Chapter 4
Then
The look on my face was that of seeing a ghost when Tammy parked in our driveway.
We were returning from the football game, and even though I couldn’t tell you who won or lost, Tammy was now up to date on the whole Michael incident.
“Wow! Whose car is that?”
Tammy asked as we both looked at the Corvette in my drive.
“I’m pretty sure it’s Michael’s car.
That was the car parked at the apartment where Scott and I went today.”
“The Michael?”
“Ah, yes.”
Why was he here? I thought he and Scott were going to Tossi’s.
“Awesome! Now I get to see him in real life,”
Tammy said as she rushed from the car and bee-lined to the door.
I was nervous and wanted him here…and not wanted him here.
I opened the front door, and there he was.
All gorgeous and standing in my living room.
He turned and looked at me, and then the smile on his face melted my heart.
Just his smile affected me, and I didn’t know why.
Plenty of people smiled at me. What about him made me feel…special when he did? It felt like his smile said, ‘It’s you.’
Tammy stood with that ghost look, and I had to say something before everything I told her was written all over her face.
I bumped her with my foot and said, “What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to Tossi’s?”
“We will be.
I’m just waiting for Jen,”
Scott said.
Jen was Scott’s girlfriend who worked twelve-hour shifts at the hospital and didn’t get off until 9:00 at night.
“Hi, Jill.
Nice to see you again,”
Michael said, and I introduced him to Tammy.
“Hey.
Good to see you, too.
This is my best friend, Tammy,”
I said, hoping my voice was at a standard octave.
“Hey, Michael.
You’re going to love April,”
Scott said as they walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.
“Don’t say anything to Jen, but I think she is smokin’ hot.”
April! He was fixing Michael up with Jen’s sister, April?
I was glad they turned to leave because I’m sure the look on my face was full of disappointment.
What was I thinking? To him, I was just a schoolgirl crush.
And April was closer to his age and smokin’ hot.
But I tried to act all approvingly and joined their conversation.
“April’s nice,”
I said, following them into the kitchen.
Scott grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed one to Michael.
“You’ll like her.
I heard she’s a good nurse.”
Scott then nudged Michael with his shoulder, and with a raised brow, I knew what that look meant—a hot nurse in a uniform, playing doctor.
Michael gave a small laugh, which I knew meant he agreed.
“That’s what I plan to do after graduation,”
I said, continuing my ‘I’m okay with you and April’ conversation.
“Oh yeah? Where’re you planning to attend school?”
Michael then asked.
I went to the fridge and pulled a coke for Tammy and me.
“Michigan State,”
I said, handing Tammy her coke.
“Great university,”
Michael said, and my mind went to all the women he probably had sex with.
I was processing all that talk of him in my mind.
I was about to elaborate more on my interest in nursing when I heard Jen from the front room. “Scott?”
“Yeah, Babe.”
He made the shush sign with his lips—a warning not to say he thought April was hot before they walked in.
Jen walked in and went to kiss Scott on the lips.
April followed behind, flipping her dark hair and looking at Michael with her blow-job eyes.
She always looked like she was looking up at you, even if you were shorter, her eyes slightly crossed in that sexy way.
Tammy and I practiced that gaze but always laughed at each other with crossed eyes.
However, April did it; she had it mastered.
I could tell Michael was impressed with what he saw, and I witnessed him mold into his MO of seduction.
He took in a deep breath.
His hard chest rose, showing all of its glory in that shirt he was wearing with those jeans, and he tilted his head and held out his hand.
“You must be April?”
“That’d be me,”
she answered as if it were a game show.
“And you must be Michael.”
Duh, I thought and tried not to roll my eyes.
This would be the first of many to come.
I hated that Michael’s beautiful eyes were all over April, and I was now invisible in the room.
I tried to think of a diversion to grab Michael’s attention again.
But all I could say was, “Have a great time.”
I didn’t want them to have a great time.
I wanted Michael’s sexy smile on me and not looking into April’s blow-job eyes.
But as I watched them walk out the door, my eyes fixated on his perfect ass in those perfect jeans, and I opened my can of coke to have it blow up all over me.
How ironic.
. . . . .
Friday night had ended as it had started—obsessing over Michael.
It was Saturday evening, and as much as I wanted to hang out with Tammy and set a plan to run into Michael accidentally, it was my weekend shift at Delanie’s—the local pizza shop—a job I took so that I could be where all the guys hung out after games.
However, I spent most of my time in the kitchen with frizzy hair and a sweaty face from the pizza ovens.
Tonight, we were short on drivers and heavy on cooks.
So, I jumped to take the next few deliveries across town—anything to get out of that hot box.
