Just The Boy Next Door
Pardon Me, Boy
~2~
I looked down at the coffee shop floor and gulped heavily, only to look up into the most beautiful set of blue eyes I had ever seen.
“Holy Squeaks, Batman,” my eyes widened as my peers, a collective of prepsters and their jock counter parts, begain to tease and taunt me.
The eyes that once looked into mine with concern narrowed, and they turned to face the large table that held about eight people.
“Do none of you have respect for Batman?” he cocked a hip to one side and place a hand on it, “Like seriously, have some respect; for her, and yourselves for fuck sake.”
He waited for a reaction for a minute longer as I sighed and turned my gaze towards Naomi, who had flipped her dreaded ponytail into her face. She was obviously pretending to hide from the people who were pointing and laughing. As soon as the laughter stopped, however, I turned back to find him smirking at me.
“Oh my god,” my hand flew over my mouth, “I am so sorry; I didn’t mean to practically tackle you.”
He giggled and waved it off.
“It’s cool, it’s cool,” He flashed a smile that could have melted the polar ice caps; I tried to remain calm, but wanted to do back flips so badly.
“Hey Andy!”
The three of us looked over in the direction of the shout, which was coming from the man with the tattooed stomach.
“Who are the pretty ladies who just about ran you down, man?”
“Ash, I was getting to that,” Andy growled at the now chuckling man’s impatient questioning.
He turned back and was about to introduce himself as Naomi decided to take the lead.
“Nice to meet you; this is my best friend ever, DJ Martenson, and I am Naomi Sparks; we are the producers and hosts of 97.5, VCU’s only metal and rock station ran by students.”
Great, I thought to myself, Now my secret is out, and people will stop wondering how I can afford a place in the Fan solo.
Andy cocked his head to the side, slightly confused.
“Wait a second,” Andy narrowed his gaze towards me, “You are DJ Dollie and Naynay Nightingale?”
“In the flesh.” Naomi smiled proudly and I slapped my palm against my forehead.
“We listen to your show every Monday!” Andy smiled wildly, excited about the event taking place before him.
“Yea,” CC nudged Andy’s shoulder, laughing, “This guy is head over heels for DJ Dollie.”
I felt a blush creep up my neck and stand prominent on my cheeks, only to glance over at Andy who was now grinning.
“I take it she is you?” He asked cheekily.
“Yea, I am she,” I managed to squeak, “Alive, and in person.”
“Mocha Monday Mornings are the shit,” Ashley butted in to break the tension, “The e-mails and tweets you guys read on the air are hysterical, and the classic and soft rock always puts a smile on our faces, right guys?”
The group nodded collectively, and I began to relax. Naomi made her way around the booth, shaking each hand and introducing herself more formally as I stood talking to Andy about the radio show and what majors we were in.
“So, you are a music major? Like what exact major?” He asked, grabbing a chair from the opposing table and allowing me to sit where he was previously.
“Oh, music production. I can play a few instruments and write music fine, and my vocals aren’t too bad either. But producing is my passion, which is why I am running a radio station. Salary isn’t too shabby, either.”
“That’s really cool actually,” Andy leaned forward a bit and glanced up into my face, smiling, “I’m majoring in the performing arts side of things. I imagine we will be taking some classes together then?”
“More than likely,” I nodded at the adorable young man before me and smiled.
Looking over, Naomi seemed to have gotten comfortable with Jake and was lost in another world entirely. Chuckling, I shook my head and looked out the window as the cars sped by.
Ashley kept looking over at me and wiggling his eyebrows playfully, making me laugh. Jinxx kept nudging him to quit, but the feminine man with abs of steel rolled his eyes every time. CC kept shooting spit balls at the head basketball player across the coffee shop, ducking each time he would look around to see who shot the wadded up straw paper at him.
“Hey, Deege,” Naomi finally came up for air, “We have to go get ready, and stop by my dorm to grab some stuff for me to change into.”
“I guess we should go then, huh.”
Standing to leave, Ashley clutched onto my arm and begged me not to go, wiggling his eyebrows more furociously. I laughed so hard I snorted, which made Jinxx and CC erupted with laughter.
“I will see you later then?” Andy ran his fingers through his hair cooly, blue eyes stinging mine of green.
“Oh, most definitely,” I turned to head toward the door and paused, “I don’t know where you live though, exactly.”
“Here is my number,” he grabbed a pen and a napkin and jotted down the digits, “Call me before you leave so I know to look out for you.”
“Sounds good,” I beamed with excitement.
“Aww, do you really have to leave now,” groaned the wild child spit-baller, “We just got to know ya’ll.”
“You will see us later, CC,” Naomi started pushing me towards the door, “Bye guys!”
“See ya!” the men at the table said collectively.
