2,260A/N: Alright... whoo-hoo! I got some reviews, and I wasn't really expecting any, so I'm especially touched. Um... I've already written a lot of this story, so it's only a matter or putting on the web... cause I'm lazy, but now that I know people are actually reading it I'll post more often.
The Game
We had driven over to Wendy's in Ryan's car again. I sat in front and Devon sat in the back, he didn't seem to mind though.
There wasn't really much to say on the short ride there, but there was the pleasant conversation. I stopped Ryan on the way inside, while Devon went on ahead.
"Hey. You do realize that I don't come here every day right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Here," I said gesturing towards the fast food restaurant. "I don't usually come here everyday."
"Well when do you usually go?"
"Just on Mondays." I smiled, "I need the frosty to get me through the week."
He grinned, throwing an arm around me as we walked up the stairs, "That is something I completely understand."
When we got inside Devon was sitting at a table in a corner. We walked over. He was munching on a couple french fries, and he didn't notice us when we came up. There was another tray across from his on the table. There was one quarter pounder and a frosty. I grinned, sitting down, "Hey. How'd you know what I wanted."
He smiled, finally noticing me, "Yeah, Ryan mentioned it the other day."
I was touched that he actually remembered, "Thanks."
"No problem."
"So about the game on Friday. What am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know exactly, I've never done this before," he replied.
"Well neither have I. Is my presence enough, or do I have like to like fawn all over you?"
"Would you actually do that?"
"Well yeah, I guess, if I'm supposed to." I kept telling myself that I was really just doing this to be nice, and that Devon's eyes had nothing to do with it.
He smiled and I could almost see his mind coming up with all sorts of machinations. "Well then yes, you most definitely have to fawn all over me."
Ryan sat down with his tray. He had heard Devon's last comment concerning my conduct. "No you don't. He just really like it when people fawn all over him. He likes attention if you hadn't noticed."
"Oh."
Devon shrugged, "It'd be really nice if you did though."
Ryan laughed, "Your hypocrisy knows no bounds."
"I don't even know how to fawn all over someone." I said.
"Well," Devon began, popping a fry into his mouth. "Have you ever flirted with someone?"
"No." I replied immediately.
"Seriously?" Devon asked, shocked.
I nodded.
"Have you ever, like, had a crush on someone?"
"Nope."
Devon looked at me as if I were some kinda of alien, and then turned to Ryan, "Is that possible."
Ryan laughed, and I noticed that he had a nice laugh, kinda deep and throaty, but not like a guffaw or anything. "Contrary to your mindset, not everyone's lives revolve around dating and opposite sex."
"I didn't say that." Devon replied, slightly offended.
"Mm-hmm. I actually think it's pretty cool, Sophie, that you haven't been corrupted enough to fawn over every nice looking guy that strikes your fancy."
"Thanks," I said. Ryan's comment made me feel better about not being very knowledgeable concerning relationships.
"Alright." Devon said. "Fawning all over me, lesson one. You need to act like I'm the most important person in the world."
I raised an eyebrow, "Really?"
"Yes." Devon said, before Ryan could get a word in. "Lesson two." He leaned over and gently grabbed my hand. "Touching. Touching is a very useful tool when telling someone that you're kind of interested in him. Nothing major..." He got up an walked behind me, placing a hand on my should, "Just something simple, like a hand on an arm or shoulder."
I was terrified. People never touched me. I didn't have friends that would like hug me or anything and I'd never had a boyfriend, or really any guy friends that I'd flirted with or anything, so this, this touching that Devon was trying to demonstrate, had me frightened. Ryan, across from me, noticed, "Devon, stop it."
"What?" He asked, confused.
"Look at her, she's scared to death."
He glanced down at me. I had pulled knees up to my chest, which was not an easy feat in my little chair; I looked like a deer caught in someone's headlights. Devon went back to his seat, and turned to Ryan, "I didn't do anything."
As soon as he'd sat down, I reached for my frosty and took a nice long sip, letting the coolness run down my throat, washing away my nervousness. I opened my eyes, Ryan and Devon were staring at me. "Are you ok?" Ryan asked.
I nodded, slowly putting my feet back down on the floor.
Devon looked kind of worried, "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to, like, scare you or anything."
I clutched my frosty, desperately trying to appear as if everything was fine, though my heart was still beating rapidly. "It's ok," managed to escape my constricted throat.
Ryan dropped us off at the front of the school, and went to find a place to park while Devon and I walked back inside.
"Hey, I'm really sorry about... before."
I smiled, "It's alright. Really." And it was true, I was all right. My heart rate was back to normal and everything. "If anything I feel really stupid for freaking out."
