Severed Feelings

If there was one thing that I could say I really liked about Imilee – a trait that I truly envied above all the rest – it was that she stuck to her words. She kept her promises and if she couldn’t for some reason she made up for it tenfold and still felt bad about it.

It was honestly admirable.

But in the case of going on a date with Maverick Slade, I couldn’t find myself really appreciating her honesty, because the bitch had somehow convinced him to go out with me that Friday night.

I mean, it wasn’t really a bad thing that I was going out. Maverick was the cutest boy in our grade, and that was what made it bad. Because she didn’t set me up with someone more on my level, with the same sort of relationship history as I had. Instead, she’d set me up with fucking Maverick Slade, and I was nervous to be alone with him, to converse with him, afraid to make myself a fool in front of him.

He was a god, practically – at least in our grade he was. He always got homecoming king, he was always voted the most popular in the yearbook, he was always the boy that girls wanted to be with and the boy that all the other guys wanted to be like. He was Maverick.

“Savannah, it’ll be fine,” Imilee huffed, walking into her bathroom with a handful of lacy looking clothes.

I didn’t say anything, knowing she’d just argue with me about my words regardless.

“I did this for a reason, Sav.” I watched from the chair we’d dragged in as she picked up the curling iron from the countertop. We made eye contact through the mirror before she separated my hair and started curling a piece. “If John sees you with Maverick, he’ll look at you differently.”

“So you’re setting me up with another boy to eventually hook me up with your brother? That makes a whole lot of sense.”

“But it does. John needs to see you outside of being my friend, and what’s a better way than dating one of the hottest guys in school? We need to open that boy’s eyes. He needs a good girl like you.”

I felt myself blush and look down as she pulled the wand out of my hair. One perfect spiral resulted.

“I swear to god, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to make you my sister-in-law. I mean, wouldn’t that be awesome? You and me spending all the holidays together…”

I felt myself smile and carefully shake my head at the smirk she had on her face as she wound another piece of my hair around the hot tool in her hand.

“This date has to go well, though. If it doesn’t then this entire thing is pointless. I was thinking you could borrow my black dress…”

The pressure was on all over again. Maverick was such a cute boy and he had so many connections within our high school. I didn’t want to go down in flames and have the entire school know about it the next day.

But it was too late to back out now and it was impossible to feign illness. Imilee would whisk me off with him no matter what. She’d postponed all her plans with Trevor to help me prepare for my official first date. This… thing was practically set in stone.

“I don’t like John.”

It was a lie, one that probably anyone who happened to overhear could pick up on. “Whatever you say, Savannah…” Imilee tsked, “One day you’ll thank me for this.” She pulled down on my hair gently once more, releasing yet another tendril from around her clamp-less curler.

I rolled my eyes. I was so stubborn when I wanted to be.

It took way too long for Imilee to do my hair – at least in my books, but she claimed it was perfect and all but forced me into her black dress – one of the only dresses that was simple and cut nicely enough that I would actually wear out of my own free will.

It wasn’t until I was stuffing my feet into a pair of flats that I saw John again – or rather, that Imilee forced John and I to see each other.

As I leaned against the hallway between her and his bedrooms and worked on fitting my gigantic nine-and-a-half size feet into Imilee’s tiny size eight ballerina flats that she’d thrust into my arms, she knocked on his postered-up door.

“What are you doing!?”

The hiss came spewing out of my lips before I could help it. She merely smirked at me and leaned on the side of his door frame. Two seconds later, it swung open on its squeaky hinges and he peered out skeptically at her. He looked confused overall, probably because us two left him alone at all costs and we seldom interacted with each other.

“Are Dweeb and Dweeb-ette in there?” she asked nonchalantly.

He looked even more confused but answered anyway. “If by that you mean Jared and Kennedy,” he said, ruffling his longish hair, “then yes. They’re here.”

“Good. Get them out here for a second.”

I was just as confused as John was.

“Why?”

“Because I need to make use of you three somehow. It’s my job. Now come on – it’ll only be a second, I swear.”

He sighed and disappeared from the doorway for a split second – just enough time for me to glare at her in questioning but not enough time to mouth my thoughts because all three of the boys awkwardly filled the hallway and looked between the two of us, giving me a second glance as if they hadn’t seen me correctly the first time.

“I need a male opinion,” she stated bluntly. “You see, Savannah here has a hot date in half-an-hour… She wants to wear a sweater, and I say that she shouldn’t. What you idiots think?” she asked, coming off as nonchalant and cool as she wanted to be – as if this was a real dilemma.

I felt my face burn up as each boy looked me over.

If I could have disappeared in that moment, it would have been a blessing.

“You’re serious?” John asked. “With Maverick?” His green eyes flashed between the two of us girls.

“Yeah John,” Imilee stated, emphasizing her brother’s name with that ‘duh’ kind of tone. “Why would I lie about that kind of stuff to you?”

He shrugged, glancing to me. “I don’t know. You’re… you.”

That truly was Imilee. She was hard to describe.

“You look fine now,” Jared offered, living up to his status as nicest boy in high school.

“Yeah,” Kennedy offered in agreement before tromping back into John’s bedroom to finish whatever video game we’d interrupted.

John’s eyes locked on mine officially for the first time since I’d become Imilee’s friend. “You’re really going out with that guy?” he asked.

I nodded, tucking a wave of my hair behind my ear. “Why?”

His face didn’t show any signs of happiness, but it wasn’t a neutral, uncaring expression either. In fact, it was worse. He looked… constricted almost.

“You… Just watch yourself okay. There are rumors going around about him…”

I wanted to ask what kind of rumors were circling, but he glanced one last time to his baby sister before he and Jared retreated back to the bedroom just as Kennedy had and shut the door behind them.

As I looked at Imilee with wide eyes and began debating whether or not to call the whole thing off based on the information I'd just learned - or lack thereof, the bedroom door opened again and John poked his head out. "Wear the sweater," were the only words he offered before the door shut once again.