The Dating Game

Chapter Fifteen

Juliet

I was stood outside, leaning lazily against the back door that was in the pantry (supplies in case Stratford's weather unpredictably took a turn for the worse - we were actually expecting one soon in the upcoming month of November) that was drowning to the brim of imperishable foods and some treats, too.

Dad always liked knowing we could survive for a week if we were stranded in the house alone.

It was Monday morning and only last night did I finish The Last Song. The bond between the two protagonists, Ronnie and Will was incredible. I got chills just thinking of what they had and how they didn't just surrender to everything to stay with one another. They let each over go. But they came back in the end. That's what I wanted: A happy ending. I could only desire of my own happy ending. Right now, I guess I was somewhere near the middle?

"Sport, where are you?" Dad called.

I had Justin's leather jacket pooled in my arms. The smell was loitering around me, surrounding me with this stimulating aroma, reaching two of my senses: taste and smell. It was filing me up and satisfyingly causing my mind to meander back to Justin's hand trailing down my arm. His hand stayed holding my own and then he kissed it. His lips lingered for just a moment longer and in that moment, I knew things would never go back to how they primarily were. Predominantly everything would alter now.

"Outside," I called back softly.

The sky was still quite shadowy, but all of the stars had gone now. The moon was only a crescent in the dark canvas. The sun was rising, too. The shadowy sky was morphing into a stretch of red, orange and yellow. Red sky in the morning, Sheppard's warning, I mused. There was a faint extension of frost dusting the grounds, too. The weather was just that cold today. My exhale was distinctly prominent in front of me.

"Sport, it's cold out," declared Dad, opening the back door behind me. "Come inside. You'll be late for school, too. I've got your lunch sorted and – whose leather jacket is that? You're already wearing a coat, too."

My usual apparel was knitted jumpers, and today, I was sporting an amethyst knitted jumper with black, skinny jeans, a thick green coat and black boots with a bit of a heel on the platform parts of them. Dad had bought them me after work on Saturday. "Lots of teenage girls are wearing them now," he said, "and a guy from work has a daughter and they're too small for her so he's giving them away. They're exactly your size." They weren't my usual footwear, but for Dad, I'd wear them.

"Michelle, Beth and I met up with a few boys in our year at the fair. I got cold and one of them gave me his jacket," I replied, bowing my head as Dad moved out of the way to let me back into the house.

Dad closed the door behind me. "I see this boy is chivalrous, is he not? Was he the one that gave you the books?"

"Yeah."

Dad nodded, a slight smile forming on his thin lips. "I'm happy for you, sport. As long as he's treating you right, and I can see that he is."

My dad was making it sound like I had already confessed my love to Justin and yet, we were just a little bit more than acquaintances right now. Our friendship was purely platonic, devoid of all sexual and loving feelings for one another. We barely knew one another. All we acknowledged of one another were the facades we'd fabricated.

"Here," Dad said, marching over to the kitchen counter and grasping the light russet paper bag. "Here's your lunch. I'm going to be a little late coming back tonight so if I am, you can make yourself dinner. I'll call you if I am, though. I should be back but you never know. They've forecast torrential rain tonight. Right now, off to school you."