CHAPTER NINE

RING RING RING. "I'm coming!" I yelled, not to anyone in particular, but in hopes the phone would hear me. "Alright alright!" I screamed as I jumped out of the shower, sopping wet, towel wrapped half around me. "Hello?" I asked irritatedly into the receiver.

"Hey girl! What's up?" Victoria asked loudly into the receiver.

"Nothing, I was in the middle of a nice warm shower," I said laughing.

"Really? And you got out for little old me? I feel so special," she said jokingly.

"Well, don't cuz I had no clue who it was anyways," I said smiling.

"Shut up!" Vic said defensively. "Anyways, heehee, I was going to ask you about something," she said.

"Sure, shoot," I said openly.

"Well, I was wondering if instead of the Winter Fest, if you wanted to go with me to the Ice Capades?" she asked rather sheepishly.

"Why? I thought we were going to go to the Fest?" I asked confused.

"Well, I thought maybe we could go to the Ice Capades instead. I mean, it will be fun!" She tried to sell me, poorly.

"Vic, I really wanted to go to the Fest," I whined. It usually worked.

"Come on Summer! Please, I'll do anything," she pleaded.

I was confused. "Why do you want to go to the Ice Capades so badly all of a sudden?" I asked inquisitively.

"I've just always wanted to go, and I thought we could go together," she said, obviously trying to win sympathy points.

"Well, how about this? I'll go with you to the Ice Capades-" I got cut off.

"YES! THANK YOU Summer!" she said ecstatically.

"Wait, that's not all," I said. "And you can come with me to the Fest!" I said proud of my little thought.

"Well, I don't know if I can afford both..." she started.

"Don't worry bout it. I got your back," I finished up. " Later girl!" and with that, I hung up.

* * * * * * *

BANG BANG BANG! I pounded on my neighbors wall, hoping he'd get the clue. He seemed to take pride in the fact that he was pissing me off. Everytime I'd pound, he'd get louder and louder. I'm surprised no ones called a "Disturbance of the Peace" on him yet. I sure should. I'm just not the legal type. I can handle my own matters. Most of the time...

* * * * * * *

The rain was pounding, and the sun was hiding for the week. My type of weather. I loved wearing huge sweaters and mittens and scarves. It made me feel all warm and toasty. I sat there in Vic's apartment, relaxing on the floor by the fireplace. Fireplaces and the cold weather always make me think of romance and love, so that's what I was thinking about as I lay there, unconscious to the world.

"Don't tell me your thinking about Sean?" Vic asked brattily.

"No, I'm thinking about my affair with one of the guys from Backstreet Boys and how I should let Sean know," I said sarcastically.

Vic gave me a weird look, and then shook her head, as if to relieve herself from a previous thought, and smiled at me knowingly. "So what juicy fantasy are you having today? Sean in a thong serving pina coladas? Or wait, better yet!" She jumped up to animate her idea. "Sean butt naked, in a chocolate syrup bath tub." I gave her the please-stop-now look. It didn't work. "And then you jump in and you’re both full of chocolate.." she continued.

I jumped up to stop the madness. "That's enough!" I said laughing. "Someone needs a boyfriend." I threw in under my breath.

"Ugh! Rude!" Vic said in protest. She started laughing uncontrollably. She handed me my hot chocolate with an evil glare. I love this weather..

* * * * * * *

"Yeah babe, I had a great day," I said. Sean had called me at Vic's house, knowing that if I wasn't at my apartment, that’s where I had to be.

"So what did you do all day?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Me and Vic just hung out all day. Played cards, drank hot chocolate." I heard some music in the background at Sean’s place, and it made me think of that Backstreet Boys comment. "Oh yeah, and Vic was acting all weird earlier. I said something weird about some boy band and.." He cut me off.

"What did you say?" he asked quickly.

"Something about dating a Backstreet Boy," I said laughing. "Like I would ever do that anyways," I continued. "And then she got all weird, and offered to get me some more hot chocolate."

"Oh..thats strange," he said distantly. There was a brief silence. "So hows school?" he threw in.

"Umm..its ok," I said, wondering why he asked all of a sudden. ‘Oh well, maybe he’s just interested in my life,’ I thought.

"Thats good," he said. "Well I gotta go now, I'll check up on ya again later k?" he said sweetly.

"Sure. Later babe!" I said cheerfully.

* * * * * * *

Picture this. Communications class had just ended, and I was packing up my stuff to go. Sean was waiting for me as normal to walk me to my next class. He didn't have a class again until 3. When out of nowhere, it must have been 20 girls mob him and scream silly names and silly phrases at him! I ran over there to help him up, and I was knocked down myself. These girls were running wild! Security finally came to sort out the situation, and they didn't seem to find it strange at all! They took care of it, and let us go on our way, without an explanation of any sort, or an apology. I was outraged.

"But babe, they thought I was someone else. End of story," Sean said reassuringly.

