You Saved Me

“So what did Bobby say?”

“Yeah? Did you get in big trouble?” Steph asked after Joe while the trio made their way to the auditorium for play practice.

“Ugh. You had to ask didn’t you?” Brittany whined while rolling her head back and forth as they reached the auditorium and Joe opened the door for them while giving Brittany a shy smile in response to her question.

“Basically, when I got home he told me to go straight to bed and we’d talk about it today when I got home from play practice. I’m really hoping that Mrs. Creole keeps us late tonight so that way he’ll be asleep by the time I get home.”

“You really think he’d go that hard on you?” Steph asked as the three put their stuff down by the edge of the stage and took seats in the chairs while they waited for the rest of the cast and crew.

They had officially three weeks left till the play came to the end, and next week and the week after that would be crunch time and constant play rehearsal.

“I really don’t know. He looked reallypissed when I got home. He was all red in the face and standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. I’ve never been so scared of him before.” Brittany said and then let out a small groan from her predicament.

“Don’t worry Britt. It’ll all work out fine.” Joe said while putting an arm around her shoulders and bringing her into him for a one armed hug.

“Yeah.” Steph piped up while extending an arm around Brittany’s shoulders as well and then finished. “And if anything….I’ll just fudge up my lines a little bit so we’ll have to stay longer tonight.” with a devious smirk.

Brittany let out a small laugh and then nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the auditorium door slam shut.

All three of them turned their heads to see a very distraught Mrs. Creole with a little boy, maybe about the age of 5 or 6 with a blanket grasped tightly in his hand, standing at the door quietly.

All three of them gave each other questioning looks, not knowing that Mrs. Creole had children and snapped their attention towards her when she clapped her hands together twice.

“Who here has had the chicken pox?” she asked, causing a few blank stares to be sent her way for a few seconds before kids started raising their hands.

Brittany felt so awkward, being one of the three kids who didn’t have their hands raised.

“Well…Brittany, Jacob and Sharon, you three have to leave then. My nephew has chicken pox and since I’ve had them, unlike his parents, he has to stay with me till they go away. So off you go. We’ll somehow make do without our lead girl. Rose?!”

“Yes Mrs. Creole?” Rose’s silky and obviously fake voice sounded from somewhere off in the distance before making herself known.

“You’ll have to make do for Cinderella today since ours is chicken pox free.” she stated while looking at the three kids she had to let go and then trying to find a substitute for the day.

“Oh crap.” Joe whispered quickly and then put his hand down while Steph and Brittany looked at him questioningly.

“Mrs. Creole. I forgot. I haven’t had them. My little brothers did but me and my older brother didn’t. I have to leave too.”

She looked at him suspiciously for a few seconds, trying to read if he was lying or not and then let out a sigh and a slight wave of her hand.

“Fine. You to go too. Now hurry. We have to start practice soon so I can get this kid home.” she ordered to the now four kids she had to let go.

“Traitor.” Steph whispered to Joe while he made his way past her out of the seats.

“Shh.” Joe said to her while letting a small smirk form on his lips as he followed Brittany towards their backpacks and then soon out of the auditorium from the other set of doors where the boy wasn’t standing.

“Why did she call you a traitor and do you need a ride home?” Brittany asked as the two walked towards her truck that was parked in the parking lot.

He let out a small laugh before answering her question.

“A ride home would be great. Thanks. And she called me that because I’ve already had the chicken pox.”

“Then why am I giving you a ride home?” Brittany asked, stopping in her tracks and looking at him with confusion.

“Cuz I didn’t want to stay and practice my parts with Rose. She might…try stuff.” he said while he spazzed out a little bit at the thought of him and Rose dancing together crossed his mind.

Brittany let out a laugh as she started walking again towards her truck while saying, “I see your point.”

It was silent between the two besides the faint laughing as they got into her truck and exited the school parking lot.

“So…” Joe started, breaking the silence of only about 5 minutes.

He just didn’t like silence at all. It was uncomfortable for him.

“So…?” Brittany asked back, sparing him a glance quickly before looking back to the road.

“Why’d you say you’ve never had chicken pox? It just means that you have to go home and talk your Uncle sooner rather than later.”

“Aww crap!” Brittany yelled, now realizing that since it was ‘after play practice’ for her, she’d have to go talk to him sooner to receive her punishment.

“You’ve never really had chicken pox?” Joe asked her with astonishment in his voice.

“Noo..” she whined out while letting her whole body slump a little bit in her seat from her disappointment.

“What I wouldn’t give to go back in time to when I was 4 and give Gary Roel a hug when he was covered in them. Ugh!” she groaned out, causing Joe to lightly laugh at her response.

“Well if you don’t want to go home right away, you can stay at my house till practice would be over.” he offered with a smile. “You know your always welcome there.”

