"Oh, Oh maybe, we were made, We were made for each other..." -- Jack's Mannequin 'MFEO Pt 1 Made for Each Other'
12
The fall festival was probably the most elaborate fall festival she had ever seen. There was a different table for every club, and every club was selling something - apple cider, cupcakes, popcorn, and even cotton candy. Then there was the throwing of pies at different members of the drama club, and someone had even managed to rent a dunk tank for the poetry club - which was probably the most exciting event.
The bonfire was supervised by Nate and Arthur Banks - the only other History teacher. Blake was selling scarves that her class had made, and it seemed that the only two teachers who escaped any sort of "booth duty" were Tessa and Jarrett. They walked around with their cups of hot apple cider, teasing their friends as they enjoyed the bonfire with their favorite students.
"So, I heard that Nate invited you to come to Thanksgiving with us," Jarrett brought up. Tessa nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "So, just so there's no confusing when my Aunt and mom start hounding the both of us... I want us to be, like, official. Like an actual couple... With the whole boyfriend-girlfriend label and everything."
She smiled shyly and nodded, "Me too. So its official."
He chuckled a bit and smiled. "Yeah, it is. So just a word of warning, my aunt will bribe you with everything she owns to get you to set Nate up with one of your friends."
She let out a laugh, "So I've heard." She told him the story Nate had told her about the last Thanksgiving when his mother tried to set him up with a girl he had gone to high school with, only to find out that the girl was already married with two kids.
"She tries," Jarrett laughed as Tessa nodded and yawned. "Getting tired?"
"I've been tired. What time is it?" She laughed as he pulled out his cell phone.
"Its almost midnight. Are you ready to go?" She nodded and laughed as she realized just how cold it was. She began to shiver and her teeth banged together mercilessly as they ran to her Jeep and hopped inside like they were villains hopping into a getaway car.
"You want to stay here tonight?" She asked once they reached her place, even though she knew he would decline, like always.
"Sure."
Sure? Did he just accept my invitation?She felt her cheeks get warmer as she unlocked the door and he followed her inside. He watched TV while she changed into her pajamas, then the two of them climbed into bed together, where they both wondered if either of them would make the first move or if they would just lay there in silence until they fell asleep out of boredom.
"Are you cold?" She asked, but only to start a conversation.
"I'm ok. