Vanessa
I angrily shoved textbooks and papers into my backpack as I crouched beside my locker at the end of the school day. Addison slowly approached me, rocking back on her heels and running her hands down the straps of her own bag. “Vanessa, please talk to me.”
Glaring up at her, I spat out. “Life must be so easy for you, huh? You’re beautiful, popular and you don’t have to try for anything. You just get whatever you want.” I laughed bitterly. “You even get what I want.”
Addison sat down on the tile beside me, leaning her back up against the lockers. “V,” she began softly. “You’re really pretty too and you have a great personality. You could be popular as well if you just came out of your shell a bit and as far as Matt’s concerned…” she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. “I can’t really control what he does but you heard him, he doesn’t want to date anybody right now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh please. Read between the lines, Addie. He doesn’t want to date anybody that’s not you. I see the way you two tease and flirt with each other. I’m not dumb and can figure out that there is obviously something there between you both. It’s clear as day.”
She tossed her long, dark waves over one shoulder, a smile crossing over her full, glossy lips. “While I can admit that I do have a tendency to attract the male species in droves, I can assure you that Matt is not one of them.” She stood up, dusting off the seat of her jeans as she followed me down the hall and into the bathroom.
My mind was racing 100 miles per hour as I vigorously washed my hands in the sink before running them through my tangled hair. I wasn’t sure how she could make that statement with such confidence. His affinity towards her was plain to see. Even though he had repeated time and time again that she wasn’t his type, I caught the grins he would give her after they hurled insults at each other. He enjoyed it.
Wiping my damp palms on my jeans, I turned to face her. “You know what, Addison,” I began, my voice cold. “Why don’t you two just hop into bed already and get it over with? Instead of slowly driving your knife through my back, why don’t you just plunge it through all at once? It will hurt less that way.”
Addison threw her hands up in the air. “I’m not going through this with you again, Vanessa. I don’t want him. I’d rather hop into a pit of snakes than hop on his snake.”
She slightly recoiled as I took a step forward and shot her a murderous glance. “Nice one, Addie. I’m glad this is all just some big joke to you. I know it’s hard for you to understand what it’s like to have actual feelings for somebody because you just jump around from guy to guy, but I genuinely like him.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “I don’t jump around from guy to guy. I get crushes too, you know.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “On who?”
She bit her lip. “Well, no one at the moment.”
“That’s exactly my point. You just have fun with whomever you like. It doesn’t matter who you hurt in the process.”
“I’m not trying to hook up with Matt,” she shouted, her voice echoing off the brick walls. She turned towards the mirror, pulling out her lipstick and leaning forward to reapply it. She made a face as she looked over at me, pointing to a newly formed blemish above her lip. “You see this? My body is literally rejecting his touch.”
I gave her a long look. “You really mean to tell me that you don’t find him attractive?”
She held up one finger as she spoke. “Ah, now see, that’s a whole other question. Is he cute? Sure. Could he be smoking hot if he trimmed his hair down some more and traded in all that black for some faded blue jeans and a polo shirt in perhaps a nice shade of teal? You bet. But am I attracted to him? That’s a negative.” She capped her lipstick, sliding it back into her purse before she began ticking off on her fingers. “Let’s see. He’s shoved his stinky armpits in my face after gym class, asking if he smelled, he’s clipped his nasty toenails around me, and one time he most definitely licked some pizza sauce off his shirt that he dripped onto it.” She made a face of disgust as she shook her head. “If you’re ever looking to squash your feelings for him then just starting paying attention to when he does his gross boy things and I can promise that will knock you back down to earth pretty quickly.”
She stared off in the distance dreamily as she continued to speak. “You know what I am attracted to though? Guys whose butts that look really sexy in those tight football pants.” She held out her arm for me to inspect. “Look, I’m getting goose bumps just imagining it.” She leaned against the sinks, wrapping her arms around her body. “Do you have any idea how much it turns me on to see a guy swing a baseball bat and crack that sucker right out of the park on their first try?” She turned to give me a wide grin. “Do you also have any idea how very much it does not turn me on to see Matt duck and cover his face when the ball comes sailing towards him all the while he’s shrieking like a little girl?”
