You Should Have Been Here Yesterday

Oh.

"Are you alright?" Mick yelled in my ear on the way home.

"Yeah," I lied, yelling back over the wind.

We arrived back to the house shortly afterwards, and went down to sit on the dock.

I'm assuming my grandparents and mom are already in bed or something.

I sit in between Joey and Mick, with our feet hanging over the edge and the moon glistening off the glass lake.

"What happened anyway?" Joey asks, breaking the peaceful silence.

"I don't even know," I sigh. "Stev- Steven just kinda freaked out because of me and Anthony... He does that a lot."

And I know why he freaked out too.

Well, I've got a theory.

Steven doesn't hate me. Nor does he dislike me. He doesn't even like me. But he likes me. Like as in 'I'm pretty' likes me.

Oh god.

Why? What have I done to deserve this? Why Steven? Out of all the people... Why him...

"Maybe he's into you..."

I damn near shoved Joey off the dock. But Mick caught my arm before I could do so. "It'd be funny," he said to me, "but he'd get pissed."

"Yeah, and if you did I'd probably just pull you in t- Wait. Never mind. Seriously Gin, I think he does."

"And?" I ask sarcastically, about to jump into the lake myself-just to end my misery of this conversation.

"And he's jealous."

"And that's why he's being such a fucktard!" Mick says triumphantly and rather loudly. A dog barked.

"Wow," I say dully. "I had no idea. Thanks guys, I really couldn't've figured that out myself."

I slide backwards on the dock, probably getting a splinter in my thigh, and stand up to leave. "I'm tired. See you tomorrow," I say, starting to walk to the yard.

"Gin!" Joey calls, jumping up.

"Wait!" Mick continues, following Joey. "I'm sorry."

I turn back. "You didn't do anything," I say. "I'm just goin' to bed."

They followed me inside, not wanting to sit alone together in the moonlight by the dock. I tried to fall asleep, but ended up failing miserably. I feel bad, again, for what I said to Steven.

But why does it really matter that I've got a boyfriend? Is he really that interested? And what was with that calling Anthony a liar? And how does he know his name? I mean, Anthony never introduced himself to Steven; they didn't act like they already knew each other.

But then I got to thinking about Barry and Don. How Don called me babe and Barry made fun of Steve. I suppose I like the name Steven better than Steve. It kind of fits him better. I've got an uncle Steve and I wouldn't ever think of calling him Uncle Steven... It's the same way with Steven, but the other way around. Steven just works better than Steve, I guess...

And before I finally drifted off to sleep, I decided that I'm prettier than people have been letting on (hence Don calling me babe), I'm clueless (Steven being interested in me), I'm a total jerk (the fuck off command), and Steven is a much better name than Steve.

--

I wanted to apologize to Steven. By the end of the week it was eating me alive.

Well, sure, the days spent in the lake were fun and time consuming, but every other second I was thinking about it.

Honestly, I felt horrible. I didn't know that he liked me. If the only reason he's being a dick is because he's into me, then... I guess that makes it okay?

Wait. What the hell am I saying? Of course that doesn't make it okay!

On the carride home after a long two weeks, I was still mulling this over. The newest addition of my thoughts was this: What if I never would've kissed Anthony back during break? What if I would've been nice to Steven instead of bitching because he took Peter and my math grade? What if he would've asked me on a date during his show when we first really talked? What would I have said?

And before I managed to slip into a nap while reclined in the seat and sprawled across Mick, my final thought was a certain, most definite yes.

--

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A/N: Yeah, it's like an über short chapter for my standards, but... yeah, I've got no reason. Hope you enjoyed nonetheless! Vote and comment because they make me smile c: