Are You Just Bad News?

I walked back and forth in front of my closet, confused on what to wear.

I didn’t want to wear a dress, because that might seem too dressy.
But jeans and a tank top or t-shirt might seem too laid back.

A skirt seemed like a nice compromise, but I had tons of skirts, skirts that were both too ‘flirty’ and summer-ish, or really dressy.

This was completely un-cool.

There was a distant knocking on my door and I heard Dandy meow quietly. I straightened out my tank top and took out my ponytail so I could redo it, as I walked towards the door.

Knowing Mike, it was probably him – ready to bitch me out for being too late.

And when I opened the door, I saw exactly whom I was expecting to see.

He stared at me incredulously, “What are you doing?”

I shrugged and turned around, “Getting ready?”

Mike closed the door behind me, blocking out the music I knew must’ve been coming from his apartment. He followed me into my bedroom, as I stood in front of my closet once more, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh god, tell me you’re still trying to figure out what to wear!” Mike shrieked.

I nodded absentmindedly and glanced over at him. He was wearing a long sleeved Billabong shirt with dark blue jeans and sneakers.

Casual and comfy, I liked.

“Fuckin’ put on shorts and a t-shirt and be on your way. I mean really, it’s not that serious!”

“Um, hello mister, you made it seem like this was some big deal with your ‘oh I have to introduce you to the guys’ garbage. I don’t want ‘the guys’ meeting me, dressed like a complete bum with all these other people running around looking fabulous,” I reasoned.

Mike made a disgruntled sigh and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing past me to look in my closet. He went from shirt to shirt, dress skirt to dress jeans, before pulling out a shirt and throwing it over to me.

“First take that,” he snapped. I looked down at the shirt in my hands, a casual canary yellow Hollister polo.

“And?”

“And this,” and with that, he tossed a jean skirt at me, with one or two strings hanging from the bottom. “Grab sneakers or floppers or whatever you girls wear and put your hair down…”

I stared at him.

“Or you can keep it up, that works too. I’m going in the living room, if you’re not out in like 10 seconds, I’m kickin’ your ass.”

“Yes, Mom,” I joked and pushed him out of my room so I could get dressed.

I pulled my polo over my white tank top and pulled on my skirt. I got out my yellow flip flops, tucked away in the back of my closet and re-adjusted my ponytail and made it higher on my head, keeping my bangs in my face. I dashed to my dresser to get a blue bracelet and spray on some perfume before I walked out of my room.

“Finished now?” Mike asked, looking down at a random magazine he found on my coffee table. He looked up at me and pointed his pointer finger at me and spun it around. “Do a spin.”

I spun around once or twice, occasionally making model like poses at me before saying, “I think Mike did good.”

He shrugged and tossed the magazine, “I just dressed you in what I’d like.”

“As a girl?” I said, giggling.

“No,” he said, play frowning at me before casually slinging his arm around my shoulders. “What I’d like on a girl.”

“Sure,” I said, my heart beating a little faster inside my ribcage, knowing I was actually about to attend this party. I reached for my keys and cell phone before closing and locking the door behind us.

“Relax,” Mike said as he went to open his front door for me. “They’re just my friends, and they’re all pretty nice. They’ll like you. Don’t be nervous.”

I gave him a small smile and went in before him, feeling his hand on the small of my back as he guided me into the small world of his apartment, which was already filled with people. I turned to look at Mike as he searched the room, probably for his friends as he greeted a couple of his other guests, some which gazed at me with interest.

He finally spotted them and murmured, “Let’s go,” before grabbing my hand and leading me towards the two guys I’d seen behind Will the other day, along with Will – all three laughing and joking around.

“Yo fruit cups!” Mike said as we approached them, slapping a high five with the one closest to him and I.

“What’s up Carden, where’d you…” He began before his eyes landed on me. “Oh, I see. Hello there.”

“Um, hi,” I said, smiling shyly as Mike grabbed me and stood me in front of him.

“Andy, Sisky, I’d like you to meet Leah. She lives across the hall. Leah, this is Andy,” he pointed to the skinny one with the tattoos. The he pointed to the other skinny one with blond hair, sans tattoos. “And this is Adam, but we call him Sisky.”

“It’s in my last name,” he explained. “But it’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah,” Andy said, shaking my hand as he shared a look with Will.

“Will, you already…”

“Yeah,” Will muttered, which we all managed to hear over the music. “I’ll see you guys later.”

And with that he walked away and disappeared into the sea of people so far that I couldn’t even see his tall frame anymore.

“What’s his problem?” Mike snapped, causing Sisky to shrug. But Andy, he smirked and turned to me.

“So Leah, would you like a drink? I’d be happy to get it for you.”

“Oh, uh, sure. What do you guys have?”

“Everything,” all three of them chorused, looking, laughing, and giving high-fives to each other, talking about ‘sweet!’ and ‘we did it again!’

I chuckled at them, typical boys.

“I’m not much of a drinker,” I explained when Andy turned to me again. “I’m a little underage.”

“That’s okay,” Andy said, as Sisky and Mike got into some other conversation. “We have low alcohol drinks and just plain soda for you youngsters.”

I play glared at him, a smile still lingering at my lips. “Well I’d like a Smirnoff, if that’s okay.”

“Anything for the little lady.”

“Hey! You’re like, the same height as me,” I said.

“You know what I meant,” Andy said, grinning at me. It was then I noticed he had a nice smile and really pretty eyes, eyes I’d always wished I were blessed with. “I’ll be back with your drink.”