Kristyn leaned her head against Josh's shoulder, closed her eyes, and stood still, resting in his arms. She felt transfixed at that moment, and felt as though she couldn't move. It was a calm and tranquil moment.
Josh gently rested his chin on the top of Kristyn's head, and continued to hold her in a tender hug. They remained still, as though they secretly hoped the hug would never end.
Kristyn slowly lifted her head, and raised her eyes up at Josh, looking into his brown eyes. Josh stared back into her misty blue-gray eyes, engrossed in her fixed stare.
"Josh...." Kristyn whispered, her eyes fastened to his.
Josh didn't say anything. He continued to contemplate Kristyn. Slowly, he started to lean forward, his head moving gradually closer to hers.
Kristyn felt her eyes widen. She stared at him in astonishment as little by little, his head came closer to hers.
What is he doing? Kristyn thought anxiously. Is he going to do what I think he's going to do?
All of a sudden, a loud noise rang out, interrupting the deep moment and intense mood. Kristyn and Josh broke apart and whirled around in surprise, just in time to see Christian quickly pull forward the curtain to the living room window, darting out of view.
Kristyn felt her face redden slightly. She lowered her eyes to the floor of the porch, and timidly looked over at Josh. She noticed Josh was blushing as well.
Kristyn shook her head. "I don't believe him. He's really something," she remarked, as she glanced back over at the window Christian had been peering through earlier.
Josh laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, that's true. But, he's not so bad. He's okay."
Kristyn rolled her eyes. "Try having him as your brother. Maybe then you wouldn't think so!"
Josh laughed again. "Well, maybe you're right. I guess I wouldn't know how he is as a brother."
Kristyn smiled, but didn't say anything. She glanced down at the ground and folded her arms a little awkwardly.
For a moment, there was silence. Neither of them spoke. Kristyn kept her eyes glued to the floor. She was too diffident to look at Josh nor meet his eyes. Finally, Josh spoke up, breaking the tense silence.
"Uh, listen. I should be going now...." Josh started.
"You have to go now?" Kristyn blurted out. As soon as she said that, she felt stupid.
I can't believe I just said that, Kristyn thought, feeling embarrassed.
Josh raised his brown eyes at Kristyn and smiled. "Yeah, I should probably be heading out now," he said. "I'll see you at school on Monday, though."
Kristyn nodded. "Yeah, that's true."
Josh tilted his head to the side and gazed at her. "I'll call you, too."
Kristyn felt her heart skip a beat. "Oh....o-okay." She smiled meekly.
Josh grinned back. "See you later." He started to turn to leave, but stopped quickly.
"Oh, wait a sec. I totally forgot." He stuck his right hand in the pocket of his jacket, and removed the Romeo and Juliet book.
"Here. You dropped this earlier," Josh said. "I was meaning to give it back to you before, but I completely forgot about it." He handed Kristyn the book.
"Oh. Thanks," Kristyn said, as she gently took the book in her left hand.
Josh smiled. "No problem." He stared at her for a moment again.
Kristyn looked away. "Well....I guess I'll see you at school, then."
"Yeah." Josh nodded. "At school." He gave her one last look.
"See ya," Josh murmured. He turned around to leave.
"See ya," Kristyn repeated softly under her breath. She watched as Josh crossed down to the end of her driveway, and stepped onto the sidewalk. He looked back over at Kristyn, and gave her a small wave.
Kristyn raised her left hand and gave a small wave back, as Josh turned and made his way down the road. She watched from the porch as Josh reached the end of the street, disappearing around the corner. She remained standing there for a moment, trying to grasp what had just happened.
Wow, Kristyn thought. I can't believe it.
With that, she turned around, hurried over to the front door, pulling it open, and rushing inside quickly, slamming the door shut behind her. She leaned back against the door and stared up at the ceiling, letting out a huge breath.
Christian came barging into the foyer from the living room; a suspicious look on his face. He gave Kristyn a curious look.
"Well???" Christian demanded.
Kristyn shifted her gaze over to her brother. "Well, what??" she retorted.
