Every Girl Does It (10 page)

No offense
.

“Umm
,”
I stutter
.
“
Just
a small
black coffee.” Taking out the money
,
I begin to think of ways to ignore Preston. The Barista accepts my money and gives me some change
. This t
ime
,
I do not tip. I should have
,
but Preston would have seen it.

Walking back toward Preston
,
I keep
my head down waiting for the jokes to hit
,
but instead Preston just looks at me with prideful eyes and shrugs. “It
’
s not because you weren’t pretty enough, you just made him too nervous.” He and I walk side by side to the elevators before he says
, “H
e was probably afraid of
be
ing rejected.”

“Nope
.” Why
am I defending the coffee guy
?
“
He
was just more interested in his stupid magazine. Did you see me wave at him?”

He turns toward me and winks
.
“
My
favorite part.”

“
Fine
! You win, I lose
.
I hope you
’
r
e
happy.” I down the entire contents of my cup and thr
o
w it in the trash.

“Oh
no, you don’t get away that easy. There
’
s one other coffee shop upstairs. I say we give it a try
.
That
is
,
unless you’ve faced enough rejection for the day?”

“Challenge accepted.”
I mutter
as we
,
yet again
,
pass Kristin and Brad
. this
time
,
however
,
they
’
re
both looking in our direction smiling and tilting their heads as if to say
,
“Oh
,
look now they
’
re going for a walk
.
H
ow cute
.”
We
’
ll have words later
,
you can bet on it.

We approach the dreaded destination to find two male baristas behind the counter. This should be fun.

“You don’t’ have to do this
,
you know
,”
Preston teased
.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone that theology boy rejected you.”

I hit him in his muscular shoulder
,
probably hurting my hand more than his body
,
and turn to face the music.

“Just be yourself!” Preston shouts after me as
my face heats with sudden
embarrassment
.

Both baristas look up as I approach. By now you must have guessed that I
’
m extremely keyed up on caffeine
.
I
’
ve had one full cup of coffee along with t
wo shots of espresso. The wise choice would be to order a snack or
bread to soak up the sugar or I
’
ll be totally out of control in a
bout ten minutes. There
’
s a
valid reason for not drinking too much
caffeine
and pop
.
I have trouble shutting up when i
t
’
s in my system. Y
ou
’
re thinking
,
“Wow
,
Amanda
,
you already have that problem
.
How
could it get worse?” To which I
’
m guessing you
’
ll soon find out that it can
,
indeed
,
get worse.

“What would you like
,
miss
?” The
first one
asks
. He
’
s quite good looking for a sixteen year old. There’s no way I should have ever thought that.
I inwardly groan
.
I am
so glad nobody can hear my thoughts. It reminds me of the time I went to the mall and saw a sign for Abercrombie and went “ooo he’s cute!” Not realizing that the sign was for the little kid Abercrombie
, for kids under the age of eighteen. I was
mortified
, and of course,
Grandma Ned was with me.

You can only imagine her response. If I remember correctly
,
my mouth got washed out with soap while I read the Old Testament section about sexual immorality. If you ever doubted it before
, I
got to know my Bible around Grandma Ned.

The cute underage barista is patiently waiting for my order.
Clearing my throat
,
I order a bagel and decaf coffee, with cream.
The first one types in my order while the other goes to work.

“Oh no!” The second barista yells.
I quickly look in his direction
,
fully
anticipating
a scarring coffee burn
.

“
What’s
wrong?” I ask trying to keep my voice even.

“Oh
,
I just used regular rather than de
caf and already put it together,
guess I’ll have to redo it.” He shrugs.

“
No
!” I
yell using my outside voice
.
“I
t
'
s fine
.
I
’
ll take it.”

The baristas look between each other as if I just ask them if they could spit in my drink
,
and then tell me nicely
,
“
You
don’t
have to pay for the Americano then,
it’s
our fault.”

