How to Steal a Happy Ending

~ Interlude: the cat ~

~~~ three years ago ~~~

"Claire!" she exclaimed, "You're not listening."

Suddenly, the lyrics of Numb were replaced by the chatter of a hallway full of hormonal, not-so-quiet teenagers. I was about to put my earphones back, but one look at her expression and I decided to stuff them in my bag.

"So yesterday, at Annie's party, we were playing truth or dare and-"

"Dude, I know we were playing truth or dare. I was THERE." I interjected. "I did your makeup, remember?" I said, picking a stray piece of fallen hair off of her shoulder. Kate has hair loss to the extreme because of the ridiculous amount of bleach she puts in it.

"Shut up, I'm telling you what happened after you left." She swatted my hand away, and jumped back into her narrative like a cat pouncing on a ball of yarn. "Right so, we were playing truth or dare and Connor asked Vincent Wright who he'd date, out of all the girls in our grade. And guess what he said!" She took hold of my shoulders and shook me.

Feeling bones rattle inside, I gave her a weak 'dunno'.

"He said he'd date YOU!" She gave me a bear hug and squealed. I winced.

However, my unaffected expression was contradicted by weak knees and a catch in my breathing. I was washed over with a strange kind of feeling, like someone just shoved me out of the shadows and into the spotlight. I squinted to see past the edge of the haloed ciricle. He said he'd date me?

I shook my head; three steps backwards and I'm behind the curtains again. Katie is not a good source of information. I mean, listening would actually require her to stop talking.

"Cat. Let go of me, I feel a hemorrhage coming on." I extracted myself from her, "What exactly did he say? And how drunk were you when he said it?" He said he'd date me.

"God, I knew you wouldn't believe me. Ask anybody there. He said you." I watched as Kate squealed again.

Maybe I should share her excitement. I mean, he did say he wanted to go out with me. Why do you care if some random guy wants to go out with you? I scoffed; Vince Wright is not some random guy. So what? You don't like him. You don't even know him. I know his name, he knows mine. And besides, we go to the same parties. The whole GRADE goes to the same parties. If he said he wants to date me, then he must think I'm pretty. Yeah, pretty easy.

My heart ignored the niggling voice and beat to its own unsteady rhythm. I was back on center stage. He thinks I'm pretty.

"Well, technically, he said you or Lauren. But he totally MEANT you." See, you OR Lauren. Really Claire, did you seriously think deep-seated confessions of love are made during games of truth or dare?

The curtains dropped. I rolled my eyes at Katie, "You're so naive. He just threw out two random names. Both of which weren't in the room." Good girl, you listened to the voice of reason.

She pouted. "Nooo. He totally likes you. He probably only said Lauren's name so that it wouldn't seem like he does."

That's the dumbest reason in the world. Don't believe her. But she could be right. Maybe he actually likes me. Don't fall for this Claire.

What sane person listens to the voices in their head, anyway? There's no way a guy like him would be into someone like you. Why not; I look good...enough. Maybe?

"OR, he said my name so that it wouldn't seem like he liked Lauren. Really, Katie, there's no way a guy like him would be into someone like me."

We walked to History, immersed in an animated discussion about whether or not Vincent Wright had a crush on me.