Food, Cats, and Being Lazy

I lied. Life could definitely get better. It could get much, much better. It could get so much better that my heart might actually explode.

I waited in the stairwell to meet Laura at lunch, and when she did, she seemed even more excited than usual. Actually, she was never excited about anything. She’d show up, we’d sit down, and we’d eat lunch. But this time, she barged in, looked at me, and said, “You’re not going to believe what I just heard.”

I was sitting on the bottom step with half a sandwich in my mouth.

“What?” She sat down beside me.

“I heard from my friend Regina in second period that Collin Denver broke up with his girlfriend.” I choked. No lie. I coughed, and she had to pat my back a few times to stop me from dying in the stairwell.

“You’re joking?” I said when I could breathe again.

“No, not at all. Apparently, they got into a huge fight yesterday, and he broke up with her. She wasn’t going to come to school today, but everyone told her to come anyway, so she didn’t look bad. But she spent all of first period crying. I heard the soccer team was out on the field today. Did you see him?”

“Yeah, I saw him.”

“How did he look?” Beautiful. Perfect. Amazing.

“Normal.”

“Well, he’s taking it a lot better than she is, I guess. She apparently had to borrow mascara from your sister because she keeps crying all her makeup off.” She pulled her backpack off so she could get her lunch out.

“He talked to me,” I said. She looked up again.

“He what?” I nodded.

“Yesterday, I was walking down the hall during math, and he passed me and said, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And then today, I had to run track because I got in trouble for not paying attention. And so I was out there when they were practicing. And when we finished, he came right over to me, and he gave me his Gatorade. He called me Pip.”

“Pip? That’s the cutest nickname I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah. Well, apparently, that’s what Vincent calls me. But that’s beside the point. The point is that Collin not only spoke to me, but he also speaks about me to his friends.”

“Oh my God. What if he asks you out?” I scoffed, but I was secretly pleased.

“Like that would ever happen.” But oh, I hoped it did.

“That would be so romantic. Like that movie with Rachel Leigh Cook. Or the other one with Hilary Duff.”

“That’s what I was thinking. But really. Me? I doubt it. He’d probably ask you before he ever asked me.”

“But you’re Pip, and I’m just—Laura.”

I went back to my sandwich, trying to be cool about the situation. I didn’t want to seem too eager or stuck up. Collin who? Psh, I don’t care that he broke up with Hannah I’m-too-pretty-for-your-company.

But on the inside, I was screaming and coming up with multiple different ways that Collin could ask me out. It would be so cute and perfect, and oh my GOD, I was about to have a heart attack. What would I do if he actually did ask me out? How would I handle that? I couldn’t be cool about it. I was never cool about anything. I’d probably just cry or faint or do that squeaking thing my mom hated even though she did it too.

I really needed to get this figured out just in case it happened for real.