NEVER SAY NEVER
By Sarah Wartman
PART TWENTY-SIX
“Oh gosh,” I said after pulling away from Joey. My mind was reeling. Why did I do that? What in the hell was I thinking? I tried to escape but Joey grabbed my waist and pulled me back down on the bed.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, putting my head in my hands. My heart was racing and that scared me. It meant I was starting to care for Joey. What had the world come to? Nicki had won. She knew I would fall for him and she’ll bask in her triumph for years.
“What’s wrong? What is this?” he asked, pulling my hands away from my eyes and I had to look away quickly. I wanted nothing more than to just give into my feelings, to wrap my arms around him and never let go. But I had given my heart out before and gotten it torn into a million pieces. And the fact he was 100% player helped my situation none.
“Nothing, sorry about that,” I said, slumping back into the pillow.
“Sorry about that?” he asked.
“Yeah, it won’t happen again,” I mumbled, turning the TV up.
“Why not?” he asked and I looked up to see him grinning. I racked my brain for an excuse, an explanation for my retarded and ridiculous behavior. But I came up with nothing.
I looked away quickly. “Just because,” I mumbled, hoping he’d be satisfied with my answer.
“We’ll see,” I heard him mumble and I couldn’t help but smile.
~*~*~*~
Joey and I finished watching the movie and made our way out to the living room, where Josh and Nicki were busy eating each other’s faces off. I threw Joey a look and cleared my throat loudly, which didn’t help at all.
“Okay, excuse me love birds, but please stop, it’s just sickening.”
"I see you’ve emerged from your room Sarah,” Nicki said, pulling away from Josh and wiping off her mouth.
“Slobber much Josh?” I asked Josh and Nicki laughed.
“Hey, be nice, at least I’m not a hermit who lives in my bedroom.”
“I like my room,” I told him, slumping into a chair.
“So, what are we doing tonight?” Joey asked, sitting on the arm of my chair.
“Clubbing, of course,” Nicki said, and smiled at Josh in her flirtatious manner. I watched Josh lean in and kiss her and I felt my stomach turn.
“You gonna come?” Joey whispered in my ear.
I looked up at him and smiled. “Do I have a choice?”
He kissed the top of my head and grinned. “Of course not.”
My insides screamed. ‘No, don’t go!’ my mind told me. But I pushed the voices back once again. I was bound and determined to have a good time tonight, no matter what the cost.
“I guess I’m going then,” I told him and Joey smiled at me in satisfaction.
~*~*~*~
“But Nicki! I don’t want to look sexy!”
“Yes you do,” she told me, throwing me one of my little strappy dresses.
“Argh,” I said, throwing myself onto my bed. “Nicki!”
“Sarah, shush up. I don’t want to have to deal with this tonight,” she told me, pulling me up from the bed. “Now promise me you’ll be nice.”
“I’m always nice,” I whined.
“Right,” she said and left to get ready herself.
I put on the dress and examined myself in the mirror and sighed. This dress just wasn’t fitting my mood. I pulled it off and pulled out a pair black pants and a little blue top. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and put on my clunky black shoes and smiled.
“Much better,” I told myself and went out to the living room where the guys were waiting for us. I walked into the room to be greeted by whistles.
“You look nice,” Josh said.
“Thank you,” I said, sitting down in a chair to wait with them.
“I think I’m going to go check on Nicki,” Josh said after a couple of minutes and proceeded down the hallway. I watched Joey stand up and kneel down in front of me. He grabbed my hand and kissed it and I sat up to look in his eyes.
“You take my breath away,” he whispered.
“I bet you say that to every girl you take out,” I told him with scrutinizing eyes.
“But I don’t always mean it like I do now.”
I smiled knowing what he was up to. He was the biggest flirt I had ever seen. But I didn’t say anything. ‘Two can play at this game’ I thought to myself.
PART TWENTY-SEVEN
The club we decided on wasn’t as packed as I thought it would be on a Friday night. We made our way inside and found a table in the back.
“Want something from the bar?” Joey asked me.
“Yeah, just get me a margarita,” I told him and he smiled. Josh went with him and the second they were out of ear sight, Nicki turned on me.
“We didn’t you wear the dress?” Nicki asked me.
“Cause I wanted to wear this, mom.”
“Never mind that, I can see you and Joey are getting close,” Nicki said, sitting back and smiling with satisfaction. “I knew it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told her.
“Yes, I do. You’re falling for him. Aren’t you?” she asked as the guys came back with our drinks. Joey slid in next to me and handed me my drink.
