↠Thursday, January 23, Late Afternoon

I already talked about my sisters teasing me about what happened on Christmas, but I didn't mention that my parents had started doing something even worse.

Demanding to meet this person.

I had resisted and refused for an entire month, but I couldn't take anymore! All the constant pestering, the "who is this friend that you've made?" and the "when do we get to meet him?"

I now had a daunting task ahead of me.  I mean, all I had to do was ask a question, right? It couldn't possibly be that hard, right...? Right?

All I had to do was ask if he wanted to come over to my house tomorrow. It shouldn't be such a big deal, we were friends, we'd been friends for a few months. It's a perfectly normal thing that friends do--they hang out at each others' houses.

Except, my mind was reeling with all the different possibilities, all the ways it could go wrong.

I had meant to ask him in person at school today, but I had been completely unable to do that, as my nerves had gotten the better of me. As they tended to do. 

So over text would have to work.

Okay, okay. Deep breaths. You can do this, Spencer. There is absolutely nothing weird or wrong about wanting to hang out with your best friend. Everyone else does this kind of thing all the time. Don't they? It would be more weird if you didn't hang out at each other's houses. Right?

you: "Hey so, I was just wondering if you had any plans for tomorrow after school?"
2:58 PM

Nico Di Angelo: "are you asking me out, Spencer?"
3:00 PM

you: "No no! Nothing like that. No, definitely not."
3:01 PM

Nico Di Angelo: "wow, Spencer, i was only kidding. sometimes i feel bad for you."
3:03 PM

you: "What do you mean? Why do you feel bad for me?"
3:04 PM

Nico Di Angelo: "you just get so flustered so quickly. it's like you just shut down."
3:07 PM

you: "Oh."
you: "Well, I'll play along next time."
3:09 PM

Nico Di Angelo: "alright then."
Nico Di Angelo: "but i don't have any plans."
3:10 PM

you: "Great! Then I wanted to wanted to ask if you wanted to come over to my place. You can stay for dinner if you want."
3:12 PM

Nico Di Angelo: "like, right after school?"
3:13 PM

you: "If you want!"
3:14 PM

My sisters--the chefs of the house--would not be happy with me when I told them I had invited another mouth for them to feed, but I had done it anyway.

Especially since he accepted. After Beckett agreed to come over, I gave him my address.

And that was when the panic first begun to sink in. You thought that I was panicking before? You thought wrong.

Oh God, this is actually happening. What if--? What if--? What if some completely unrealistic event occurs that ends in us not being friends anymore?

At this point, I knew I was just being ridiculous, but I just... couldn't help myself.

↠Friday, January 24, Directly After School

This was a terrible idea.

I honestly felt like I could explode at any given moment, and words were completely beyond my abilities. Every time I opened my mouth, I could barely speak more than a few words and I wanted to scream.

Why did I ever think that this would be a good idea?

It was too late to back out, however,  because I was already in the passenger seat of Beckett's car on the way to my house. I usually walked home, but since Beckett was coming, he had given me a ride.

I was trying my very best not to give away how I actually felt, but I had no idea how well it was actually working.

Beckett was trying his very best to make small talk, and I'm gonna admit that I wasn't being helpful in the slightest.

"You know, Spencer," Beckett suddenly said. "You don't have to be so nervous."

"What? I'm not... nervous--!"

I was such a bad liar.

"If you say so," Beckett's tone told me he didn't believe me whatsoever, but he didn't say anything else about the fact that I was about to have a heart attack and die.

There was something I should probably say to Beckett, just to give him a fair warning about the two fourteen-year-old demons that lived in my house.

"I should... I should probably warn you... My sisters are kind of-- If they-- What I'm trying to say is... if my sisters say something that's weird, don't-- They don't mean it."

"Thanks for the heads up, I'll... keep that in mind."

Beckett and I sat in silence for the rest of the ride, which was only a couple minutes. Beckett pulled into the driveway of my house. The snow crunched under my feet as I walked up the front door, Beckett following me.

The door would be locked, because no one else would be home yet--

Trying to shove the thought that Beckett and I would be home alone until Lynn and Jay got out of school away, I dug my hand into the pocket to get my key.

But I didn't feel anything.

Uh oh.

I had been worried this morning, maybe I had my mind on something else, but I couldn't believe-- How-- 

I had forgotten my key. I had forgotten my key. In the house. The house that I needed to get into right now.

"Uh, Spencer...? You okay?"

"I forgot my key, but don't panic--!" I said, probably more to myself than to Beckett. "There is a spare key... riiiiight here!"

There was a small houseplant hanging in the air next to the door. It was plastic, and not alive, so I felt no guilt plunging my hand into the pot and digging around for the spare key.

I quickly found it, and unlocked the door.

"See, I got it! No-- No problems here!"

"You know what, Spencer?" Beckett asked, drawing my attention. "You really are such a dork sometimes."