“Mandi, do you want bacon?” Mom asked, pushing her brownish-blond hair over her shoulder.
“Yes, please,” I replied from my seat at the kitchen table. My eyes moved over what used to be her slender frame, before she got pregnant eight months ago. She is in excellent shape, and I can only hope to have a figure like that when I reach her age and have had three kids with one on the way.
Her brown eyes met mine, “You better hurry up if we’re going to head out to go shopping.”
“Mom, I have plans with Nick and his friends, remember?”
“Okay! Tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you. Oh, and Mandi, remember that you have to do the dishes tonight and vacuum the house,” She said reminding me of my usual chores.
“I won’t forget about my chores and there’s no need for you to go I think I am going out with Nina and Carissa later this week,” Then, seeing the sad, upset look on her face, I quickly added, “but we could have a girls night out one night, just the two of us.”
Nina and Carissa were my two best friends. We have been friends ever since we were little, our families were extremely close, but once my father left our families
grew further and further apart.
Then her face got all happy. I was happy to see that look on her face. Since my dad left I hadn’t seen it very often.
“Mom! I need money!” Briana said in her normal, rudely manner.
“Okay sweetie.”
“Don’t call me sweetie!” she said, as she looked up just to get the money then quickly averted her blue eyes away from my mom.
I watched my older sister storm out from the room and rolled my eyes. I don't know how my mother ever puts up with her. Bri and I aren't the best of friends. I love her and all, but there are days I can't put up with her rudeness and impatience. We were complete opposites, our only resemblance being the sandy color of our hair.
“Mom? I'm going out with Jake tonight.” Heather said, as she appeared from the basement, where she had been working out. She is always complaining that she needed more time to work out. Even though she works out for like two hours every day, which is why probably why she's a double zero with a belt fully tightened.
It wasn’t unusual for Heather to go out with Jake, her boyfriend. She was twenty-two now and has given me advice about boys, since we are really close. She is hoping he proposes one of these days. Not that she tells me, I just know it.
“Okay, have fun!” Mom said, pushed the plate of bacon towards me. I took three pieces.
“Oh, guys I'm gonna have to work tonight. I might not be home until later.” Mom added.
I nodded as I grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.
My mom, Sherri, is the owner of Laugh’s, a big indoor facility for kids to be kids. It does very well. This is the job she uses to provide for the family. She misses my dad a ton even though she tries to hide it. I am not as easily fooled as the rest of my family. Briana doesn’t even care that my mom is in pain, she just keeps adding to my poor mothers stress.
Suddenly my phone buzzed. I looked down and saw a text from Nick.
‘Hey, John and my mom are going out tonight so if you want you can just come over here tonight. Love you, Nick.’
Nick is my boyfriend. He is like a best friend to me and he helps me through the good and bad times.
‘Ok, sounds good. Love you too,’ I texted him back as I walked up to my room, I heard the television blaring from the wall; where it hung. Beside it sat all my posters and pictures of my friends. I sat down on my fuzzy blue comforter and turned on my computer.
It is a huge, old, stone house and has lots of land in the back and front. There’s one passage from my room into another secret room. When I found it, it smelled like mold after spending hours cleaning it is now clean. I use it as my lounge.
As I logged onto Facebook, Marbles and Lucky, my two golden retrievers, came into my room and jumped onto my bed. We also have Boulder my orange tabby cat, who acted more as a dog than a cat, two Yorkshire terriers, Milo and Rover, two Maltese, Bear and Rocky, a brown tabby, Eliza, and another orange tabby, Whiskers.
“Mandi, dear. You father sent each of you girls a check do you want me to cash yours?” my mom said, as she walked by my room carrying a laundry basket, doing Bri’s chore for her. Ever since the divorce she has been afraid to yell at us, in fear of losing us, so she does our chores if we forget to do them. I always try to do my chores because I know how hard taking care of three daughters, being pregnant and working can be on my mom.
“Yes please. I'm going out later with everyone, want me to take it? I can cash it on the way. Nick is picking me up I'm sure he wouldn’t mind,” Thankfully Nick has been very supportive of everything. There have been many, many time where I have had to cancel the date because my mom wasn’t feeling good and someone at Laugh’s couldn’t get to work their shift so I had to go in.
“That would be great, thanks. Oh, and I'm gonna work a little late tonight and Heather is out with Jake and God only knows what and where Bri is going so if you wanna invite Nick or someone over after the mall that would be fine,” she said heading downstairs to do Bri’s laundry.
