Show Me What I'm Looking For

Vibrate. Vibrate.
I heard my phone vibrate on my night stand. Sunday morning. “Who could possibly be calling me now?” I thought to myself as I took a glance at the clock. It read 8:34 am. I reached out my arm to my night stand, felt around until I found my phone and unplugged it from the charging base.

“Hello?” I said with a very thick morning voice.

“Go to your front door.” The voice said.

“What? Who is this?”

“Just go to your front door. There’s a package waiting for you,” and the voice on the other end hung up. I was slightly scared about what it might be, but then I thought to myself that this was probably some prank Kenny and Pat were trying to pull. I got out of bed and put on my fuzzy zebra slippers and my bathrobe. I sneaked down the stairs and hoped that no one was awake. Still half asleep, I managed not to fall down the stairs and to make my way to the door. I got it opened and turned the handle to expose a very bright and sunny day.

“What is it now guys? This is hardly funny. I’m super tired,” I said, squinting at the bright sunlight that seemed to blind me the second I opened that door.

“Is that how you greet all your friends?” The voice said. It was an extremely familiar voice, a voice I hadn’t heard in much to long.

“Oh my God, Anny!” I said as I jumped into her arms.

“Ali! It’s about time you recognized me.” She said, hugging back.

“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call? I would have picked you up! When did you land?”

“I see you haven’t changed; still asking questions on top of questions. I have fall break, so I decided to visit you. I’m staying for a week. I landed this morning and your dad picked me up.”

“It’s so good to see you! I’ve missed you so much! Let’s go inside before some sees me like this…” I told her. She agreed and carried her suitcase into the house and up the stairs to my room. My mom was preparing pancakes while she unpacked a little and I gave her the grand tour of the house. By that time, breakfast was ready, so we decided to go eat.

“Mom, we are going to go out after breakfast, just me and Anny okay?” I asked her as I put our dishes in the dishwasher.

“Alright sweetie, but your father and I are going out of town today and we’ll only be back tomorrow morning. I don’t want you girls out when we are away.”

“Where are you two going?” Anny asked her this time.

“We have a wedding to attend; someone on her father’s side is getting married.”

“Alright mom, can we go?” I asked, reminding her of the initial question.

“Alright, but be home before 5 so we could say bye to you.”

We agreed and ran up the stairs for me to shower and get ready while Anny sat on my bed with my Macbook. I took a quick shower and walked back to my bedroom to pick out an outfit.

“What do you want to do today?” I asked her as I towel dried my hair.

“I don’t know… why don’t you introduce me to this John you we’re telling me about.”

“I’m going over to his house later this afternoon because they are having a band practice so you’ll meet John and everyone then,” I responded, while picking out a pair of grey jeans and a purple t-shirt.

“What happened with you two…? Did you ever tell him?” She asked, putting my computer down.

“Well… we went on a date last night—”

“You went on a date! And you didn’t tell me? What’s wrong with you?”

“I was going to call you this morning, but you’re here now so…”

“How was it?” She said, moving her eyebrows up and down.

“It was amazing! He took me to race go-carts. It was awesome!” I knew what she wanted to hear, but I avoided it until she asked.

“I meant, after all that. What happened?”

“He walked me to my door and said goodnight and he leaned in and kissed me, which goes against everything I believe in! I’ve never kissed on a first date.” I said as I applied a healthy dose of mascara to my lashes.
“How was it?” She asked, hugging my pillow now.

“It was… unbelievable. I can’t even put it into words.” I added. I was pretty sure I was turning red also.

“So… are you guy’s official?”

“Oh my God, I don’t know… I hadn’t even thought of it!”

“Don’t worry, things will fall into place.”

I then put on my shoes and we grabbed our purses and made our way downstairs. My mom left me the keys to her car, so we wouldn’t be taking the bus today. We finally decided to go to the mall and do some shopping. We ended up at Urban Outfitters and American Apparel where we basically emptied out both stores. We decided to take a break and get a bite to eat before we continued. We then found an empty bench and sat down, putting our bags by our feet. Anny got us some frozen yogurts while I watched our bags. There was a pretty long line up, so I figured she would be there for a while. I then decided to call John.

“Hello?” I heard his voice say on the other end. He sounded like he just woke up.