Walking away
,
I feel a confident grin begin on my face just as the first barista yells after me.
“Miss! Miss! Sorry
,
but you still have to pay for your bagel!” My face tightens as Preston tries to unsuccessfully hide his laughter from me with his coffee.

Turning around
,
I walk back to the counter and
slam two dollars onto the
surface
top telling them to keep the c
hange. Then I strut
past Preston with my head held high and bagel fu
ll in my mouth. He better not ask me to share. T
r
ying not to focus on the fact that I
’
ve
lost a bet to Preston, I
sit down next to Kristin in a huff.

“So how was your walk or whatever or wait a second…”
Her
eyes lock onto my coffee then back at me, “How many of those have you had?”

Preston
plops
down next to me and
laughs.
“Three. Actually she
’
s had
four
shots of espresso and one cup of coffee
,
to be exact.”
Amused h
e flip
s
open the newspaper and smiles as Kristin stares at me with ice in her eyes.

“You know what caffeine does to you
.”
She hits Brad to involve him in the conversation sealing my fate.

“You did what
?”
He yell
s
jumping out of his seat. “You know what caffeine does to you!”

“Preston dared me!” I
protest
in true teenage fashion while Preston looks innocently at both of our friends as if to say
,
“I have no idea what she
’
s talking about.”

“Just out of
curiosit
y
, what does Amanda do when she has too much caffeine?” Preston has now put down his newspaper. He
’
s staring at Kristin and Brad in anticipation of the story he knows they
’
ll probably blab.

“A
t least let me tell it so I know there are no exaggerations or
falsifications.” I
look Brad
’
s way causing him to look down in shame. He has a t
endency to exaggerate everything
.

“So
i
t’s
not that big of a deal.
It o
nly happened one time
,
and I
’
ve since learned my
lesson.”
Preston
needs
to understand that it
isn’t
a regular occurrence for me.

“You know wha
t?” I say with heavy sarcasm
.
“I’m not going to tel
l and neither are you!” Pointing at both of my friends
,
I dare them with a silent
gla
re. “
True friends keep
secrets;
just know that you have nothing to worry about.”

Kristin eyes me
as she turns back to Brad. “Okay
,
blue pants.”

“Shhhh
,
” I say patting her on the knee.

“Did you just call her blue pants?” Preston wants to know.

“
Yeah,
on account of the blue pants she rocked during her last caffeine surge. Those poor kids didn’t even see her coming.” Brad takes off his baseball cap and holds it to his chest as if the children died or something
,
and I feel my resolve weaken as I look again toward Preston.

“Fine,
I drank a lot of caffeine then wanted to go play laser tag, wore blue pants to blend in to the blue walls in the
laser tag place and stayed for three
hours while I attacked small children with my laser gun.” I tried to let the words flow as fast as possible
,
hoping he wouldn’t’ catch all of it.

“She wouldn’t let us leave until she won.”
Brad admits
,
re-
living the event.

“We were so hungry.” Kristin holds Brads hand as they both lean in to touch heads.

“It was dark. Cold, so very cold.” Brad continues as he c
loses his eyes as if he
’
s
traumatized.

“Ok. We
’
re done.” I say as I leave all of them and sit by myself to pout.

They
’re
l
aughing
,
and
I tr
y
to keep the smile off my face.

It’s
hard to stay
mad at people who are so
funny. With reluctance, I
have to admit it has been the most fun vacation I have had in awhile
,
even if it
’
s been with Preston
. But as I think this, I
have a sickening feeling that I have a lot more “fun” to look forward to.
I groan a little as I realize the caffeine is now hitting my stomach full force. I need the bathroom. Now.

As quick as possible, in efforts
to not bring attention to myself
, I get up
then sprint toward the bathroom. See? Being a runner is useful and applicable in many situations. While in there
,
I decide to put on some more lip gloss then strut out finally feeling comfortable and able to carry on a descent conversation. It looks like the plan
e is already boarding. To be honest,
I was a bit excited to be riding in first class
,
but you aren’t going to hear me say that to Preston
. No,
it would go straight to his head
,
and that’s the last thing this world needs.

