Ready Or Not

“So when did you and Eugene meet?”

He stole a sideways glance at me. I didn’t really want to talk about that considering the circumstances but I humoured him anyway.

“Oh you know how it is – boy sees girl; boy likes girl; boy gets girl,” I replied, staring solemnly at the ground, wishing I knew what to change the subject to.

“You know that’s not what it’s all about, right? Didn’t you even have a choice in the matter? I
mean, I’ve known Eugene long enough to be familiar with how he can treat the ladies. He can’t just get any girl he wants for the sheer fact he has a reputation to uphold. I know I sound jealous but I don’t like seeing him break all those beautiful girls’ hearts – including yours,”

Did he just call me beautiful? Well, that was an unexpected response. I didn’t know what I’d expected but whatever it was, that definitely wasn’t it. Dylan was different. It wasn’t in the sense that he was odd. It was in a way where you couldn’t predict what he was going to say next. I liked that about him. I had no clue what to say to all that so instead, being the socially awkward individual I was, I just made a fool of myself – but that wasn’t anything new.

“Uh…thank you?”

He chuckled at my bewildered tone. Because that’s what I was – bewildered, like a deer caught in headlights.

“Sorry,” he smirked, “I talk too much, don’t I? I just have a lot of opinion – especially when it comes to Eugene,”

I’d never really heard anyone hate on Eugene before. He wasn’t exactly a guy you would want to be enemies with. That just made me wonder what he’d done to make Dylan be so dogmatic. I wasn’t game to ask though. I mean, it could’ve been anything. Maybe it was best I didn’t know.

“Nah, not really. You don’t have to apologise. I’m just really surprised a guy can talk like you can, especially since you’re friends with Eugene,”

He shook his head, “Not friends, acquaintances. We never have good enough conversations to be considered as friends. I wouldn’t really want to be friends with him anyway. No offence or anything, but he’s not exactly interesting to me. He just…lacks something, you know?”

Oh my God. He just stole the words right out of my mouth. It was nice to have someone understand me. The strangest feeling washed over me as we pulled into my driveway. I wasn’t sure what it was but suddenly I felt really comfortable with him.

It was as if we’d known each other for a whole lot longer than a car ride and I felt as though I could tell him anything. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but it didn’t matter because however I felt, Dylan was one of a kind and I liked the way I felt around him.

It was so weird that he’d denied the most popular guy in school’s friendship. No one turned Eugene down. No one. He was just one of those guys that people admired.

“Actually, I do know because I sort of…feel the same way,” I admitted.

The car engine stopped as he parked the car. He turned to face me, his hazel brown eyes filled with concern. He had a kind face – one you’d normally look at and go, ‘yeah he’s a nice guy,’ His shaggy brown hair flopped over half his face.

“Then why are you dating him?”

Good question. His voice echoed in my head as I tried to answer it myself. I just couldn’t do it confidently no matter how hard I tried to convince myself of my happiness with Eugene.

“I don’t know now,” I finally whispered, staring into space.

I opened the car door hesitantly and looked back at him with a small smile. Oddly enough it wasn’t forced.

“Thank you…” I said gratefully, stepping out of the car and onto the footpath, “…you know, for the uh…lift and stuff,”

Smooth. Real smooth Marissa.

“Oh yeah, no worries,” he replied shortly afterwards.

“Bye, it was nice talking to you. Good…good chat,”

I slammed the door shut again but he wound down the window.

“Yeah, you too. I’ll see you around, Marissa,”

I felt sad to say goodbye. He said my name and it wasn’t Ri-Ri or Mari. He called me by my full name – Marissa. That never usually happened so when it did, it made me feel like…me. When I glimpsed back at him, I expected him to be gone but he wasn’t. Was he waiting for me to enter my house safely?

I knocked on the front door and rang the doorbell. The front porch light came on as I stood there, not wanting my Mum to be home just so I had an excuse to get back in the car and continue talking to him. I kept looking back at him looking at me. I threw him a wave every few glances.

Finally the door swung open, groaning on the hinges. Mum emerged from the doorway, dressed in a towelling robe with a toothbrush in her mouth and a face mask covering her face. I felt like slapping my forehead with the palm of my hand. Instead, I just ushered her inside, gave one last wave and then shut the door. I hoped he didn’t see what she was wearing because that would’ve been really embarrassing.

Notes