I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up out of my mouth. “When did that happen?”
She shrugged. “Gym class. I ditched to watch Ben play one day. Just don’t ever bring it up to Matt. He got ribbed on pretty hardcore for that one.” She leaned in to sling an arm around my shoulders. “So yes, Vanessa, there is something there between me and him but it’s called friendship. I love that guy so freaking much but it’s in the same way that I love you. I can promise you that nothing would please me more than seeing my two best friends fall in love with each other because heaven knows they both deserve to be happy.”
I pulled her in close, hugging her tightly. “You really mean that,” I whispered into her ear.
She nodded. “Absolutely. Now, let’s go figure out how you can spend some more time alone with him so we can make that happen.”
As I let go of her, I looked at her skeptically. “I don’t know, Addie. We already do hang out by ourselves all of the time and he’s never once tried to make a move.”
She rolled her eyes. “Vanessa, reading from boring, dusty old books and laughing over other people acting like fools is hardly going to get his libido going for you. Now, if you really want to have him all hot and bothered over you, then you have to make him think of sex. Have you ever been alone with him in your room before? There’s no sexier place for a teenage boy than a female’s bed.”
I laughed but seriously had my doubts that would work. Throwing up my hands I said, “Sure, let’s give it a shot.”
***
The next afternoon, we all met up at my house to work on our homework. I couldn’t study anywhere else except at my desk so I was seated there while Addison was sprawled out on her stomach on the carpet and Matt laid out on the bed. He let out a grunt of frustration as he crumpled up the piece of paper he had been writing on into a ball. “Forget it,” he exclaimed. “It’s not like I’m ever going to need to know the volume of a cone outside of this dumb class, anyways.” He tossed the paper across the room, sending it bouncing off of Addison’s head.
Immediately, she perked up. “Hey, watch it, reaper.”
He broke out into a wide grin as he shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry. You know I have terrible aim. I meant to throw that into the wastebasket.”
She stood up, smoothing out her white sleeveless top and pink pleated skirt. She walked over to where he was laying and leaned in to jab him with the pointed edge of her pencil. “Ow,” he cried clutching his hand. “You’re pure evil.”
She gave him a devilish smirk. “Oops. Sorry. I meant to write in your notebook, instead. You know I have terrible aim.”
“That’s it. You are so going to get it.” He grabbed a yellow highlighter from his bag, uncapping it and sticking it between his teeth. Reaching out, he pulled on her arm before taking a hold of both her wrists and pinning her to the bed beneath him.
He lowered the tip of the marker so that it was hovering over her face as she shrieked and squirmed to break free. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said through labored breaths as she moved her face from side to side. “You’re going to mess up my makeup. I have a date tonight.”
“You’re wearing so much as it is, he probably won’t even notice the difference.”
She gave a yank on her arm, breaking the hold that he had on her and with her free hand, she reached up and grabbed a clump of his hair in between her fingers. “Unhand me, you little delinquent.”
He gasped as his eyes widened and he immediately let go, holding his palms up in the air. “Ok, I surrender. Just please leave the hair alone. They’re innocent.”
No sooner did she remove her fingers from his head, did he jump up and immediately go to the mirror above my dresser to fiddle with his hair until it was just right. Addison rolled her eyes. “Serves you right. You put a wrinkle in my skirt. Now I’m going to have to go home and change.”
He continued to fuss over his appearance as he tossed a wave over his shoulder. “Ok, bye. No one’s going to miss you.”
She scoffed as she grabbed her book bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. “I’m off,” she said coolly. “V, hope you don’t mind sleeping on the floor tonight as Matt spends the next 17 hours just trying to figure out how to do that one geometry problem.” Without waiting for a response, she headed out the door.
Matt turned away from the mirror and began packing his textbook up into his backpack. “I think I’m going to head out too.” He gave me a gorgeous grin as he glanced at me over his shoulder. “I can admit when I’m defeated and Matt vs. Volume of a Cone is no battle I can win.”