“Thanks Joe. And really…as appeasing as that sounds, I think it might lessen my chances of death tonight if I go home. Who knows, this might get me a little bit less punishment by actually coming home early and telling him the truth.”

He nodded his head in understanding and sat there in silence. For once, not knowing what to say.

“So…what are you going to do now since you have the afternoon off for once?” she asked him as she signaled to turn.

“I don’t know. Probably just hang out with Kevin or something. Oh man! Did Steph tell you?! He kissed her! And I guess sh-”

“She got all defensive about how she doesn’t kiss on the first date and then he told her that their first date was homecoming so she was fair game, leaving her with nothing to say?” Brittany finished with a knowing smile and seeing a small frown come across Joe’s face.

“Yeah. I heard all about it at lunch. She was so cute too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy.” Brittany finished as she signaled again to turn.

“Yeah. My mom was really happy about that too. She overheard us talking about it and came in and said that she’s so happy that we bo-. I mean, that Kevin, found such a good girl.” he corrected himself and quickly looked out the window.

She looked over at him with a questioning smile and tried to read his face, only to see him looking out the window with the back of his head towards her.

“What was that?” she asked already feeling a small blush coming onto her face from getting the feeling that she already knew the answer.

“That my mom was happy that Kevin found such a nice girl.” he answered her, still looking out the passenger side window.

“Oh really? Then why did you say ‘we’?”

“I didn’t say ‘we’. I said ‘he’.” he said, turning his head slightly to look at her but noticed that she kept take quick glances at him and the road, causing him to snap his head back towards his window.

“Come on Joe. You can at least answer me this question since I answered how many questions for you since we met?” she asked while shoving his shoulder quickly and then turning onto his street.

“Oh look at that. I’m home. Looks like you gotta go home and get yelled at by your Uncle.” Joe said, obviously finding a way out of answering her.

“You sure know how to piss me off.” she stated with a slight laugh but then a frown came across her face from the fact that she did have to go home and receive her punishment for staying out past curfew and not even giving Bobby a courtesy call in the process.

“Sorry.” he said quietly while looking at her sadly.

“Call me with the verdict?” he asked her hopefully.

“Yeah. If I’m allowed.” she spat out while looking down at the seat, pitying herself.

“Hey. It can’t be that bad. Maybe because it’s your first time he’ll go easy on you. You never know.” he said while lifting her chin up to look at him and into his chocolate brown eyes.

She got slight shivers from her shoulders all the way down to her legs from seeing his intense stare.

“I’ll talk to you later.” he said as he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her to give her a hug good bye.

Her heart beat like crazy from that simple action and felt dizzy when she inhaled his scent as he held onto her, rubbing her back.

“And if anything…” he said and then pulled away a little bit, giving them some distance between them.

“Here’s a kiss for good luck.” he said while leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, causing instant redness to form on her cheeks from where his lips landed on her skin and outward over her face.

How about two kisses? One on the cheek and one on the lips? What the hell is wrong with me? This is nuts! I’m nuts!

“Thanks.” she said breathlessly while giving him a goofy smile but then caught herself and shook her head quickly to get herself back to normal instead of a love struck teenager.

“See ya.” he said, sending her one more smile before he exited her truck and started walking up his sidewalk towards his house.

This is getting bad. Really bad.

><

“Grounded?! As in like grounded grounded?!” Joe practically yelled while the two made their way into the gym from the end of gym class.

When she got home last night after dropping Joe off, Bobby was ready and waiting to talk to her about her behavior and her lack of responsibility.

Coming home earlier than he expected and telling him the truth about why she was home early didn’t seem to help her out in the long run either. And Joe’s ‘good luck’ kiss….well….maybe cheeks weren’t strong enough.

“You had me worried sick Trisha! I was freaking out that you were dead because I hadn’t heard from you all day. All I asked for was a courtesy call from you and you couldn’t even do that. You’re grounded until the following Monday! No phone. No TV. No friends. Nothing! Only school and play. That’s it. Now go to your room!” Bobby had ordered out, not even letting her get a word in. And also not letting her call Joe to let him know the ‘verdict’.

“What other meaning of grounded do you know of Joe?” Brittany asked him irritated at his question as she relived Bobby‘s orders in her head.

“I’m just saying…that’s really harsh for simply staying out past curfew. And until next week Monday?! That’s insane. This weekend is like the last free weekend we’ll have until the plays over with!” he whined out as he held open the gym doors for her.

“Please don’t remind me Joe. I already know. Just…can you promise me something?” she asked as the two stood outside of the girls locker room doors.

“Sure. What?” he asked, concern now on his face and laced into his voice instead of his anger from hearing her punishment.

“After the plays done with, we’re gonna do something crazy fun to make up for this weekend that I won’t have. Like you, me, Steph and Kevin will go to Disneyland or something.” she said while leaning onto the door.

