California Girl: Chapters 5-8

Chapter Five: Trying to Pretend

The next day that came was extremely difficult – have you ever tried to pretend you didn’t like someone that you were slowly falling in love with?

I bet you have.

At lunch, I briefly explained to Macy and Jaime about my little crush right before the boys arrived. They were walking together. I saw the deep contrast between Jackson and Langston. Their eyes, their hair, their height, their physiques…it was all opposite. Langston looked really cute with his Beats wrapped around my neck. Jaime had promised to show me how to flirt. I was excited and worried to see her try and flirt with Glen; he was head over heels in love with her, and she was so beautiful…I could never do as well as she most likely was going to.

They sat down, and although Langston didn’t sit right next to me, he gave me a slightly shy smile from across the table that totally made my heart beat ten times faster. Macy gave Jaime a look that symbolized the word begin, and Jaime leaned in towards Glen, sliding off her hood. 

“Hey, Glen!”

“Oh, hi.”

She batted her eyelashes and said, “You have the cuh-utest smile, Glen.”

He looked stunned. “Um…”

“And your cheeks. They’re like little tiny bubbles!” she exclaimed, pinching his cheeks with a giggle.

Most guys would have been embarrassed, but Glen was so infatuated with Jaime that he leaned in to kiss her, after which she slapped him.

She turned to me. “Get it?”

“Got it,” I laughed.

“Good!”

Langston looked at us, perplexed. “What the heck is going on here?”

“Yeah, what’s going on, Jaime?” Glen whined, rubbing his recently-slapped arm.

“I wanted to see if my flirting skills are any good.” Jaime said, inspecting her fingernails as she spoke.

“Glen is an unfair test subject,” Jackson chided. “He’s in love with you already.”

“Am not!” Glen interrupted.

“Should I try on you?” Jaime teased.

“Try a guy from another table. I bet you won’t succeed.”

“Fine.”

Jaime got up and walked over to the nearby table. She tapped one of the boys who had an empty seat next to him and said sweetly, “Can I sit here?”

He looked at her, immediately noticed her beauty, nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

They talked for a while, and we watched in awe. She twirled her hair; she giggled; she made all of the guys laugh…man, she was good. After a matter of minutes, she had gotten kissed on the cheek, hugged, high-fived, and was given every one of their numbers.

She returned and placed the sticky notes with the numbers on them in the center of the table.

“Boom,” she said, miming an explosion with her hands.

Jackson had an awkward expression on his face, Glen looked green with envy, and Langston was looking at me. I felt my face flush pink. I wondered if he liked me back…but I’d had my experience with school crushes, and it always ended up with either me or the person crushing on me being rejected and embarrassed.

Jackson got up, leaving an empty seat next to Langston. He picked up the sticky notes.

“They all gave you their numbers?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.

Jaime shrugged, and when the guy that she had sat next to looked at her, she blew him a kiss. Langston laughed, and then he patted the seat next to him, still looking at me.

I got up and sat next to him. 

He smiled at me. “Selene, I was thinking about yesterday…”

Oh gosh, I thought. Now he’s going to reject me, on the second day I’ve been crushing on him. He’s going to say he doesn’t feel the same; he wants to get me off his back. He’s going to say he doesn’t like the awkward looks I’ve been giving him today. He doesn’t want to ever date me.

“I realize that I do like you.”

Oh.

“But...as much as I want to ask you to be my girlfriend, we just met yesterday, and I kind of want to get to know you better.”

I noticed that Macy, Jaime, Glen and a jealous-looking Jackson were now watching our uncomfortably sweet conversation.

“You guys are adorable,” Macy said, and Jaime nodded in agreement, sliding her hood back on.

“I agree,” I said. “I mean, about waiting to date. I feel like it may be a little early.”

“Cool,” he said.

Another awkward silence ensued. I really wanted to kiss him, and to be his girlfriend, but we were in front of my new friends right then, and clearly he didn’t want to date yet.

He kissed me anyway.

Chapter Six

When I got home that day, my dad looked miserable.

He was sitting in his desk chair, slouched and sleepy, his reddened eyes outlined with dark circles.

“What happened?” I asked, concern building in my throat.

“I got fired,” he said like an emotionless drone.

‘What?” I exclaimed. “They made us move to a completely different state and a week after we’ve figured everything out, they fire you?”

He sighed. “They treat their employees like puppets. They don’t care what happens with my family.”

I rubbed my temples with my forefinger and thumb. “What are we going to do, then?”

