Left on the Sidelines

-Nash-

I sat on my couch, not listening to anything but the sounds of my own thoughts. It's all I had been doing the last three days.

"Maybe Danielle doesn't like me," I told myself, "Maybe Ryan or Jamie told her about my reputation. Maybe she- No, Nash. Stop it. Moping around about this isn't going to help anything. She flirts with you. She hugs you all the time. She kisses your cheek, for Christ's sake. She likes you. You just have to try until she admits it."

Maybe she'll get annoyed with me, but I'm not going down without a fight.

-Jamie-

"Call her," I heard as I stared at my phone. I looked up to see Danielle taking a seat beside me on the couch. "Call who? What are you talking about?" I asked nervously. She laughed lightly, "You know who, Jamie." "So? That doesn't mean she'd want me to call her," I mumbled. "Jamie, I don't know whether or not you're aware of this, but I'm a girl. And girls know when other girls like a guy. Trust me when I tell you Katia likes you, and it is not just because you're in a band," she replied. "You could be wrong, you never know.." "What if I told you that when we went to the mall after your show yesterday, she wouldn't shut up about you?" "What?" I asked. "You didn't hear it from me," she said, getting up and walking off.

So, I did it. I picked up my phone and dialed the number I had saved as Katia's. "Hello?" I heard on the second ring. "Hi, um, Katia?" I asked. I heard her giggle, "Hi, Jamie." "How did you know it was me?" "I have your number saved from yesterday, remember?" she laughed. "Oh.. Um, anyway, I was wondering, you know, if you're not busy today, maybe we could hang out," I said nervously. "Yeah, that'd be great! What time?" she smiled. "Whenever you're ready, I guess." "Give me an hour," she replied. "Okay, cool! Text me your address and I'll see you later!" "Will do. See you later, Jamie," she smiled. "Bye, Katia," I grinned and hung up the phone.

I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding, smiling to myself. "Told you so," Danielle sang, walking back into the room. "I don't know what you're talking about," I replied. "Just remember: You hurt her, I hurt you. Got it?" "Why would I hurt her?" I asked. "I'm just saying, if she ever so much comes to me complaining about you, you better learn to sleep with one eye open," she said. I looked at her for a few moments before slowly saying, "Alright.." She smiled at me, ruffling my hair and skipping upstairs. I shook my head and chuckled, heading upstairs to get ready.

Katia texted her address to me about 45 minutes later, and I stared at the text. "Someone send you a really long word you don't know?" Ryan teased. "No, I just... Isn't this next door?" I asked, showing him the message. "Yeah, so?" "I'm hanging out with Katia today and I told her to send me her address so I could pick her up," I replied. "So, you finally asked a girl out?" he joked. "I'll be back later," I rolled my eyes, turning around and walking out the door.

I walked across the front lawn over to the sidewalk and to the house next door. I knocked on the door and a few seconds later, it opened. "Hi, Mrs. Gomez," I smiled, "Um, is Katia here?" "Yeah," she smiled back, "Katia, Jamie's here! Do you want to come inside?" "Sure, thank you," I said, stepping inside the house. "She hasn't stopped talking about this all morning, so she may be a while," Mrs. Gomez smiled, "But you didn't hear it from me. "Oh, well, I was actually supposed to pick her up in 10 minutes, but I didn't know she lived next door," I chuckled. "She doesn't, really. She's actually my niece," she smiled, "She just moved in a couple days ago."

Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming down the staircase. "Jamie! I didn't think you'd get here that fast," Katia said. "And I didn't think you'd be living next door to me," I laughed. "Aunt Grace! Why didn't you tell me you lived next door to them?" Katia whispered as if I couldn't hear her. Mrs. Gomez threw her hands in the air, "I didn't know you had a thing for one of them, I'm sorry!" "Oh, my! Look at the time! Well, Jamie and I should get going! Bye, Aunt Grace," Katia yelled, quickly running out the door, grabbing my wrist and pulling me with her.

"So, you have a thing for me?" I smirked as we walked down the sidewalk. Katia laughed nervously, looking away from me, "I don't know what she was talking about. She's crazy." "Can I tell you a secret?" I asked quietly. "Um, I guess," she replied. "Don't tell anyone, but I have a thing for the girl living next door to me," I whispered in her ear. I moved away in time to see a smile start to form on her face and her cheeks turn a light red. I reached for her hand, sighing lightly in relief when she didn't pull away, and laced our fingers together, making her blush again. I took a deep breath and leaned in, quickly kissing her cheek and looking away. She looked at me and I looked back at her, "What?" She bit her lip and shook her head, smiling, "Nothing."

"So, what are we doing?" Katia asked after we'd been walking for another 5 minutes or so. "Well, you're fairly new around here, so I thought I'd give you an official tour of the town, and we'd finish off with a picnic," I smiled. "Perfect," she giggled.

After the tour was over, we walked into a grocery store and got picnic related things. Then, we walked the short distance to the park and sat down at one of the picnic tables.

"So, tell me about yourself," I said, taking a bite of my sandwich. "Well, I'm 15, I love music and soccer more than anything, I practically live on Twitter, and, um.. I'm not very good at telling people about myself," she giggled. "You have a Twitter?" I smiled. "Oh, yes! It's always been my dream to get a reply from you and I won't sleep until it happens," she yelled dramatically. "Really?" I chuckled, "Alright, tweet something to me."

She pulled out her phone and started typing. My phone notified me of a Twitter mention and I read it.

"@KaayAllTimeLow: @Jamiefollese Something to me. ;)"

I looked up at her, "Cute." "I know I am," she smirked. I laughed and quickly typed a reply to her.

"@Jamiefollese: @KaayAllTimeLow Sleep well tonight, beautiful. ;)"

When I looked at Katia again, she was smiling at her phone and blushing.

"Well, we should be getting home so you can get ready for tonight," I said after throwing everything away and grabbing Katia's hand, pulling her up from her seat. "What's tonight?" she asked, confused. "The band has a show tonight at this club. I thought maybe, you'd want to come," I shrugged, "Unless you already have plans." "Nope, no plans whatsoever," she said quickly, making me laugh.

"So, I'll pick you up at 7," I said once we got back to Katia's front door. "Sounds great," she smiled, "I had fun today, Jamie. And if the music thing doesn't work out, you should definitely become a tour guide." "Yeah, describing things as 'that thing' and 'whatever that is' will definitely land me a job," I laughed. "Are you kidding?" she giggled, "That was the best part!" I chuckled, shaking my head, "I'll see you tonight."

I wanted to kiss her, but I didn't. I leaned in, but instead of kissing her lips, I kissed her cheek lightly. I moved away and she smiled lightly at me, then walked into her house, closing the door behind her. I walked back across the front lawn, mentally kicking myself for not taking the chance.