“Why are we whispering?”
“So Dylan and Jason can’t hear me.”
“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, come on Olive, what if he realizes it’s you texting him?”
“But I do want him to realize it’s me.” I thought about that for a second, and then changed my mind. “Well, okay, maybe not at first, but eventually.”
Amanda sighed on the other end of the line. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea, Liv. What if he tells Dylan?” She gasped. “What if they recognize the number and think it’s me?”
“Oh, stop it. How could they possibly recognize your cousin’s number? If you don’t open your mouth, no one will know. And it’s just for tonight. I won’t text him again. My parents are gone, he is staying over, it’s the perfect timing.”
“Olive!” My brother banged on my door. “The pizza is here, come down if you don’t want to find an empty box.”
“Break the door down, why don’t you,” I muttered to myself. Opening the door of my little closet, I yelled back, “I’m coming!”
“Okay, I’m heading downstairs. What time is it?” I asked Amanda, getting up from the floor.
“Nine. When will you text him? You have to let me know what he is saying.”
“I can’t text you while I’m texting him. I’ll be too excited. I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know how it went.”
“Nope, I’m coming for breakfast then, who knows when you’ll call me. Plus, I need to get the phone back to my cousin. They are leaving tomorrow afternoon.”
“Fine, then I’ll see you tomorrow. Wish me luck.”
Throwing the phone on my bed, I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror. My strawberry blonde hair was falling down on my shoulders in soft waves, my eyes were sparkling, and my face was flushed with excitement over the possibility of what might happen later that night.
I looked down at my shaky hands and laughed at myself.
All I wanted for that night was to text Jason and talk to him as if I was someone else, like an admirer. You see, I’d had it all planned for days. I was going to text him, of course keeping my identity a secret, preferably when Dylan was not by his side, and then simply talk to him. Maybe I could ask him who he would want his admirer to be… Wouldn’t it be something else if he said me?
So far the plan was working smoothly. Depending on how the rest of the night went, I would make my move accordingly.
“Olive!” my brother thundered from downstairs.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep refreshing breath, hid the phone under my pillow, and walked out of my room.
“What are you yelling for? I said I was coming,” I said when I spotted Dylan sitting alone in front of the TV.
“Pour the drinks and bring out the pizza,” he answered, not even looking at me.
“Why can’t you get up and do it yourself?” I shot back.
“Just get on with it already. I’m about to start the movie.”
I opened my mouth to—
“Hi little Olive,” someone whispered right next to my ear, causing me to jump.
“Jason,” I whispered back, my hands jumping to my chest to keep my heart in place. “You scared me.”
He chuckled, showing me the dimple. “I know.”
I laughed back, my eyes shining with love for the boy I’d known for seven years now.
Tugging at a piece of my hair, he winked and walked past me with a cold water bottle in his hand. He pushed over Dylan and sat right next to him.
Eyeing the small seat next to Jason, I asked, “Do you want anything other than water?”
Turning his head, he smiled at me. “Thank you, beautiful. I’m good.”
I melted into a small, very happy puddle on my mother’s favorite carpet.
“Stop flirting with my sister, you shithead,” Dylan muttered, but I was too occupied with my dreams to tell Dylan to shush—not that he would listen to me.
Grabbing Dylan’s soda and a few paper plates for the pizza, I went back into the living room.
“Pour your own drink,” I said, dropping the bottle a little too harshly on the coffee table in front of him.
“How many slices do you want, Jason?” I asked, kneeling on the floor and not quite meeting his eyes.
Dylan sighed and muttered, “Here we go again.”
He didn’t like that I always gave the first slice of pizza—or cake, or pie, or any type of food actually—to Jason.
Putting his water bottle down, Jason reached out to help me up. “You are not sitting on the floor.” He pulled me up to the couch. “I’ll handle the pizza.”
Plopping down next to him, I let him divvy up the slices between the three of us.
“Two slices good?” he asked, giving me the first share.
Be still my heart.
“Yes, thank you.”
When he leaned back and shot me another quick wink, I forgot all about my pizza and reveled in the fact that I was about to spend two hours sitting right next to Jason watching a movie. It was the perfect night to text him.
“What are we watching?” I asked, taking a small bite from the huge slice.
“Nothing you’ll enjoy. We are already spending our Friday night babysitting your ass so you don’t have a say in the movie choices.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Dylan,” Jason murmured with his mouth full.
“So you’re saying you prefer to stay in tonight instead of going out with the girls?”
As my eyes filled with tears of embarrassment and something else I couldn’t name, I put my plate down and attempted to get up, only to be pulled back by Jason.
“Children,” he said in a tone similar to my dad’s. His warm hand was still closed over my wrist, keeping me seated—or more like paralyzed. “I promised Emily I would babysit both of you just in case you decided today was the day to kill each other. So, cut the crap and start the movie already. The girls aren’t going anywhere, Dylan.”
Still embarrassed, I cleared my throat to get their attention. “You guys don’t have to stay in for me. I’ll be okay, Dylan. You know I don’t mind staying alone.”
Looking at my miserable face, Dylan finally shook his head and reached for his plate. “Nah, it’s okay. Jason is right; the girls aren’t going anywhere and we’ve wanted to watch this for weeks, now is as good a time as any.”
The movie started and they both settled back as all my excitement for the night slowly trickled out of me.
When Dylan jumped up and said, “I’ll get the lights,” I was still playing with the paper plate in my lap.
Could he have a girlfriend?
I was sure he didn’t have one. Neither did Dylan actually, not since he’d broken up with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Vicky.
“Don’t worry, little one, it’s not a horror movie or anything. It’s action, you’ll like it,” Jason whispered into my ear before Dylan took his seat again.
Hearing him use the pet name he’d always liked to call me, I managed to put a sincere smile on my face when I looked up at him.
“Thank you. You guys can leave after the movie, you know. I won’t tell Mom and Dad when they come back tomorrow.”
“Are you kidding? I was looking forward to a quiet night in. Pizza and a movie with a beautiful green-eyed girl by my side?” He gave me a light shove with his shoulder. “Your brother is the stupid one, not me.”
Dylan turned off the lights and hopped back onto his seat. Luckily this time I was melting into another puddle on my mother’s not-so-favorite couch. I stayed that way until the end of the movie because Jason’s shoulder stayed plastered to mine the entire time.
About to die from sensory overload, I still had a stupid smile on my face as I headed to my room for the night.
Let the texting begin…
***
Around 1:30 AM, huddled under my covers, I listened to Dylan’s bedroom door open and close for the second time. The TV in his bedroom was on, but their voices were low. Either they didn’t want to wake me up or they were about to go to sleep, though I highly doubted that was the case.
Reaching for the phone under my pillow, I tried to get a handle on my breathing and erratic heartbeats.