"like sands through the hourglass... so are the...Days of our Lives"

Christyne's "The Teens"  
Fan Fiction Site

Chapter 32

"Okay," Chloe said as she nodded her head slowly. "You get one chance, rich boy. I suggest you don’t screw it up."

"I’ll do my best," Philip winked. "So, what would you say about going out on a date this Friday?" He knew the question shouldn’t have made him nervous. But it did. She’d shot him down before. What if she said no again?

"A date?" Chloe replied, her heart thumping a little faster. Philip wanted to take her out. On a date.

"Yes, you know, a date. You get dressed up, I get dressed up. I pick you up and we’ll both be nervous while we try to pretend we’re fine, we make some awkward conversation, and then I get to kiss you again," Philip said, furrowing a dimple as he smiled devilishly at her.

"You think so, huh?" Chloe retorted, crossing her arms. "Maybe we should start rationing your kisses. Sounds to me like you need to learn a little self-control."

"Yes," Philip sighed in mock sadness, the gleam in his eye obvious from even two stories up. "I’m finding that when I’m around you all my self-control takes a flying leap out of the window. Speaking of which…"

"I’m not taking a flying leap out of this window," Chloe admonished, trying to contain her laughter. "In fact, I should really get back to bed. We do have school tomorrow."

"Well, if you won’t come out here to me, I guess I’ll just have to come up there to you."

It took Chloe a second to become aware of what Philip intended. He threw his backpack over his shoulder, and began climbing the large tree that had branches leading to Chloe’s window. Chloe admired how adept he was at climbing the tree – until she realized just how quickly he was scurrying up.

"What do you think you’re doing?" she asked, faintly alarmed.

"I think I’m climbing this tree. What do you think I’m doing?" Philip asked in a playful tone, stretching up to a higher branch and hoisting himself up.

Philip had reached a sturdy branch that he tested with his weight. "You can’t come in here," Chloe told him.

"Sure I can," Philip said. "Watch." Philip began scuffling down the length of the branch towards Chloe.

Chloe put both of her hands up when Philip had made it about halfway. "Stop right there, Philip."

"No can do, Chloe," Philip said, shaking his head. "I have to come in because I didn’t get an answer to my question."

"What question?"

"You didn’t say whether or not you’d go out with me this Friday," he teased in a serious sounding tone of voice.

"If I say yes, will you stay put?" she asked.

Philip stopped and studied her. "Maybe."

"Okay, okay. I’ll go out with you on Friday."

"You make it sound like you just signed your own death warrant," Philip joked.

Chloe shrugged and then said softly, "I guess I’m just a little freaked out by all the stuff that’s been happening lately."

Philip smiled one of those heart-tugging smiles of his and said, "That’s exactly why you should go out with me. We’ll have fun. Relax. Unwind. Enjoy ourselves. It’ll give you a chance to defreak."

Her eyes were softened with a smile. "You don’t have to keep convincing me. I already said I’d go."

"In that case…" Philip trailed off and giving her one of his wicked grins, began inching towards her again.

"Now what do you think you’re doing?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"Now I think you want to kiss me as much as I want to kiss you," he told her in that husky voice. The nerve! she thought. He had no idea what she wanted. Chloe narrowed her eyes at him and slammed her window down. She pulled the blinds and began walking back towards her bed. Her ears were suddenly filled with the sound of cracking wood, a muffled cry and a thud. Oh no, she thought, he fell!

Her heart leapt into her throat as images of Philip lying on the ground with various broken bones began filling her head. She yanked the blinds back up, threw her window open and leaned out to find…Philip’s face hovering inches from her own.

"I knew you couldn’t resist me," he smiled, and put his hand behind her head. Before she could even think to resist, Philip had pulled her lips against his own. Chloe gripped the windowsill to keep from falling out. For a few seconds the entire world ceased to exist and there was only Philip, and only his lips on hers, moving over and over in excruciating sweetness. How did he know how to kiss like this? she thought. Time seemed to stand still, slowing the moment so that she could count each beat of her quickening pulse. Her hand crept up to his chest, and she could feel his pulse beating in time with her own. The gentle warmth he was infusing her with spread up from her hand and crept through her entire body. It seemed to seep into her bones.