I looked at Nicki and grinned. “Guess you’ll never now,” I said and took a sip of my drink.
She leaned forward and said, “Never say never, Sarah. You know I’ll find out.”
I shrugged her off and turned towards Joey. “Want to dance?”
“But of course,” he said and led me to the dance floor. A fast song was playing and Joey didn’t hesitate to get all over me. But I grinned and danced up on him right back. I turned to see Nicki and Josh watching with wide eyes and I laughed. I knew I’d hear about this later, but I didn’t care. Playing this little game was too much fun.
“Having fun?” Joey asked in my ear.
“Absolutely,” I answered back.
I watched him lean in to kiss me but at the last second I turned my head and started back towards the table. I turned to see him standing there, a weird look on his face. Grabbing his hand, I pulled him back to the table with me.
“Sarah, ladies room. Now!” Nicki grunted threw her teeth. She stood up and grabbed my arm. I threw Joey a seductive smile as she pulled me into the bathroom.
“What the hell was that?” she asked me.
“What was what?” I asked innocently, pulling my compact out from my back pocket.
“That little scene with Joey?”
“Nothing, we were just dancing.”
“Just dancing? Oh please…..it was disgusting to watch.”
I turned on her. “Excuse me? What does it matter to you?”
“Joey’s my friend!” she shrieked.
“Last time I checked, I was supposed to be your friend too!” I yelled back.
“You are,” she said softly. “I’m just trying to figure out what you’re up to.”
“You’ll see soon enough,” I said to her and left the bathroom. It was much easier this way, I reassured myself. Just have fun. Don’t put your heart into anything or anyone, because it’ll just get broken.
I walked back to the table to see Josh sitting by himself. I slid in across from him and asked, “where’s Joey.”
Josh nodded in the direction of the bar and I looked over to see him majorly flirting with some girl. And for some reason, my heart fell.
‘No, don’t do that,’ I told myself. ‘No emotions.’
I watched him lead the girl to the dance floor and I finished my margarita. I sauntered over to the bar and sat down.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.
“She’ll have a Coors Light. Make it two,” I heard someone say. I watched as the person who bought me a drink sat down next to me.
PART TWENTY-EIGHT “Hey,” Drew said, sitting down next to me on a barstool.
“Hey,” I mumbled as I took a drink.
“How you been?” he asked quietly.
I turned to look at him. I didn’t say anything for a moment, just studied his face. I almost forgot how gorgeous he was.
“How have I been?” I muttered, taking another big drink of my beer. I turned and looked at him. “How do you think I’ve been? Or do you really care?”
“Sarah, that’s not fair,” he told me.
“Don’t talk to me about unfairness, Drew. You’ll lose,” I said and looked away quickly.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered just loud enough for me to hear.
I looked over and saw the sincerity in his eyes. “I’ve missed you too.”
~*~*~*~
“What is she doing?” Nicki asked Josh. They were out on the dance floor, dancing to a slow song.
“Looks like she’s talking to Drew,” Josh answered, swaying Nicki slowly to the music.
“That’s not cool,” Nicki added.
Josh looked down at her and smiled. “Why not? Drew’s a nice guy.”
“What about Joey?”
“What about Joey?” Josh asked her.
Nicki looked up at Josh and grinned. “Nevermind,” she said and kissed him quickly on the lips.
~*~*~*~
“So, how you been?” Drew asked, taking a sip from his bottle.
“That’s the second time you’ve asked me that,” I told him, smiling.
“Probably cause you never answered me.”
I looked over at Nicki to see her throwing me death glares. She needed to get a grip and stop worrying about me so much. What does it matter who I like or who I’m dating? It’s my life, not hers after all.
And why was she so for Joey? He’s such a player it’s almost sickening. I didn’t want to have to deal with that.
I looked over to see Joey dancing closely with that girl. And instantly, like in the cheesey romance movies, he looked up and our eyes met. I felt my heart skip a beat.
‘Two can play at this game,’ I thought and grinned.
I looked over at Drew and pulled him off the barstool.
“Where are we going?” he asked me.
“We’re going to dance,” I told him and when we got to the dance floor he wrapped his arms around me. I smiled and placed my head on his chest.
As we swayed slowly to the music, I closed my eyes and breathed in his cologne. It was almost intoxicating. I opened my eyes to see Joey and his little “friend”. She whispered something in his ear and he laughed. I looked away quickly. I felt Drew kiss me on the top of my head and I pulled away to look at him.
“It feels so good to have you in my arms,” he told me.
“I know,” I whispered.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Joey watching us. And with one quick motion, I pulled Drew down and our lips met.