We shuffl
e to the front of the plane, each of us buzzing
with excitement. I nearly choke when I s
ee
that all of the seats ha
ve
persona
l
TVs as well as blankets and pillows. Wow
, this could be my heaven, complete with a glass
full of
water with lime. Inhaling, I
look at my seat number only to trip over my bag and
face plant
into the seat next to me.

“Straight lines
,
Amanda
,
s
traight lines.” Preston whispers behind me as he sidesteps and takes his seat in front of mine.
I mutter something
unintelligent
as I
crawl to my
seat. At
this time I
’
m unaware as to why I thought it would be a good idea for me to sit by the window
.
I
’
m
terrified of heights
.
What
am I
thinking
? Turning to ask Kristin to switch me places, I see her face and go pale. She
’
s going to ask me to move. That
’
s her pouty face
.
I know
it’s
her pouty face. Oh no
,
don’t do it
,
Kristin
.
Do not do it
!

“Panda?” She pleads as she takes my hand in her own and leans in to a whisper
,
“I know this sounds silly
,
but Brad and I haven’t had much alone time lately
,
and what with the five hour plane ride and all
,
we thought it might be fun to sit together. Would you be mad?”

Of course I
’
ll be mad
.
But I
can’t
say this, not when I want to be a good friend
.
Plus
it’s
because of them that I
’
m even on this trip. Okay
it’s
not a big deal
,
I
’
ll just “fake sleep” the entire time Preston sits by me
.
It shouldn’t be hard
. Wait
,
I
’
ve
had lots of caffeine today. Why is this happening?
S
ure my eyes
are twitching with frustration, I
start to panic thinking I
’
ll develop a ne
rvous tick from all the stress.

But I’m stuck, so I agree and let Kristin switch with Preston and I resign myself to my fate.
“Hey
,
buddy
,”
Preston jokes playfully as he sets his messenger bag underneath the seat in front of him.
I
,
however
, do not feel like being a “buddy”
. I find myself reaching over to unlock his trey just as he is about to bring his head back up.
Crack!

It hit
s
his head hard. He glares at me just in time for Kristin and Brad to turn around
,
concern written all over their faces. “Is everything okay?” Brad asks as he eyes
Preston rubbing his sore head.

“It’s awesome
,” he
answers in an irritating manor.

I ma
ke
a thumbs
-
up
sign
then
stick
my tongue out at him when they turned back around. He tried to grab it before I put it back in my mouth
,
but I snap my teeth a
t him like a piranha. Am I acting childish? Yes, but
it’s
self-
defense
;
this guy is dangerous.

You can tell by the
way he wears his pants. W
hat type of guy wears pants that expensive? Don’t think I didn’t notice. He
’
s wearing Rock and Republic jeans
. E
ven I don’t own a pair of Rock and Republic jeans
.
I tend to go toward Lucky brand
,
which I know
sounds
funny considering that was
cool in High School
,
but they
’
re super comfortable.

I let my gaze wander up and stop at his belt. See? Another sign I missed
.
He wears a belt
.
Men who wear belts are overcompensating.
It’s
like they have to show to the world they
’
re men and masculine and buff. I trail up to his tight
T-shirt
and wince as my eyes meet his.

His smile turns cocky as he asks
,
“
Looking
for something
,
Amanda?”

I squint my eyes until I look like a Korean supermodel
then
turn to
face the front of the plane. Revenge
.
Kristin will pay for this;
just you wait and see
it will be war
.
Leaning down,
I
tuck everything underneath
Brad’s
seat and gaze out the window.

