The Art of Life (57 page)

               
They wave and then leave.
 
Jeremy and I go into the kitchen and start to
put stuff away.
 
“If it is alright with
you, I am going to go for a run tonight.
 
I haven’t in days, and I am starting to feel sluggish,” Jeremy says, as
he put all the plastic bags together.

               
“Okay,” I reply.
 
“I should be fine.
 
I will just lock the doors.”

               
“Are you sure?”

               
I nod, “Yeah, positive.”

               
“Good,” he replies.
 
“I am going to go get ready then.
 
I don’t want it to be too chilly outside.”

               
“
Okely
dokely
,” I retort.

               
Jeremy goes to get ready for his
run.
 
I walk into my room and grab my
book that I have been reading.
 
Plopping
down on my bed, I open it up.
 
A few
minutes later, Jeremy comes to my door.
 
“I am going to go.
 
I will lock
the dead bolt behind me.”
                                                           

               
“Thanks,” I say, putting down my
books for a second.

               
“You want to come with?” He
asks.

               
Scoffing, I exclaim, “Um, NO!”

               
“One of these days you are going
on run with me,” Jeremy laughs.

               
Shaking my head, I declare, “Not
on your life.”

               
“We will see about that.
 
I am going to lock the door, okay?”

               
“Yup.”

               
He comes walking over and kisses
me on the head.
 
“I will be back soon.”

               
“Have fun,” I whisper.

               
He ruffles my hair and then
turns to leave.
 
I listen to him open the
door.
 
The sound of the dead bolt locking
makes me feel better.
 
Opening my book
back up, I start to read.
 
A while later, I start to get groggy, so I close my eyes.
 
When my side lamp gets turned off, I open my
eyes.
 
Jeremy is standing there.
 
“Hey, go back to sleep,” he murmurs.

               
I sit up and say, “I need to
brush my teeth.”

               
“Alright, I will let you in the
bathroom first.”

               
Smiling, I get up and go to get
ready for bed.
 
When I come out of the
bathroom, Jeremy is standing in the living room.
 
He is standing there in his running pants,
with no shirt on.
 
I kind of stand there
for a second, staring at him.
 
He does
look really good.
 
I can’t lie.
 
Seeming to sense me, he turns.
 
“I wanted to say good night,” I declare
timidly.

               
“Okay toots, Cassandra will be
here tomorrow.
 
I will doubly make sure
to lock the door when I leave in the morning,” Jeremy replies.

               
“Thanks, good night,” I say.
             

               
“Sleep well.”

               
Turning, I smile and go to bed.

               
I wake up the next morning, I
shoot up in bed.
 
I didn’t have
nightmares!
 
I didn’t have
nightmares!
 
I clap my hands in
excitement, and then stop.
 
I am
seriously not clapping my hands.
 
Happily, I get out of bed.
 
The
clock says 8:30.
 
Cool, I have time to
eat breakfast and get ready.

               
Walking into the kitchen, I find
coffee already made.
 
There is a note
propped up against the pot.
 
It
reads:
 
Izzy, good thing, bad thing.
 
Good thing, you didn’t seem to have
nightmares last night.
 
Bad thing, I kind
of missed you.
 
Have fun with Cassandra
today.
 
I will probably text you at
lunch.
 
Don’t get into trouble.
 
Jeremy.

               
Aww
, that
actually makes my heart swell.
 
He missed
me?
 
Seriously?
 
Wow, okay.
 
I put the note down and stare at it.
 
Why does part of me want to keep this note?
 
Put it somewhere safe, and keep it?
 
I shake my head.
 
That’s silly.
 
I take the note and crumple it up.
 
Turning, I toss it into the garbage, but part of me feels torn.
 
Taking a deep breath, I go on with my
morning.

               
A while after
ten, there is a knock on the door.
 
I walk over to it, “Yeah?”

               
“Isabelle,
it’s
Cassandra.
 