The walk to Naomi’s wasn’t that long; it was the walk back to my place that would be a bitch. Naomi lived in the dorms, but only until the middle of September when she was to move in with me. Reaching the main door, we entered and took the elevator to her place.
“My room mate hasn’t been here in days,” Naomi chuckled, “I think she dropped out or something.”
“Who knows, man,” I remembered how the blonde hippie she roomed with would get high almost every night and cut class, “Regina wasn’t really college material.”
“I’ll say!” Naomi shook her head and opened her closet to grab a black mini dress and colorful leggings, and picked up her Vans loafers.
“You have new make up, right?”
I felt her forehead in jest.
“You feeling alright? You hould know better than to ask that question.”
“Yea, yea.” She rolled for eyes as we headed out the door yet again.
Opting to ride the VCU transportation bus to my place, we sat in silence as a couple made out in the back, driver trying hard not to pay attention. After a snide remark from Naomi about public displays of affection and a fist fight that could have been, we laughed our way into the foyer of my house.
“So, what did you think of this morning?” Naomi took off her shoes at the door and looked at me, waiting for an answer.
“It was fun,” I smiled meekly as my face got hot, “ Andy is super cute.”
I made my way upstairs to my master suite, and dropped my phone in its usual spot on my dresser. Opening my windows to let the fresh air in, I flopped down on my bed as Naomi made her way to my bathroom.
“Girl, I think he likes you,” Naomi gushed as she began applying eyeliner, making that stereotypical face all make fanatics make.
“Huh,” I folded my arms up under my head, “You think so?”
Looking in the direction of my best friend, she stood with her hand on her tiny hip and glared at me.
“Yes,” she nodded slowly, and face the mirror yet again, “He gave you his number, honey. Plus, you are the first girl who he has spoken to for more than a few minutes on campus, let alone the area. Besides, his two exes were apparently bat-shit crazy.”
“How do you know that?”
I was now sitting up, intrigued and confused all in one emotion.
“Well, when I was talking to Jake about how you were treated poorly by David in high school, he made mention of both Scout and Juliett.”
“And what happened with them?”
“Well when he was 18, she started dating a girl who he was to UCLA with by the name of Scout Compton,” she put my make up away, “He and her we always together; never apart.”
Taking pause, she turned off my bathroom light and made her way to my bed where I sat and followed suit.
“Well, he had gone home to Ohio for a family vacation with his parents after their freshman year only to come back and find out she had cheated on him with a man by the name of Ronnie Radke, whom they shared classes with the year previous.”
My heart broke for Andy as I listened to Naomi speak.
“He was older; I think a junior at the time, and heavy into the party scene. He was beside himself and heart broken, so he called things off with her. Of course, like most girls, she blamed him and said he had slept with a few of her friends while she was away for spring break that year. Those friends found out about the rumor, and soon enough called things off with her too.”
Getting up, the dread-head beauty made her way towards my desk and fiddled with a rubix cube for a few moments. Realizing she left me hanging, she gave up on it, and made her way back, now seated at my feet.
“Then, along came Juliet; four years older than him and seemingly more mature. She was what he needed, or so he thought. They fought their entire relationship, only to make it seem like everything was fine in public. One day, he decided he couldn’t take the verbal abuse anymore. He bought a plane ticket, one way, to Richmond and broke up with her at the airport, leaving her in a crumpled heap in the middle of LAX.”
“So, why would he decide to take an interest in another spawn of satan better known as a woman?”
Naomi snickered and patted my foot lightly.
“When you were talking to him and Ash about the radio show, I asked Jake if he was seeing anyone, acting like I might have been interested. He quickly said what I had told you, and mentioned that DJ Dollie had been the apple of his eye since he had arrived here on campus. So I figure, what do you have to lose?”
“Well, besides the fact that the simple thought of relationships made me want to throw up until today, I guess nothing. I mean, besides my sanity.”
My stomach was in knots, my heart was pounding, and my mind was racing at a few million miles per nanosecond. If I didn’t begin this game of cat and mouse soon, it might be too late to even try.
“Think you should call him?” Naomi raised and eyebrow and nodded towards my dresser.
“What time is it?” I looked frantically for my clock, which was blocked by tape machine order forms and empty packs of gum.
“Relax,” she looked at her phone, “It is about an hour and a half before the party starts. Call him now and see if he wants to hang out for a few before hand.”
I nodded and stood to grab the phone from atop the mess of a dresser in my room. I sighed and closed my eyes for a second, trying to calm the nerves that decided to present themselves.
“I guess it is now or never.”
Dialing the number, I sighed.
“Here goes nothing.”
Notes
How do we thing the party is going to be? Will DJ and Andy hit is off, or will their romance fizzle out before it even began?
I'm happy to see you back! I can't wait to read more.
3/1/18