"Don't. It wasn't your fault or anything."
"It wasn't yours either," I interjected. I sighed, "Um. I guess you're gonna have to find someone else to help you out with Breigh."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I really don't think that I'm going to be very good at fawning all over you, and I mean you saw how freaked out I was before. You need someone who can do that kind of stuff without any problems."
"Nah," He said, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "You'll work out just fine. I'll just have to work with you on it. See this way, we'll both get something out of it, it'll be like that mutual stuff."
"You mean mutualism?"
"Yeah. I'll be getting Breigh back, and you, by the time, I'm done with you, you'll be able to get any guy you want."
"Any guy, huh?"
"Yup. Just stick with me kiddo."
"Alright, but you have to stop calling me kiddo. I do have a name, you know."
"I know it. It's Sophie, a cute name."
"Thanks."
"So can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Earlier, at Wendy's... Why did you... freak out?"
I cringed involuntarily, "Um... well, see you were touching me, and I just wasn't prepared, and it kinda of scared me. I'm not really used to that or anything because-"
"Because you don't flirt with people on a regular basis the way I do." He finished.
"Right."
"But you don't seem to have a problem with my arm being around you."
I hadn't noticed, but it didn't bother me. "You're right." I shrugged, "It just feels natural I guess."
Ryan and Devon were just hanging out on one of the little cement benches made out of an outcropping in one of the walls during lunch. I was supposed to be with them, but was no where to be found. I'd done that on purpose of course, I just wanted a little bit of time to think about what I was getting myself into. Devon and Ryan needed the time to talk about me anyway.
"So what am I supposed to do with her?" Devon asked.
Ryan shrugged, "I don't know. I mean, why didn't you just call it all off like she suggested?"
"I honestly don't know. She's kinda cool to hang around with. I guess I like her. I'm sure we'll find a way to make this work."
"Do you think she'll work?"
"Well... We're going to have to do something about the way she dresses and... well... her hair, I don't know. Currently, Breigh won't even consider her competition."
"True. How do you plan to tell her that the status quo just won't do?"
Devon grimaced, "I hadn't really thought about telling her, how do you tell someone who's doing you a favor that she needs to rearrange herself to fit your wants?"
"No clue buddy, but break it to her gently."
"Yeah," Devon laughed. "I guess it will all depend on how well the football game goes."
"That makes sense, it'll kind of be like a test run."
"Yeah." He stretched, "What do you think of her?"
Ryan shrugged, "She seems nice. Rather intelligent, which is more than I can say for Breigh."
"Hey!" He replied, slightly indignant. "Breigh is smart."
"Ok, Dev, being able to accessorize and ruing people's social lives doesn't really make her... intelligent. That makes her manipulative and fashion savvy."
"Whatever, " Devon said, sullenly.
"But as I was saying, Sophie's smart, like book smart, and maybe some of her good habits will rub off on you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for starters, maybe you'll start listening to people other than yourself."
"That's bull. I listen to you."
"Well what about people other than me?"
Devon remembered how Sophie had left him the day before because he hadn't been listening to her. "Perhaps, I could stand some improvement in that area."
"More like mos' def'."
Friday afternoon I was panicking. It was already five o'clock, Devon was coming to pick me up at seven thirty, and I still had no idea what I was gonna wear. I was beyond frustrated and I was just getting ready to call Devon and tell him that the whole thing was off, when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
I smiled, and sank down against the wall, "Ryan, hi. I'm in the middle of a crisis."
"I figured this would happen. I thought you might want a little help."
"Please."
"I can be at your door in like five seconds."
"Just come on up, the door is unlocked."
"Alright."
"See you shortly."
"Ok."
I quickly checked my tidy bedroom for things that were out of place. Ryan walked in as soon as I flopped on the bed.
He looked around, taking in my pale powder blue walls and the white clouds I'd sponge-painted all around the room. "Well this most certainly looks like a danger zone."
I tossed a pillow at him, which he easily deflected, "I'm dying here. What am I supposed to wear to a football game."
"Why not just wear what you usually would wear to school?"
"Because I'm supposed to be with Devon, and I'm supposed to make Breigh jealous, and well... the status quo wouldn't be effective." I looked at him suspiciously, "You already knew that."
"True, but I needed to hear you say it."
"Just help me."
"Alright. Tonight is supposed to start out nice, kind of warm, but not hot, and get a little nippy."
"So I should bring a jacket?"
"No." He answered quickly. "Don't bring a jacket. Not bringing a jacket allots for closeness, the kind of closeness that an ex-girlfriend would not be fond of."
