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Authors: Misha Elliott

Learning to Fly (5 page)

BOOK: Learning to Fly
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H:  That was so beautiful, it gave me goose bumps.

S:  I know, right?  Makes me feel like a heroine from of a Jane Austen novel.

 

Chapter Six

The next day at school Alex spends every moment he can with me.  He carries my books for me and we hold hands everywhere we go.  After school, he offers me a ride a home.  Although I don’t know him that well, he seems nervous about something. He clicks his phone into a stand on his dashboard and scrolls through his music.

“You still up for hanging out after school today?”

“Of course,” I say a little too eagerly and I want to kick myself for it.

“What do you think of grabbing a pizza and taking it to, um,” the long pause he takes makes me wonder what he’s thinking.  I hope he isn’t reconsidering the offer.“Today is Thursday, so that means my brothers will be home, and we won’t get anything done. Or be left alone.”

“We can go to my place.” I volunteer; I would do anything to spend more time with him.

  “Sweet, it’s a date, then.” Alex turns attention back to his docked iPhone. When he finds a list entitled “Alex’s Jamz,” he presses play.

I fight the urge to cover my ears with my hands.  The music is loud and I can feel the heavy bass in my chest.  The lead singer sounds like he was either killing a cat or being killed by a cat.

“I love this underground band, they’re my favorite.  Isn’t this some cool shit?”  He has to yell over the top of the music, and even then, I can only make out half of what he says. 

“Yeah, they sure are different.” I say and before the next song can play, he pulls up in front of a fancy expensive looking Italian restaurant.

“I thought we were getting pizza,” I say while Alex already has his seatbelt off and ready to get out. 

“We are; they make the best pizza in the world.
  ”He places his palm on the small of my back guiding me inside the door. We order three pizzas, and take them back to his car.  With three pizzas on my lap, I was getting hot and wiggling my legs.“ Why don’t you let me put those in the back seat?”  I appreciate Alex taking pity on my burning legs. He puts the pies in the backseat and lingers in my direction when he turns back around.  His mouth is so close to mine, I don’t want to breathe. He smiles before turning his attention back to the wheel and drives us to my house.

The entire ride back to my place, I wonder why he didn’t try to kiss me earlier, and wonder if he is going to press those beautiful lips to mine again soon.

We get out of the car and take the pizzas inside. “Looks like no one’s home; what are you going to do with all the pizza?” 

“It’s football season so I can eat two by myself.”  I cock my head to the side, examining him.  He is lean and muscular, but not overly so and I had no idea where he would put it all.

“This way; Alex, we can take them to my room.”  Another first, I’ve never had a boy in my room. 

“This is really cool.” Alex says and looks around at the posters and graphs I have on my walls
.I look around wondering if my decorations are too weird.  “Is this where you want to go to college?” He is standing in front of my Brown poster. 

“Yes, Heidi and I have been planning to go there for the longest time.”  “What about you?” I ask in return.

“I don’t know for sure, yet, still waiting to see if I get a better last minute offer.  If not, I’ll be at FSU on a football scholarship.

“I’m starved; are you ready to eat?
”I ask.

  “I am, but I’m not ready to eat just yet.”  Alex kisses me again, and this time we are alone in my room.  I start to panic inside and feel relieved when he stops kissing me and grabs one of the pies.

True to his word, he ate two pizzas.  “If you feel yourself getting sick, I have my own bathroom.”  I point to the bathroom door.  “I don’t want you losing your dinner on my rug.”  We grab our books and my laptop and sit on the bed .I take a moment to reread the chapter before we tackle the outline.  “Alex, we’re supposed to be reading the chapter.”  I call him out for watching me instead of reading.  “Just don’t think, because you’re a dumb jock, that I’ll do all the work and let you take half the credit.”  I say, teasing, since he takes as many AP classes as I do.

