Untypically in Love: The Birthday Party - Part Two

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Read the full story, chapter by chapter here.

Some names and events have been changed to protect the identity of certain individuals.

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Chapter Seven
The Birthday Party

(Part Two) 

Josh stepped onto the back porch looking at me as I sat there, holding the hand of his best friend. My best friends most recent ex. I gulped hard and slowly let go. If I moved too quick, I would appear guilty of something, when in reality all I was doing was comforting a friend, right?

Right?

Josh took the empty seat to my right without appearing angry at all. He reached out, taking my hand and kissing my cheek in greeting, the most affection we'd shared since our first kiss. My stomach turned in momentary torment as I sat between the guy I had pined for the whole year, and the best boyfriend I'd had since I started dating. Matt and I continued to talk, Josh now involved in the conversation as well. Instead of a loving flirtatious conversation between Matt and I, with Josh there it seemed more like an intervention on his behalf. Josh was after all, his best friend.

The others soon joined us and we began our merry little high school games. We truthed the dare, spun the bottle and eventually realised that all we wanted to do was make out with one another, so we decided to play "who's the best kisser". The guys loved it. Heck, the girls loved it too! Naturally, Megaera and Matt were the only exception to the rules of the game.

As we girls moved down the line, I passed over the other boys easily, knowing they were waiting for Megaera anyhow. Josh was next, and our kiss suddenly felt forced. I didn't know what had happened. Was my guilt getting the better of me? Didn't I love Josh? Didn't we both try so hard to get to know one another, become the closest of friends just for moments like this?

And then there was Matt. Megaera's Matt . . .  no . . .  My Matt.

Our first kiss; I don't remember all the details. I do remember that I was nervous, and I remember feeling a spark, and staring into his eyes as we pulled away. I felt guilty immediately. But why should I? My boyfriend was there playing the game too, kissing not only two of my best friends, but my eight months younger sister. This was just what we always did.

As the hours passed I decided to call off the bet. I was confused and if there was one thing I could stand for in my world full of loose morals, I could at least admit that I wasn't going to have sex with someone who I wasn't sure I was in love with. I loved Josh, but if you really love someone, how can you have feelings for someone else? It wasn't fair to Josh. I had to figure out where my heart stood.

Not that I stood a chance at being with Matt of course.

The night pressed on, and soon I found myself on the couch, a lump in my stomach as I intertwined my fingers with Joshs', wondering the whole time when Matt was leaving, and if after tonight I'd ever even see him again. Josh eventually stood, being beckoned home early by his parents. I kissed his cheek and watched him walk down the road.

"Hey, where's my jacket?" Matt said as a large white and blue van pulled into my driveway. His ride had arrived and he had to leave as well. I sighed and committed the moments of that night to memory, figuring that I'd never really see him again except in passing.

But then something happened.

He stood in front of me, and suddenly I felt small - frail almost - but in that good way that a girl wants to feel when she's with the guy that makes her heart skip. Matt leaned in to hug me and I breathed him in. His scent was intoxicating and I was suddenly reminded of the feelings I'd had the first moment I set eyes on him in that cafeteria months earlier. I didn't want the night to end. He was the boy of my dreams and I decided I would settle for being just his friend as long as those hugs went on forever. This one very nearly did.

And then he did it. He studded the studliest stud move that a stud ever studded. Matt leaned in close to me, looked me deep in the eyes, "If Josh wasn't in the picture, I'd move on you so quick."

My breath escaped my mouth just as quick as the blood drained from my face. My jaw rested itself on the floor as my heart jumped into my throat. I watched as he turned once, smiled, and then walked out the door. I stared, mouth agape as the van pulled out of the driveway and drove off down the road. A thousand different things ran through my head, but mostly I smiled and held my hand to my chest in order to count the number of times my heart beat in a single second.

"Something wrong?" My sister, Kristine said as she walked over.

"I think I just experienced a very surreal moment in life."

He was a stud. How dare he walk away on that line! It was like a movie! A horrible teen romance movie where he was the obvious heartthrob and I was the pathetic heroine - and I didn't know what my lines were! Should I run to catch the plane? Get the lead in the play opposite him? Perhaps I should step into a leather outfit and break into song. I felt like Molly Ringwald in any random eighties movie!

After a minute of watching the empty street, focused on the breaking point where Matt's van drove away - and the few steps it took to get to Josh's house - I turned around with my back against the front door and tried to focus my breathing. Did this really happen? How? Why?

The doorbell rang moments later, snapping me out of my trance, and I had to try and calm down again before I reopened it. As I did, there before me stood Matt. Once tall and full of ego, the studliest stud, now looked shamefully at the ground.

He cleared his voice and spoke soft. "I umm . . . left my contact case on your patio table."

Our romance had turned into a comedy and I suddenly knew the script.

"Come on in," I said with a bit of sing song in my voice, almost daring him to try and get by me without looking me straight in the eye. My ego returned immediately and I felt like I had with previous boyfriends who I could easily overpower. I was the flirtatious seductress. I moved and they watched. Matt's drop in pride made me realise how human he was. It made me feel calm again. It also endeared him to me.

Matt rushed and grabbed his things. "Bye," He said, darting for the door, but I wasn't going to let him get away that easy.

"Just one second," I stepped in front of his quick exit. "What did you say to me before you left?" I wanted to hear it again, mostly because some part of me was afraid I had suffered some sort of brain collapse and had heard it wrong the first time.

Matt refused at first, begged me to forget he said anything, forget he ever existed. But I was a very stubborn girl.

He finally sighed, and with much less confidence uttered, "I said if Josh wasn't in the picture, I'd move on you so quick." He repeated it verbatim, the line was obviously practiced before it ever left his lips.

I smiled, now a bit cocky myself and with my fourteen year old womanish charms, I leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "Well if Josh wasn't in the picture, I might just letcha."

And then I opened the door, allowed him to gather his jaw from the floor, and see himself out as I walked away, never once turning around to see if he was watching me.

It took until the next morning to calm down from the experience. When I finally did, I hated myself for not thinking about Josh for the rest of that night. But how could I? Since our first kiss, Josh had almost all but stopped hanging out with me with the exceptions of our walk home from the bus stop. And Megaera's statement about Josh's religion had me on edge. If he was in fact such a good Mormon boy, was I a corrupting influence? Would I somehow ruin his life by existing in it? And then suddenly out of nowhere this wonderful boy who I had fantasized about for over six months was hitting on me! I had plenty of time to feel guilty later.

And I did.

Chapter Eight>>>