“Hey, it’s me! Did I wake you?” I asked him.

“Well, I woke up like 10 minutes ago,” He said jokingly, “I miss you,”

“I miss you too. When do you want us to come over?”

“Us?” He questioned.

“Oh yea, I didn’t tell you yet. My friend from back home showed up on my doorstep this morning and she’s staying for fall break this week.”

“That’s great. Well… you guys could come over whenever you want really… I’m going to jump in the shower in a second, but my mom is going to let you guys in.” He responded.

“Alright, we’re at the mall. So, we’re going to leave in a couple of minutes and I’ll go directly to your house.”

“Perfect, I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me too! Bye.” After I hung up, Anny came back with two frozen yogurts. As we ate, I explained her our plans for the rest of the day which she agreed with quite eagerly. Once we were done, we walked back to were we had parked the car and drove off to John’s house blasting music all along the way. We then parked in the driveway and walked up to the front door.

“Hi Mrs. O’Callaghan, is John home?” I asked her.

“Yea sweetie, he’s still in the shower. Who’s your friend?” She asked me as she stared at Anny.

“Oh, this is my friend Anny from back home. She came down to visit for fall break. Anny, this is John’s mom.”

They greeted each other and Mrs. O’Callaghan said we could wait for him in his room, so we made our way down the hall and sat on his bed.

“He’s really slow…” Anny led on.

“Yea, I know.” I said as I looked around at all his baseball pictures.

After a couple of minutes, I heard steps coming towards the room.

“Quick! Let’s hide!” I announced to Anny as I ran behind his bed.

“You think he can see us?” She responded.

“Well, if you would shut up we could hear!”

“You’re the one that’s talking!” She reminded me.

“You know… you guys are the worst hiders ever.” I heard a voice say from behind me. Anny and I slowly turned around and noticed that it was John and that we were crouched on the floor behind his bed like two idiots. We both quickly stood up and I made my way to John.

“Hey, I missed you.” I said to him as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I know, I missed you too. When did you guys get here?” He asked as he put his arm around my shoulder.

“Not long. Oh, John this is my best friend Anny. Anny, this is John.” They hugged and talked for a little, still he was holding on to me which seemed to complicate the whole hugging thing.

“When does everyone get here?” I asked him.

“I don’t know, I’ll call them. Hold on.”

As he left the room, Anny just gave me a look.

“What?” I asked her.

“Hun, he’s into you… Much more than you think.”

“What? Why?”

“The way he looks at you… I think it was much more than just a kiss last night. I mean—”

“Alright, they just left.” He then looked up at us and added, “What? Did I interrupt something?” We shook our heads meaning no and went to sit outside on the porch waiting for everyone to arrive. A couple of minutes later, they all pulled up in Garrett’s yellow banana car. It was impossible to miss. They got out of the car and greeted us all.

“Nice car.” I said sarcastically to Garrett.

“It’s a piece of shit. My mom took the other car.” He said, correcting me.

“So guys, I would like you all to meet Anny, my best friend in the entire world. She’s staying with us for fall break. Anny, that’s Pat, Jared, Kennedy and Garrett.” They each gave her a hug and we then made our way back inside the house and into John’s basement. I was really happy that everyone was getting along with Anny though she seemed to be talking to Pat the most, at least for now.

“Hey, I have a surprise for you,” John said, whispering in my ear as I walked down the steps.

“Really? What is it?” I knew he wouldn’t tell me, but I still asked.

“You’ll see in a minute.” He then ran down passed me, gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and went to set up with the rest of the band. Anny was already sitting on the beat up sofa and signaled me to sit next to her. John was warming up, while Kenny and Jared plugged their guitars to their monitors and Garrett did the same for his bass. Pat was just hanging around me and Anny and eating an apple.

“Okay Pat, We’re ready. Let’s start.” John called on him. He went to sit at his drum set and they began playing their set. They played The Way We Talk first, followed by I Wonna Love You and We Change, We Wait.

“Okay guys, let’s take a break. My mom made food I think. Let’s go upstairs.” John announced. They all stormed upstairs, including Anny, before I even had a chance to get out of the sofa. This all seemed very odd.
“Wait Ali, don’t you want your surprise?” He said, as he got his guitar out of its case.