“I’m applying for a few jobs. But to conserve money, maybe try having your meals with some of your new friends? It would help a lot. I can eat with one of the guys I used to work with; he said he’d help me out.”

“Yeah, sure, Dad.”

“Thanks, honey.” he said, and then he smiled and stood up to hug me. We hugged for a minute or two, and then I told him I was going to a friend’s for dinner. It was mostly true.

…

I mostly remembered the way to Langston’s house, which Jaime liked to call ”Madis Manor”.

When I reached the luxurious property, I walked up the path to the door and knocked on it. After a minute or two, the door opened to reveal a slightly plump man wearing a sweater vest with gray slacks and shiny shoes. His nearly-bald head glimmered beneath the thin rays of sunlight poking out from beneath the clouds.

“Hi, Mr. Madis,” I said, feeling awkwardly underdressed in my t-shirt and shorts. “Is Langston home?”

And with that, the man that had been called snooty and extravagantly boring by his own son smiled and let out a laugh like Santa Claus. He ho-ho-ho-ed for about two minutes until he called for Langston.

Langston walked to the door, saw me standing there, and smiled at me, gazing for a moment. He seemed surprised that I was on his porch right then, but he waved away his dad and stepped outside to see me.

“Selene,” he said, and he kissed me again.

I had been wondering to myself as I walked to his house if he had already forgotten the kiss at lunch, forgotten how he had put his hand on my chin and brushed his fingers against my jaw, forgotten the feel of his long eyelashes against my warm cheeks.

I wondered at that moment there, when he had kissed me again, if he would ever forget.

Then he took his hand from off my neck and shoved it in his pocket.

“I’m beginning to get the feeling you really don’t want to date,” I said playfully, and he laughed.

“How can I when you make that face?”

“What face?”

“You know,” he said, “when you look all vulnerable and innocent with those big brown doe eyes you have.”

“Whatever. Have you even seen your own eyes? They look like little caramel candies, all smooth and lovely.”

Langston did the thing that I loved, where he laughed and then shyly dipped his head down to the ground and to the sides; it was like he was trying to avoid my gaze, or that he was drawing my eyes to him. It was a mix of both.

“You’re cute. So why’d you show up at my doorstep?”

My smile disappeared immediately.

I knew immediately that I wanted to tell him everything – my dad losing his job, me needing to eat at someone else’s house. And I decided I loved Langston and he loved me, so I could tell him and trust him not to tell anyone else. Although, even as much as I told myself it, I couldn’t fully convince myself.

Finally, I decided I trusted him.

“My dad…got fired,” I said in a quieter voice, and an unwanted tear slipped down my cheek.

Langston suddenly looked stunned. “But he just moved with you here for that job!”

“I know.” My voice was a whisper now, it was so delicately quiet.

“What, did he ask for you to ask us for money? If you need it, I mean, I could help…”

“No, that’s not it,” I interrupted, my face flushing red. “It’s just…he asked if I could eat dinner at one of my friend’s houses until he gets a new job. To save money.”

“Well, you can always eat here.”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

Chapter Seven: Dinner (And A Little Surprise After)

Langston had two older sisters in his family.

His first sister, named Bethany, was the second-oldest kid in their family. She looked a lot like he did. They had the same brown-speckled-with-gold-colored eyes, the same dirty blond hair. She was shorter than him by a few inches, by me even. She was nice enough, at least for a seventeen-year-old girl.

Clarisse, however, was a spoiled brat.

She was eighteen years old, but she acted like she was three. She whined, spat, and antagonistically taunted her little siblings. I felt bad for Bethany and Langston.

She also looked nothing liked her siblings. She looked more like her blond-haired mother. Clarisse had icy blue eyes and thin lips like the villain lady from 100 Dalmatians. Her skin was about six shades lighter than Langston’s and Bethany’s – most likely because she’d rather shop at the mall than play sports outdoors.

Mrs. Madis had a fake smile, unlike her kind-hearted husband. Maybe the center of snootiness was more just Mrs. Madis. She looked absolutely flawless, which was very unusual for a mother of three teenagers. Her skin was perfect, her clothes were elegantly fabulous, and she looked twice as skinny as an average model.

She seemed genuinely pleased that Langston’s new pal from school (because he wasn’t good at making friends, apparently) was going to be eating with them. She said they never had any of his friends over. Clarisse then proceeded to whine and whine until her parents let her invite one of her friends over for dinner. Bethany then was given the partly-sarcastic offer to invite her friend Emily.

