Hidden Away

Chapter 2

My stomach fluttered and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him. I’m going to finally do it, I’m going to tell him how I feel.

“Hey Alex, there’s something I want to—“ I’m interrupted mid-sentence to the sound of his phone ringing.

He held up his finger,”one sec, gummy bear.” I rolled my eyes at the nickname he gave me. You eat one giant gummy bear in less than five minutes and it follows you forever.

“Hey Lisa, babe, what’s going on?”

Ugh Lisa, his girlfriend. I mean, I can’t be too disgusted by her. She is actually pretty nice, but I love him too much and want him to be mine.

“Oh I’m just on campus, about to head home with Izzie”

“Yeah, I’ll just wait for you at the parking lot”

Great, there goes the moment and our fun ride home. I glare at him while he finishes his phone call. Finally he hangs up and turns to face me, I quickly change my face before he can see I am upset.

“Sorry, gummy bear, Lisa is right down the street and we were going to catch a movie while you and Danny go bowling”

I force a smile onto my face,”No problem at all! Now I won’t have to be forced to listen to that noise you call music “ ha! In your face.

His face drops,” whatever, you totally like my music when I’m not around”, he smirks,” have fun bowling with Danny. Don’t stay up too late though, you’ll need your energy for bar hopping tomorrow night!” He loudly said as he walked away from me to wait for Lisa.

“I do not! And don’t worry about me, you know I can deal” I yell back as I stick my tongue out at the back of his head.

I swear, this guy is going to be the death of me. I’ll get the courage one day to tell him, but today was not that day.

I got to my car and placed my backpack on the hood, determined to find my keys. I always did this with everything, just throwing them into the black hole abyss that is my bag. Danny is always telling me to get some kind of keychain or lanyard, so I can find it better. But I continue to not listen, I’m kind of hard headed that way.

After a few minutes I finally found them. I unlock my car and get in, throwing my backpack into the passenger seat where Alex should be. Oh well… maybe tomorrow with all the alcohol coursing through my veins, I’ll finally be able to tell him.

***************

It takes about 15 minutes to get home. I pull into the driveway next to the blue altima. I grab my backpack and carry it with the straps looped onto my forearm. I keep my keys in my hand and walk up to the door to unlock it when I realize it’s already unlocked. I’ve told Danny a million times, when you’re home alone, you lock the damn door!

I walk in and throw my bag on the end of the couch. I smell something delicious and head towards the kitchen. I see Danny standing in front of the stove, stirring something while she’s dancing. She has her headphones in, so I quietly tip toe up behind her. Before she has time to feel my presence, I grab her sides and start tickling her. She jumps and screams bloody murder.

“What the hell, Izz?! You scared the crap out of me!” She yelled

“I told you that you need to lock the door when you’re home by yourself. You’re lucky it was me and not some burglar” I scolded her

“Yeah yeah, I’ll definitely lock it next time.” She always says that, I roll my eyes as I sit on one of the stools at the table.

“I had a craving for some Alfredo with chicken and broccoli, so that’s what I’m making”

“Sounds good to me, I can eat. It’s still early enough that we could still have pizza while we’re bowling later on”

“I agree! I just threw the shirts in to wash and when they dry, we can head out”

By time Danny finished making the Alfredo and chicken, the shirts were done washing. I threw them into the dryer while she served us then went and sat down next to her at the table.

“I swear, this gets better every time you make it” I tell Danny as I slurp the noodles into my mouth.

“I have to agree with you there!” She replies

We sit and talk while we finish eating. Once we were done, I helped Danny clean up and put everything away.