“That will be fine,” said Rachel’s dad.
“The show is two hours though, is that OK?” she asked, looking at her parents.
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” her mom interjected. “We’re going out to dinner tonight at 7 o’clock with the new neighbors. They said they might want to go to the movies after, so we probably won’t get home until around then anyway.”
“Oh, OK,” Rachel said, trying to sound indifferent. She didn’t want them to hear any excitement in her voice.
Rachel knew that Sarah was still at Skidmore and Mark was having a sleepover with one of his friends so she would have the house all to herself.
Rachel had done it. Her plan worked. She figured out all the information she needed. She felt a little bad for lying, but she couldn’t think of any other way.
Rachel headed back upstairs to her room. She looked at her watch. 1:15pm. She checked her phone.
No New Messages
Rachel knew the party started at 8 o’clock, and she only had a few more hours to go. She wondered why Rob hadn’t texted her yet. Maybe he forgot? Maybe he was standing her up?
Many options crossed through her mind.
Should I text him?
Rachel continuously checked her phone thinking that maybe Rob had texted and she didn’t hear the buzz. Still nothing.
She began to like him even more and let her mind wander, thinking about their date. She wondered what the party was going to be like and who was going to be there. She wondered what she and Rob would do together -- she even let herself think about kissing him.
Rachel had only kissed one guy before, and that had been a random guy at one of her sleepaway camp socials. It was more of a peer pressure kiss, and meant nothing to her: she didn’t even remember the guy’s name. So this would be Rachel’s first “real” kiss.
Another hour went by with no text from Rob. Rachel’s hopes of them getting together begun to fade. She was a little annoyed, too, because she had already lied to her parents and had come up with an elaborate plan to get out of the house. She started to feel that maybe she liked him more than he liked her.
All of a sudden, Rachel heard a buzz. Her heart leapt into her throat as she reached for her cell.
1 New Message:
Rob: Hey Rachel, psyched for tonight. I’ll pick you up around 7.
Rachel waited a few minutes to reply, so she wouldn’t seem too eager. She didn’t want Rob to think she had been sitting by her phone all day waiting for his text, and she wanted to play it cool. Having never had a boyfriend, she had many years of analyzing and overanalyzing her friends’ relationships and guy drama.
Rachel: Great. Can you come around 7:45 instead?
Rachel didn’t want Rob to accidentally run into her parents as they were leaving the house, and she also knew that her parents were chronically late for everything, and they probably wouldn’t end up leaving until after 7.
She was also a little puzzled that Rob wanted to pick her up an hour before the party started. She knew it was only a five minute drive to everything in Bedford, so 7 was way too early. Then she thought maybe he wanted to take her somewhere first, so they could be alone. She loved the idea of, but realized tonight was not a possibility. If she wanted any shot at sneaking out, it would have to wait until her parents were long gone.
Rob: Yeah, that’s fine. See ya later babe!
BABE! Did he really just call me babe? Rachel had never been referred to as babe before, or for that measure, any pet name or term of endearment.
She felt awesome. It made her even more excited for her night. Now the thought of lying to her parents and sneaking out all made perfect sense. This was going to be the love of her life. Rachel daydreamed about her and Rob dating, and then becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. She thought that this was going to be her high school sweetheart, and she hoped that the two would get married. She could see them going to college together, or at least to schools close to one another.
Rachel’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard her phone buzz again. Was it Rob again? Rachel wondered what he could have forgotten to say.
1 New Message:
Emily: So crazy last night Rach! Glad you came out. You have fun?
Rachel: Yup! Totally. What are you up to?
Emily: Figuring out my plans for tonight, want to see that movie?
Rachel: Oh, I can’t. I’m going to Jordan’s party with Rob.
Emily: YOU ARE? Why?
Rachel: Rob’s cute, I kinda like him.
Emily: Yeah, but he hangs out with the worst people. You are going to hate it.
Rachel: Want to come?
Emily: Never.
Rachel: Ok, well, I’m going to go for a little bit. Let’s see the movie next weekend, K?
Emily: We’ll see. If I haven’t already seen it by then. Bye.
Rachel: Cya
Rachel worried that maybe Emily was mad at her. She liked Emily a lot: she was her favorite of the group, but she didn’t like how Emily was so opposed to Rob and his crew. Rachel didn’t like being told what to do or how to feel and she resented this about Emily. Even though Emily had been in school with them forever, Rachel still wanted the chance to figure things out on her own. She didn’t want Emily to tell her she was going to hate the party or put a damper on her excitement. Rachel knew she was going to go to the party and have the best time. She couldn’t possibly have a worse night than last night.
Rachel looked at her watch; the time had crept up on her; it was nearing 5 o’clock, and she had to start getting ready for her big date. She felt glad that Sarah wasn’t home because she wouldn’t have to fight for the shower, and she could even borrow her cute Gap denim skirt.
Rachel and Sarah rarely shared clothes, mostly because their tastes were very different. But Rachel did admire a few of her things, her denim Gap skirt being one of them. She thought a skirt would be subtle and sexy for tonight. She didn’t want to go too over the top, though, so she figured she would wear her converse sneakers with it.
Rachel snuck into Sarah’s room and opened her closet. There it was, hanging perfectly on a hot pink plastic hanger. She took it off the hanger and made a mental note to put it back exactly as she’d found it. She walked back to her room through their adjoining bathroom and looked through her closet for a shirt to wear with it.
Blouse, tee, long sleeved, short sleeved, black, blue, baby pink? She had a lot of options, but none of them felt right. She started digging in her drawers, and pulled out the tight white halter-top she had thought she lost in the move.
She tried it on and looked in the mirror. She felt good and knew that she would look hot at the party.