“Sure. Consider it done.” he said with a smile towards her before pulling her into a hug.

“Ok. I’m gonna go change and stuff. Meet me out here in 5 minutes?” he asked after he ended the hug.

She nodded her head quickly with a smile on her face.

How that boy can make me irritated at him for a second and then love him the next. I MEAN...LIKE him the next. I’ll never understand it.

“Hey Trish. What’s up?” Jess asked once Brittany made her way into the locker room and to her locker.

“Not much. You?” she asked back out of common courtesy.

“Actually kinda confused. See…I used to have these two best friends and now they seem to not be talking to me so much lately and I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Maybe you can help me.” she snapped back.

Brittany stopped halfway putting her button up shirt on and looked at her friend like she was crazy.

“Jess. What are you talking about? I talk to you. And so does Steph. I don’t get what you’re saying.”

“Well you seem to know it was you and Steph right away. You are a smart cookie. I just think it’s weird that you and me were close and then BAM! You stop talking to me and are always either with Steph or Joe. And I don’t really blame you about Joe because let’s face it, he’s hot…but Steph was my best friend too. What happened? Did I do something to piss you off? Her off? Or did you guys just wake up one day and decide to become BFF’s because you both are in the play together and forget about everyone else?”

“Jess I’m sorry. I didn’t know that was how we were coming off towards you. And no you didn’t piss me off. Steph just happened to be with me at the right time when I needed someone the most. I’m sorry. I’d say let’s hang out this week to start over but I’m grounded until next week Monday.” Brittany replied back kinda shocked and scared at the same time.

She’d never been yelled at someone before in her life besides Bobby from yesterday. But to have one of her friends yell at her right after, really scared her. She didn’t even notice that all her time was spent with Joe and Steph only. She was just having so much fun with the two of them that she didn’t even need anyone else around.

“Yeah. How convenient?” she asked back sarcastically. “Why don’t you call me when your done being grounded.” she finished, using air quotes around the word grounded before slamming her locker shut and storming out of the locker room.

Brittany stood there awestruck and not knowing what to do.

She’d never been talked to so harsh before in her life. Let alone from a friend. But she didn’t have too much time to think about it when Joe’s voice echoed off the locker room walls from the slightly cracked door.

“Britt. You gotta hurry up or we’re both gonna be late!”

“S-s-sorry!” she stuttered out while scrambling to finish putting her school uniform back on.

“Everything ok? Jess looked pretty upset when she left the locker room a couple of minutes ago.” Joe asked while he grabbed Brittany’s backpack for her so she could put her blazer on.

“Yeah. Just peachy.” she fired off quickly at him, causing him to stop in his tracks.

“Hey don’t take it out on me alright. I’m just trying to help.” he stated with a harsh tone causing her to stop and turn around to look at him, letting her anger slowly fade for guilt to take it’s place.

“I’m sorry Joe. I just…everything’s too much for me right now. Ya know…with being grounded and now Jess is mad at me. It’s all just a little crazy. I’ve never been yelled at so much before. I’m sorry.”

She watched his mad face slowly soften and turn into giving her a sympathetic look.

“It’s ok. I’m sorry I snapped at you like that. It’s not your fault. I’m sorry.” he said back to her, giving her a hopeful smile.

She looked at him and then took the two remaining steps towards him and pulled him into a hug.

“You’re too much.” she whispered into his ear.

“What do you mean?” he asked back, laughing slightly and then pulled away slightly to look at her, leaving his arms still wrapped loosely around her waist with her backpack lightly tapping against the back of her knees from the slight movement.

“You have nothing to apologize for and yet here you are, saying your sorry and looking at me and asking me if I forgive you with that smile. You’re too much.” she stated back to him with a smile.

He smiled back at her, one of his toothy grins and she couldn’t help but giggle slightly from it, but she instantly stopped when she saw his smile slowly fade from his face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly and tried to turn around to see if someone or something was there that was scaring him, but his grip only tightened on her waist to keep her from moving.

“Nothing is wrong. Trust me.” he softly said above a whisper and she looked at him for split second to see him moving in towards her.

Her heart beat like crazy just from seeing him move an inch closer to her and her knees already felt like they were about to buckle.

She closed her eyes and waited for his kiss that she already knew was coming.

And let’s face it. She had no problem with that.

She did have a problem with the stupid bell that rang, indicating that they were now late to their next class.

“Oh come on?!” Joe practically yelled and Brittany stifled her laughter from hearing it echo off of the gym walls.

“We’d better get going since we’re already late.” she suggested after a few silent seconds went by.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” he said sadly, while his arms fell from her back and then slowly handed her her backpack.

The two then started for the door, silent, and then ran to their classes that they were already supposed to be in.

He actually sounded upset about not having that kiss…what does that mean? Hmmm…sounds like something I gotta talk to Steph about.