Chapter 3
As soon as she walked in my eyes were glued to her. Taylor following right behind her introduced us to Janie, our new neighbor. Well, sort of, she lived in the house directly behind ours in the other neighborhood. Her long tan legs, her bright smile, the tight gray shorts, her long brown hair, and that red tank top all helped me feel really attracted to her. For some reason just as soon as I saw her, I wanted her. The only thing stopping me was Taylor. He had met her first, he had known her first, and as far as I was concerned she was his unless they weren’t going out or anything like that. But were they? That’s the part that worried me. I could be sitting here fantasizing about Taylor’s girlfriend! That would probably be bad, but oh well. It’s not like he doesn’t have enough girls already. There were millions of girls out there just dying to get into his pants and he picks one that I just so happen to like too although she knew him first. Figures. Just my luck. The other guy gets the left- overs. Why was I thinking this way?
She sat down on the floor and Zac, she, and I played video games. For once I met a girl that liked video games too. That was a first, but Taylor was getting kind of upset b/c she hadn’t said anything to him since they had gotten there .He just sat there behind us and watched her having fun. She hadn’t even turned around to see what he was doing or anything. That made me think. Maybe they weren’t going out. She seemed to be having a lot of fun from what I could tell; but then again I’m not the most observant person in the world here. After being killed off in the game it was sort of over. She looked at Taylor and asked if he wanted to play, finally noticing that he existed. I studied his melancholy expression. He sighed, nodded with a fake smile, and took her controller. I let Zac play with mine so that I could talk to Janie. She sat on Tay’s bed, and I got up and sat beside her reclining against his pillows.
"
So, how old are you, Janie?" I asked her wanting to start a conversation.Her eyes remained glued to the screen, but she still answered.
"16."
"Cool. When did you move here?"
"About a week ago b/c my mom wanted us to start over at a totally new place," she finally turned to me.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" I asked curiously.
I was trying to get to the question about her, if she had one, boyfriend.
"Yeah, I have a brother," she mumbled.
"That’s cool, do you miss your friend’s back at home?"
"I guess. I never had very many friends so it didn’t matter anyway," she confessed looking down at her hands.
Taylor looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Not even a boyfriend?" there I asked it.
She gave me a weird look though.
"No, I haven’t had a boyfriend since 8th grade and I’m going to be a junior in high school this year."
"That’s hard to believe," Taylor muttered.
"Yeah really," I agreed. "A pretty girl like you, I would think would have guys lined up waiting to ask you out!"
She shook her head, "Well, you think wrong my friend, I’m boyfriendless at the present moment."
There it was the answer that I had been waiting for the whole night! I grinned at her. While I was on the subject I decided to explore deeper into the matter of boyfriends.
"So, do you want one?"
She turned to me and just gave me another look. I scrunched my shoulders and replied a silent "what?" indicating that I was just curious. Taylor also glared at me. I know he likes her or he wouldn’t be so defensive. The signs are all there. He does like her and he knows I’m trying to win over his newfound woman. Well, she wasn’t his, yet.
"What’s with the interrogation?" she asked me.
"I’m just curious that’s all," I sort of lied.
I was more than curious.
"Well, I guess, but it depends on who it is," she smiled a little.
I grinned to myself too. I really liked her smile. It was so cute. She had this innocence to her but yet she could be very intimidating at times too. I totally dug that. I wonder if she’d ever go for someone like me.
"Oh, ok, just wonderin’."
She sighed and turned back to the TV just as Zac looked back at her. Uh- oh. He had that look in his eyes that meant he was gonna do something. I prepared myself for his eruption of stupidity.
"Would you go out with me?" he asked rather bluntly. "I mean like if I were to ask you, you know, would you?"
I hope Zac doesn’t like her. But then again you can never tell with him. He just asks a lot of those really stupid and lame questions that nobody really cares about, but sometimes, occasionally, he’ll ask it for our benefit. For the present moment though, Janie gave him a thoughtful look as if studying his mannerisms and the way he was.
"I dunno . . ." she replied with some doubt in her voice.
Zac popped out another question.
"Would you go out with Ike?"
I choked and pretended that I just did not hear that. I turned away from the conversation and picked up a book on the dresser beside Tay’s bed and flipped through it. Did I want to hear her answer? Yes, I did. So I acted like I wasn’t paying attention to them even though I really was so I wouldn’t look so obvious.
"Well," she glanced at me and then back at Zac, "yeah."
I let out a huge sigh of relief. That was a good sign.
"What about Tay?"
She looked at his back, the side that wasn’t facing the TV screen, and smiled. This may not be so good. She’s daydreaming. I can see it in her eyes. She’s probably thinking how much she wants Taylor. Figures.
"Yes," was all she said.
Zac nodded satisfied and turned back to the game.
I knew it. I could’ve answered that for her. I looked at Taylor to see his reaction, but he did nothing. I knew though that inside he must’ve been secretly smiling and letting out huge sighs of his own. Then, I looked back at her, and surprisingly she didn’t care that he hadn’t reacted to it at all. That’s probably what she wanted. Oh well. There’s still some hope, some chance that she could possibly like me. I just had to prove myself or do something somehow.
Janie stayed with us till about dinnertime that night.