“Oh, so I’m getting it now?” I responded, sitting back down.

“Yea, I wrote you a song.” He said as he pulled up a chair in front of me and got his guitar into position. He was the sweetest boy I had ever met. “So here it goes.

I thought I had my girl but she ran away
My car got stolen and I'm gonna be late
For work this week, make that the fourth day straight
But I'm fine with it
I thought I had it all but I gave it away
I quit that old job and now I'm doing okay
Those material things, they can't get in my way
‘Cuz I'm over it

But where ever she may be
She could be money, cars, fear of the dark
Your best friends are just strangers in bars
Who ever she is, who ever she may be
One things for sure,
You don't have to worry

And this is the part
Where you find out who you are
And these are your friends
Those who've been there from the start
So to hell with the bad news
Dirt on your new shoes
It rained all of May ‘til the month of June

But wherever she may be
She could be money, cars, fear of the dark
Your best friends are just strangers in bars
Who ever she is, who ever she may be
One things for sure,
You don't have to worry

And every day in every way
She looks the same
And every care you used to have
Just seems to float away
And every day in every way
She looks the same
And every care you used to have
Just seems to float away

To hell with the new shit
Whether or not you think you fit in

She could be money, cars, fear of the dark
Your best friends are just strangers in bars
Where ever she is, who ever she may be
One things for sure,
You don't have to worry
She could be rainy days, minimum wage
A book that ends with no last page
Who ever she is, who ever she may be
One things for sure,
You don't have to worry.”

“Wow,” was all I could manage to say.

“What do you think?” He asked, flashing me his irresistible smile.

“You must really like me huh?”

“Yea… I really do Ali.”

We looked at each other for a minute; just staring into each others soul. He moved in closer, I did the same. He then placed his hand behind my neck and before we knew what hit us, we were locking lips on his parent’s sofa. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect kiss, it was amazing in every single imaginable way. The way he held my neck just made me long for more.

“What’s taking them so long?” I heard Anny yell from the top of the stairs. We both pulled away.

“We should go upstairs…” I suggested, wiping my lip gloss off his lips as best I could.

“Yea, you’re probably right. Let’s go.” He got up and reached out for my hand. We then walked up the stairs and towards the kitchen. As soon as we sat down, everyone just stared at us.

“What?” John and I both yelled out in unison.

“You guys are so cute… especially John, wearing Ali’s lip gloss.” Anny yelled from the other side of the table. We both just sat down and John wiped his mouth with a napkin before we began to eat the last two sandwiches left out on the table. Everyone just kept staring as if they were waiting for an answer.

“What? Yes, we’re official.” I said to them, rolling my eyes. They all burst out into aww’s which gave us a good laugh. After we finished, John placed the dishes in the dishwasher and Anny and I had to go home to say bye to my parents.

“Are you coming back later?” John asked as he placed his hands on my hips.

“Probably, my parents don’t want us out while they’re away, but we’ll sneak out.”

“Alright, I’ll call you later then. Bye Ali.” He then pulled me in and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Anny waved goodbye to everyone and we both drove off. We arrived with a couple of minutes to spare.

“Okay mom, we’re home. You can leave now.” I announced to her.

“Alright girls, we are leaving. You are in charge of the house. If we come back tomorrow afternoon and see that anything is broken or misplaced, you’re both grounded. Do I make myself clear?” My father told us.

“And I don’t want you going out while we are away or anybody at the house for that matter. I’m leaving the keys here, but only in the case of an emergency alright?” My mother said, this time.

We both nodded and gave them each a hug and a kiss and walked them to the car. We waited until my dad loaded the luggage into the back trunk and we waved goodbye. As soon as they left, we turned around and headed back into the house.

“What do you want to do now? It’s so boring here.” Anny announced, turning on the TV.

“Let’s go for ice cream.” I suggested.

“But your parents said we couldn’t leave,” she reminded me.

“You didn’t actually think I was going to listen to them, now did you?” I questioned her as I dialed John’s number.

“Obviously not, you are the Ali I’ve always known.” She said, rolling her eyes.

The phone rang and rang. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any answer.

