Stole My Heart

6. How Could I Not?

The weekend is finally here. Today I am meeting Alex and a few of his buddies at Alex's place, just outside of the Valley. We are meeting at noon, so I have about two hours until I need to leave. Dad gave me back my keys a few days early because of "good behavior", so I will be able to drive myself. I think he was tired of driving me around.

I get out of my bed and walk into the bathroom. I turn the shower on and begin undressing. After 10 minutes, I walk back to my room, wearing nothing but a towel. It was starting to get cooler in the evenings since fall was coming, so I grabbed a pair of jeans and a light camo jacket. Downstairs, Mom had already made breakfast, but she was letting everyone eat when they felt like it. I eat 2 egg sandwiches before walking back up the stairs.

I grab my wallet, keys, phone, and slip on my shoes. I yell to my parents that I am leaving and walk out to my truck. I have not driven in a while. I get in and start it. Man, I missed this.

I purposely left a little earlier than I needed to. I want to stop at the gas station and fill up. I fill up the tank and get a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew.  I drove off after taking a big drink of mine. I pull into the address I was given, and there are already 3 other vehicles here. I get out and walk to Alex. There is a blonde guy that is in my math class and Devin. I think the blonde's name is Reese. Another guy is standing a few feet away from everyone.

"Oh look, there's Peter. Hey dude, thanks for coming."

"Thanks for inviting me," I responded.

"Okay, we're just waiting for Jayden, Parker, and Micah."

As Alex says that, a small white car pulls up. Micah and Jayden get out of the car.

"Sweet!" Alex calls. "That just leaves Parker. Also, the girls are coming later and bringing pizza."

"Let's pick teams while we wait," Reese says.

They decide that Alex and Brandon should be team captains since they both know their way around the place really well. The teams were chosen, on Alex's team, Devin, Reese, Parker, and Taylen, when the girls showed up. On Brandon's team, Micah, me, Jayden, and Jaelynn. The only one I had ever talked to on my team was Micah, so I chose to hang out with him.

    After the teams are divided. Parker finally shows up. He apologizes, and we set up the bases and flags for capture the flag. Basically, you have to steal the other team's flag without getting hit. You get hit, you are dead. You have to stay at your base, and you cannot shoot, but you can warn your other teammates if someone is coming.

    Alex's dad blew the whistle, and we began. Brandon decided that since he and Jayden were the fastest, they would try to capture their flag. He left the rest of us in charge of guarding our flag. When Jaelynn got here, Micah would help them capture the flag, and she would take his place protecting the flag.

    We have been playing for 10 minutes now. Brandon got hit, so Micah traded him out. I hit Parker in the middle of his chest, just before he grabbed our flag. Jayden had also hit Devin. Now, it is a three on two-game. I make the sudden decision to run over and get their flag. Reese noticed and shot at me, but I somehow dodged it. I snatch their flag and run for my life back over to my side. I got shot at twice more, but they missed both times. I managed to make it back, and my team won this round.

I have no idea how I pulled that off. As we're celebrating, a white Rubicon pulls up. Jaelynn gets out of the driver's side door.  She looks different today. She is not wearing a hoodie like usual. She is wearing those black jeans that Taylen was wearing the other day and a black tank top with an oversized, grey jacket sweater. Her hair is in an adorable messy bun. Everyone is staring at her, and she looks very uncomfortable. She walks around to the back hatch and gets out a grey duffel bag.

    "Alex, I need to change. We went shopping," she whines with an annoyed expression. I don't think it was her idea.

    He laughs and says, "Come on."

    They stand there and have a conversation between the two of them.

    "I'm going to kill her," Jaelynn says.

    "Who? Taylen?" he asks.

    "No, someone else. Yes, Taylen, you idiot. First, she practically forced me to wear her clothes, and then she dragged me shopping with her. And these jeans are too tight. How she wears them and still moves around so much is beyond me." She says all this with a huff.

    He chuckles again and makes a face, "Isn't she always complaining about how they're not tight enough?"

    "Yes! I do not understand her."

    They walk away, and the passenger door opens. Today she is wearing leggings with a light pink shirt that has sleeves that go to her elbows. Her hair is braided in the back, and she has little pieces of hair on her face. She also goes around to the rear of the car, which Jaelynn left open, and gets out a black drawstring bag with white polka dots. She also gets out 6 Pizza Hut boxes.

    "Will one of you, masculine boys, come to help me out over here?" she asks, teasing us, it seemed. Micah walks over and shuts the door then takes the pizza from her.

    "Thanks!" she says, smiling at him.

    Damn, she has got the most beautiful smile. We all follow her and Micah. When they get to the porch, Micah pauses.

    "Where do you want these, boss?"

    "Um, set them on this table and wait here. I'll be back in 5 minutes."

    For the next 3 minutes, we all just talk about random things. Alex came back right after showing Jaelynn where she could change. Jaelynn came back, and then we were just waiting on Taylen. Jaelynn had changed back into her usual clothes, but instead of a hoodie, she wore a blue "Lucky Dog" shirt.  Taylen came out two minutes later, looking completely different. She was still wearing leggings, but she had changed into a grey t-shirt, and her hair was now in a ponytail. She looked ready to play. She was holding plates and napkins in one hand, and the other was moving as she talked.