Christian raised his eyebrows. "Well....what happened???" he demanded.
Kristyn narrowed her eyes. "You have to ask me that? Shouldn't you know already? I mean, after all, you were spying on me." She gave him a pointed look.
"What?" Christian pretended to look flabbergasted and baffled. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Kristyn looked at Christian, giving him a hard look. "Don't play dumb. I saw you looking out the window at us," she pointed out.
"Oh. That. Well, I just wanted to see how the weather was outside. And you guys just happened to be in front of the window." Christian shrugged, feigning innocence. "A coincidence. That's all."
Kristyn rolled her eyes and nodded. "Right. Sure," she said mordantly. She stood up, headed over to the staircase, and began making her way up the stairs.
"Hey, where are you going?" Christian called up after her.
"Someplace you can't spy on me," Kristyn replied, without bothering to turn back around.
Kristyn reached her room and entered it, shutting the door after her. She picked up her cordless phone, sat down on her bed, and quickly dialed a number.
"Hello?" A voice answered at the other end of the phone line.
"Hi, Jo? It's Kristyn," Kristyn said.
"Kristyn? Hi," Johannah Thomas greeted. "What's up?"
Kristyn glanced up at the ceiling of her room. "You won't believe what happened to me today."
"Really?" Johannah sounded interested. "Tell me!"
"Okay, you know Josh Ledger, right?" Kristyn asked.
"Yeah, of course. The good-looking, big-shot soccer player and track star," Johannah replied. "What about him?"
Kristyn glanced around her room. "Well, I ran into him today at the library."
"Really? The library? Hmmm.....that's interesting," Johannah commented. "The library, huh? The place with all the books."
"Jo, you know perfectly well what a library is," Kristyn said with a laugh.
Johannah giggled. "Yeah, I know. I just find that very interesting -- you know, a jock at the library, that's all. So, what happened? What was he doing at the library?"
"Well, you see, that's just the thing. He, umm, kind of followed me to the library..." Kristyn trailed off.
"He followed you to the library??" Johannah repeated. "Really? Are you serious??"
"Well, yes, I believe so," Kristyn affirmed. "That's what he said, anyway."
"What?? You mean he told you he followed you over there???" Johannah demanded in disbelief.
Kristyn thought back to when Josh had confronted her at the library. "Well, yeah. I mean, I asked him what he was doing there, and he said that he followed me."
"Oh, wow......" Johannah said slowly. "That's really....interesting. Go on."
"I asked him why he followed me, and he said that he wanted to talk to me....." Kristyn continued.
"Are you serious??" Johannah asked excitedly.
"Ummm....yeah, why would I joke about this?" Kristyn asked, sounding perplexed.
"Oh, no, I mean, well....I don't know. I'm just really surprised, that's all," Johannah explained.
"Well, you're telling me. Can you imagine how I felt??" Kristyn pointed out.
"It sounds so exciting!" Johannah exclaimed.
"Exciting?" Kristyn repeated. "Uhh....that wouldn't be my first choice of vocabulary to describe it."
"But it must have been exciting!" Johannah insisted. "I mean, the way he went out of his way to go see you and everything. Go on -- continue. I want to hear the rest of what happened."
Kristyn explained the whole scenario -- from how Josh confronted her at the library, how he walked her home, her predicament when they ran into Matt and Robin, and how he came to her house to apologize and return her book. After Kristyn finished recalling the whole story, Johannah let out a breath of amazement.
"Wow...." Johannah commented. "That-that's really something."
"What do you mean?" Kristyn asked.
"The way all of that happened....it's all so....so cool...." Johannah mused.
"Cool??" Kristyn repeated. "How is it cool?? I don't understand."
"Kris, don't you get it?" Johannah asked.
Kristyn frowned. "Uhh....get what?"
"It's so obvious!" Johannah proclaimed.
"Uhhh....what is?" Kristyn felt puzzled.
"Okay, Kristyn. Listen to me," Johannah instructed.
"Okay...." Kristyn agreed slowly.
"Don't you see? Isn't it apparent?" Johannah inquired.
