A Life Like Mine (17 page)

              “Good for you,” I said, trying to sound happy…again.

              “Thanks. Where’s Betty and Jack?” Keri looked around for them.             

              “Making-out somewhere I’m sure. Are you guys going off on your own too?” I looked at them questioningly.

              “Yes,” Ben answered before Keri could object.

              “I guess so,” Keri laughed.

              “See you guys later.” I smiled. “I guess somebody wants some loving,” I whispered to Keri. She giggled and walked off with Ben leaving me alone. I’m sensing a pattern here.

              “Hey, Ashley. Where is everybody?” I heard a quiet, deep voice say.

              “Tom?” I looked at him. “I didn’t think you were actually going to come. I knew you were supposed to, but…” I gave him a big bear hug.

              “It’s nice to see you too.” He smiled hugging me back. I had forgotten how much I missed him hanging out with us. “Want to go for a walk, Ash?” He asked looking around.

              “Sure” I followed Tom’s lead.

              “I’ve forgotten how nice it was to hang out with you guys,” Tom said.

              “Why did you stop in the first place?” I asked.

              “You made me nervous,” He answered a little too quickly.

              “What?” I stopped. “Don’t blame that on me. I didn’t make you stop hanging out with us. Besides…what about me made you nervous?” I asked and started walking again.

              “I liked you,” He responded.

              “You did? Why didn’t you say something? For a little while, I liked you too.” I sounded sad, which I was.

              “I thought that you only liked me because everyone said that you should,” He countered.

              “Well, I guess you’re right.” I started walking a little slower. “Do you still…you know…” I trailed off.

              “Do you really want me to answer that?” Tom looked at me. We stopped walking, and for a minute he and I were just staring at each other. Right then, I was so lonely. I hadn’t heard a thing from Adam, and Tom was extra cute today. I leaned in towards him. He leaned in at the same time that I did.

              “There you are!” We retreated and turned quickly. I gasped and saw Annie walking towards us.

              “Hi, Annie,” I said quickly, trying hard not to blush.

              “So you guys already met, huh?” Annie looked at me.

              “What are you talking about?” I frowned. “I’ve known Tom for a really long time.”

              “So your name is Tom?” Annie inquired.

              “Your name is Annie?” Tom questioned.

              “Wait. I’m totally confused. What’s going on right now?” I asked.

              “This is my boyfriend,” Annie said.

              “This is my girlfriend,” Tom said at the same time.

              “You’re what?” I was dumbfounded. The guy I was about to kiss had a girlfriend. He knew it too. What a scum. Should I tell Annie? Maybe I should talk to Tom first, the little horny butthead.

              “We’re going out,” Annie answered. Tom put his arm around her shoulders. She turned and kissed him on the lips. It was
all
tongue, and I was
all
disgusted.

              “Excuse me. Annie, could I talk to Tom for a second?”

              “Sure, don’t be too long.” Annie smiled as she walked over to the swings.

              “Tom, I think you need to explain something to me.” My eyes were full of anger. “If you knew you were going out with Annie, why did you almost kiss me?”

              “You’re almost going out with that Adam guy. Shouldn’t I be asking you the same question?” He retorted.

              “Hey, I’m not going out with him. You’re actually going out with her. Do you still like me?” I asked.

              “No,” He replied.

              “You’re telling me the truth?”

              “Yes.” He stood very straight.

              “What if I leaned in and kissed you right now? Would you fight it?” I asked.

              “Yes.” He hadn’t moved. He was like one of those soldiers in Great Britain that never moved. You could moon them and they wouldn’t have cracked a smile.

              “Okay.” I leaned in and gave him one of the biggest kisses ever. It wasn’t the greatest feeling, but I had to test him, if he did still like me, I was going to make him tell Annie. Man, I feel like a totally sleaze. I’ve got to stop talking to Lena. She must be rubbing off on me. If you had come up to me before the football game and told me I was going to do all of this crazy stuff, I would have laughed in your face. “You didn’t fight me!” I said.

              “So?” He answered.

“So you still like me.”

“No I don’t,” He objected.

“Then why did you let me kiss you?”

“I’m a guy,” He stated.

“Not all guys are as horny as you,” I retorted.

“I got a free kiss out of it. I don’t actually like you. You’re just easy.”

              “You’re such a scum! What happened to you? You used to be so nice!” I answered.

              “I grew up.  And I’m not a scum. I like Annie, but she’s just a cheerleader. She’s bound to be easy,” He answered.

              “I’m so glad that you stopped hanging out with us. It really made everyone a lot happier. Annie is my friend and there’s no way that you’re going to hurt her! “

              “You can’t stop me,” He said.

              “Says who?”

              “Says me. You’re still attracted to me, and if I tell Adam that you came onto me…Hey, I could just lie and say you and I were ‘intimate.’ He wouldn’t be too happy about that would he?” Tom smirked.

              “Yeah, and I could tell the whole school, that we did sleep together,” I answered.

              “How would that hurt me?” He asked.

              “Let’s just say that everyone will find out you have a dysfunction ‘down there’ and that wouldn’t look too good either,” I threatened.

              “What?” Tom’s jaw dropped. I was a little shocked at what I had said myself.  I’m never that crude, but desperate times…

              “You heard me. Now beat it you leech!” I yelled.

