Anticipation

I must have fallen asleep on the couch because the phone woke me up an hour later. My mom was calling to say she was on her way home and to start making something for dinner. I hung up with her and set the water to boil to make spaghetti. I wasn't much in the mood to attempt being a 5 star chef, so they'd just have to do deal with it.

Both of my parents arrived home around the same time, we ate dinner and started to clean up when the phone rang. I didn't even bother racing to get it, I had pretty much given up hope that Johnny was going to call. My mom glanced in my direction and when she realized that I wasn't going to answer it, she dropped the wash rag, I slid into her spot and she went to answer the phone.

"J! The phone's for you!"

"Who is it? Amy?"

"No. Kid said his name was Johnny!" she said as she was reentering the kitchen. "Who's Johnny, J? He sounds old."

I just froze. I honestly wasn't expecting him to call. "Oh! He's just.. umm.. a kid from school"

"He doesn't SOUND like a kid. He sounds like he's in his mid 20's!!" she replied as she took the dish rag from me.

"Oh. Really? You think so? hmm.. strange" I muttered quickly as I left to grab the phone.

I picked up the receiver and said hello.

"Hey, J."

"Hey.. umm.. let me take this in my room. I'll be right back."

I put the receiver down, went in my room, picked up mine and went back to hang up the other one.

"J?"

"Yes?"

"Why you talking to him in your room?"

"Cus it's easier and more comfortable to talk....?" What was I supposed to say? Oh cus.. I want privacy!? So you can't hear that I'm talking to a guy 6 years older than me?? I knew I couldn't say that.

I waited for her to say something else and when she didn't I walked back into my room.

"O.K., I'm back. Sorry about that."

"It's o.k. So, did you miss me?"

"Yes. And I missed your phone call last night. You said you were going to call me, but didn't."

"Yea, I got busy."

"Oh" There was a long pause in the conversation and I wasn't even sure he was still on the line.

"You still there, Johnny?"

"Yea"

"Are you gonna talk?"

"I'm just thinking of what I want to say and how I say it."

"Oh. Well. What does it have to do with?"

Another long pause. "The mall and you telling me no."

"oh" was all I could think of to say. I waited another few minutes and he finally spoke.

"J. I got so mad at you for telling me no. You embarrassed the shit out of me in front of Tony and Amy. Don't do it again."

My first thought was what the hell?!? He had to sit and think about how to say THAT? Really? Then my other thoughts went to things like.... uhh.. I don't think I like being told what to do. But then I realized, he said 'don't do it AGAIN'! As in, I hadn't seen the last of him and that made me happy.

I promised I would never try to embarrass him again and the rest of the conversation was about when we could see each other. I told him I'd talk to Amy to see when she was free and that I'd let him know in the next few days. By the time we hung up, I had a smile on my face. I dialed Amy's number right after and filled her in. She said she was free both Friday and Saturday night so it didn't matter to her. We continued planning our weekend around the guys and after an hour we finally hung up.

Since I was no longer stressed about Johnny not calling, I was finally able to drift off to a deep sleep. As my eyelids were closing, I prayed the rest of the week would fly by.