What just happened between Brian and I? she thought. Did he almost kiss me? We've been friends for so long and this would mess everything up. Besides, he was drooling over that girl we met at the movies. What happened here?
Brian unlocked his door and ran to the bathroom to get a towel. Walking up the stairs, he remembered Kate. All he wanted to do at that moment was call her on the phone, but she was leaving the next day.
Oh no! he though. "Her number," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulled out a soggy piece of paper with ink smeared all over it. He could just make out the number. "Thank god! How hard is it to meet a nice girl nowadays?" he said asking himself a rhetorical question. Then he remembered Liz. What happened there? Did I almost kiss her? They only way I have thought of her was as a friend. I hope she doesn't think that I like her as anything more that a best friend. I have to talk to her! Brian raced up the stairs to his bedroom to get changed.
Liz was standing in her kitchen waiting for the popcorn to finish and heard a knock at the back glass sliding door. She looked toward it, but nobody was there. "That was weird!" she said out loud. Then she heard the knock again. She walked over to the door and tried to look outside, but it was too dark so she couldn't see outside. She unlocked the door and took a step outside. "Hello?" she said nervously. "What the hell was that at the window?" She walked back inside and locked the door behind her. She walked back to her kitchen and emptied out the popcorn into a bowl. "I hope Brian gets here soon, I'm really creeped out."
Knock…Knock…Knock…she heard again. She slowly walked to the door. When she was a few feet in front of the door a figure popped out of the darkness and banged it's hands on the door. The figure was wearing a huge Halloween mask on, it was a Dracula/ alien type mask, but Liz didn't realize that it was a mask.
"Ahhh," she screamed at the top of her lungs running out of the room. Before she could leave the room she fainted and dropped to the floor.
Taking off the mask Brian started to laugh hysterically, but then looking in the house, he realized that she had passed out. "Liz!" he screamed banging on the window. He only wanted to play a harmless joke on her. After taking a few steps back, he ran toward the door, trying to break it. Realized that was not a great idea, his shoulder was killing him. He looked around for something to break the glass with. Seeing a lawn chair a few yards away he ran to it, picked it up, and ran back to the door. Swinging the chair backward, he looked at Liz and she lifted her head slowly and looked at him. She tried to stand up but felt a little dizzy, so she crawled over to the door and unlocked it.
"Liz, are you okay?" Brian asked rushing to help her to her feet and bring her to the couch.
"No, I'm not okay, you jerk," Liz replied elbowing Brian him the stomach.
"You know I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you that much!" he apologized.
"Yes you did, Frick! Remember I know you better than almost anybody else! You love seeing me suffer!" she said jokingly, but really accepting his apology. "What did you do to yourself?" she asked noticing Brian was rubbing his upper arm and shoulder.
"I tried to knock the glass door down, so I rammed into it, but as you might have noticed, my shoulder was the only thing that broke!"
"That's gonna leave a mark!" she said as she rubbed his shoulder and felt the swelling. "C'mon, I'll get you an ice pack and some Advil for the pain. "Thanks, babe!" he said.
"Where did you leave the movie?" she asked handing him an ice pack, and reaching for a glass to fill with water so he could swallow the pills.
"It's right outside…gulk, gulk, gulk…the door. I dropped it there before I scared you literally half to death," he said swallowing the pills.
"I'll go get it." When she returned to the kitchen, she found Brian laughing so hard there were tears rolling down his cheeks. "What?" she said.
"Aha ha ha, I…ha ha…can't get over… ha ha…the face you made…when I popped out with that mask on!" he said returning to his hysterics.
"Oh, you moron!!" she said elbowing him again. "Let's go watch this fricken movie!"
"Alrighty then!" Brian replied, still giggling about what he had done.
When they were sitting on the couch, watching the movie, the only light that was on in the room was the light from the TV.
Remembering what had happened by the pool that night Brian said, "Liz, we need to talk."
"Um, yeah, we really do!" she said turning the volume of the TV down.
"What happened before, it didn't mean anything to me. I don't know what happened, but all you are to me is a friend," they both said simotaniously in their own words. They looked at each other and smiled.
"I'm so glad that you feel the same way. Us having a romantic relationship would be…" Liz said pausing trying to find a word.
"Weird!" he suggested.
"Yeah, it really would be weird!"
"Give me a hug, my nothing more than a friend!"
After a big hug, Brian shouted, "Ahhh, we missed my favorite part!" Brian said running to the VCR to rewind the tape.
"No, you know that's my least favorite part!" she shouted chasing after him.
"But I like that part!" he whined as she ran over to him and pulled him to the floor.
"Let it go! You've only seen the movie a BILLION times!"
"Yeah, I watch it to see that part."
"Oh, sure. You're not going to rewind it!" she shouted.
"Oh, no?" he said with a sly smile.
"What is going on through your brain, Brian?"
"Mouhahaha!" Brian said as he leaped toward her and tickled her.
"Aaahhhhhh! Hahahahahha," Liz shouted at the top of her lungs. "Stop it," she managed to say between laughs. "Stop, B-Rok!"
Just then Laney and Riley walked through the door. "Bye guys! See ya tomorrow!" they shouted to Darren and Zach.
"Well what do we have here?" Riley asked with a smirk on her face.
"Darren, Zach! Brian is over here!" Laney shouted to the guys.
"Okay, we're just gonna go home though."
"Bye!"
"Well, as I said before…what do we have here?" "Oh, I was just tickling Liz here."
Riley and Laney walked up the stairs to their rooms. "See you guys in the morning. I'm so tired!"
"Go' night."
"Just tickling?" Liz said pushing Brian off his knees to the floor.
"Ouchies!" he shouted as he landed.
"Ouchies?!" Liz said as she began to laugh again. "Are you a four year old girl, Brian?"
"I landed on my shoulder!" he whined
"Awe! Lemme see your shoulder."
"I can't roll me sleeve up!"
"Your male, you can take your shirt off." He took his shirt off and uncovered a huge swelled bump on his shoulder. "Geez, Brian, how fast were you running? You have this huge thing on your arm and you didn't break the glass? That has to be tough glass!"
"Your tellin' me!"
"C'mon, Frick, let's finish watchin' the movie!"
"Alrighty," he replied. "Just lemme get more ice!"
"Kay."
"By the way, Liz, I forgot to mention this to you earlier," Brian said in a serious voice.
"What?" Liz asked a bit worried.
"I absolutely LOVE your shirt!" he joked saying it in a silly voice while walked out of the room to get more ice.
Liz looked down at her shirt and saw the * N Sync picture on it. "I knew you'd like it!" she joked. Then she sad down on the couch and watched the rest of the movie.
Lauren M. Elizabeth "Littrell" © 1999