"Oh. So should I just wear something warm."
"The closeness would be designed to keep you warm, since you would be cold and all."
"Ok, so could I get away with like a short sleeve shirt or something and some jeans."
He paused thinking, "Well... more like a little halter top and some tight jeans."
I guess I winced, or made some other facial expression to make Ryan aware of my nervousness.
"Do you even own either of those items of clothing?"
My mother actually had bought me a halter-top as an attempt to get me to change my wardrobe to that of the latest trends. And I did have a pair of jeans which I had planned on returning because they fit kind of snugly, that would probably fit the mold. I played with my hands, refusing to look at Ryan, "Um... I think so."
"Would you mind trying them on, so I can see what they look like?"
I got up quickly, "No problem."
I went into the other room, and put on the lavender halter-top and the dark blue jeans. I looked at myself in the mirror, and realized that they actually didn't look half bad together. I wrapped my arms around myself as I walked back into my room.
Ryan gave me a quick once over, "That would look really good if you'd get rid of that frightened deer look on your face."
I shrugged, unwrapping my arms, and trying to loosen up, "Sorry, I'm just kind of nervous."
He grinned wryly, "I gathered that." He glanced at me again, "What are you going to do with your hair."
"Um, leave it the way it is." I said, referring to my traditional style of a ponytail.
He looked around the room, "Do you have one of those clippy things, that's like where you squeeze it and it opens?"
I reached into a basket full of various hair things and pulled out a navy blue claw, "One of these?"
"Yeah. Put your hair in that."
I quickly pulled out my hair scrunchie and let my hair fall of its natural state. I gathered it together, twisted it up and closed the claw around it.
"Come here," Ryan said, motioning for me to come towards him. I did, stopping a little less than a foot away from him. He reached up from his seat on my bed and gently pulled a few tendrils of hair out of their rightful places, pulled back into my claw. He let them go and they fell framing my face. He grinned, "Perfect. You, my friend, are ready to go."
"Thank you so much. I would've just melted into the amorphous mass of stress, with bubbles of oxygen."
"You're welcome and that's just a very lovely picture."
"What time is it?"
He glanced down at his watch, "Seven. Wow I gotta go and if anyone asks, you came up with this outfit all by yourself."
"Alright."
He stood up and headed towards the door, "See you at the game."
"Ok."
It wasn't until after I heard his car pull away that I realized that I had forgotten to ask him about shoes. I ran upstairs and stared at my closet for another half an hour. It took me that long to come to the conclusion that my navy blue flats would just have to do.
My doorbell rang shortly thereafter. I took a deep breath before I opened the door, trying to calm my frizzy nerves. Devon was dressed pretty casually, just a white t-shirt, some jeans, and a navy blue button down shirt that he'd left unbuttoned. His t-shirt wasn't tight or anything, but it draped just right over his muscular frame.
"Hi." I said, forcing myself to stop staring at him. He looked good, he always looked good.
Hey," he grinned. "You ready to go?"
"Yup."
He glanced down at my outfit, "You look great."
"Thanks. I was trying to play my part."
He laughed and held the door to his little silver Audi open for me.
I got in silently. The ride over was pretty quiet. There were a lot of questions that I wanted to ask him, but I wasn't sure how to begin.
Devon glanced at me at a red light, "Are you ok?"
I nodded, "Yeah, just a little nervous."
He shook his head, "No, don't be. Why are you nervous?"
"I'm not sure that you noticed, but um, I'm shy. You, you're not shy, all of your friends, they're not shy, so I'm a little nervous about being around so many not shy people."
"Oh." He said, parking the in the nearly jam-packed student parking lot. "Well, would you feel better if we just chilled by ourselves?"
"Really?" I asked, surprised that he was actually paying attention to me.
"Yeah." He turned the car off.
"Would you mind?"
He walked around and opened my door, "Nah, it's no problem."
I got out, wondering if opening my doors for me was another one of those things that Breigh had trained him to do. "Devon," I said, surprised at my own audacity. "Why did you open the door for me?"
He glanced down at the door handle in his hand. He closed the door and looked at me carefully, "Did you not want me to?" He'd asked the question as a cover up for the fact that he'd been opening my door without even realizing it.
I shrugged and began walking towards the field, "I guess I did. I mean I'm all for that traditional gentleman kind of guy, but I don't want you to be that way just because you're used to it, or feel like you're supposed to, I want you do it because you want to."
Devon walked with me, but didn't say anything to me. It was then that I realized that he wasn't going to say anything to me, and that I never should have mentioned it in the first place.
So of course I had to remedy the situation, "Um, Devon?"