Philip fully enjoyed tasting Chloe’s lips, feeling them beneath his own. They were warm and firm, and at the same time soft and sweet and just so…Chloe. His heart started accelerating as his breath shortened. Philip felt like he could happily spend the rest of his life in her window kissing her. He loved the way she kissed. His mouth slanted over hers again and again, as Philip tried his best to keep the kiss from getting out of control. It was hard to believe that she’d never been kissed before. If she was such a natural at kissing, he wondered what else she’d intuitively be good at…His head started spinning from the sensations he was experiencing and the way his thoughts were headed. He broke off the kiss, pulling his hand and his head back from her slowly.

"See you tomorrow," he whispered. He leapt to another branch and got down the tree as easily as he’d come up. Chloe placed her fingertips to her lips as she watched him jump to the ground and pick up his backpack that had fallen and had caused her to reopen her window.

He turned to look at her, and gave her a jaunty wave. Okay¸ Chloe decided. There would definitely be no sleeping tonight.

**************************************************

Belle was chattering away as Mimi looked at her reflection in the mirror in her locker. She wiped some stray lipstick off with the tip of her finger, assessed herself again, and decided she looked fine.

Mimi closed her locker door, trying to listen to what Belle was saying. "Wait," Mimi interrupted. "He called you how many times last night?"

Belle turned a slight shade of pink and said, "Three."

Mimi arched an eyebrow at her and Belle threw her hands up. "Okay, okay. He called five times."

"Five times," Mimi mused as she put her purse back on her shoulder. "Not an all-time high, but still respectable. Is that why you’re so happy? Did he do something special last night?"

"Nothing special," Belle sighed. "Just random adorableness."

Joey, a friend of Philip’s and Shawn’s, came to his locker located two doors down from Mimi’s. He turned to look at Mimi, and then went back to his combination. He started turning the knob again, and once he got the door opened, stole another glance at Mimi. This did not escape the notice of Belle or Mimi. Belle turned and shot Mimi an expression of "What’s he doing?" Mimi shrugged. Maybe he wanted help with his homework or something. He’d never talked to her in the two years they’d had lockers next to each other. He had no reason to start now. Belle shook her head and started talking again.

Mimi smiled as she listened to Belle go on and on about her conversations with Shawn. She was so happy for her friend, happy that Belle was so happy. For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel envious of Belle while Belle was talking about a boy. Mimi had her own boy. Granted she couldn’t talk about him, but she had Brady. The thought of being with him made her eyes light up with a smile.

She was suddenly aware of Joey at her elbow. "Hey, Mimi."

"Hi, Joey," she replied, surprised that he was talking to her. This had to be the first time he’d spoken to her since third grade. She had previously been beneath his notice.

"So, I was wondering…" he trailed off, looking at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"Wondering what?" she prompted.

"Wondering what you’re doing on Friday," Joey smiled.

Mimi was taken aback. "Oh, um, I’m sorry, Joey. But I have plans on Friday."

Joey shrugged. "We’ll have to do it another time, then. See ya around, Mimi."

"See ya," she responded, watching him walk away.

"I’m fine, Joey. And you? Good, glad to hear it," Belle said sarcastically, drawing attention to the fact that Joey had totally ignored her. "You know, that’s like the third time today something like that’s happened. First Adam was flirting with you in homeroom, and then Steve in biology." Belle studied her best friend. Mimi was beautiful, witty, smart and fun to be around. It was about time the boys at school had finally noticed. But what had prompted this sudden interest in her?

"Are you seeing someone, Meems?"

Everything seemed to stop for a second as Belle’s question thundered through Mimi’s mind. Had Brady told Belle? Why else would she ask that?

"What…what makes you say that?" Mimi inquired hesitantly, her heart racing.

"You know that old saying, something about how guys always notice you once you’re in love and it’s too late," Belle said as they began walking down the hallway towards class. She stopped short to look at Mimi. "There is definitely something different about you. I haven’t been able to put my finger on it. You have this little smile like you know something that the rest of us don’t. You aren’t keeping a secret from me, are you?"