I was on Facebook for all of five minutes before I was bored. The same couples that are always on-and-off-again were on or off and the same drama causing girls were posting about their drama filled lives. I shut my laptop and reached around for my remote, after a few seconds of searching I turned on the TV to the NHL network and was listening to them talk about illegal hits to the head while working on my math homework. I was relatively good at school, I kept up a 3.8 G.P.A and I had been recently accepted into my dream college, University of California San Diego only a few miles from the school I currently go to San Diego Prep, a private school near San Diego Zoo. All of my friends went there since all of our families except Nicks were wealthy, even his isn’t that poor they just aren’t as wealthy. Nick got into SDP with a scholarship, which I think is cool that he didn’t just get in by paying. Ever since his dad died when he was ten and his mom remarried to a guy named John, before we started dating, his family lost a lot of money. Since his dad was the big money maker. He doesn’t talk about his dad a lot but I know he misses him terribly just as I miss mine.
My father had owned the local restaurant around here and was extremely famous for his cooking. Eight months ago he got an offer to put his cooking on a TV show. The only catch was that he would have to move to Los Angeles, we all would have been more than willing to move with him, in fact that was the plan, until one day he just left without telling us. None of us wanted to chase after him so we just stayed here. Every month he sends us checks and a month after he left he sent us the checks as well as sending my mom a letter requesting a divorce, blindsiding us all. Briana was extremely close to my father so when he left she blamed my mom and started being even more annoying and rude than usual.
I was done with my math within ten or twenty minutes, thankfully that was the only homework I had due tomorrow. Since SDP did a block schedule I only had half of my classes each day which was extremely helpful. Taking one glance at myself in the mirror before I left for the mall I noticed the little imperfections that were always there, my oversized butt or my hair that gets frizzy way too easily. When I was little I had always wanted to be skinnier or have pin-straight hair, now though I love my imperfections. They make me who I am today.
When I saw the clock face read three forty, and Nick wasn’t picking me up until four fifteen, I decided to take a little nap.
When I opened my eyes and got up I saw Nick.
“Hello, beautiful. How was your nap?” he said leaning down giving me a quick kiss. He was the shortest out of the guys in our group but he was still five inches taller than me at five foot eleven.
“What are you doing here?” I said, brushing my side bangs out of my eyes.
“I came to pick you up and your mom let me in, you were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you up so I waited,”
“Ohmygod, I'm so sorry. I should’ve set my alarm, we are gonna be late,” I said putting my shoes on and heading towards the door.
“No need to rush, we still have a little bit of time I texted them and told them we would be a little late,” he said putting his hands in his worn out blue jean pockets
That was one of the things I loved about Nick. He didn’t care if things didn’t go as perfectly as they were supposed to; he just went along with it.
“I love you,” I said, really meaning it. We had been having a little rough patch lately but that didn’t mean that I didn’t think he was perfect for me still. Yeah, maybe he is a little to engrossed in football season sometimes or didn’t take things seriously sometimes but I still loved him. I loved how his brown hair fell perfectly on his head or how his blue eyes sparkle whenever he first sees me.
“I love you too,”
Walking down the stairs I yelled goodbye to my mom and walked outside and got into Nicks beat up blue pickup truck. He had saved up for two years to be able to get the truck, and I loved it. It was perfect for him.
We arrived at the dinner place just in time. We met up with everyone and went to our table.
“Why were you guys so late?” Austin asked, sliding into the booth beside
Stephanie, his girlfriend of ten months.
“Sorry, I fell asleep and Nick had to wait for me,”
“Oh, is that all that went on?” the sarcastic obvious in Matt’s voice as he moved over a little so Megan, his girlfriend could sit down. Matt, Nick, and Austin were all best friends so that forced Steph, Megan, and I to hang out more than we regularly would. Honestly, I don’t like any of them. His friends are nice but are complete douche bags when they are around their girlfriends and the girls are complete sluts.
“Yes,” I said, looking over to the oblivious Nick. We were the only two in this group that hadn’t lost our virginity yet. Matt and Megan have been dating for a year and a half now but had been ‘friends with benefits’ for a few months prior to that. Megan would always come to my house and have Steph get her blond hair perfect for their dates with his bed. Austin and Steph at least waited until they were officially a couple. Three months into their relationship they lost theirs to each other.
“Honestly, just join the club already,” Matt said to Nick as he flipped his brown hair out of his bright blue eyes.
To that Nick chimed in, “Dude, drop it.”
“Mandi, didn’t you think that Mr. Obrien’s test was super hard?” Megan asked, her stupidity obvious.
“Um, actually no, I thought it was really easy, but that may just have been me,” I said, trying hard to be nice.
“Mandi, is really smart, tell them what you got on your state scores babe,” Nick said, unaware to the fact that being a nerd made me just an easier target to his friends. When we had started dating twenty-two months ago his friends weren’t as rude and ignorant as they are now. Now they are just unbearable and I hate going out with them, but I know if I'm not there then I will just be making myself an easier target.
“Oh, those, I got a one thousand,” I said, nonchalantly hoping they wouldn’t know how good of a score that is.
