Always My Girl

The Cookout

Lorelei

    We are two weeks into the second semester and every day is the exact same. Start out in Horticulture, my favorite class, I love surrounding myself with all the plants and watching them go from tiny seeds to full plants. Its also the only class where I am completely surrounded by my friends. With the exception of Spanish, I have at least one or two friends around for the rest of the day, but Horticulture, its everyone. 

    I had signed up on a whim at the end of last year and it ended up being my first class. I loved it instantly, so at the end of the semester, when the teacher, an older man everyone simply referred to as "Doc" asked if anyone was interested in swapping their schedule around to take another Horticulture class during the Winter semester, I jumped at the chance. There's six of us in our little group, two other girls, Kaylee and Heather, and three boys, Brett, Wesley, and Corey. The other girls had coupled up pretty much immediately, leaving Corey and I almost always stuck together, which I didn't mind one bit. He's my best friend. 

    We talk all the time. After school, he ends up at my house almost every single day, which is only a few houses down from his. The only difference is my house has a lake and he loves to fish. Half the time he comes over, we talk for a few minutes, then he heads down to the lake and I go for a run. Our friendship is effortless and comforting but I've already heard whispers from a few of the others about how we are destined to end up married. We just laughed and agreed it would be too much like dating your sibling. Still everyone assumes we are together, and I don't argue, it keeps the rest of the boys away. 

    Part of taking Horticulture with Doc is also a requirement for joining the FFA, Future Farmers of America. I know what your picturing, a bunch of redneck boys in overalls doing stupid crap, and that's exactly what it is, just without the overalls. This week, is the annual FFA cookout. Doc has picked a dozen or so students to handle the cooking while he checks in occasionally. All we really have to do is spray the meat down occasionally to make sure its not dry and flip it halfway through. Even with well over a hundred chickens on the grill we are mostly just goofing off and waiting, but it gets us out of class for the day. 

    Doc has picked everyone from our group, except for Wesley, who wasn't allowed to skip because of his grades. The other seven students came from his other classes. Corey is sitting beside me at the creek that runs along beside the grill and we both have our feet in the water. This early in the year, its cold, but still feels nice after the heat from all the cooking. We are both staring into the water, lost in our own thoughts, when I notice him turn out of the corner of my eye. 

    He leans closer, "Lacey's here." he whispers, as he pulls his feet out of the water and starts to dry them off.

    I groan. Lacey is his latest crush, and by no means am I jealous, she's just not good enough for him. She's loud, obnoxious, and already controlling and they haven't even started dating yet. Way too much work. 

    "I know, I can't help it." He answers, pulling his shoes on. He knows I think she's trash. "Sorry." he says as he stands up and jogs over to her.

    As I watch him go, I notice Noah and Lee standing on the bridge crossing the small creek just a little down stream. My breath immediately catches in an increasingly familiar panic and excitement at the sight of him.  We still haven't talked other than the occasional question about something going on in class and I have no explanation for the effect he has on me.  

    Lee leans in and says something to Noah, then turns and walks away. He turns back to the stream and notices me looking up at him. I smile and turn back to the water swirling around my feet. I find myself watching several small minnows swim around my toes, occasionally checking to see if they are edible or not. It tickles slightly but isn't uncomfortable, so I ignore it.

    "Isn't it cold?" I hear from over my shoulder. I turn and see Noah standing behind me. 

    "Um.. A little I guess.. I've been at the grill since 5 though, so its kind of nice." I answer, expecting him to shrug and walk away. Instead he comes and sits down on the rocks beside me. He doesn't slide his own feet into the water. 

    "What's the deal with that?" he asks, gesturing to Corey, who now has his arm around Lacey's waist. "I thought ya'll were a thing."

    "If by a thing you mean friends, sure. We aren't dating or anything though. He's more like a brother if anything."

    "You sure about that? You don't look very happy about the two of them together."

    "That's because she doesn't treat him like she should. I don't know why girls think that just because your dating someone, they have to change their entire identity for you. I mean, if you want them to change that much, why are you even dating them to start with?"

