we were surrounded by other SCC students, when we were walking together on campus. But to be alone with her, in her room…I might say some things that would get me into trouble. Talk about things I shouldn’t.
For instance, I might be tempted to say how much I wanted to ask her out, how badly I wanted to take her out on a date and make her happy. Bree didn’t know how to respond to me half the time, so I could only imagine how freaked out she’d be if I went ahead and said something like that.
I didn’t want to upset her, or freak her out. I only wanted to make her happy.
Before I persuaded myself out of it—although, who the hell was I kidding? There was no way I could ever turn down an invitation to spend more time with Bree, no matter where we would be—I texted her back with an affirmative. She told me a time and her address, and I was practically exploding with giddiness. In fact, I didn’t think I knew when the last time I’d been so excited was.
I went through my closet, trying to find an outfit that said I cared, but not an outfit that said I was trying too hard. Trying too hard was kind of my specialty, and I liked to think it made me endearing, but you never knew. Bree was unlike any other girl I’d ever met, and I didn’t want to scare her away.
The only thing I wanted to do was the opposite, actually. Reel her in, hook her and not let her go.
Okay, that analogy took a weird turn, but whatever.
By the time I was finally happy with my outfit choice, it was time to leave. Her house was twenty-five minutes away, apparently on the other side of the map from SCC as me. Hopefully, by the time I got there, my nerves would calm down.
That was probably too much to hope, with how much I liked this girl.
I couldn’t even say why I liked her so much; I just did. I thought about her a lot. Her bright green eyes that usually held a seriousness that killed me inside. Her almost obscenely pink hair that hurt to look at in the sunlight. The way her shoulders slouched anytime she was sitting down, how she seemed to curl into herself, as if she didn’t want to exist. Her smile, her laugh. I’d only seen and heard them a few times, but I wanted so much more.
Before I knew it, I was pulling up to her house, parking on the side of the street. She lived in a small development, so cars on the street were allowed—a good thing, because it seemed like their driveway was pretty full already.
This did not look like a rented house. This looked like a house Bree would live in with her family.
I was about to meet her family, I realized. As I got out of the car, I glanced down at myself. I’d chosen dark blue jeans, a thin jacket, and a clean grey shirt. Did I look okay? Did I look like someone a girl would want to introduce to her family? I had no idea.
I’d had girlfriends before, a few, but it’d been a little while, if I was honest. Though, even with those past girlfriends in the picture, I couldn’t say whether or not I’d ever wanted to date someone as badly as I wanted Bree. She had somehow built her own altar inside my head, and I couldn’t stop her.
Well, it was too late now to turn around and change. I was here, so I had to suck it up and meet her family while looking like a loser.
Not sure what I would’ve worn, but whatever. Maybe it was time for me to go shopping and buy some new clothes. Dress to impress and all that.
My palms were sweaty as I headed up to the front porch, going to the front door. I rang the bell, waiting for someone to answer the door. Hopefully Bree. Hopefully she could introduce me to her family, and I wouldn’t be thrust into meeting some stranger immediately.
Thankfully, it was Bree’s pink head that I saw first, her small frame that greeted me as she opened the door. “Hey,” she said, sounding just like she did yesterday.
God, had it only been twenty-four hours? Felt like forever since I’d seen her.
That was crazy, I knew, but I also knew that meant I