Lydia.
I couldn’t believe him. Chris convinced me to see Jeremy just so I could see him humiliated.
In the pit of my stomach, I could feel my mom telling me, “You know you’re way overreacting here. Chris wants you to see that Jeremy can’t be trusted, and that’s a good thing.”
Well, I was not going to apologize.
We got to our houses and glared at each other as we walked up to our respective doors. We both flung open our doors. I heard him slam his door. I was about to slam my door when I looked up and saw Mom and Mark in front of me.
“There you are. How was your –”
“Mom, get out my head. Sometimes I don’t want to listen to you.” Oh, no, I just said that out loud. Mom raised her eyebrows. I rushed upstairs and slammed the door to my room.
I flopped on my bed and buried my head under my pillow. Why were things so confusing with Chris right now? We used to not fight about silly stuff like this. I might be still in love with him, but I sure didn’t like him right now.
I heard my mom open the door. “I promise not to yell, but I want to talk.”
I sighed and drew my head out from under my pillow. “Okay.”
“All right, I’m going to guess what happened. You and Chris had a fight. And my voice in your head kind of told you were wrong in this case, didn’t it?”
“Well…maybe.”
“So I don’t even have to know what it is. It seems to me you already know what you need to do. You were just too mad to do it earlier. But now you’re calmed down a bit, so go ahead and do it. Go on.”
I slowly pulled myself up off my bed. Well, if I’m going to do it, I might as well bring my books so I don’t have to come back later.
“But, Mom…”
“Yes?”
Jeremy’s in my thoughts all the time. I know he’s a selfish jerk, but I’m sympathizing with him more and more. I never did that before, and now that I’m realizing it, it scares me.
“Nothing.” She started out the door.
“Actually, there’s one more thing I want to say: I miss seeing the pictures of you and Chris on your walls. I don’t know where they went to, but I hope they come back.”
“Uh…” I turned to the bare poster board and nightstand. I really didn’t want to explain myself about that. “…yeah, sure. Bye, Mom.”
“Bye.” She gave me a kiss on the forehead.
I walked down the stairs. Mark looked up and gave me a funny look. I ignored him and opened the door.
The clouds were dark and dreary. I shivered in the bitter December weather. Why was I the one who had to apologize first?
Wait, he already did.
I walked across the lawn and up the steps to Chris’ porch. I raised my hand to the door. Why is this so hard? Jeremy was a jerk and Chris was my best friend. Chris was just looking out for me, right? But it was still very underhanded what Chris did to Jeremy.
Okay, this is ridiculous. I knocked on the door. Chris answered it.
“Hi,” I managed.
“Hi,” he said and looked at the ground. He looked back up and smiled. “I hate it when we fight.”
“Yeah, me too. I’m sorry.”
A few seconds of silence passed between us.
“You want to come in and study?” He finally asked. I nodded back at him and forced a smile. I walked in the door, with more reluctance than I cared to admit.
***
Lydia.
It was the last day of school before Christmas break. There was Jeremy walking toward me, again. He put on a serious face like he wanted to show me he wasn’t joking around.
“Um, Lydia,” Jeremy said.
“What is it?” I glared at him.
“Um, well, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot for the past few…months, really.”
I saw Chris behind him. Once again, he just stood there. “Well, uh, what do you want?” I asked Jeremy.
“Oh, um, I got you a Christmas present.”
He held out the package. I reluctantly took it. “Thanks.”
“Well, I…I have to get to basketball practice.”
Once again, he just stood there, staring at me. His head cocked to the side and I wondered if he was imagining making out with me.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Jeremy, don’t you think you need to go?”
“Oh, yeah, see you later.” He turned and headed down the hall.
I looked down at the present in front of me. I didn’t know how I felt about it. On the one hand, maybe he was sweet for thinking of me. But then, I guessed that it was only because he was playing me.
I looked up to see Chris in front of me. Once again, he had said nothing to Jeremy. He looked down at the present. He shook his head and smiled. “Wow, he still thinks he has a chance.”
Okay, Chris didn’t seem too angry at me for accepting his gift. That was good. “So do you want to see what he gave me?”
“Yeah.”
I unwrapped the present to reveal a nice felt black case. I opened the case, and inside was a locket. It was very pretty, very romantic. I bit my tongue to keep from feeling an emotion toward the gift. Chris had never given me anything like that – no, no, no! Don’t go down that road. That fact didn’t matter. I needed to be angry about this. It was from Jeremy, who for all I know just did it so whoever was watching would react.
“It’s very...pretty…” I stammered.
Chris’ mouth fell open, and I cringed.
“But” I added hastily, “it was totally inappropriate. I should probably return it.”
Chris glared at me for a second, but then sighed and smiled. “It’s okay. I guess, if I was in your shoes, I’d probably think that was a sweet gift too. I get it.”
Whew. “Thanks,” I said to him. So he did get it.
Chris leaned in closer. “Hey, there’s a latch on it.”
“You think there’s something inside?” I asked him.
He chuckled. “Maybe there’s a poem of his undying love.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I smiled back at him. Man, when does Chris’ cousin give up?
I opened the latch with my fingernail. There, in the locket, was a picture of me…and on the opposite side, a picture of Jeremy.