    "I have no idea. I'm guessing you have a better idea of what's going on in a teenage girls mind than I ever will."

    "I doubt that. The female mind makes no sense to me." I think about the loops and swirls my mind takes every time I see him, "Including my own."

    He laughs, "So your boyfriend doesn't mind you hanging out with another guy all the time?"

    I look up at him, is he trying to find out if I'm available? I doubt it, he's probably just making small talk. Lee wandered off to flirt with some girl I've never seen before and I was just sitting down here alone. He probably just felt sorry for me, all alone, while the guy he thought was my boyfriend is all over another girl. 

    "Sorry, don't answer that," he says and I realize I've gotten lost in my thoughts again and left an awkward amount of silence following his question. "You are your own person and can be friends with who ever you want. I'm sure he knows that. Most guys just get jealous.." 

    "No, its fine. I don't have a boyfriend.' I answer.

    "Really?" he looks confused.

    "Really." I answer, "I don't really see a point to dating in high school. Once we graduate, what are the odds that any of these people will still have an impact on our life. We grow up, we move on, and this is all just a bunch of memories. Occasionally we'll bump into each other at the store, say we need to grab lunch and catch up, with no intentions of it actually happening."

    "Oh wow. How extremely pessimistic of you." he laughs. 

    "No," I laugh too, "I'm not trying to be, sure there will be friendships that last past high school. I'm sure one day my kids will be playing with Corey's..."

    "I mean since they are siblings..." He jokes.

    "Haha.." I say sarcastically before I continue. "But the relationships that last past high school are usually friendships, not boyfriends. I'm not going to wrap myself up in some idea that I'll find my high school sweetheart and spend the rest of my life with him, happily ever after riding off into the sunset, just  so I can get my heart broke. I have my friends, I have my dog, and I have my future. I'm happy with that."

    "Well.." he says and he's quiet for a second, "Okay then."

    We sit in silence for a few minutes, not the easy kind like I have with Corey. Instead all I can think about is how incredibly attracted I am to him and how I just ruined any chance of him ever asking me out with my crazy monologue, not that he would have to start with. Though he had asked..

    "Well," he begins again. "Now that I know your opinion on dating, I definitely can't ask you out like I had planned" 

    Crap. I'm an i***t and there is no way to back pedal my previous argument without sounding like a love sick teenage girl.. Probably because that's exactly what I'm turning into. 

    "So how about instead, you let me take you out to dinner, so we can become friends?" 

    I can't breath. "Friends?" I squeak out.

    "Yes, friends. Bring money, I won't even buy your dinner." He laughs. 

    "I can work with friends." We make plans for him to pick me up the next day. Then continue to stare into the water for a second longer, before Lee calls out to Noah and motions him over.

    "See you tomorrow, Princess."

    "Princess?" I turn to ask, but he's already gone. 

Noah

    I climb back up the bank away from the stream and Lorelei, ready to completely crush Lee for pulling me away. 

    "Well that looked painful." he says when I reach him. "That's what you get for hitting someone who's already taken."

    "Not taken. They are just friends," I tell him, gesturing to Corey, still holding Lacey. 

    "Ohh... Okay then. So you just crashed and burned on your own then."

    I start to tell him about our plans for tomorrow, but decide against it. Lee is the definition of a player. He would just turn it into something it not, make it sound like I'm just trying to get in her pants or something. I may already be covered in tattoos and have a bad boy reputation but playing with a girls feelings is not something I'm willing to do. 

    "Yea, man, something like that."

    "Come on. Maybe with the world's best wing man," he says gesturing towards himself. "We can actually get you a date"

    I follow him over to group of girls who all immediately begin to flirt and bat their eyelashes at us. They joke and talk while I half follow the conversation. More often than not I find myself looking over at Lorelei, who has pulled her feet out of the water and is now laying across the rocks in the sun with a book held over her face. I was joking when I said it, but she really does look like a princess. She's been quietly reading long enough several birds have already landed on the other side of the creek to drink.

    My princess, I think, woodland creatures and all....