Page 125 of Steeling Her
It’s all about Ben and Jerry’s, green face masks that make you look like you crawled out of seaweed, a ton of cake, embarrassing dance moves, and your hair tied up into a hideous messy bun. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what actually happens at a slumber party.
What the girls do in the movies, with pillow fights in their underwear and such, doesn’t actually happen. Unless you’re one of those cool girls, which I am not.
Me: That’s not how it goes??xx
I laugh out loud a little once again, thinking everyone else is in on the joke, but they don’t have a clue as to what I’m laughing about.
Nick: tell me how does it go then???xx
He’s such a flirt sometimes, and I can’t help but blush at what he does. He does this all the damn time, and I always seem to have this grin on my face.
I don’t answer him for a little while because I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to flirt back over the phone. I’m so bad at this kind of stuff. I laugh to myself knowing that I’m not that girl, I can’t do what Haley and Danielle can do. They can flirt with ease, while I’m an awkward potato with a face drawn on its skin.
As you can tell, I’m really nailing this right now.
Nick: come on, give me some sort of detail of what you do at slumber parties, seeing as I can’t come over and see for myself? Xx
I can almost hear the teasing tone in his voice. I still don’t answer him. I don’t even know where to start with the non-sexy acts and fun we have at a slumber party. I don’t want him to be turned off by me.
When the two of them have finished eating, my phone buzzes away on the table. Without even looking, I know who the caller is. I lift my screen up to see if I’m correct, and I am; Mr. Jackson himself, with the photo of the two of us lighting up my screen.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell the two of them. I know they both want to hear what we we’re going to talk about, but I won’t let them.
“Hi,” I answer him as soon as I leave the air-conditioned restaurant.
“Hey, are you okay? Do you want me to come get you guys?” I can hear the clanging of his keys as he plays with it in his hand. I know he’s serious about coming to get us.
I hear what sounds like TJ saying “I’m coming with you” in the background. I shake my head, only to realize they can’t see me.
“Yeah, everything is fine.” I giggle at how cute they’re both acting tonight. They can’t leave us alone for five minutes. They both need us more than we need them. “And you both should stay where you are. We’re fine, we’re getting food and having our girl time,” I order them to stand down. Haley will definitely not be happy.
“Are you sure? I can come get you guys and we can have a night in? Then I can stay over in case—” I wait for him to finish off his sentence but he’s taking a long time.
“In case of what?” I ask curiously. He’s taking his time replying to me. “Nick? You still there?” I ask, wondering if he got cut off.
“Uh . . . yeah, I’m still here.” He stops again and I’m waiting for him to continue talking, but that doesn’t come.
“Nick? In case of what? Is there something that’s going to happen to us?” I ask, a little on the edge.
“No! No, nothing will happen. I just . . . Well . . . I don’t know? I really don’t know where I was going with that, to be honest.” He laughs but he sounds a little nervous. I quirk my eyebrow into the carpark like he’s standing right in front of me.
“Are you su—”
“Will you go out with me again?” He cuts me off in a hurry. I’m stunned into a silence. The tables have turned, and I’m now quiet. When I finally process what he had just asked, I can hear him still talking to me.He wants another date?
Oh my god! He wants another date!
“Yo? Carter? You still there? And breathing?” He laughs at me and I snicker back.
“Yes, I’m still here; and yes, I’m still breathing; and yes, I’ll go out with you again.” I take the phone away from my ear and do a small dance to myself, not caring if I have an audience. I’m sure I do, but I don’t care. I try not to let out a huge squeal.
I place my phone back to my ear and I can hear him breathing down the line. He clears his throat and speaks again, “Alright, cool! Amazing, um . . . I’ll text you later and tell you the details . . . Alright, cool!” he repeats. I know he has no idea what he’s saying right now and it’s absolutely adorable when he does that.
“Cool! I can’t wait,” I whisper back. I don’t know why I turned so timid, but my voice is in awe of what he just blurted out. “Did you call me to ask me that?” I wonder.
“I’m not going to even attempt to lie. Yes, that’s the main reason. And I kind of miss hearing your voice. I haven’t seen you since Monday and . . .” There he goes again. He stops mid-sentence. I don’t know what he’s thinking. He goes from rambling to silence like a flick of a switch. “I miss you.” Those three words send my heart soaring high into the sky. The slight flutter of it in my chest has me smiling inside and out.
I have never, in all my life, heard a guy tell me he misses me. Outside of family, of course. Hence, why my cheeks are hurting from the silly smile on my face.