“John isn’t answering his phone; let’s drive there and surprise them.” She agreed, I got my mother’s keys and we made our way to the front door. We stepped outside, breathing in the hot dry Arizona air. To our surprise, Garrett’s car was already in the driveway; I guess they beat us to it. We made our way to the car and tried to cram 7 people into a 5 passenger car which we eventually succeeded at. We were three in the front seat; John was driving and Anny and I were sharing the front seat.

“Where are we going guys?” John asked the whole car as he placed his hand on my thigh.

“We vote ice cream,” Anny announced. I nodded my head in agreement.

Everyone else agreed as well and John drove us to the local Dairy Queen. We got out of the car and waited in the line which seemed to go on for miles. After a while, everyone ditched me; leaving me alone to carry 3 banana splits, 2 Oreo blizzards, one Reese’s blizzard and a plain vanilla all the way back to the table. It was an accident waiting to happen. After I ordered my mountain of goodies, I made my way to the table where everyone was sitting and started distributing the ice creams. I took my seat next to John as he placed his arm around my shoulder. Being the slow eater that I was, everyone abandoned me at the table, except for John, and went to sit in the car.

“Give me a lick so you finish faster,” He announced somewhat annoyed at my slowness. It was just something he would have to get used too. I handed him the cone and as he took a lick, the entire blob of ice cream fell onto his lap. I couldn’t help but laugh, he didn’t find it as funny, but still I could see the hint of a crooked smile slip onto his face.

“Hold on,” he announced to me as he stood up. “I’m going to go wash this off in the bathroom. Wait here.” He said as he softly pressed his lips against mine. He then walked to the restroom and I began staring into space, waiting for him to return. The sound of the bell hanging over the entrance door brought me back to reality. I looked up and noticed to my horrible surprise that it was Tyler and his little clique following him. I sighed and sunk into my chair hoping he would just go about his business; get his ice cream and go, without noticing me. No such luck, he made eye contact and walked his pompous ass to my table. I was wishing more than anything for John to come back right now.

“Hey you’re that chick from school right?” He said, giving me the sleaziest look I had seen in a long time.

“Yea, that’s me.” I responded dryly, looking from the bathroom door to Tyler to Garrett’s banana car hoping someone would rescue me.

“Where’s your little boyfriend? I heard you guys sealed the deal on Friday. How was it?” What the fuck was that supposed to mean… “Sealed the deal”. He then took a seat next to me. My heart was beating so hard, I thought it would fall out; and not in a good way.

“We didn’t seal anything, now shouldn’t you be eating your little ice cream with your slutty friends over on the other table.” I announced, rolling my eyes.

“Speaking of that table, would you like to join us? There’s always place for someone new.” He said, putting his arm around me. I then stood up and without answering, tried to escape towards the car. He suddenly grabbed my hand and held me there for a moment. “What’s wrong? Are you scared?” He responded. I think he was enjoying this a little too much.

“Look; just leave me alone. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Now, let go of my arm before I start screaming.” I answered, still looking back at the bathroom door. What could be taking him so long? Or maybe under these circumstances, time just seemed to stand still.

John’s point of view

Drying my shirt under the hand drier was taking forever. These things never work properly. I then wash my hands, dried them using paper towels this time and threw it in the silver can. As I pushed open the door and exited the bathroom, I noticed some random guy hanging around Ali much to close. She eyed me and I could sense the urgency in her look. I began walking much faster suddenly; I couldn’t seem to get to the table fast enough.

“Dude, what the fuck are—” I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence, when suddenly I realized who the person was. Tyler. My blood started boiling in my veins as he turned around and I saw a smirk painted across his face.

“Well, well, well look who we have here, giraffe and his girlfriend.” He said as he stood up.

“What the fuck were you doing with her? I told you to leave her out of this,” I said shoving him in the chest.

“You want to take this outside O’Callaghan?” He said shoving back, “Or are you scared?”

“Okay guys… stop it now. It’s enough. Come on John; let’s go.” Ali responded as she stood between us.

“Yea… listen to your whore and get out of here.” He added.

“Excuse me?” I responded. I didn’t leave him any time to answer because before he knew what hit him, he was lying on the floor; out cold, and my fist was hurting really bad.