“It’s your fault that I’m easily distracted.” Alex plays with a strand of my choppy golden locks; wrapping it around his finger. I feel nervous and smile at him.  “There you go again, distracting me with that beautiful smile.  Seeing you smile makes me happy; then I think about those soft, pink, kissable lips.” He runs his index finger over my mouth and uses it to pull my chin closer.  I close my eyes and kiss him back.  “I can’t get enough of you, Sophie.  I feel like I’m floating on air; come fly with me.”  His gaze is fixed on my eyes, and I know he’s thinking about my lips again. 

“Look, things are moving kind of fast; do you mind if we slow it down a bit?”  We take turns reading the chapter aloud and finish writing the outline for our project. 

“So, what do you want to do now?” Alex closes his book and put his notebook away. 

“We could watch a movie.”  He immediately grabs the remote and turns it to a scary movie.

“What are you doing?” He has just turned off the light in the room and closed the curtains. 

“This is the only way to watch a movie like this, trust me.”  I’ve never understood why someone would voluntarily watch something that would scare them.  I grab the edge of my blanket and cocoon it around me for protection.  I watch up to the point where the people walk into the creepy, dimly lit room.  I cover my eyes with my hands, not wanting to see what comes next.

“Open your eyes; you’re going to miss the best part.”  Alex grabs my hands pulling them down. 

“Ok, ok, I give up. I won’t cover my eyes anymore.”  I lean closer to Alex and he puts his arms around me, and suddenly, I’m glad he picked a scary as hell movie.  “Don’t do it!” I shout at the people who are about to read from the book, even though they were warned what would happen. 

“Any minute now it’s going to come after them,” Alex says excitedly.  I can’t stand the sight of the creature anymore and I pull the covers up over our heads until the screaming on TV is over.
“Is it over, Alex?” I whisper, as if it will come after me next if I make too much noise.

“I think this is part where it gets the kids outside.” After checking, he comes back under the cover with me.
It’s silent in the room for several seconds.  Then, the eerie sounding music starts to play, slowly in the background, causing my heart to race in fear and panic. I can feel the chills running down my spine and hold my breath, waiting for the screams that are sure to follow.  Suddenly, we hear the sound of a creaky door being opened.  Why didn’t they listen to me when I told them not to read from the book?

We both scream when Mom and Larry call my name after opening my bedroom door.  “Geez, you scared us,” I say, my voice full of irritation and panic. 

“What’s going on in here?” Larry’s voice is deep and carries authority.  He turns on the lamp at my bedside, still keeping his eye on Alex. 

“Mom, Larry, this is Alex; a friend of mine. We have several classes together. “Alex throws the blanket off and jumps up to shake Mom and Larry’s hands.

“We were working on a project for history.”  Alex blurts out, as if we were caught, doing something wrong. 

I get up and push them out the door. “I’ll be right back, Alex.”  I go out in the hall to see what is going on with my mother.

“Sophia, there is a boy in your bed with you. I don’t think that’s appropriate behavior,” my mother scolds. 

“We were watching a scary movie and were at the part where the ghost comes out of the book to get people.  We were just hiding under the covers.” I feel really silly explaining it to her.

“Well, I would appreciate it, if you didn’t have boys in your bedroom with the door shut and lights out.”

Why is Angie suddenly trying to play the good mom role?  “Are you kidding me?”  I am so exasperated with this sudden change.  “I have spent the majority of my childhood alone, taking care of myself.”  From the shocked look on Larry’s face, it’s clear she left this part of her life story out.  “You didn’t even let me call you mom for years, what gives you the right to suddenly decide to take an interest in my life?  In case you haven’t noticed, I’m already grown; I don’t need a mother anymore.” I turn on my heel and head back to my room.  When I get to my room, Alex is already gone.  I look at my phone and see that he sent me a text. 

A: Sophie had a gr8 time with u.  Can’t wait for our next date and to kiss u again.  

I stare at the screen, and read his words over and over.  I think about what I want to say back.

S: Me, too. Sorry I couldn’t say goodbye before you left.  See you tomorrow at school.