"Yeah." He said, though he didn't really seem to be listening.
We were almost at the little gate where you pay to get into the game. "Sorry about all that stuff I said." I smiled at him, but he didn't look in my direction, "I think it's sweet that you do that kind of thing."
He didn't respond, but as we walked up to the gate he paid the guy the ten dollars for our little tickets.
He spotted some people he knew and we headed in their direction. Well he headed in that direction and I followed behind him.
As we got closer I recognized the guys as members of the upper crust, Mike Wahlberg and Damon Harris, and their girlfriends. They were both willowy blondes, but one was shorter than the other was.
The shorter one smiled at me, "Wow! You came with Devon. You're, like, so lucky; he's so hot!"
I looked at him. "Um... yeah... he's a really great guy," I lied.
The taller one grinned mischievously, "I'd be on him in a second if it weren't for Breigh."
"Why did she break up with him in the first place?"
"Well," they began together, then laughed. The shorter one continued, "She didn't think that he valued her enough, so she thought she'd break up with him so that he'd realize how important she is to him."
"Oh." Maybe I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but to me that didn't really seem all too bright.
"So how'd you get around Breigh?"
"Oh," I laughed. "She, like, doesn't even know that I exist. I'm not part of that crowd."
"Oh." They said together. Their excitement for our conversation plummeted as they realized that I could do nothing to enhance their social status.
"Well..." There was really no reason for me to stay. I glanced over at a couple of guys who had been looking at our little group kind of off and on. "I'm gonna go see some other people."
They looked at me as if I'd said that I was going to go shoot someone. "Are you serious?" the tall one asked. "You're just going to leave Devon?"
I shrugged, "He won't even notice."
They exchanged a knowing look that escaped me, and I swear I could almost see the schemes forming in their minds.
I rolled my eyes and walked away. I didn't really have any idea where I was going, but somehow I managed to wander over to the guys leaning on the metal fence surrounding the football field who were watching the game.
One of them, a guy wearing a green, long sleeve shirt glanced over at me, motioning me towards him.
I went over and he smiled at me, "Hey."
I reciprocated, incredibly unsure of myself. "Hi."
His friend turned around, "Hey. I'm Donny."
I shook his hand, "Sophie."
The guy in green grinned, "Yeah, we know. I'm Justin, we're both friends of Devon."
"Oh." I was surprised that he'd mentioned me.
"Yeah. Sorry if we, like, freaked you out with the staring. He, Devon, told us that you guys were gonna be here... and well, we had to see his new girl
"It's ok."
Danny flicked his head back towards the field, "God we suck." The score was about 35-0, our precious Madison Shooting Starts were amazingly terrible at the glory that is football.
"Come on," I said. "What do you really expect. We have like five plays and half of our best players ride the bench because of attitude problems."
They both turned to me surprised, "What?"
I looked away suddenly shy, "Nothing."
Justin put a hand on my arm, "Nah, don't say that. You know football?"
I stared at the ground, "Well...any idiot can see how bad our blockers are."
Donny glanced over at me, "Got any specifics?"
"Um... Number 64, Johnson pushes on the line every time and Green just blows right past him. Oh and Bartlett couldn't catch the ball if it was covered in super glue. And even I could get a twenty yard field goal closer to the post that Evans."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Donny said laughing. "One example was good enough."
I blushed, "Sorry, I got a little carried away."
Justin smiled, reassuringly, "It's cool."
"So where's Devon?" Donny asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I don't know. Do I look like his keeper?" I snapped.
"Ouch." Donny said, taking a step back. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
I sighed, "No. You didn't. He's your friend and since he and I did come here together, I should know. But um, yeah. I don't know where he is. I walked away from him and his friends a little while ago."
"Why?"
"It doesn't really matter. He was talking to his friends. I wasn't needed, and he wasn't listening to me or anything."
"Wait," Justin said. "He wasn't listening to you so you just walked away?"
I nodded, a little confused, "Um...yes."
Both of them bust out laughing.
"What?" I asked innocently.
Donny tried to calm himself, "See Sophie, Devon doesn't really listen to any of us when he doesn't feel like it. We all just kind of accepted it, despite how incredibly obnoxious it is. Not even Breigh just walked away."
I shrugged, it still didn't really bother me, "Well he still hasn't found me, and he probably hasn't even noticed."
Justin looked behind me, "Um... I think he has."
I turned around as Devon walked up to me. There was a light breeze, which gave me a very nice look at his well-built upper body. I bit my lip as I tried not to think about it.
He looked down at me with his really deep violet-blue eyes, "Hey."
"Um, hi."