Are you ready?”

               
Opening the door, I answer,
“Yes.”

               
Cassandra is standing there,
with a huge smile on her face.
 
“Did
Jeremy leave you a key?”

               
“I have no idea.
 
Come in.
 
I will check.”
 
I open the door
wider and Cassandra walks in.
 
“He left a
note, but didn’t mention a key.”

               
“Well, I didn’t exactly tell him
we were leaving,” Cassandra replies.
 
“We
can stop by his work and pick it up on our way back.”

               
I nod.
 
“Where are we going?”

               
“It’s a surprise,” she
giggles.
 
“You need to experience more
girl stuff.
 
Soooooo
,
we are going to be busy for the next few hours.”

               
We look but there seems to be no
key anywhere.
 
“Jeremy said he would
probably text me today, so I will ask him about a key.”

               
“Sounds good, we need to go
though, so we aren’t late.”

               
I grab my jacket and reply,
“Let’s go.”
 
We drive across town.
 
“Where are we going?” I finally ask.

               
“You will see,” Cassandra
replies, with a smile.

               
When we pull up to a building, I
just look at her.
 
“Really?”

               
“Yes, get out of the car,” she
commands.

               
As we enter said building, I am
overwhelmed.
 
“This may be a little too
girly for me.”

               
“Nonsense, sometime in their
life, a girl should experience a manicure and pedicure.”

               
Looking at Cassandra, I whine,
“I just learned to fight back yesterday.
 
The next step is not to go get your nails done!”

               
“Yes, it is.
 
Shush, we are a few minutes late for our
appointment.”
 
I begrudgingly walk over
to the receptionist with her.
 
“Yes, two
appointments under Cassandra
Voight
.”

               
The receptionist nods and
gestures for us to follow her.
 
“I hate
you,” I hiss under my breath.
 
Cassandra
just smiles and ignores me.
 

               
Two girls meet us at the
pedicure chairs.
  
One says, “My name is
Kelli and this is Jasmine.
 
We will be
taking care of you.”

               
“My name is Cassandra, this is
Isabelle,” Cassandra replies.

               
Jasmine grins.
 
“Well, Isabelle, if you want to take a seat,
we can get started.”

               
My gaze turns to Cassandra and
daggers nearly shoot out of my eyes.
 
This seems to make her grin even more.
 
I take my shoes off and climb onto the chair.
 
Jasmine fills up the pedicure tub and has me
put my feet in it.
 
“What kind of polish
would you like?” She asks.

               
“Polish?”
I say.
 
“Who said anything about polish?”

               
“You are going to get your nails
painted,” Cassandra snaps playfully.
 
“Tell them a color you want.
 
Then
they let you pick from a whole bunch of them.”

               
I hang my head.
 
“I don’t know.
 
You pick and NO PINK!”

               
Cassandra
smiles.
 
“What is your favorite
color?”

               
“Blue,” I reply.

               
Jasmine interjects, “Oh, we have
some really fun blues.
 
I will go get
them, while you soak your feet.”

               
She and Kelli leave and I take a
deep breath.
 
Okay, the foot bath
actually feels nice.
 
“So, let me ask you
a question,” Cassandra starts.
 
I look
over at her.
 
“I have been dying to ask
you.
 
What is going on with you and
Jeremy?”

               
“What do you mean?” I ask.

               
“Seriously Isabelle, you guys
are the most ridiculously cute couple.
 
I
love Kent and all, but he doesn’t even look at me the way Jeremy does at you.”

               
My mouth drops open. “Jeremy
does NOT look at me in any sort of way.
 
We are FRIENDS.”

               
“Yeah, okay, friends who are in
the bathroom together, friends who end up on the floor with each other, friends
that kiss each other like it’s nothing, and trust me, that was not Jeremy just
kissing a girl, that was a kiss that had some feeling behind it,” Cassandra
states.

               
“What?
 
No.
 
That’s ridiculous.
 
