Chapter 11

The next day at school AJ and I completely avoided all contact. If he was
near the locker's I'd wait till he was gone. If he was talking to any of our
friends, I'd wait till he was done. If he was in line for food in the
cafeteria, I'd wait till he was done before I went over.

I didn't want
anything to do with him and I especially didn't want anything to do with
Ashley. The worst of it all was that AJ and I were in the same Science class
and we had a project that we needed to complete...together.

"Look, we need to finish our Carbon model," AJ said to me without making
eye contact.

"Fine."

"When do you want to complete it?" he asked.

"Tonight," I mumbled. The sooner I didn't have to see him, the better.

"Okay, at your house?" he asked.

"Yes. 7:00."

"Fine." he replied just as I walked away. I couldn't believe that I would
have to spend the evening with the guy who had broken my heart.

"Hey E, wait!" I heard Jessie call.

"Hey PJ," I said softly.

"Look, about last night, what were you thinking?" she asked. I looked at
her completely puzzled.

"What do you mean what was I thinking?"

"Why'd you tell AJ you were angel. I thought all of that was au
confidential."

"Well it was...but I just couldn't stand the thought of Ashley lying to him
and telling him that she was the one who sang to him everyday."

"Yeah, I understand where you're coming from," she said as she put her arm
around my shoulder. "But look, everything will be ok. This will blow over
sooner or later."

"Blow over? This won't just ‘blow over'", I replied hotly. I could tell
Jess was hurt by my remark but I didn't care. All I wanted was to get the
hell out of school. Away from everyone who didn't understand.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"I'll get it," I said as the doorbell rang. I took a quick look at myself
in the mirror in the foyer. "Why am I even bothering?" I though as I fluffed
up my hair and opened the door.

"Hi," AJ said as he slipped off his shoes. I didn't say anything. I just
walked up the stairs and went into my room. I sat down on my bed. AJ walked
in and stood until I motioned for him to have a seat on the floor.

"So..." he said looking around.

"Let's get this done." I said. I climbed off my bed and onto the floor
where I took out the instructions on how to build our 3D model out of my
binder.

"Well, how about I start making the valences and you make the nucleus," AJ
suggested. I nodded and picked up the sphere Nerf ball and started to glue
on the protons and neutrons to it. AJ was busy tying to attach electrons to
a metal hoop.

After about 40 minutes we were ready to attach the two of them
together. I held the nerf ball nucleus as AJ attached the metal hoop
valence. His hands brushed mine as he worked quickly and I could feel a
shiver run up my spine. The two of us were sitting side by side. It felt so
strange.

When we were done I attached the hook and held it. It looked awful. There
was glue dripping all over the place from the nucleus and somehow AJ had
managed to bend the metal valence all out of place. I couldn't help but
laugh and neither could AJ. We sort of looked at each other and smiled.

"Look, Lezlee...I'm really sorry," AJ said as he fumbled with the corner of
my throw rug.

"It's ok. I'm sorry to. I shouldn't have said what I did." I said as I
turned towards him. We were so close to each other, I could see his
freckles.

"Well, how about you and I go back to being friends," he said as he looked
me in the eyes.

"Ok, I'd like that..." I said.

"Well, why don't..." AJ's voice drifted off. I knew what was happening. He
slowly placed his hand on my thigh and inched in to me. I tilted my head up
and wrapped my arms around his neck. We kissed each other gently on the lips
and then he managed to slip his tongue into my mouth.

AJ wrapped his arms
around me and we moved up onto the bed without a break in our kissing. I
started to undo his shirt as he kissed my neck.

"E, I'm dating Ashley." he said suddenly as he pulled back. AJ looked at me
and hung his head. But I didn't want to stop. I moved in closer and ran my
hand up his abs and kissed him again.

"Lezlee....I...think...we....should.....stop," he said between kisses. I
knew he meant it. AJ buttoned up his shirt and gathered up our model. He
opened my bedroom door and went down the stairs. I followed him and watched
him put his shoes on and the leave.

I slid down the side of the wall and let my tears run down my cheeks. They
bounced off my knees and onto the carpet. I didn't understand it. One minute
we hated each other, the next we were making out on my bed.

I got up slowly and went into my room. I picked up the phone and dialed
Jess.

"Hellllooo!" Jess said in a much too chipper voice.

"PJ?" I said.

"Lezlee, what's wrong?" she asked sounded panicked.

"I..I...need to talk to you."

"Well, I'm here."

"Can I come over?" I asked her. I heard he pull the phone away from her ear
and tell who I assumed was Brian, that it was me and I needed to talk to
her.

"Of course you can," she said when she came back on the line.

"I'll be over in a minute," I said and hung up the phone. I ran down the
stairs and slipped my Nike sandals on and ran through my back yard. Out the
gate, and down the alley to Jessie's.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"Lezlee, it'll be ok. I think AJ's just going through a tough time," Jess
said as she wiped my tears away with a Kleenex.

"Yeah, don't worry about him," Brian said. He knew about AJ now and
surprisingly he didn't tease me or harass me like Nick had.

"Well, I just can't figure him out. I mean he instigated the whole make out
session. Not me," I told them. Jess smiled and Brian raised his eyebrows.

"Are you sure you didn't want to get with him too?" Brian asked me with a
smile on his face.

"Brian! Well....yeah I guess I did," I said laughing. We talked it over for
a bit longer and then went downstairs to get some popsicles. Jess's house
was always choked full of them.

"Hey Lezlee, I'm working on a new song for the next album," Brian said to
us.

"It's beautiful," Jess told me as Brian picked up his guitar and started to
strum some chords.

"There are people who say what you wanna hear,
Even on a rainy day they'll tell you the sky is clear
When you really, really love someone
Am I right when I say that you want them near.
And if you can't even tell them things that they wanna hear,"
He stopped at looked up at us.

"That was so pretty," I told him. I couldn't believe that Brian had written
that. He put the guitar down and smiled.

"You really think it's that good?" he asked.

"Defiantly!"

"Thanks," he said before he glanced at his watch. "Well my sweets, I've got
to go, " he said to Jessie.

"I guess I better go too. My parents are probably wondering if I got
abducted by aliens or something!" I said with a smile. Brian wrapped his
arms around Jess and gave her a sweet kiss.

"Here, I'll walk you home," Brian offered to me. I accepted and the two of
us headed down the alley to my house. As we walked along under the star
filled sky I tried to understand the whole issue with AJ but it was no use.

Sometimes I wondered why he couldn't be more like Brian - caring, stable and
most of all reliable. AJ changed like day and night.

"Well, here we are," Brian said interrupting my thoughts. We hugged and
then I opened the back gate of my yard and walked. I looked up at the sky
again and to my surprise I saw a falling star. I made a wish on it just
before it disappeared.

"Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight."

I wished for the only thing I could think of...AJ. I looked up at the sky
and then quietly opened the back door and went inside my house.

Index

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