I wiped my hands on my jeans as I studied him. “Let me help you. It’s easy once you get the hang of it.”
He bit his lip for several moments before shrugging and sliding his math textbook back out of his bag, gesturing at it. “Be my guest.”
I sat down beside him as I flipped open to the problem he had been working on. The fragrance of his body wash filled my nostrils and I wanted nothing more than to toss our homework aside and nibble on his neck instead. I cleared my throat. “Ok, so the formula for finding the volume of a cone is this.” I pointed at the equation on the paper. “Now all you have to do is plug in the numbers.”
He blinked at me. “What numbers?”
I tried not to grimace. Maybe he really was that bad at school. “The radius and the height.”
“Ok…” he said slowly. “So the radius is 3.14, right?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s Pi. Try again. It specifically states here,” I pointed at the page once more, “That the radius is 7.”
“I see,” he said nodding. He furrowed his brows as he set to work plugging in the numbers. My eyes drifted down as I watched him write, noticing something that I had never noticed before, most likely because I was always too entranced with staring at his face.
“You’re left-handed,” I observed.
His head shot up. “What? Oh yea,” A grin slowly spread across his face as he held up his hand so I could see the graphite from the pencil smudged all the way down his pinky finger. “It’s great. The world’s very accommodating for us lefties.”
I returned his smile as our eyes locked and I wasn’t sure how it was even possible for one to be that beautiful. He looked away as he tugged the hem of his sweatshirt over his head. I gulped. What was he doing? I wanted to kiss him but perhaps this was a bit forward.
He gave me a shy grin as he shrugged. “It’s a little warm in here.”
“Oh. I could turn the heat up for you if you want. I mean down. Down. I could turn it down.” My cheeks burned red and now I was the one that was feeling a little warm.
He raised one eyebrow before returning his gaze back to the textbook, placing one hand down on the bed beside him. I was very aware of the sensation of his jeans brushing against the bare skin of my leg and the heat from his body radiating against mine. I was quite certain that Addison wouldn’t call geometry homework a turn on but we were still in my bed, where anything could happen. How easy it would be to press one palm lightly against his chest as I guided him back onto my pillows and planted soft kisses all over his cheek. My fingers inched closer to his on the bedspread just as he lifted his hand up to pass his notebook over to me. “Ok, I think I got it.”
He watched me eagerly as I checked over his work. A smile broke out on my face as I nodded. “That’s correct. Great job, Matt.” I started to place one arm around him to give him a congratulatory hug just as I was sure Addison would have done but he jumped off the bed, pumping up his fist and letting out a small whoop. “Take that Scott and Troy. Who’s the idiot now?” He glanced over at me, his eyes growing wide and his face turning crimson as he grabbed the books from my hand and hurriedly began stuffing them into his bag. “I have to go. My dad’s probably wondering where I am,” he muttered.
As he zipped up his backpack, I stared down at my lap. Be more like Addison. If she could so easily flirt with him then so could I. “I like you,” I whispered.
He tossed a look over his shoulder at me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. You were being kind of quiet. What did you say?”
Shaking my head, I cleared my throat. “I can help you.” I gestured towards his bag. “With your homework. Anytime.”
He grinned as he leaned forward to clasp me on the shoulder and flick one of my waves. “Thanks, V. I appreciate that. I’m lucky to have a school nerd such as you as my friend. I’d be lost without you, buddy.”
I forced a tight smile in return. “No problem.” As soon as the door shut behind him, I flopped back onto my bed, covering my face and sighing. At that moment, I knew that he would never see me as sexy. I would probably always just be “one of the guys” to him. It was true that he may have teased Addison for her fashion sense but she must have been doing something right because she was the one he was kissing and pinning to the bed while I was the one he was calling buddy and giving shoulder pats to.
I scoffed as I looked down at my hoodie and faded jeans with rips in the knees. Addison was the beautiful girly girl and I was just the dorky awkward friend and what guy would ever want to date that?
***
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