“Oh, nerd” Austin mumbled under his breath.
Finally the waitress came and I ordered my salad with a diet coke. After three long, torturous hours of the boys talking about the new NHL rules with me occasionally chiming in, and the girls complaining about other sluts which I found really funny since they are bigger sluts than the poor girls they are talking about, the guys paid for their girlfriends we got to leave the restaurant. Nick and I said goodbye to his friends and their girlfriends and hopped in his car.
He drove a little bit and then pulled off onto a ditch, where no one would see us and started making out with me. At first it was like our normal make out sessions but then he started getting more touchy-feely, feeling my breasts and butt as his tongue was fully absorbed in my mouth. His hands went from my butt and breasts to taking off my shirt and unbuttoning my jeans.
“Nick,” I said, backing away from him.
“C’mon, everyone else has,” he said, sounding like one of those cliché movie jerks as he continued to feel up my breasts and take off my jeans with his other hand.
“Nick! Stop! Now!” I screamed.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened, I know you’re not ready, and neither am I. I'm sorry, I’ll just take you home,” he said looking away as I put on my pants and shirt.
“I thought we were going back to your place?” I asked, concerned he was changing the plans that we had made a while ago.
“I just didn’t know if you would still want to, considering,”
“No, of course I want to,” I said, as he turned on the car and pulled out of the ditch.
I turned on the radio to my favorite country station.
“How’d your mom’s doctor appointment go?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“Oh, good. They said that the baby is doing fine and that everything looks great. She's due by the end of this month which is good because that is right when school ends so I’ll be able to help out without having to worry about school.”
“You’re mom must be glad that you are willing to help out, especially since she's gonna have to work and all.”
“Yeah, especially with Bri, who isn’t willing to help out one bit. My poor mother, I feel bad that she has to put up with her. So most of my summer will be spent just me and the baby, since my mom has to work so much,” I said trying to hide the fact that I was extremely upset with Bri for not being willing to help out. Heather has to work and go to college and be with Jake while Bri has nothing all she ever does is stay at home or go out yet she isn’t willing to watch the baby at all.
“Well I would be willing to help you if you needed help,” he said, the sympathy obvious in his voice.
“Yeah, well you always say that you will help or you will stop by and visit and you never do because of football or whatever so, I don’t wanna be counting on you,” I retorted as Nick pulled over into a vacated lot and put the car in park.
“Nick, what are you doing? Don’t stop the car again, please,”
“What were you talking about before? Lately all you do is complain about what I do and do not do, can’t you just be happy. Honestly, is it that hard? You drive me crazy too sometimes but I don’t flip out about it. Why? Because I love you and I know that I love the things you do more than I hate the few things you do. I know you’re stressed and all but please don’t take it out on me,” he said, making sure his blue eyes made direct contact with my brown eyes.
“I’m sorry. I do love you, I really do. It’s just with everything going on, and we haven’t exactly had time to just hang out the two of us, I don’t know what to do. I fell in love with a guy that always made time for just the two of us and now I don’t know what to think. The only time we ever get to hang out is with your friends and you know I don’t get along with them or their girlfriends. Us going to your place today will be the first time we have hung out one on one in like forever. You don’t get that I'm not ready for sex or that when your friends make fun of me it hurts, it’s even worse that you don’t stand up for me. I always have to hang out with your friends but you never have to hang out with mine, whenever I say we should hang out with him you just cancel on me with some stupid excuse. You used to always be there for me. I used to believe we were meant for each other, but now? Now I don’t know what to think or believe.” I said as a tear fell from my brown eyes and onto my bright pink v-neck.
“I didn’t know you felt that way,” he said wiping another fallen tear off from my cheek.
“Of course you don’t, you never ask about anything. All you ever talk about is your friends and their girlfriends and when we do hang out one-on-one you just talk about how we should have sex,” I said still crying. Reality is, I was ready for sex. I just wanted it to be more romantic for my first time. I didn’t want him to be pushing me to do it the first time, I wanted it to just happen.
“I’m sorry, I promise I’ll stop pressuring you, because I love you and if you aren’t ready I don’t wanna pressure you to. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me and I don’t wanna lose you. I'm sorry about my friends, I promise I’ll make more of an effort with your friends and stop forcing us to hang out with my friends, I know you hate their girlfriends and I do too. They are sluts but those are my best friends so I have to put up with them. Why don’t you call Nina and Carissa and invite them to my house one night with their boyfriends. Are they still dating Luke and Zach?”
“Yeah they are still dating them. I’ll call them tomorrow and see what day works, if you ever get off the side of the road and drive,” I leaned over and gave him one kiss for the road. Our relationship consisted on many fights like the one we had just had, yes he did stuff to aggravate me, but that didn’t mean at the end of the day I didn’t love him. We had always gotten through every fight and recovered.