Beep Beep: the backlight on my phone is glowing again.
I have another text.

A: I can’t wait any longer to ask you this.  Will you go out with me?

I decide to be funny with my response.

S: Well, that depends on where you want to go. 

A: Take my hand; come fly with me

I hear the sound of knocking and realize its coming from my door.  “Can I come in, honey?”  Angie’s voice is timid and low. 

“Sure.”  I watch her walk in and sit down on the edge of my bed.  “Sophia, I want you to know, you can always talk to me about stuff like boys.”  She pauses like there is something she isn’t saying.  “You’ve never had boys over and I just want you to be careful, and not go too fast.”  This is her way of saying ‘don’t end up like me’. 

“Don’t worry, Mom, I don’t plan on doing anything stupid like getting pregnant and ruining my life.”  My answer must calm her fears because she gets up and leaves.  Part of me secretly wishes I could tell my mom about Alex and that what is happening with him is exciting and very scary.

I look down at my phone to read the last text from Alex.

A: Be ready at 7:00. I’ll pick u up in the morning.

Instead of texting again, I pick up the phone and hit dial so I can hear his voice. 

“Hope you don’t mind that I called.”

“No, actually happy you did.”

“What are you doing?”

“Sitting here thinking about a blue eyed girl that makes me want to write poetry.  Wishing it was tomorrow already so I could see her again.”

“It is tomorrow somewhere.”  I say, playfully.  “What would you say to me?”

“I wouldn’t say anything at first.  I would want to kiss you right away, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, and that you were real.”

“That’s really sweet, Alex.  Are you always this charming?”

“I know that I want to spend as much time as possible with you, Sophie.”

“I want that, too, Alex. Do you want to plan something for this weekend?”

“If I can, I just want to warn you that I’m going to have a busy schedule with football season coming up.  Between coach and my Dad, I’ll be lucky to have space to breathe.”

“Get out!” I hear Alex shout in the phone.  In the background, I hear the sound of kids giggling and saying something that irritates Alex.

“No, you promised yesterday you would watch it with us.”  One of the little voices says.

“Sophie, I hate to do this, but I promised my brothers I’d do something with them.  Can I call you later? It shouldn’t be too late.”

“Sure, that’s sweet you’re hanging out with them.”

“When I call back maybe we can pick up with you telling me how sweet you think I am.” 

I laugh at his comment. “Talk to you later, Alex.”

“Bye, Soph.”

An hour goes by and I haven’t from Alex yet.  I don’t want to text and seem impatient.  I set my phone to vibrate and lay it under my pillow.  I’ll just take a little nap while I wait for him to call back.

The buzz of the phone snaps me to attention.  I look at the caller ID and see Alex’s number. 

“Hello” I say, groggily.

“I’m sorry for waking you up. I’ll let you go.”

“No, don’t hang up it’s alright.  What time is it?”

“It’s after eleven.  I would have called you back sooner, but I fell asleep in the middle of the show.”

“You’re brothers are really lucky to have you.”

“I guess, sometimes they just get on my nerves though.”  I think it would be cool to have other siblings and I envy him.  No matter what, siblings always have each other. 

“Tell me about your family.”  I ask him, desperate for information on what it is like to be part of a large family.

“What is it that you want to know?” 

“Everything.  Tell me about your mom, what’s she like?  Your dad?  What it’s like to be an awesome big brother?” 

Alex opens up and talks about everyone in the family.  I soon know about funny family moments, birthdays, and holiday traditions.  I can hear how happy he is when he shares all of those memories.
As he tells the stories, I try to imagine what it would be like to have memories like that with my mother.  It does strike me odd that he talks about everything except one thing that should matter most, football.

I don’t know how it happened, but we spent all night on the phone.  My alarm sounds at 5:00 and our call is still connected.  “Alex, you there?”
He doesn’t answer so I decide hanging up is OK.  My battery is low and he will be here in two hours to pick me up.

BOOK: Learning to Fly
13.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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