"Umm....no, not really," Kristyn said uncertainly. "What are you talking about?"
"Ugh! Kristyn!" Johannah exclaimed. "How can you be so oblivious? It's as clear as day!"
"What is?? I don't know what you're talking about!" Kristyn protested, feeling frustrated.
"How can you not??? It's right in front of you!!" Johannah cried.
Kristyn felt annoyed. "Jo, if it's that obvious that you know what this is all about and that I still don't, then why don't you just tell me??? I mean, it's really not helping if you just keep on badgering me about not knowing what it is, you know!"
"Okay, okay. Calm down. I'll tell you," Johannah said.
"You want me to calm down??" Kristyn repeated in disbelief. She sighed. "Okay, well, never mind that; forget it. Just tell me what's on your mind. Tell me what you think this is all about."
"Kristyn," Johannah said seriously. "Don't you see? It's right under your nose. It couldn't be more obvious." She paused. "Josh likes you."
"Huh??" Kristyn felt shocked. She shook her head, even though Johannah couldn't see her do so. "Uh-uh. No way. Very funny, Jo."
"I'm totally serious!" Johannah protested. "You don't believe me?"
"No!" Kristyn said flatly.
"Kris," Johannah said. "You have to believe me. I'm not kidding. He likes you. No joke."
Kristyn let out another sigh. "And what, dare I ask, makes you think that?"
"Well, let me ask you this. Why would he go out of his way to follow you to the library? Why would he tell his own friends to leave you alone? Why would he go after you and try to comfort you? Why would he go to your house to apologize in person, and return your book?" Johannah pressed.
Kristyn sighed. "I don't know. Maybe he was just being nice. Maybe he felt sorry for me. I really don't know."
"Okay, then answer this. Why else would he almost kiss you??" Johannah paused. "You tell me that."
"Hey, I don't know for sure if that's what he was going to do," Kristyn pointed out.
Johannah rolled her eyes, even though Kristyn couldn't see her. "Oh, please. Why else would he move his head closer to yours? To see if you had a pimple on your face?? Please."
Kristyn blinked in suprise. She hadn't considered all of those little things that Johannah had obviously noticed and surveyed. She frowned slightly, as she thought about it.
Could Jo be right? Are these all signs? Kristyn wondered. Is it possible? Could it be true?
"Well??" Johannah demanded. "Now what do you think about that???"
"I guess you could be right," Kristyn admitted. "It's possible, I suppose. But it's unlikely...."
"Unlikely??" Johannah echoed. "Why unlikely??"
"Well, because, you know, he's so.....so....." Kristyn mused.
"So....what?" Johannah wanted to know.
Kristyn sighed. "I mean, well, for one thing, he's really popular, and well, I don't see why he'd like me. Also, there are a lot of other girls -- popular girls -- who like him."
"Such as?" Johannah wanted to know.
"Well, Tara, for one," Kristyn told her.
Johannah made a face, although Kristyn could not see it. "That ditz? She doesn't stand a chance."
"And to top it off, he's older than me, too," Kristyn finished. She shook her head, despite the fact that Johannah couldn't see her. "I just don't know why he would like me, of all people."
"Kris!" Johannah exclaimed.
"What?" Kristyn said.
Johannah sighed. "You're really selling yourself short, you know that?"
"Am I?" Kristyn asked. "Or am I being realistic here?"
"Realistic, no. In denial, yes," Johannah replied.
"In denial??" Kristyn repeated. "What's that supposed to mean??"
"Simple. You refuse to accept the fact that Josh really likes you," Johannah replied.
Kristyn let out an annoyed sighed. "Jo, why do you keep on insisting that??"
"Why do keep denying it??" Johannah shot back.
Kristyn bit her lower lip. "Jo, I'm just trying to be realistic here."
"Well, if that's the case, you certainly aren't doing a very good job of it," Johannah remarked. "You know, if anything, you should feel happy. A great guy likes you a lot."
"You don't know that for sure," Kristyn objected.
"Oh, I think I do," Johannah replied. "Believe me, I know."
`;-_= Chapter 20 =_-;`
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