Page 152 of One More Kiss
I knew just by hearing my mom’s words that I was in love. It was the shyness. It was the mystery of who she was. It was the yearning to know more about her. It was the way she talked, the way she walked and the way she allowed me to hold her hand. It was the slight quirks she had that even though I haven’t known her for long, I got to witness. She was perfect.
There wasn’t another word to say other than, “Thanks, Mom.”
She didn’t stop me from leaving her side. If anything, she got back on the phone and called her friend again. Who knows, she probably told her friend all about our conversation. It seemed like something friends would do, especially one you always talked to and didn’t have new information to share.
The rest of the weekend flew by slowly. The reason being because I wanted to see Tori so badly, and the only way to do that was at school. On Sunday, band practice wasn’t a great success because my heart wasn’t in the music. The guys cut it short and we dispersed, calling it a night. I think it also had a lot to do with knowing I would see Tori the following day.
When nighttime rolled around and I was lying in bed all I did was toss and turn, excited about tomorrow. Apparently, I had fallen asleep at some point because before I knew it daylight streamed through my windows. I quickly dressed in the usual school uniform, got into my Bronco and headed to the high school.
I didn’t pick up Cory on the way because I was too anxious to get to the school. I sent him a text before heading out that he would have to find another ride or take the bus. I knew it seemed crazy, but I was in love, and I didn’t care who knew. I was going to find a way to talk to her.
When I entered the school’s building a lot of people were walking around and the other half of the students seemed to be in cliques hanging out. That’s when Trey decided to walk up to me. He was one of my friends and someone I had known for a long time. I was aggravated by being interrupted but chose not to ignore my friend.
“Hey, man,” Trey said in between chewing a piece of gum. “Cory isn’t with you?”
“Nah. I left home early and didn’t want to be stuck in traffic, so Cory found another ride,” I said, fibbing just a little.
I wasn’t sure how to go about telling my friends about Tori, or even if I should considering I didn’t know her feelings about me.
Trey nodded, “I see. You continuing the role for the school play? I didn’t try out yet but wanted to. Any available spots?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but I’m not completely sure. You should probably talk to Mrs. Timms. She’s the one in charge of the whole thing.”
“Yeah. I’ll hit her up later in the day,” Trey admitted, then seemed to look behind me.
I turned around to see who Trey was staring at and was confused. “Can I help you?”
The girl cleared her throat a few times. It was as if she couldn’t seem to get words to exit her lips.
Finally, she managed to clear her throat and talk. “I just wanted to say hey. I’m sorry if I interrupted y’all conversation. I didn’t mean to be a burden.”
My friend, Trey responded before I could say a word. “Don’t sweat it. Who’re you? I don’t remember seeing you around this school.”
For some reason, it made me jealous. I wanted to be the person talking to this girl. I wanted her attention on me and not Trey. But I was also intrigued. I wanted to know who this girl was. What did that say about me and my recent feelings for Tori? Upon further inspection, she resembled Tori a lot.
Her dark, brown hair covered one eye, but this girl wore no makeup. Tori had a knack for caking a ton of makeup onto her face as if she didn’t know how to wear it. It was adorable how she tried. I chalked it up to no one teaching her the proper way. This girl in front of me also wore the baggiest clothes I’ve ever seen on a person. It was as if she thought she was obese and wanted to hide her body, but you could tell she was rail thin. This didn’t even look like the girl I noticed on the other occasions I previously saw her.
Before I could say anything, this girl answered. “I’m Tori. I met Phoenix at the fair last weekend.”
I was shocked speechless. This did not look like Tori. Where was the girl with the tight-fitted clothes from last weekend? Where was the girl who wore too much makeup? I felt like Tori was wearing clothes three times too big and hiding herself away from the world. How come, today of all days she looked so much different than every other day? I was confused, but not deterred from her, not at all.
But a hint of the girl shone through as her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. I felt like a total fool for not speaking at all. She probably thought I disliked her and was trying to ignore her, but I wasn’t. I was confused and shocked. I was happy that me being intrigued with this girl meant I wasn’t feeling anything different toward Tori. Even though she didn’t look the same. Those feelings resurfaced in full force. I was in love.
“I’m sorry,” Tori rambled. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I’ll just leave.”
I snapped out of my speechless trance and quickly grabbed Tori’s wrist as she was about to walk away. I didn’t want her to leave, I wanted her to stay and talk with me. I mean this was why I was so excited about coming to school today, to talk with Tori. To top it off, she made the first move by finding me. I’m glad she did because otherwise, I wouldn’t have recognized her to find her.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” I said, “I should be sorry. I didn’t even greet you properly. Tori, this is Trey. He’s a friend of mine.”
“Nice to meet you, Tori,” Trey said, lifting his palm and slightly waving.
I didn’t want Tori and Trey to get chummy. I wanted her all to myself, but didn’t want to be rude, so I stood closer to Tori. Trey seemed to recognize my movements and stay back. I was not to be messed with because Tori was going to be mine. She just didn’t know it yet.
“I’m going to walk Tori to her class. See you at lunch?” I questioned Trey, but my eyes were on Tori the entire time.
Grinning, Trey said, “Yeah. I’ll see you later.”
I noticed my friend had walked away, but it was of no importance to me. My mind was on Tori and her alone.