    "Okay, so I know the majority of us are guys who care less about what we look like, but I care, so please use the napkins I brought. Preferably a plate too, but I won't complain if you at least use a napkin." Her hands were in motion the whole time she talked. I would have laughed if I wasn't afraid of getting whacked in the face.

    "Alex, hold these, please. I forgot the soda in the car."

    "I ain't holding your stuff, woman."

    "I asked please," she said, pouting slightly.

    "Fine." He took the stuff and watched her walk away. His expression annoyed. How does everyone get so annoyed with her? She seems sweet.

    Taylen and Jaelynn pass out pizza, and we all begin to eat. The girl had apparently already Taco Bell, so they didn't eat. This means that between 8 guys, we finished 6 entire pizzas in a matter of ten minutes.

    Before playing again, Alex told the girls which team they were on, "Okay, Jae, you're with Brandon, Micah, Jayden, and Peter. Have you met Peter yet?"

    She shook her head.

    "Oh, well, Tay, Jae, this is Peter. Hey y'all's names rhyme!"

    "Hey," they both say at the same time.

    We go to our team bases, and get our guns ready to go. We came up with a game plan. Now that Jae is here, and I won the game last time, she, Brandon, and Micah are going to guard while Jayden and I try to steal their flag.

    Damon, Alex's dad, blows the whistle signaling us to start. I take off and end up getting hit by Taylen right before grabbing their flag. She had been hiding behind a tree, giving the illusion that the flag wasn't guarded well. She giggled and went back behind the tree. Reese captured our flag and made it back to his spot, giving his team a win.

    After another round with Alex's team winning,, we take a break. Damon brings out three big boxes of Drumsticks ice cream. We all grab one. Taylen and Jaelynn on the porch rail, leaning against the poles, Alex sits in between. He acts like he's gonna push Taylen off. She starts to actually fall, and they grab each other. Both of them drop their ice cream in the process. They laugh it off and continue acting like idiots while the rest of them are cackling idiots.

    We don't play anymore capture the flag. Devin and Reese both silently plan to shoot Alex at the same time. He sees it coming, though, and fires at Devin, hitting him. Reese quickly shoots too but misses Alex and hits Taylen. She looks at him, shocked for a second, before smiling. She makes a scene of grabbing her gun, successfully distracting him and Jaelynn shoots him, hitting him in the back. The paint splatters, paint got on me, Micah, and Parker.

    They both grab their guns, and both shoot Jae at the same time. Brandon joins in then. Everybody was participating in the mini-paintball fight, except me. I feel like I'm intruding. Suddenly, I'm hit. I look to see who the culprit is. Taylen is looking at me with a mischievous grin.

    I pick up my gun and fire it back at her. She ducks, and it hits Devin, who was behind her. He sees that it was me who got him and shoots back at me. Now we're all in a paint war. I hit Taylen since she hit me, and she looks at me, grins before shooting Micah's stomach. This goes on for another fifteen minutes until everyone wears themselves out. 

    Alex invites us, boys, to stay the night. The girls were going to hang out until eleven before they headed home. Parker, Jayden, Micah, and Brandon all couldn't stay, but the rest of us are going to. I am glad that I have another crowd to hang out with now. We all got pretty close today.

    At seven, the sun started to set, so everyone decided to go in, everybody except Taylen and me. She wanted to watch the sunset, and I stayed out to keep her company.

    "Mind if I join?" I ask as I go to sit next to her.

    "Not at all. So how do you like the Valley?"

    "It was not all what I was used to. It's not all bad, it has its perks." I respond, looking at the sky.

    "Oh yeah, like what?"

    "Well, I've made a few friends, and it definitely has much nicer people. People actually care about other people."

    "Yeah, it's not so bad here," she starts to say more but is interrupted by her phone ringing.

    "Care if I take this? It's my ex."

    I make a motion with my hand, saying go for it.

    As she speaks, you can tell she's getting upset. Her eyebrows furrow, and for the first time today, she frowns.

    "I'm at a friends', what do you want?"

    "Alex's. What do you need?" She asked him, sounding irritated. I'm assuming he didn't answer her.

She continues to talk, and I start to stand up to give them privacy.

    "You can stay. It will only be a second," she says.

I sit back down and study her silently. Her eyebrows furrowed as she talked to him. Her nose slightly wrinkled as he talked, I assumed it was because she was getting frustrated.

"I was talking to my new friend, Peter."

"So what if he was?" She rolls her eyes and hangs up.

"I'm sorry. He keeps calling me." She smiles, seeming embarrassed.

"It's good."

We sit in silence, enjoying the sunset. I can tell she has a lot going through her head right now, though. The sky is now too dark to be enjoyable, so I stand. I hold my hand out to help her up. She grabs it and pulls herself up.

"Thank you."
She dusts herself off and suddenly speaks again, "I completely forgot, I'm all painted. I don't know how I could forget that, considering I just spent an hour staring at you. I think you're worse than me."

She smiles and shakes her head. I smile too. I mean, how could I not.