm and we head towards the elevator. I smile and blush even deeper.

"Thank you." I say as we go down.

"You really do." Joey says still looking at me.

I blush deeper and only one thought comes to my head.

Things Change.