              “Don’t be too proud of yourself. Annie won’t listen to you. Go ahead and try. I can guarantee you, she’ll get mad at you and come running to me.”

              “Whatever.” I walked off and ran over to Annie.

              “Where’s Tom?” Annie asked.

              “You have to dump him, he’s a jerk,” I informed her.

              “What?”

              “I used to like him, and he used to like me. He and I were walking earlier today, and we almost kissed,” I answered.

              “You almost kissed. How could you do that to me?” Annie looked hurt.

              “I didn’t know you guys were going out at the time, and I was kind of lonely. So…Well, I kissed him to see if he still liked me after I found out you and him were going out. He didn’t even put up a fight,” I explained.

              “What?” Annie got really angry.

              “No, don’t get mad. You need to break up with him. He’s no good. He thinks that you’re easy,” I informed her.

              “You skank!” She slapped me. I sat there in shock. “I thought we were friends.” She ran off towards Tom. 

              Okay, so that didn’t go over very well. Tom was right. Darn it. Maybe I hadn’t handled it that well. Okay, okay. I handled it as badly as humanly possible. I put my head in my hands. What a mess. I just wasn’t any good at this.

              “Ash, are you okay?” Betty came up to me and asked.

              “I’m fine,” I lied.

              “Are you sure?”

              “Yes,” I answered.

              “We’re going to go home. Do you want a ride?” Betty motioned to Jack starting up his car.

              “No, I’m just going to sit here for a little while. It’s kind of relaxing.”

              “Okay. I’ll see you later. You’re sure you’re okay?” She asked me one more time.

              “Yes.” I laughed. “Go on ahead. I’ll be fine.”

              “Okay.” Betty hopped into the passenger seat. I watched as they drove off.

              “Ashley?” Who was it now?

              “Yes?” It was Keri and Ben.

              “What are you still doing here? The park is kind of empty. Want to come home with us?” Ben asked.

              “I’m good thanks.” I shrugged.

              “Are you…”

              “I’m fine. I’ll see you guys later. Now just go. I need to think,” I told them.

              “Okay. If you’re sure.” Ben and Keri drove off too. I looked over at the basketball court to see if Tina was still there with that guy. Sure enough, there she was pretending that she sucked at the sport. I knew better. Tina had gone to state competitions because she was so good.

              “Ashley!” She saw me looking and walked over to me. The guy followed.

              “Hi, are you having fun?” I pretended I was in a good mood.

              “The best. This guy really knows how to play!” She laughed.

              “Good.” I looked over at him. He had bleached hair and was fairly tall.

              “Hi,” He said.

              “Hey. What’s your name?” I waved.

              “Hank,” He answered.

              “You’re Hank?” I asked. Jeez, this was a small world.

              “Yeah?” He looked confused.

              “Is Adam staying with you?” I asked.

              “Who wants to know?” He suddenly turned serious.

              “I’m Ashley. He and I are really close,” I clarified.

              “You’re Ashley!” He smiled. “I’ve heard so much about you. Adam couldn’t make it today.”

              “I can see that. He totally stood me up.” I sighed.

              “I was supposed to tell you for him, but I couldn’t find you. It was hard for me to determine which gorgeous girl was Ashley. Besides, time kind of flew by with Tina here.” He nudged Tina, which sent her into a fit of giggles.

              “Gorgeous girl?” I asked.

              “He said that you were the most beautiful person he’d ever seen.” He quoted Adam.

              “What? Adam said all of that? I think you’re exaggerating what he said. Adam doesn’t talk like that.” I laughed.

              “You’re calling me a liar? He said that. I told you exact quotes.” Hank defended himself jokingly.

              “Well, obviously he was exaggerating my looks because you couldn’t find me,” I teased.

              “No, I’d say he was just about right.”

              “…” I tried to say something, but nothing came out. Was Hank coming onto me? What, was I suddenly a hunk-magnet? What was going on?

              “Well, Tina, would you like me to drive you ladies home?” Hank offered.

              “No, I’ve got a ride. I better go anyway. I’ll see you later.” Tina ran off.

              “Spunky thing isn’t she?” Hank watched her run off.

              “She certainly is,” I agreed, afraid of the awkwardness that might follow. “She’s the most hyper, happy, and outgoing person I know.”

              “Well, she’s definitely an original person.” He sat down on a swing.

              “Did Adam really say all of that?” I sat down on the swing next to him.

              “Yeah, he did. I didn’t know how he could think all of this heavy-duty stuff about one girl, but now I can see what he meant.”

              “Yeah?” I looked over at him. He was giving me this look. It was this heated look that practically was begging me to jump him. He leaned in towards me, “So, why do you think you’re trying to kiss me if you know that I’m somewhat already taken?” I asked leaning backwards.

              “I wasn’t trying to kiss you,” He said.

              “Oh, you weren’t?”

              “No I wasn’t.” He started to swing.

              “Then what were you doing?”

              “I was going to tie my shoe,” He replied.

              “Yeah right!” I said sarcastically.

              “What? You don’t believe me?”

              “No, I don’t believe you. I also don’t believe that I’m so hot that three guys want me at the same time. In reality, one of them just wanted me because he thought I was easy. So why are you trying so hard?”

              “Is it so hard to believe that I find you irresistible?” He tried to give me an alluring look.