“If the captain says so,” Nick said pulling out onto the road. Each and every time he pulled out onto the road my mind flashed back to a year and a half ago. Nick had just gotten his license and was coming to pick me up for a date. He never showed up. I kept calling his cell but there was no answer, so I called his mom. She informed me that he had been hit by a pick-up truck when pulling out from his driveway, he was in a coma for a few hours with a broken leg and fractured arm.
He woke up from the coma hours later to find his mother and me by his side. That was when I knew I loved him, when the fact that he may not wake up made me want to die on the inside and question if I should still be here after he left. Not a day went by where I didn’t wonder to myself what would have happened if he had never woken up or had awoken with severe brain damage. I thank the Lord every day for the fact that he is alive.
We pulled into the vacated driveway within a few minutes.
“Home sweet home,” Nick joked getting out of the car and walking over to the passenger side to open my door. He reached his big hand out towards me and entwined our two hands. Even after almost two years I wasn’t used to the butterfly feeling I got when he did that and I hoped it never went away.
“So Prince Charming, what are the plans for tonight?” I asked trying my hands at a seductive voice.
“My mom left some recipes on the counter so we could try making a homemade dinner, and then later watch a movie all snuggled up by the fire place,” he replied trying to be a gentleman, as we walked up to the front door of his house.
“Sounds like a plan, although I am not sure how well the dinner plans will work. I am not exactly Rachel Ray,” I joked shutting the front door after me. His house was small from the outside but had a super cozy feel from the inside, I had always wanted a house like this unlike my oversized house.
As soon as the front door closed he wrapped his arm around my waist holding me tight as he led me into his kitchen. The white, unscratched cabinets were obvious signs of the kitchen being remodeled recently. This summer John had gotten a huge promotion so they remodeled their seventies looking kitchen.
“Spaghetti or chicken?” I said my eyes scanning over the recipes that his mom had left for us.
“How about chocolate chip cookies?” he offered his eyes obviously noticing the
desert recipe his mother had left for us.
“For dinner?”
“Why not?”
“This is why I love you,” I said sneaking in a kiss, before I started searching for
the ingredients on the recipe.
“I sure hope there is more to love about me than the simple fact that I want to make chocolate chip cookies for dinner,”
“Not really, now where does your mom keep the oil?”
“Right here,” he said pointing to his lips.
“Oh really, well this recipe requires a lot of oil,” I leaned in for a kiss. His lips moved slowly at first getting more frivolous as the seconds went by. His tongue slowly entering my mouth, teasing me; his hands traced letters into my back, like he always did and slowly lowered towards my butt. I froze as soon as he touched my butt. He must have felt my hesitation and raised his hands back up and resumed tracing letters into my back. After a few minutes his tongue re-entered his own mouth and his pulled away and kissed my forehead. He removed his hands from my back and reached up to one of the higher cabinets and grabbed oil from inside it.
“What else does this recipe need?” he asked although my mind wasn’t fully back
into cooking mode. I was still caught up in that kiss.
“I love you,” I said, leaning over towards him and making our two lips meet again. This time, however, he pulled his away.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“What's wrong with me? Less than an hour ago I got a lecture from you on how you aren’t ready for sex and how you want to wait. Now you’re basically asking for it. Would you like to fill me in on what’s going on in your head?” he retorted walking away and entering the family room that was connected to the kitchen and sat down on a couch.
I walked over and sat down beside him, “Nick, we weren’t leading towards sex, we were just kissing there is a difference, but I am ready for sex. I just want it to be romantic, the hype that the make it up to be in movies, the girl and guy have sex and she falls asleep on his chest and they wake up the next morning together. I don’t want it to be in the backseat of your car or even in your house but worried about when your mom and John will get home or forgetting protection. I want it to just happen and be perfect and safe. I know it sounds stupid,” I said wiping the tears that had fallen from my eyes away from my cheek.
“Mandi, it’s not stupid, if I had just known you felt that way I wouldn’t have pressured you before. I love you so much and I want our first time to be special,” he paused for a second to wipe away the tears that were falling from my eyes, “follow me.”
“Where are we going?” I asked reaching for his outstretched hand as he led me towards the stairs.
“Just follow me,” he said. I knew where we were going, there was only one room to the left once you got up the stairs, it was his bedroom.
Once we got to his bedroom he led me to his bed and sat me down on it. He walked over to his dresser and opened a drawer and pulled out a drawer and brought it over to me, “This is from our first date, and this is from the first time you said you loved me. This is from the first movie we went to together and here’s the receipt from the dinner we went to on our one year anniversary,” he said pulling stuff out of the drawer and showing it to me. He paused and then pulled out a condom, “This is for the first time we make love, I don’t know when it will be but we have waited almost two years to, and for you I would wait my whole life.”
Do we really need to know about them all?
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