Lonely For the remainder of the week , James continued to come over to my house after practice to help me with my homework and to work on his own . During school , for some reason , neither of us acknowledged that we were seeing each other after school or friends of whatever it was that we were . It didn't stop me from giving Pink Streak a dirty look now and then . Especially when she would laugh loudly in the halls and touch his arms or when she would run and jump onto his back and climb onto him . It grated on my nerves , but I never let on to him that she bothered me . Instead , we would talk about schoolwork , he would ask about my mom and we would talk about people at school . We never dove into anything too deep . I felt like doing that would open up the book of emotions I had kept hidden away for another day . He would stay for a couple of hours and then leave and when he would leave , I would feel reality slap me in the face . Without him there , my house felt cold and lonely . My mom was home , but she kept to her room , watching her soaps , crying , and drinking . She refused to talk to me when I would go in there . Chloe was busy with her other extracurriculars so I couldn't even call her . She would be getting ready for bed by the time James would leave . On Friday we had a football game , so it was a good enough distraction . As I stood out there in my uniform and cheered , I looked out to the stands to see if I could spot a particular face . My eyes scanned the bleachers and when I spotted him , I found my smile widening . It only dimmed when I noticed that Pink Streak was glued to his side , talking to him and Michael animatedly . He would look at her now and then and despite my best efforts , I could find myself getting a teensy bit jealous . Especially when he would flash her a giant grin and lean his shoulder against her . Since we started hanging out , neither of us had brought up what happened between us after my dad's funeral . I wasn't sure about him , but I felt that if we walked about , it would make me want to reenact it . But it didn't stop me from thinking about it all of the time . It was a good stress reliever , that's for sure , but also a gigantic tease . It also made it hard to concentrate sometimes when were together because the thought would come randomly , like when I'd watch him pop something into his mouth with his long fingers . Or when I'd watch him take a sip of his drink . It was almost embarrassing at the amount of times he had caught me looking at him . Near the end of the last quarter , my enthusiasm dropped when I watched him drape his arm around Pink Streak and they left with Michael and some blonde girl from my art class . So , after the game, instead of going out with Chloe and her boyfriend like I was prone to doing , I went directly home , sour that he had left with that girl . I was lying on the living room couch watching the Jurassic movies from the very first one when I got a text . It was like midnight , so I thought of not even looking at it but thought that it could be Chloe wanting to come to stay with me , so I opened my phone and sat up quickly when I saw it was James . James : Hey , what are you up to ? Me : Watching a movie . You ? 1/3 Lonely +25 BONUS James : Lying in bed , bored out of my mind . Me : Aww . No Pink Streak to keep you company ? James : If I didn't know better , I would say that you're jealous . Me : Me ? Jealous ? Never ! James : Do you want to go driving around ? Butterflies took flight in my stomach and I chewed on my lip . I stood up quickly and ran upstairs . If my mom was awake , I would stay . If my mom was asleep , then I'd go . I knocked on her door lightly and opened it , careful not to make any noise . A soft snore left her mouth and I stared at her . She didn't drink too much tonight . The bottle wasn't empty , at least so that was good . I left her TV on , afraid that if I turned it off it would wake her up , and kissed her forehead . Asleep , you could see all of her wrinkles and how old she was . I pushed her hair out of her face and stared down at her . Even though she lacked in the mothering department , I hoped I didn't lose her anytime soon . Me : Sure . Give me five and I'll be ready . James : K. On my way . I ran to my bedroom and threw on a cute rib tank a pair of jean shorts and some flats . I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and then because I couldn't help myself , I dabbed on some lipgloss and mascara . I stared at myself in the mirror and decided to dress down a bit so I didn't look overeager . So I took off the tank and decided on an oversized t - shirt . I kept the rest on and smiled in the reflection . Better . I waited inside by the front door so I wouldn't look like a dweeb waiting outside and when I saw his headlights pull into my driveway I took a deep breath . I pulled my front door open and walked out to his car . I hopped into the front seat and smiled at him . He had on some rock music and he turned it down slightly as I buckled my seatbelt . " Hey . " " Hi " I bit my lip at how awkward it was and then giggled . " So any destination in mind or just drive around ? " " Drive around . I was just bored out of my mind . Michael ditched me for his girl , so my usual Friday night routine was ruined . " " Boo . Stupid girls . Bros before hoes , am I right ? " I held out my fist for a fist bump and he laughed . He fist- bumped me and shook his head . " Sure . I guess . " 2/3 Lonely +25 BONUS " No , Chloe ditched me for her boyfriend too . So chicks before d * cks rule didn't apply tonight . " He chuckled and I loved the way the corners of his eyes would crinkle . " Well , it's okay . We can hang out and have even more fun than either of them . " Today's Bonus Offer