I grabbed the top three pizzas, now boxed and in their thermal carriers, and loaded up my car.
I had the pizzas stacked in order according to the address for delivery and looked at the name and address for my first delivery—Roe, 217 High Street.
After delivering the first pizza, I was off to the second address—Smith, 305 Oak Street.
Luckily, it was only a block over.
After counting my tips and stashing into my purse, I looked at the address of the last pizza.
Danforth, 213 Chamberlain Dr., Apt B.
Oh, no way! But yes, it was.
I wanted to run into him accidentally.
But not wearing a pizza dough cover T-shirt that smelled of sweat and onions and with my hair frizzed into oblivion.
There was no time to return to the Delanies and fix myself up.
I had to face the music. I would see Michael in this pitiful, ugly state—reeking of pizza.
Parking outside his apartment building, I saw his Corvette parked where it was the day I came with Scott.
At least now I knew which apartment was his—213.
But now, I didn’t want to go in.
Maybe I would set the pizza in front of his door, ring the doorbell, and run.
And that’s what I should have done. But that didn’t happen.
I opened the door to go into his apartment building, and there he was, unlocking the door to his apartment and about to walk in when he turned and saw me.
“Jill?”
“Ah, hey, Michael,”
I said, acting surprised like I wasn’t just here yesterday.
“Here’s your pizza.”
“Wow.
How nice to move to a new city and know the girl delivering your pizza.
Come in.
Let me get you your tip.”
I walked in, feeling lower than ever.
I went from my friend’s little sister to the pizza delivery girl.
I didn’t know which was worse.
But I did accomplish one thing—I accidentally ran into Michael.
He tossed his keys onto the counter, and I looked around his place.
It was nice, but also bare, as he had just moved here.
Maybe his stuff was in transit.
One couch sat along the wall in the living area next to a stereo with huge speakers and two barstools in front of the kitchen bar.
I walked over, placed the pizza on the counter, and removed it from the thermal.
Michael pulled out his wallet from the back pocket of those perfect jeans and handed me fifty.
Reaching into the change bag, he then said, “No.
Keep the rest as your tip.”
Even though I was elated to receive a forty-dollar tip, I couldn’t let him do that.
“No, please.
I have the correct change.”
“I’m sure you do, but I want to leave you a forty-dollar tip since you’re Scott’s little sis.”
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer and went to turn on the stereo.
“I bet you’re a Shania Twain girl,”
he said, sliding a CD into the player.
The song began, and he came over and took my hands.
“Have time for a dance before delivering the next pizza?”
“Um, you’re my last,”
I said as his arms wrapped around me, and, the next thing I knew, I was slowly dancing in Michaels’ arms as Shania sang, “You’re Still the One.”
I wanted to look pretty.
I wanted my hair not to look like a frizzy rat’s nest.
I didn’t want to smell like pizza.
But one thing I knew, I liked being in Michael’s arms.
He sang along with the chorus, and I looked into his gorgeous blue eyes and smiled.
I hoped since I was looking up and centering in on his eyes, that maybe I had that perfect blowjob stare that April had mastered.
He held his forehead to mine and gave me that smile I remembered the day before.
“You’re so cute, Jill,”
he said.
Cute.
Like pretty…cute? Beautiful…cute? Or, just how cute a puppy is? But I felt it was a little more than just cute.
After all, I was in his arms.
Shania sang on, and we were both singing along.
It was fun and romantic.
I forgot that my hair was a mess, pizza dough was on my T-shirt, and I smelled like pizza and sang along with Michael and Shania.
The door opened, and I heard someone say, “Awe, aren’t you two cute.”
It was April, and she was walking in with a bottle of wine.
“I picked up Cabernet,”
she said.
“Did you get the beer?”
“Yes,”
Michael said as he let go from around my waist and walked over to where April stood in the kitchen.
I went to grab the pizza thermal on the counter and watched as Michael kissed April’s cheek.
“And the pizza is still warm.
I’ll open the wine if you want to grab some paper plates in the cabinet,” he said.
“Hey, Jill.
How are you?”
April asked.
“I’m good.
I was delivering your pizza for tonight.
You guys have a nice night,”
I said, walking to the door like Charlie Brown, my head mentally bowed.
“Tell Scott hi for me,”
Michael said, and I stepped out and shut the door.
Before I left the hall, I could hear them talking from inside.
“What the hell were you dancing with her for?”
“Why? Are you jealous?”
I heard Michael tease.
I pictured them having a great laugh once I shut the door.
How he just wanted to humor the little pizza girl and give her a little dance.
Like the unpopular girl, you ask her to sit with you and then embarrass her by spilling milk on her pants.
I threw the thermal bag into my car and returned to Delanie’s.