Gn 002 book00082

ANDRÈ

I sat in my room, trying to find sleep. I wasn't ready to get up yet and I had a lot on my mind.

It had been three days since the run in at the mall with Lou. I had avoided even walking back by Amplifier because I didn't want to deal with her, so I just left through another set of doors. Now I wished that I had said hey to her or something.

It was eleven; I had to be at work soon. With that in mind, I got out of bed and got dressed. I hoped Mark was working today; he was the only one there that I actually enjoyed talking to.

I tied my shoes, grabbed my keys and headed out for the car.

"ANDRÈ!" Mark yelled, as I walked in. He sounded a little upset or something. Something wasn't right.

"Yeah?" I said, cautiously.

"I quit," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

"What?!" I said, shocked. "Why?!"

"I just," he paused. He looked like he was choosing his words carefully. "I don't like working here anymore," he said, "Sorry, man, we'll talk later or something, alright?"

I nodded, confused. As I watched him walk out of the store, I felt a little alone, as if this place was going to eat me alive without him here. 'Maybe I made a friend,' I thought, as I stuffed my hands into my pockets and walked behind the counter and got ready to work.

LOU

I looked around, trying to work up the nerve to actually go into the store. I took in a deep breath and walked in. I saw a boy who looked about Mark's height, and I decided that I was sure that it was him, and walked over to him and hugged him from behind.

"Hey stranger," I said, trying to sound flirtatious.

"Lou?" the guy said, turning to face me. I looked up and smiled, then realized it was Andrè and not Mark. My smile dropped and I stopped hugging him.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" I said. This was awkward. I stepped back away from Andrè and just looked up at him, a little more than slightly embarrassed.

"I work here. What are you doing here?" he replied. My mouth dropped open a little, and I looked at him.

"You're kidding, right?" I said, crossing my arms. He shook his head. I sighed and answered his question. "I'm here to see Mark," I said.

Andrè nodded and said, "Well, I think you might want to check somewhere else because he doesn't work here anymore."

'Could this day get any worse?' I asked myself mentally. "What?" I said, "Where is he then?"

Andrè shrugged and said, "I don't know, he told me that he was quitting and left as I came in this morning."

I didn't really want to be having any conversation with Andrè, because the longer I stood here the more I realized I missed him, a lot. "Oh," I said, quietly, "Okay…I have to go."

With that I started to walk away, and then I turned around, to find him still watching me, and gave a small smile and said, "Hey, Andrè?"

"Yeah?" he said, crossing his arms, a CD in one hand.

"Thanks," I said, quietly.

He nodded and said, "No problem."

I left and went to figure out what I was going to do with the whole Mark thing. I found it to suck quite a lot that the day I am actually going to talk to another guy I run into Andrè instead. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, and looked around as I sat at in the car. I hadn't felt like staying at the mall.

ANDRÈ

I wasn't really sure what was up with Lou, but I was happy to see her when she came to Amplifier. Even if she had been looking for another guy; a guy that happened to be my friend, I was surprised that she would be going to someone who knew me. The way she had treated me when she had stayed, after that hug that I guess that had been meant for Mark, and not me, I don't know, just made me even more confused. She had stopped and turned around and said thanks, she just, and she had been friendlier with me than she had been recently. She was so confusing and although I wished I could hate her for it, I couldn't. I hated being so in love with someone who didn't seem to love me back.

After I left work I decided to go to the food court and grab something to eat before going home. I found something to eat at one of the many little stops they had, and sat down at a table and sat thinking about everything that had happened lately. I decided that maybe I should try giving Lou some space, and just leaving her alone until she wanted to come find me.

"Hey," someone said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see who had spoken.

It had been a girl. She had orangish red hair that looked natural, her eyes were brown and she had a nice body, and since she was standing across the table from me, I wasn't sure what the rest of her looked like, but she looked really pretty. I found myself comparing her to Lou in the back of my mind. I blinked and said, "Hey?"

She laughed and said, "I'm Thea. Is this seat taken?" I looked at her for a moment and then shook my head. She sat down and said, "So, who are you?"

"Andrè," I said, taking a drink of my Coke.

"Oh, do you go to school at Lake Ridge?" she asked.

I nodded and said, "Yeah, why?"

She shrugged and said, "I go there, and I've never seen you. Odd. Anyway! I was wondering, if you maybe you'd like to hang out sometime."

I thought about it for a minute and thought, 'What harm could it do?' I said, "Yeah, sure."

She grabbed my hand and wrote, with a pen that seemingly had just magically appeared in her hand, a phone number and address. "Call me sometime. Or if you want, you could drop by," she said, giving me a smile.

I smiled back and she got up and walked off.

I watched her leave and couldn't decide what I would do. What about Lou? She had Mark now. Lou wasn't mine right now, so I didn't have to wait for her, did I? I sighed; Lou made everything so much more confusing for me now. I didn't have to wait for her. Not if she was busying herself with someone else. It wasn't like I was going to go around loving other girls. I didn't have to become a recluse while waiting for her.

The rest of the summer went by rather fast. I hung out with Thea Williams, and the week before started up I decided I didn't want to quit the job I had at Amplifier so I kept that, but I didn't let myself get too attached to Thea, and although I compared almost everything she did with Lou, I didn't tell her that. Something that happened between us one night though, made me stop and think about everything that was going on between us. Our friendship and how it might actually be more.

The night before school was going to start back up, Thea and I had been sitting out on the hood of my car a random parking lot to some old store that looked as if it hadn't been in use for a long time. We had been eating, talking, and joking and laughing. Then we had been getting ready to leave, I was going to take her to her house, and then head home.

She hugged me and I hugged her back, and when she pulled back slightly from me, she leaned up to my lips, she wasn't much shorter than me, and kissed me. I kissed her back. I didn't want to, because as soon as I had pulled away I felt as if I were just using her as like a rebound or something.

"I'm sorry," I said, I explained everything I was feeling about how I felt like she was some kind of rebound and she said she didn't care. She said that she liked me and she didn't care if she was rebound or not. I told her that I cared if she was rebound and then I don't know how or what gave me confidence to ask her to be my girlfriend anyway, but I asked her to be my girlfriend, between the kisses she was giving me. She said yes and the next thing I know we're driving to her house so we can see each other tomorrow at school.