“Hmm.” I bit my lip. She surely would have seen the Jeep.
Jensen read my mind. “I think she had a date and was too preoccupied to notice there was a car outside. Plus, I moved it to the street not too long after you fell asleep.”
“You left me?” I accused him.
“Only for a second,” he said before kissing me lightly on the lips.
“Don’t do that again,” I scolded and nestled into his embrace.
He buried his face into my hair and I could feel his warm breath against my neck. “Mmm, you smell good.”
I scrunched up my shoulders as he nuzzled into my neck, his face tickling me. He kissed me softly for about another fifteen minutes before he spoke again.
“Mia,” he whispered, getting off the bed and doing his best to comb his hair with his fingers. “I wish I could stay, but I have to get home.”
I sighed. “I wish you could stay, too; this is nice.”
He smiled and touched my face. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“What are we doing tomorrow?” I asked as we walked downstairs. I flicked the light switch on so I could see his face clearly. He half-frowned, but didn’t seem upset.
“I wish I could be with you tomorrow, too, but I have prior commitments with my family, I’m sorry,” he said as he kissed my forehead.
“Oh, that’s okay. I have a mountain of homework to do anyway.”
I walked Jensen to the door, but he wouldn’t let me step out into the cold. We stood in the doorway for a minute or two before he walked down to the curb and got into his Jeep. Before peeling away, he waved goodbye, kissed his index and middle fingers and raised them toward me. I couldn’t help but think how original he was.
Stepping into the kitchen a few minutes later to hunt for a late dinner, I noticed the message light on the phone blinking to show that I had missed four messages; three from Aria and one from Krissa, I laughed to myself recalling Aria’s impatience, and toyed with the idea of waiting to call her back and making her suffer. She’d probably interrupt my call to Krissa, so my first call was to Aria who picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?” Aria had her own phone line in her bedroom.
“Hey, sorry I took so long to call,” I fibbed.
“No kidding. Where have you been? I called like ten times.” She seemed annoyed.
“I only had three messages from you.”
“I said I called, not that I left ten messages.” Yes, she was annoyed, but I was too happy to be bothered by her mood.
“So, what happened? I assume you and Jensen hung out together all day.”
“You assumed right.” I cradled the phone with my neck, checking the contents of the cabinet for something to catch my eye.
“Well, do I get details or do I have to ask all the questions?!” she blasted through the phone.
“Ouch, no need to yell. Geez,” I told her. “Hang on, I’m getting some food.” I started the water to make some mac and cheese, and then turned my focus back to Aria. “Okay, you probably figured that we cut class yesterday. We went hiking and then had lunch. Jensen showed me this really pretty, secluded spot. He came over and spent the day here just hanging out and talking. Aria, it’s been amazing. Everything about him is amazingly hot. He’s also really perceptive; he knew something was up with Kyle when we ran into him at McDonald’s.”
“You saw Kyle at McDonalds?!” Aria rushed. “What did he say? What did he do?”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. He was there scamming on Alyna. You know, that blonde junior he likes.” I waited for Aria to make the connection. “Oh yeah,” I added, “and Jensen dated her last year. I guess they were pretty serious.”
“I think I knew that. What did Jensen say about Kyle?”
“Not too much,” I said as I added the macaroni to the boiling water, “just that he didn’t think Alyna would make the same mistake twice. What do you think he means by that?”
“Wouldn’t make that mistake twice? That’s an odd thing to say.” Aria thought about what Jensen had said. “I don’t really know what it means. You should just ask him.”
“Yeah, maybe I will someday.”
“What else did you do?” Aria prompted.
“Alright, we kissed some more.”
“Come on, you’re not even giving me anything to work with here!” Aria liked to pry.
“Okay, I’ll give you this much: he’s an extremely good kisser who I know I’m in love with.” Even if we had ventured further, I would not have told Aria or anyone else for that matter. I learned long ago that you had to draw the line when it came to certain things because they just might come back to haunt you. Aria was my best friend, but friends didn’t always last forever.
Aria took a sharp intake of breath and then went quiet; too quiet. I thought I’d lost the connection. “Aria?”
“Yeah, still here,” she hesitated. “I’m just shocked that you feel that way already. You didn’t tell him that you love him, did you?”
“Um, maybe.” I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling. “Besides, he told me he loved me, too. And today was just amazing. Jensen is really different from anyone I’ve ever known. I can’t explain it.”
“Dude, I don’t even have those feelings for Jack,” Aria admitted. “I have more of a … I don’t know … I guess you could call it lust. That’s what my mom says it is, anyway.” I thought I detected a hint of jealousy in her voice. “Well, just be careful,” she continued, “and remember who introduced you two!”
Our conversation carried on while I drained the macaroni and added the other ingredients, all with one hand. Aria asked about my day with Jensen and I told her about the nice time we had hiking at Perseverance on Friday. I could imagine the look on her face when she said with disgust how she hated the outdoors and would die if Jack suggested going hiking and “crap like that.” Aria then asked if she could come over the following day if I wasn’t going to be hanging out with Jensen; she needed help with her English homework. I told her that I was free and we settled on a time to meet.
My next call was to Krissa. Unlike Aria, Krissa wasn’t put out that I hadn’t returned her call right away, and she was excited at the news that I knew I was in love and had found someone who treated me well. She hadn’t cared much for Kyle, either. I told her about meeting with Aria the next day to study, and she said that she’d also come over about noon.
We hung up and I sat at the kitchen table, eating my bowl of macaroni. I looked at the clock; it was nine already. Minutes later, the familiar engine squeak of my mom’s Subaru gave away the fact that she was home. Soon I would be able to hear her heals on the tile as she made her way into the foyer, through the living room, and into the kitchen where I was with my mac and cheese.
It didn’t take very long before my mother made her way through the front door. Just like I expected she came into the kitchen noisily; click-clack, click-clack.
“Hey,” Mom said before picking up the stack of mail from the counter.
“Hi. There’s still some mac and cheese left in the pot on the stove if you want some.”
She shook her head. “No, I already ate. Why are you eating so late?”
“I don’t know, just am.”
“What were you doing?”
“Just hung out with someone I met at the last dance.” I peeked out from beneath my eyelashes, confirming her raised eyebrow at