We are
friends, so there will be a little emotion behind it, because we care about
each other, but not like that.
 
No, not
with Jeremy,” I stutter.

               
Cassandra just raises an
eyebrow.
 
“Nothing else has
happened.
 
He hasn’t done ANYTHING else
affectionate?”

               
I bite my lip.
 
“Okay, he holds me as we sleep when I have
nightmares.”

               
Bursting out laughing, Cassandra
exclaims, “Come on!
 
If that is what
friends do, I have been
jipped
my entire life.
 
I would have loved to been FRIENDS with a
super hot guy when I was your age, and have him hold me at night.”

               
“Shut up,” I giggle.
 
“Really, I promise, it’s nothing.
 
He is just protective of me, for whatever
reason.”

               
“Alright,” Cassandra sighs,
obviously not believing me.
 
“So, if you
aren’t interested in Jeremy, there has to be someone else.”

               
Bashfully, I look at the floor,
“Eric, his name is Eric.”

               
“A boy from
school?”
She asks.

               
Nodding, I reply, “Yeah, he
never really acknowledged me, but since Jeremy came into my life, he has shown
interest.”

               
“Guys are like that.
 
If this guy didn’t pay you a lick of
attention why are you so enamored with him?”

               
I shrug.
 
“I don’t know.
 
He has had a locker next to mine our entire
high school life.
 
Everyone has always
said how nice he is, and that seems to be true.
 
He has been nothing, but genuinely kind to me.
 
Jeremy says he will get me a date with him.”

               
“Well, Jeremy would be the one
who knows how to get a date with someone,” Cassandra notes.

               
“He dates a lot, huh?
 
I mean, that’s what he says, but he hasn’t
had a date lately.”

               
Cassandra looks at me
thoughtfully.
 
“Honestly, you have been
the center of his attention.
 
Don’t get
me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, but I don’t think he has NEEDED a date.
 
You fill that void.”

               
“Yeah, but someday he will want
something…..well, something else, and I won’t fill that need,” I whisper
awkwardly.

               
A wicked grin passes over
Cassandra’s face.
 
“You could if you
wanted to.”

               
I get a shocked face and
laugh.
 
“Cassandra!
 
Oh
my gosh
!”

               
“Forget I said that,” she
giggles.
 
“Oh, the look on your face was
priceless.”

               
“I have never done anything more
than kiss somebody and that was Jeremy.
 
I don’t think he would want me to fill that NEED.
 
Dear lord have mercy on me.
 
You embarrass me almost as much as Jeremy.”

               
She just laughs in reply.
 
“I forget we have some years on you.
 
If you’re around the guys enough, you will
learn to not be so easily embarrassed.
 
They are an embarrassment to themselves but they don’t care.”

               
“I like having you guys
around.
 
I have never had friends and you
make me feel so welcome.
 
I didn’t think
these types of friendships really existed,” I mumble.

               
“Oh, we adore you.
 
You are a blast to be around.
 
I don’t understand what other people’s
problems were,” Cassandra counters.
 
“As
you get older, that whole high school shallowness starts to disappear.”

               
I take a deep breath.
  
“That would be nice.”

               
Suddenly, the girls come back
over.
 
“Now, these are the most unusual
blues that we have,” Jasmine says.
 
“Do you
like any of them?”

               
Looking at them, I exclaim,
“Oh!
 
The electric blue one, that color
is awesome.”

               
“See,” Cassandra
interjects.
 
“You will like this.”
 
Sitting back, I think she may actually be
right.
 
I watch with some odd fascination
as Jasmine does my nails.
 
It never
dawned on me how pretty your feet can look.
 
When she is done, I hold up my feet.
 
“Very pretty,” Cassandra declares.

               
“I love it,” I state, very
happily.
 
“Now what?”

               
“Now, we do your finger nails,”
she replies.
 
“Do you want just a
manicure, or do you want nails put on?”