PART TWENTY-NINE
I pulled back just in time to see Joey walk away from that girl and make his way towards a side exit. The girl stood in astonishment as Joey left her in the middle of the dance floor, in the middle of a song. I started after him and Drew grabbed my arm.
“You’re going after him?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I told him and pulled my arm free. Walking quickly, I followed Joey towards the side exit. I finally caught up with him in the alley and I grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?” I asked him.
“What does it matter?” He looked down at me with ice in his eyes and I sucked in my breath.
“It does matter. You’re upset.”
He laughed as if I said the most absurd thing he’d ever heard. “You’re a quick one,” I heard him mutter.
I let go of his arm and watched him pace in front of me. “What is your problem?” I asked him.
He looked at me and said, “what do you think my problem is?”
“It was just a kiss, Joe.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel any better?” he asked me, waving his arms at his sides. “What about our kiss, Sarah? Or was that just a kiss too?”
I shrugged nonchalantly, trying my best not to let this upset me. “What if it was? It’s not like we’re married Joey.”
“I never said we were or acted as such, Sarah. But I do have feelings,” he said softly.
“I know that!” I said, letting my voice get a little louder than I should have. “This is so hypocritical of you! It’s okay for you to be a player and flirt with other girls, but I can’t flirt with other guys?”
“There’s a difference between flirting and making out with someone, SJ.”
“Right, so you and Jen were just sharing your gum that afternoon?”
“That was different,” he told me.
“How so?”
“It was before….”
“Before what?” I interjected.
He just stood there and looked at me. I wish I could have read his mind, because he touched my cheek and smiled at me for a moment. Then he turned and walked away. And for some reason, I didn’t stop him. I was too angry and hurt.
I turned to go back into the club and almost ran into Drew.
“You okay?” he asked me.
“No,” I mumbled and pushed past him and back into the club.
Nicki saw me coming and met me halfway in the dance floor. “What’s going on?” she asked me.
"I’m going home,” I told her.
“Now?”
“Yes now. I’ll get a cab. I have a lot of thinking to do,” I told her as I pushed past her and towards the exit.
PART THIRTY
“You gonna get that?” I heard Nicki yell from the doorway. The phone had been ringing all day long, but I refused to answer it. I didn’t say anything, just kept flipping through the channels. My mind was somewhere else.
Nicki walked into the hall and sighed. She quickly walked to the phone and picked it up. “Hello?”
I looked up and watched her talk for a few moments before hanging up the phone. She looked at me and said, “don’t worry, it wasn’t one of them.”
“Good,” I muttered and looked back at the TV.
“It was Carrie.”
“Oh, really? What did she want?” I asked while flipping through the TV.
“We’re having a girls night tonight,” she told me, sitting down next to me on the sofa.
“Oh, that’ll be fun,” I told her and looked at her to see a look of sadness in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“You never did tell me what happened last night,” she told me.
I sighed loudly. “Do I have to talk about it?”
“Will you, please?” she asked weakly.
“Okay, to make a long story short, Joey saw me kiss Drew and ran off.”
“You kissed Drew?” Nicki whispered. “Why?”
“Why not? Did you see him last night? He looked so sexy….”
“What about Joey?”
I sighed loudly. “What about Joey, Nicki?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed what a flirt he is? I mean, flirting is okay, but there is a line Nicki.”
“But you could change that, Sarah,” Nicki told me.
“I’ve learned you can’t make people change. They have to want to change for themselves,” I told her. I shook my head and made my way to my bedroom.
“Don’t I know it,” Nicki mumbled.
~*~*~*~
“You coming?” I heard Nicki yell from the door.
“Coming!” I yelled as I grabbed my backpack off of my bed and headed over to Carrie’s apartment.
“Hey guys!” she exclaimed, opening the door for us. “Come on in, everyone else is already here.”
Nicki and I walked into the apartment to be greeted by Beth and Ginger. We quickly sat down and started catching up since we hadn’t talked for so long. Beth and Nicki started talking about Justin and Josh and Ginger pulled me onto the sofa.
“Oh, Sarah, I have so much to tell you!” she exclaimed.
I giggled and said, “you do, huh? Well….tell me already!”
“Look!” she exclaimed, showing off her beautiful silver necklace. “Lance gave it to me.”
“It’s very pretty,” I said as I watched Nicki, Beth and Carrie all sit down on the floor in front of Ginger and I. I knew they were up to something, they all had the mischievous twinkle in their eyes.
“What?” I asked them cautiously.
TO BE CONTINUED