What?
Our mouths both fell open. “It’s…as if he thinks we’re already going out.”
“Yeah.” He was as shocked as I was.
That was it, the last straw. I was done playing Jeremy’s game. I wanted to be out of all of it. I should never have accepted his gift in the first place. The gift itself was bad enough. But to imagine wearing the locket, knowing what it meant to Jeremy, and whatever he was trying to accomplish with it. No. I was done!
I shook my head. “I can’t believe him.” I could feel myself getting mad. “I’m going to return this, right now.”
“All right, let’s go.”
But I didn’t want him to come with me. He wouldn’t say anything to Jeremy anyway. “I can do this on my own. It’s fine.”
“But, Lydia, he thinks you’re already together. There’s no telling what he might try.”
“You think I can’t take care of myself?” I also wanted to say like I have already for the past few months but I held my tongue.
Chris’s eyebrows raised and he looked like he was about to snap at me. But then he softened and said, “Yeah, I’ll meet you at the entrance. See you in a little bit,”
I looked at the locket again and closed it. No way was I going to accept this.
I rushed down the hall and stopped in front of the gym. As I opened the gym doors, I could see they were all in the middle of the court talking. I could hear Jeremy talking to his teammates.
“It’s not too romantic at all...”
“Dude, I think she’s behind you.”
Jeremy turned around, with a confused look on his face. “Lydia, what is it?”
The rest of the team started backing away from him.
It was time to launch into him. “You gave me a locket with my picture and your picture in it. You know what you were implying, right?”
He turned his head to the side. “Well…what did you think I was implying?”
“It meant that we were a couple!” I blurted back at him. “Look, Jeremy, you don’t give this to me before we get together. You give this to me after we get together.”
That came out wrong. “I mean –”
“So we are getting together?” His eyebrows rose. His teammates went “Oh-hhhhhh”
“N-no,” I nearly yelled. “We’re not getting together.”
“But you just said…” he protested, a slight smile forming on his lips.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
He started to smile wider. “Well, come to think of it, I didn’t mean the pictures in the locket like that. The whole thing was just a token of my affection. Nothing more.”
I turned to him and back to his teammates, really confused. “But…but you just said...”
“Well, as you said…I didn’t mean it like that…” he smirked.
I felt like I was in a losing battle. How did my words get so twisted around by him? I wanted to leave but I couldn’t figure out how.
“Everything’s a joke with you,” I said to him, starting to turn around. “I can’t ever take you seriously.”
He sighed and tried again. “Okay, you want to know the truth? I just want you to know you’re beautiful. You’re amazing. That’s what the locket really meant to me when I gave it to you. Come on, Lydia, don’t you know I’m crazy for you?”
I was floored. He was so direct with his words. All the sarcasm was out the window. It seemed that he really meant what he said.
“I know that,” I said. “And the answer is still no.” Oh, the reason I came here in the first place. I held up the locket and put is in his hand.
“You can have your locket back. Not only does it imply we’re together, but it’s also really inappropriate. Sorry.”
Jeremy started walking toward me. “Lydia, why are you fighting this? What’s holding you back?”
He put his hand on my shoulder and slowly caressed it down my arm. Fire, lightening. A surge of emotion flooded over me all over again.
“I have wanted to go out with you for so long. Lydia, I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re what I’ve always wanted. Can’t you see that now?”
It was hard to resist such amazing words. I pushed to remind myself that he had another reason and that he was playing me. But he was right here in front of me telling me he wanted me. He slowly pulled me closer to him.
“I…uh…that’s not…Jeremy…I don’t…”
He leaned down and whispered, “Lydia, why are you stalling? You are so beautiful. What are you waiting for…..”
Maybe for just one second, I could imagine that all of this…everything he said or did was for...me. His arms felt strong on my back. I stopped fighting and my eyes slowly closed.
I got so close I could feel his warm breath on my lips –
Bang!
We turned to see Coach bang the door open. “Okay, kids, playtime’s over,” He yelled. “Start practice drills – now!”
I nearly let Jeremy kiss me. What did I do? This was all wrong! No, no, no!
I forced myself to glare at him. “Goodbye, Jeremy.”
I started to turn away, but he looked dead straight into my eyes. “I know you want me, Lydia.”
“You must think you have a shot. But you don’t. Romance is for other people,” I said to him.
“Wagner, stop flirting and get started!”
“You actually think I believe that?” He ignored the coach and kept going. “You say that with your lips, but your eyes tell me otherwise.”
It was finally time to put the nail in the coffin, to end this once and for all. No way was I going to let myself fall into his arms. “My parents would never approve of me dating a guy like you, especially my dad. It’s not going to happen, ever.”
“Wagner, now!”
He looked like he finally got the message. He turned and went for a ball. I quickly walked out of the gym.
I was breathing so hard, I was almost hyperventilating. I leaned against the wall for support. I almost kissed Jeremy. It really happened. How could I let myself be swayed by him like that? It was all wrong, all wrong.
I had to do something. I had to. If I didn’t, he’d be all I thought about. Everything I did would be about him. And I knew I couldn’t do that. I needed to get Jeremy out of my mind forever.
I needed to find Chris. I needed to find Chris right away.