…And Then…I Kissed Her

By: Jamie Sommers

Rated: PG 13 (for language)

Synopsis: Landon Carter just got sentenced to do the school play and he needs help. Jamie Sullivan has agreed to give him a hand on one condition…he has to promise not to fall in love with her.

Chapter 2: Let’s Play

‘All right, now all ya gotta do is make up some lame ass excuse for Dean about hanging out after school for the next few weeks. Hmmm. I could blame it on the janitorial thing again. Nah, they’d just try and break me out. Can’t blame it on my mom grounding me, they know she’s not home in the afternoons so… Just tell them the truth Landon. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. I can just see it now, hey guys I’m running lines with Jamie Sullivan after school instead of hanging out with you, that’s cool right? Landon my man, ya better come up with something fast cause school’s almost out for the day.’

I pretty much ran to the car after school--actually it was more like a hobble--hoping to avoid everybody. Fortunately it worked. I noticed Dean waving me over as I got in and started the ignition, but I just pretended not to see him.

‘Off to Jamie’s house. Oh, man. I hope her father’s not there. Well if he is you had better be on your best behavior Landon.’ I laughed to myself, realizing that I sounded a lot like my mom.

It had been a while since I’ve been in the area that Jamie lived in. It wasn’t a bad area, more like a residential type of place. It was the kind of neighborhood where kids ran through the sprinklers in their yards and played baseball in the street. Eric lived a couple blocks away from her years ago, but they moved when his dad got that big promotion. I pulled up to the curb and took a deep breath. I still couldn’t believe I was doing this.

‘Well…here it goes.’

“Ummm…Hey.”

“Hi.”

‘Whatta ya gawking at?’ “So you gonna keep me out here all afternoon or what?”

“Come on in. My script is in my room so I’ll be right down.”

‘Just hurry up. I do not want to spend all afternoon in this house with you.’

“Make yourself at home.”

“Oh, yeah.” ‘t’sss not likely. Did I just say that out loud?’ I walked around thinking, ‘It’s quite the mausoleum you’ve got here Jamie. That must be your mom. Hmmmm. What else is around here? What the fu…’

“Whoa…that is one scary Jesuh…”

“No. Jamie’s father.”

‘Holy shit! Where’d he come from?’

“So Mr. Carter, I understand that you've managed to win the lead in the school play. Congratulations.”

“Listen, thanks for letting me come over and run lines with Jamie.” ‘Glad you were feeling Christian today.’

“I didn't let you.”

“Oh.” ‘So much for the whole feeling Christian theory.’

“It's a school night. Let's get one thing straight Mr. Carter. You think on Sundays that I don't see you from where I stand, but I see you. I'll be in my office just here.”

“Ready?”

‘Gee I don’t know Jamie. I was having such a good time listening to your father tell me what a piece of crap I am.’

“Yeah, let's go.”

“So where do you want to do this?”

‘Anywhere I won’t be seen.’

“We could go out back or on the porch?”

“Out back is fine.” We sat down on a couple of lounge chairs and started reading.

“So tell me about this ‘dream girl’.”

“Well she’s like…ummm…shit!” I began looking through the script, trying desperately to find my place.

“Landon?”

“What?” I know I sounded a bit annoyed at her, but couldn’t she see I was busy here?

“I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t swear around me.”

‘You’ve got to be kidding me, right? She really is the Virgin Mary.’ “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“That’s all right, just please don’t do it again.”

I began rifling through my script again, when she recited my lines word for word. “How’d you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Do you know every single line in this play by heart?”

“Yes.”

‘I can’t even memorize my own part and she’s got the whole thing down. Impressive. I knew I picked the right person to help me with this.’

“I did have to write the music and Eddie is a friend of mine.”

“Yeah…right.” I rolled my eyes at her and began to chuckle. “Friends.”

“Ummm. What is that supposed to mean?”

“What is what supposed to mean?”

“Look Landon I know it’s hard for you to believe, but I do actually have friends you know.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled behind my fist, trying to disguise it as a cough, “I know. Eddie Zimmerhoff.” I couldn’t control myself. I just busted up laughing. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh at you it’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it, Carter. I’ve gotten used to you laughing at me over the years.”

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ “Excuse me?”

“Landon you and your friends…”

‘I really didn’t like the way she said the word friends.’

“…have been making fun of me since kindergarten, so why wouldn’t I get used to it? It was either that or wind up in therapy for low self esteem.”

“Look, Jamie. I’m really sorry about the shit we used to…HEY? Where are you going?” My laughter came to an abrupt halt. “Jamie?”

“I told you not to swear around me.”

‘Wow. Jamie Sullivan doesn’t pull any punches does she?’ She walked into her house and let the door slam behind her. “Ummm,” I knocked on the door. “Jamie? Jamie?” ‘She’s coming back, right? She has to. She can’t just leave me out here.’

I looked at my watch and realized that over thirty minutes had passed and it dawned on me, ‘you screwed up Landon. Now what?’

“How long are you going to sit out here before you realize that I’m not coming back out?” ‘She’s baaaack.’

“You’re not?” I asked her and flashed her one of my trademark grins. “Then why are you standing next to me?” She just looked at me with this curious expression across her face. “Jamie, I’m really sorry. I forgot about my language and I shouldn’t have made fun of you. It wasn’t fair. I’ll make you a deal. I won’t make fun of you anymore and you’ve got to cut me some slack when it comes to my swearing. I mean…you’re asking a lot here. So…what’d ya say? Deal?”

She thought about it for a while then said, “I suppose so. Just try to watch your mouth when my father is around or else he won’t let us rehearse together, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And Landon?”

“Yeah.” She put her hand on my arm and I got this really weird feeling, like a spider was crawling up my arm or something. It was just really…weird.

“I didn’t leave because of your swearing.”

“Then why did you leave?”

“Because contrary to belief, I don’t like being laughed at.” I could see the emotion in her eyes and for the first time in my life I realized something. I was an asshole. Not a good thing to be in my book, so I promised myself that I would try to hold up my end of the bargain that I made with Jamie.

“I’m sorry,” I laid my hand on top of hers and looked into her eyes, “I really mean it. I’m sorry.”

“I know you mean it. If you didn’t I wouldn’t be out here running lines with you.”

“So you’re gonna run lines with me?”

“I suppose so.”

She kind of smiled at me and I noticed she had this really cute little mole on her cheek… ‘Whoa! Where the hell did that come from? Better watch out Carter. This is not the kind of girl you want to screw…mess around with.’

Coming soon…

Chapter 3: What Play?