"So what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why'd you leave?"
"Oh, wow," I said, not bothering to mask my sarcasm. "You finally noticed."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I was gone for like a half an hour, not to mention that you just forgot that we were supposed to chill al-... nevermind. It's not even worth it."
I turned to follow Justin and Donny who had tiptoed away when Devon had arrived.
Devon gently grabbed my arm, preventing my retreat, "You're really upset, aren't you?"
No I was just kidding.
I ripped my arm out of his grasp, "Don't worry about it."
"No wait!" He called. "What did I do?"
I turned, "I just get kind of upset when people don't listen to me."
"I listened."
"Right. You just forgot that I have issues talking to strangers."
He snorted, "You didn't seem to have any trouble talking to Justin and Donny."
"We were discussing football and you."
"What did they say about me?"
"Just that you're pig-headed and that you never listen to anyone."
"I listen."
"Not to me," I retorted. "You were ignoring me."
He paused, "Maybe, but I had other stuff on my mind."
"What kind of stuff?" I asked, anger and annoyance replaced by curiosity.
"Don't worry about it."
"Fine," I replied, slightly disappointed that he wouldn't tell me.
"You want to get a soda or something?"
"Sure."
We started talking towards the concession stands, which were all the way on the other side of the field, by the gate we'd entered though to get in. It was getting kind of late and as Ryan had predicted, it was getting rather chilly. I shivered involuntarily. Devon threw an arm over my shoulder and pulled me a little closer to his side.
"Cold?" he asked.
"A little." I whispered back.
"Well if you do me a favor, I'll give you my shirt." He was referring to his blue cotton button down shirt.
I nodded; I was cold. "Alright, what would you have me do?"
"Some of Breigh's friends are here with her, like her best friends, so if they see us together..."
"Oh yeah, she'd all get all jealous and stuff. But um.. we are together."
"Actually... I was kind of hoping that you'd kinda, like, let me hold you a little, just so they'd think that we're, like, more than friends."
"Now?"
He led me towards the fence again, right in front of the bleachers that Breigh and company were sitting on. "Yeah, but you have to promise that you won't freak out or anything."
"I won't."
He leaned against the fence and pulled me towards him, "Good."
I stumbled forward, into his arms. He laughed and I blushed, feeling really immature.
His arms wrapped around my waist and I stood as still and stiff as a statue.
He leaned down, smiling against my cheek, "Sophie, sweetie, relax."
I nodded, "What else?"
He chuckled quietly, "You could put your arms around me neck and scoot a little closer to me too."
"The toe of my shoe is, like, right against the toe of yours."
"Well you know you could slip your shoe in between my shoes, and come closer to me."
I did so. There was no space in between us and I could hear the regular beating of his heart. So of course I was positive that he could hear the erratic beating of mine. He was taller than I was, like at least by like five inches and my head was barely able to rest on his shoulder. I closed my eyes, trying to calm down.
Devon tilted his head down and looked at me "Sophie..." he said. "Why are your eyes closed?"
My eyes flew open at his statement, "Sorry."
He smiled, "Not your fault. I just wanted to see myself reflected in those big brown eyes of yours."
I looked down and then looked back up at him. Our lips were only about an inch apart and I found myself staring at his mouth.
I suppose that he was looking at mine too because he said, "You know, if we moved just a little bit closer we could..."
He leaned forward, and I didn't move, but I desperately wanted his lips on mine. I could almost feel them when some stupid kid ran down the bleachers right behind us. I jumped and Devon chuckled, gently rubbing my back.
"We can get your drink now; they left." He whispered.
I nodded and took a few steps back, "Right."
As we continued walking, I glanced at Devon out of the corner of my eye. He didn't seem even slightly fazed by the fact that he'd almost kissed me. Then again, wouldn't making out with another girl make Breigh jealous? Maybe he was going for that.
"So what would you like?" Devon asked me."
"Hot chocolate, please" I replied demurely. I was still feeling kinda shy from the almost kiss.
"Oh, right. You're still cold?" He asked as he bought my hot chocolate."
"Yes." I nodded.
"Come here," he said, giving me my hot chocolate and dragging me towards him. "I'll warm you up."
I grinned and let him.
TheBlindAssassin: Yay! I'm so glad that there are fellow romantics out there! Thank you sooooo much for the review. I'm glad you like Sophie. Oh and I love your story! Update soon!
Angelwings2001 (): Also, thanks for reviewing. I know that the plot line is kinda unoriginal, but it's great that you like my perspective.
FictionJen: Thank you for reviewing. I'm really happy that you like it. I'll try to update more often.
THANK YOU FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW! = )