Traveling in the winter always makes me nervous
.
Are
the peop
le
de-
icing the plane all
classified to be doing that job? H
ave you seen how sk
etchy some of those workers are?
Most of them are
out there laughing and joking around as they spray the de-icer on the plane while we could be plummeting to our death in mere hours because of their inability to pay attention to detail
.
I start to feel myself hyperventilate as I watch a guy who appears to be no older than Mr. Theology laugh and do a “check” of the
hydraulics
. Oh,
good
,
check buddy
,
did you strain yourself b
ending over that far? Never mind,
you didn’t ev
en look! He just gives a thumbs-
up to the guy in front of him who then gives a thumbs up to the pilot who comes over the loud
speaker
to say
,
“All clear
”
.

Closing my eyes
,
I feel the plane start to
taxi to the runway.
Preston’s
eyes bore into my skin as I peek around my black eyelashes. “What?” I ask in annoyance knowing if I say anymore my voice might start shaking.

“Are you ok?” He looks shocked as if he thinks I’m not scared of anything except for irrational things like birds and caffeine.

I shrug
.
“I just don’t like heights.”

B
efore I know
it Kristin
turns
around in the
seat and
gives
a brief history of my flight experiences to Preston
,
the puke bag and all.
I hide my head in my hands hoping that the plane
does crash then
I
feel us start to take off.

There’s no way I could have helped
myself
,
and I don’t think what I
did
next should be held against me.

Panic
rise
s
i
n my chest and before I know it,
I
’
m clinging onto Preston like a crazy person and breathing heavily into his chest all the while gripping his hands so hard that I lose feeling in all fingers.

After
about five minutes
,
I pull back
realizing that I just attacked the poor man but see no hint of smugness on his face
,
which confuses me. I mean one minute he
’
s…well
,
you know and the next he
’
s….
This
!

I
’
m mortified. At least in other plane rides I held on to complete strangers or weird old men who oddly liked the embrace. I would
’
ve welcomed anything but this. And he do
es
n
’t
even seem the least bit affected by my presence! How is it fair that I find myself staring at him like some love sick teenager while my presence does noth
ing but make him want to be
more irritating
?

Ducking down to get my carry-on, I get a book and start to read
. If there ever was good advice Grandma Ned gave me it was to take funny books on plane trips. She said it helped calm her down and keep her from getting mad at gran
dpa
’
s incessant snoring. If it
can get rid of grandpa
’
s snoring
,
it can get rid of the annoying person next to me
, and my humiliation
.

To my surprise, I find myself
enthralled in the book until I smell that all too familiar peppermint smell
.

“What are you reading?” His eyes sparkle with interest.

“Please don’t’ talk to me
,”
I grumble
.

He looks momentarily hurt then smiles and says okay. The next thing I
know,
he
’
s passing me a note. I should have known.

So,
what are you reading?

Oh just a book about this plane ride where a girl beats this annoying man to death for talking to her too much.

Fun.

Yeah,
I
’
m thinking of using it as an example.

I think I’d like that.

You would.

Was that a statement or a question?

If it was a question
,
I would have used a question mark.

Just checking……You look pretty when you read.

Is this a trick to try to get me to be uncomfortable?

Nope just honesty. You want to look at me right now
,
don’t you
?

No…

Yes,
you do
.
I can tell. You want to look at my face and see if I
’
m kidding. Don’t worry though
,
I
’
m not.

Interesting.

Isn’t it though?

What?

That such a simple compliment would have the power to make you blush.

It doesn’t take much to make a girl blush if you put meaning behind words…..then again a guy like you should know that.

What do you mean a guy like me?

An
attractive
man like you should know the power he has over women.

Hmm
…
just like an
attractive
woman like yourself should know the power she has over men.

And then I
break summoning up the courage to look up into his gaze
. Our eyes lock in a moment
of pure electric tension
. It
’
s shortened by the
flight attendant
stopping to see if we needed anything to drink.

I ask for water as does he then sit there in silence with my book still in hand.

“Hey
,
do you
want to
watch a movie?” Preston
asks taking out his headphones.

“How?” My eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“Well it
’
s
cool, see they have these
things
called TVs
and if you plug in the—
”

“
U
ghh I knew it was too good to be true
,”
I whine.

“What?” He smiles.

“You being nice and
…”
I couldn’t find the words.