“Oh my God! How hard did you hit him?” Ali said, as she took a look at my wrist. It was all red and swollen; I needed to get some ice on it right away.

“I don’t know, pretty hard I guess. He had it coming though.”

“I know, thank you. Hurry up, we have to get out of here and get you some ice.” She responded as we rushed to the bananamobile. We both got in the front passenger seat and Garrett immediately drove off.

“Dude, what the hell happened to your hand?” Kenny added from the backseat as they all reached over to look.

“Tyler happened. You think this is bad you should see his face.” I added with a smile in my voice, but seriously, I was in agony.

“Who is that? What did he do?” Anny asked.

“Long story,” I added dryly. I didn’t feel like getting into all the details.

“He basically tried to harass me is what happened. Garrett, drive to my house; it’s closer. We have to put ice on his hand,” Ali responded.

“Alright, alright. I’m driving as fast as I can with this car; I can’t stress the engine.” He added as he patted the dashboard. I just rolled my eyes and sank back into my seat as I placed my arm around Ali’s shoulder. After a couple of minutes of “extreme” driving, we finally pulled into Ali’s driveway. All seven of us got out of the car and waited for Ali to open the front door. Once she did, everyone except Ali and I sat on the sofa and watched TV.

“Come on, let’s get you some ice before your hand falls off,” she said as we walked to the back part of the first floor. She then opened the freezer door and got an ice-pack out of the freezer door.

“Here, put this on. It should make it better.” She said to me as she pressed the ice against my hand.

“Thanks Ali. Come on, let’s go watch a movie.” I suggested. She agreed and we took our place on the sofa.

“What are we watching?” Ali asked.

“Signs,” they all said.

“Wait… where’s Pat? And Anny for that matter?” She asked again.

“Outside, now shh!” Jared announced as he threw a pillow at her. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, alright! Relax little red. Wait… Outside where?” Everyone sighed and I pointed out to her that they were on the back porch and suggested that we go hang out with them so we could actually talk. Pat and Anny were sitting by the pool when we got to the backyard.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here; Anny and Patrick sitting in a tree –” Ali sang as I placed my hand over her shoulder.

“Shut up Ali,” Anny said as she turned around rolling her eyes and smiling.

“What are you guys doing here?” Pat asked as he turned around and looked up.

“Oh you know, swimming—” and the next thing I knew, I was in the pool fully dressed.

“You know, that’s the second time you do that,” I said as I wiped the water out of my eyes.

“I know and it gets funnier every time,” she said as she laughed and without even thinking about it, I pulled her in and she was soaked as well.

“I’m going to catch a cold you know. My body can’t adjust to the sudden temperature changes,” she said as she made her way to the stairs.

“It’s 85 degree water and it’s about the same outside, Ali,” I announced to her. Pat and Anny just seemed to laugh at our little conversation, but it was getting late so we got out of the pool and all four of us made our way back inside.

“You guys just can’t stay dry, can you?” Kenny added as we entered from the back door.

“Of course we can, we just choose not too,”Ali responded as she led me upstairs. “Come on, we have to change out of these wet clothes,” we then ran up the stairs and into the bathroom.

“Here; put this on while I put your other clothes in the dryer.” She said as she threw me some of her dad’s clothes.

“This is never going to fit,” I announced to her, but she was already in her room changing, so I just put it on and went back downstairs to watch the movie. I took my place on the sofa and just lied there.

“Well you look nice,” Pat added sarcastically.

“Shut up rat boy and watch your movie.” Ali came down soon after in her sweatpants and t-shirt and lied down next to me.

By now, it was nearly 2 in the morning and everyone had fallen asleep: Kenny, Jared and Garrett were sleep-sitting on the sofa; Pat was doing the starfish on the floor because Anny pushed him off the sofa earlier and Ali was asleep and turned towards my chest so I couldn’t move even if I wanted too, but I had to get up at least to call my mom and tell her were we all were. I tried to make as little noise as possible as not to wake her up.

“Where are you going? Don’t leave.” She said, still half asleep.

“I’m not going anywhere; I’ll be back in a second. Just sleep.” I said as I finally got up and kissed her hair softly. I then dialed my home number and told my mom where we were and not to worry. I then took back my place next to Ali and we all fell back asleep.