While the butler – I know right? – cooked dinner, Langston, Bethany, Emily and I played some soccer out back. They had a huge yard space, and Bethany pulled to stand-up goals out of the shed along with a shiny new ball, which she tossed to Emily.

I had almost no soccer experience, but I only agreed to play because I was staying for dinner and it would be rude not to join in spending time with my friend (“friend”. Yeah, right.)

Surprisingly, I actually didn’t suck.

We picked teams based on soccer skills. Emily was the top player on the team, and since I had never really played soccer in my life, I was paired up with her to even the balance. This, I didn’t mind. Plus, I got to see Langston’s cute game face as he played against us with his sister.

…

Dinner was splendid, of course. The talk was the normal dinnertime banter, but the food was no ordinary meal. It was a delicious blend of sweet, spicy, savory…I had never eaten such great delicacies in my life.

Around seven o’clock, I thanked Mr. and Mrs. Madis for the meal and said I had to go home. Mr. Madis gave me a lovely hug, and Mrs. Madis gave me a bit of a forced one, and then, to both my surprise and my delight, Bethany hugged me, too.

Langston walked me home.

I smiled at him as we walked. “Your family is…interesting.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “At least you don’t have any siblings.”

“Clarisse is a bit whiny…but Bethany’s cool.”

“She is.” His face lit up, and I smiled wider.

He really bonded with his sister. I began to wish Mom hadn’t left when I was little; maybe I would’ve had some siblings, too.

When we stood in front of my house, he gave me that sweet, shy look that I adored. There was something fragrant about him – it definitely wasn’t the repulsive Axe spray that Jackson loved to lather himself with. It was more of a natural scent. I hugged him, mostly so the sweet smell would be closer to my nose. I inhaled slowly, smiling.

“You’re not going to kiss me again, are you,” I asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

“What?”

“We said we weren’t going to date, and then we just keep kissing. I’m really confused.”

“Me, too,” he admitted. “The whole thing is just…”

“Strange.”

“Yeah,” he said, probably thinking exactly what I was thinking:

We even talk the same.

“It’s like, we’re destined for each other or something,” I added.

“Now, don’t go all cliché-romance-y on me, Selene.”

I laughed. “Langston, you know it’s true. Don’t you feel the same?”

He nodded. “I feel like I should get to know you and stuff, but then I keep ending up kissing you.”

“I noticed.”

This time, we both laughed.

“So…”

Langston, being his usual self, took an awkward moment and turned it into an awkward, but sweet one.

“You’re my girlfriend now, right?”

Chapter 8: An Interesting Dream

When I went to sleep that night – my first night as Langston’s official girlfriend – I couldn’t help but think about how Jackson would react. I didn’t see when Langston kissed me at lunch what Jackson’s reaction was; the bell had rung almost immediately afterward.

I hadn’t wanted to interfere with their group dynamic, so I was praying that Jackson’s little crush on me wouldn’t affect anything between them. Langston had told me they were such close friends, people liked to call them “The Sons.” That had made me laugh.

“But your name ends with ‘ston’,” I’d pointed out.

“It’s catchy, Selene. Don’t ruin it,” he’d argued, and that’d been it.

As much as I knew everything was going to be fine, I felt almost as worried as the night my best friend Vanessa and I had this terrible fight. She liked this boy named Ben, (and so did I, secretly), but Ben asked me out, and when I said yes, Vanessa totally lashed out on me. After that, she practically ruined my life for the next three months until I reluctantly apologized to her and broke up with Ben.

I thought back to me and Ben’s cute little relationship. He had been sweet, thoughtful, and pretty cute, but apparently, since Vanessa was basically the most popular girl at my school, she deserved him. I don’t think he even agreed to date her afterwards.

That night, I had a weird dream.

…

I was a peasant girl.

I wore pitiable clothes, my hair badly needed to be brushed, and my father was a single dad with a bad job.

So, basically, it was my life exactly.

My dad was at work all day long, and I had to eat at the king’s palace for dinner every night. The king was a tall but heavy man named Richard Madis. He sat on a throne all day and laughed like a mighty lumberjack. His wife, the queen, was Rebecca Madis, and she had long platinum-blond hair and nearly translucent skin. Her thin lips gave her a scarily beautiful appearance.

And then there was the prince. We were close friends with a budding romance, and he was the only reason I was allowed to eat at the palace. He was young, attractive, sweet, and the opposite of his parents. He liked to wear peasant-like clothing, like me.

The prince and I were having a sweet little love affair when the prince’s best friend fell in love with me. He and the prince got in a fight and their friendship was destroyed. 

In the end, I didn't get to be with the prince.