Being the good, mommy's girl that I am, I got bored with the tv and headed to
the closet and was vacuuming before I knew it. Although, you know, I can never
clean or do anything without music, so I grabbed any cd that was first on my
desk and popped it into the stereo. Before I could help it, I was singing at
the top of my lungs. In tune or outta tune, does it really matter?
"WE DON'T HAFTA RUSH THE NIGHT AWAY, THERE'S ALWAYS GONNA BE ANOTHER DAY, A
TIME TO MAKE LOVE AND A TIME TO PLAY." I sang tone-deaf to K-Ci and JoJo. I
luv these guys, I thought, making my voice unbearably high! I turned on the
vacuum and began dancing, singing and vacuuming at the same time. Trust me,
this takes talent!
"WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY, TAKE LOVE SLOWLY!" I continued on with the second
verse. Obviously I had the stereo too loud, as well as my voice, because I
wasn't able to hear a thing else.
"DAMN GIRL!" I heard. A shriek came from my lips as I turned around. I nearly
fainted, I spun so quickly. I hit the vacuum 'off' button with my foot and let
it drop.
"AHHHH!" A frantic cry called out, until I saw who I was yelling at.
"Sorry!" Nick laughed. "I knocked twice, rang the doorbell thrice and heard
the music. The door was unlocked, hope you don't mind." I motioned to the
stereo, meaning I couldn't hear a thing. I ran over and turned the volume knob
to the complete opposite side it was on.
"What?" I yelled, as if the stereo was still blaring. I blushed, "Oops, what?"
I used a calmer, quieter voice.
"I said, I knocked twice, and rang the doorbell three times. The music was on,
really loud," He laughed, "The door was open so I came in."
"Oh, sorry about that." I picked up the vacuum, which I nearly toppled over. I
looked down at myself, as I saw Nick's glance do the same. Blushing, rosy
cheeks filled my face.
"Nice look." He commented, with a sly smile.
"Nice timing." I slyly said back.
"Sorry! If you want me to go, I can." Like I was going to say no to this QT!
"No, that's okay, if you don't mind my 'flannel pants and gray "PENN STATE" t-
shirt'!" I joked.
"Not in the least." His smooth talking made me blush. "So, what's up?" He
threw in.
"Not much, speaking of which, what's up with you? Haven't seen you in school
for what's it been? Since the night you 'showed me the town'!" I laughed, and
made quotations with my fingers.
"Uh yeah, I went out of town with my fam." He looked down.
"The first week of school?" I spit out of curiosity, before I could bite my
lip. Damn, I needa learn to not be so nosy. Nick gave me a strange look,
somewhat guilty, somewhat hurt, and some other motion I couldn't determine.
"We go on a lot of vaca's." He said simply, glancing out my front bay window.
"Oh." Was all I could come up with. I was sorta curious about the look. I had
to delve deeper. "Wait, isn't that bad for the basket ball team?"
I heard a sigh, Nick breathed in quickly. He sat silently, as if thinking of
an explanation. This made me cautious.
"Well... I'm not quite on the b-ball team.." He started, but I guess the
question caught him off guard, cuz it didn't seem like he knew how to finish.
Great, I meet a great guy and find out he lied to me! Why me? Thoughts of
weirdness filled my head.
"Okay, now I'm way confused.. like I'm not always," I tried to flash a half-
smile, "But, everyone told me you were on it."
I heard another deep sigh come from his lips. I waited for an answer, but he
seemed to be thinking forever.
"They said you were the star player." I commented again, breaking his train of
thoughts. Desperate. I don't quite know why, but that's how I felt. I guess
I'm a nosy person, and you can't just spill half the beans with me, you gotta
dish it all.
I waited impatiently.
“I’m not on the basketball team.” He said, I sensed irritation in his tone.
“Then why did everyone tell me you were?” I’m not quite sure why, but anger
raged from within.
“Well...”
“Don’t give me that well... I want the truth and nothing but the truth!” A
smile came over me and I let out one giggle at what I had just said. Am I
putting him on trial? Eh, sure I am. He didn’t laugh though. I heard him draw
in a deep breath, and then it all came out so quickly.
“I was on the basketball team last year, until I mysteriously disappeared for
a few months. I was, obviously kicked off the team, but when I was back and
playoffs were just around the corner, I was let on, because of, well my
ability. Everyone wondered where I had went and I told them all to forget
about it. I haven’t told anyone and I don’t think they’ve even noticed all the
times I’ve been gone.”
It was so confusing to hear him say whatever he just did. I sat down on the
ground, cross-legged, and put my face in my hands. It felt like I could cry,
but I didn’t have a reason to, did I?
The feeling of Nick’s palm touch the top on my shoulder, I quivered. I don’t
even know who he is, especially now, but there’s some kind of special bonding
that’s pushing me towards him. I pushed my thoughts aside, as I moved my hands
away and sat up completely, to face him.
“Ya okay?” He asked.
“Actually, confused. Why were you gone for such an incredibly long time? Were
you kidnapped or what? You were gone for a few days this week, is this reason
the same as then?” Questions piled up. He laughed. It hurt to hear him laugh
as if he was of higher knowledge, or something like that.
“No, I wasn’t kidnapped.” He calmed his roar of laughter. “And yeah it’s the
same reason I was gone for a few days, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s forget
about it.”
Did he just say lets forget about it? I blinked.
“Forget about it? Forget about what? How can I forget about ‘it’, when I don’t
even know what it is!” He looked at me funny. His blue eyes were unreadable.
“Nick, I think it’s best that you just leave.” I stated and pointed to the
door.
“But I thought we were going to do something. I was gonna show you around.” He
pointed out, as if our confusing conversation hadn’t even taken place.
“If I knew who you really were... You can’t just leave me out in the dark like
this. I don’t have a clue who you are and I’m very confused right now. Just
leave, please.” I tried to put how I was feeling into words, but it all came
out wrong. Without saying another word, I watched him walk out and softly shut
my front door, as I remained in whatever state of mind I was in.
The next two weeks at school were rough. I was extremely quiet and avoided
many people, especially Nick, as much as possible. Nick wasn’t too hard to
avoid, seeing as he wasn’t even at school for three days one week and two the
next, not like I was counting or anything.