Mimi didn’t want to lie to Belle. She just wasn’t ready to tell her about Brady yet. "What would make you say that?" There. That wasn’t a lie exactly. She just wasn’t telling Belle the whole truth.

"I don’t know. You know me, Nancy Drew at heart. If there’s a mystery to be had, I want to solve it."

"Look, there’s Chloe," Mimi said, trying to divert Belle’s attention. Belle could be as tenacious as a bulldog if there was something she wanted to know. "Chloe!" Mimi called out, waving to her.

Chloe came over to join her friends, her blue eyes dancing. "Hey guys."

"Um, okay, share-time," Belle said. "There is obviously something going on with you."

A slight smile curved one end of Chloe’s mouth. "Philip asked me out. I told him I’d go, but today I started thinking that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea."

"Whoa, did someone put a stop payment on your reality check?" Mimi asked. "Hello - Philip is awesome, and from what I hear, a really great date. He’ll pull out all the stops, Chloe. You will have a lot of fun."

"What prompted this?" Belle asked, practically jumping up and down. She felt like she was more excited by this news than Chloe was.

"He said he wants to hang out. Have fun. Get to know me better. That sort of thing," Chloe said nonchalantly as if boys like Philip Kiriakis asked her out every day of the week. But her insides were dancing at the possibility of having a real date with Philip.

"It looks like he was telling the truth," Mimi offered.

"What? How would you know?" Belle asked.

"Because he’s standing over there, and his nose hasn’t grown." Chloe and Belle followed Mimi’s line of vision to see Philip quickly approaching them.

"Ladies," Philip greeted. They all chorused a hello back to him, and Philip put his hand on Chloe’s shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Oh no, Chloe thought as she stepped away from Mimi and Belle to talk alone with Philip. She was suddenly certain that he was going to ask her not to say anything about yesterday. He didn’t mean any of it. Chloe suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"Do you have plans for lunch today?" Philip asked.

"What?" Chloe wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

The expression on Chloe’s face threw him. She seemed surprised. He frowned for a second. Philip thought they had reached an understanding last night. He tried to think of something that wouldn’t make him seem so desperate. "Yeah, I have one of those Japanese poems due fifth period and I thought maybe you could help me write it," he smiled.

"Oh, so you want to have lunch with me so I can do your homework for you," Chloe said angrily. Of course. Why else would Philip want to spend time with her besides getting free tutoring? Stupid, she admonished herself. She’d actually believed him last night.

"What? No," Philip said quickly, seeing the expression on her face change to one of anger. "That was just a ploy."

"A ploy?"

"Yeah, if you didn’t want to have lunch with me I was hoping you’d take academic pity on me and still say yes. If you want to help me that’s fine. But I was just using it as an excuse," he winked.

Chloe realized that she’d been holding her breath. She smiled shyly at him. She’d never been pursued by anyone before, and she realized she was always expecting Philip to have the worst intentions when it seemed like he only had the best. She really should cut him a break and stop expecting him to hurt her. It wasn’t fair to either one of them.

"Okay. I’ll have lunch with you. And what kind of poem is it?" she asked.

Philip shrugged his shoulders. "That kind that sounds like a sneeze."

Chloe racked her brain for a minute and then had to stop the laugh that threatened to escape. "You mean a haiku?"

"Yep, that’s the one," Philip grinned. "I’ll see you in class." He gave her arm a soft squeeze and walked away.

Chloe rejoined her friends who had been listening to every word. Belle said excitedly, "Okay, we’re ditching next period and talking. I think Chloe has a lot to tell us."

"Agreed," Mimi replied. The girls began walking briskly down the hallway until they reached Mr. Woods’ classroom. They let themselves in, knowing it would be empty this period as Mr. Woods taught a Driver’s Ed class in another room.

"So, spill it," Belle said once they were all seated.

"I don’t really know where to start," Chloe hesitated.

"Start at the beginning," Mimi suggested.

Chloe pushed her hair back from her face. "Okay. Well, I guess it all started when I went over to his house yesterday afternoon…"

to be continued...