18 Things by Jamie Ayres

Author:Jamie Ayres
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781620071502
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2013-01-22T23:00:00+00:00

“Yesterday is a memory,

tomorrow is a mystery

and today is a gift which

is why it is called the present.”

—Unknown

“Happy Halloween,” Nicole said when I opened the front door. She handed me two presents. “And happy birthday.”

I’d always thought it ironic Mom birthed me on the only day of the year she viewed as pure pagan evil.

“Thanks.” I automatically knew the one wrapped in the fancy orange paper and lavish bow was from her, and I didn’t need to read the card on the other one either, wrapped in green, to know who it was from.

“That one is from Nate.”

“Yeah, I figured,” I said, my voice irritated.

Nic cleared her throat. “So, let me get this straight; you bail on your first date, even steal his poetry, avoid him for two weeks, but he still buys you a present, and you’re the one annoyed?”

I shuffled to the couch, in my comfy slipper socks; Mom’s only present to me. “I just wish he’d get a clue.”

She plopped down next to me and grinned. “I don’t think someone who dreamed asking for your hand is giving up easily.”

I’d shown his poem to Nicole. She took that line to mean marriage and figured it had to be about me because who else could he like? Her assessment totally freaked me out. I reminded myself daily about the vow I made to myself after Conner’s death: never fall in love again.

My life list definitely didn’t include that one, no matter what Nic and Tammy thought was best for me. Better safe than sorry. That didn’t mean I stopped thinking about Nate though. I wished there was a switch to turn off those butterfly-inducing feelings. Oh wait, there was, it’s called guilt. So any time he tried to call my house and I saw his number pop up on the I.D. display, I let the phone ring and told my parents not to answer, that the caller was unknown or just spam. When I spotted him in the halls at school, I walked the other way and on occasion, engaged a random stranger in a convo so he wouldn’t be tempted to invade my space and start talking to me.

“Does he ever say anything about me?” I asked Nic, peeling away her bow, carefully unwrapping the paper so I could reuse it.

“Not to me,” she said, gathering her long black hair in her hands and laying it across one shoulder. “And if he does to Sean, he’s not spilling the beans.”

I nodded and studied the contents in my lap. Inside Nicole’s box were chic black leather shorts, a shimmering gold sweater, and a large pair of feathery earrings.

“Those earrings look like the ones girls wear at strip clubs,” Mom said, on the way to the kitchen for a coffee refill.

I rolled my eyes. “How would you know, Mom?”

Nicole tried not to laugh as Mom shot us a don’t-mess-with-me look.

“Oh, come on. It’s my birthday. You have to be nice to me.”

Ha! That shut her up. She pursed her lips, then turned her back on me and left the room.

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