"That many girls were blind? I doubt it. What are 30 eleven year old girls doing on a college campus anyways?" I said, still angry.

"I think Security said it was a class trip, to check out the university," Sean stated matter of factly.

"Still.." I said, just trying to find a hole in his argument. It was hard. "You don't think it was kinda weird? Security didn't comment on it much, or apologize or anything! That's rude.." I said, venting again. I guess it was kinda funny.

"Well, what do you want them to say?" Sean said laughing. "We're really sorry you were trampled today in the halls because of a mistaken identity," Sean imitated. "It wont happen again," he finished.

"Haha funny boy!" I said, finally over my little tantrum.

He just smiled and said, "So where to from here my lady?"

"I'd go anywhere with you," I said flirtatiously.

"Is that so?" he flirted back. I nodded my head. "Well, I'd go anywhere with you, anywhere for you, anytime of the day," he said very cockily.

"Good. That's how it should be," I said quickly.

"What??!" he whined. "No return of affection?" He gave me puppy dog eyes.

"Hmm..let me think about that one," I said slyly, eyeing him to gauge his response. "Of course there's a return of affection silly!" I said while embracing him in a bear hug. I kissed his cheek. "What's gotten into you silly?" I said jokingly. I loved being wrapped up in his arms. He smelt so good, and it felt so good to be wrapped up in him. I felt safe and warm, and I never wanted to let go.

"Nothing babe." He kissed the top of my head and walked me out to my car. As we were walking, we were approached by an attractive young girl, probably in her late teens. She seemed rather excited to see us. I tried to figure out if I knew her from somewhere. I was drawing blanks.

"OHMIGOD!" the girl yelled. Sean grabbed my arm.

"Hey, wait over there for a minute k?" he whispered.

"What? What’s goin on?" I asked confusedly.

"Shh. Gimme a sec," he said quickly. He grabbed the girl by her arm gently and took her about 30 feet from me. He was talking to her, and to this day I dont know what they talked about. But he wrote something down on a piece of paper for her, and she seemed ecstatic. He gave her a quick hug, and walked back over to me, looking exasperated. He looked me in the eye, and I gave him a look of disapproval.

"What was that all about?" I said, annoyed. He just looked at me and shook his head. "Huh?" I repeated myself. I didn't want to get angry, as I knew nothing about the situation, but I could start to feel the little prickles of jealousy and anger building up in my chest.

"It was-" he started. "It was, well.." he said, obviously not able to tell me. I sighed.

"Dont worry about it, I said emotionlessly. "Well I gotta go, I have to be up early," I continued. I grabbed my car keys out of my purse and started to put them in the key hole. Sean grabbed my hand.

"Please dont be mad at me. Its hard to explain this," he said in his defense.

I looked up at him. It was so hard to stay mad at him. "I’m not mad at you," I said laughing. "I mean, how can I be with a face like that?" I added, smiling.

"That’s what I thought," he said, pulling me over to embrace him.

"Dont get too cocky, mister. Things could change," I said slyly.

"No they wont. I’ll make sure of that." He kissed my lips, filling them with passion. "You convinced?" he said afterwards.

"I think so," I said smiling. "But I'm not sure. Think you can help me out a little more?"

"Sure can," he said. He leaned in again, giving me my sweet satisfaction once more. "How was that?" he asked cockily.

"It'll do," I said as I started to unlock my car door again.

"That’s it?!" he exclaimed in shock. I started cracking up.

"Yeah. Why, are you unsatisfied?" I replied jokingly.

"Of course not," he said smartly.

"Good then," I said still pretending to be paying no attention to him. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Come on Summer!" he yelled impatiently.

"Ok ok!" I yelled back as I turned to him. He seemed happy as I leaned in for yet another kiss. I am FAR too easy on him.

* * * * * * *

 "But Vic, I dunno what to do," I said exasperatedly.

"I dunno either! I bet you its just a bunch of weird, random occurrences," she said in solace.

"I thought that originally, but its just too weird," I said thinking. "I mean, what are the odds?" I added.

"True true. But what could Sean possibly be up to?" she replied. "He's definitely not cheating on you, he likes you too much, and plus, the signs are pointing in the opposite direction."

"Yeah, I guess you’re right. But what could it be then?" I asked again.

"I’m telling you, just forget about it for now. If anything else happens, let me know," Vic added.

"I just find it weird that random people are approaching him, calling him weird names, and getting all excited," I said, half talking to myself, half talking to Vic.

"DONT WORRY ABOUT IT!" Vic said again. She started laughing. "Believe me, its nothing. If anything was going on, I’m sure he'd tell you," she added.

"Maybe you’re right," I finally succumbed.

"Of course I’m right," she said cockily. "Well I’m so tired Summer. I’m gonna get going," she finished.

"Ok, night."

"Night."

¤ Chapter 10 ¤
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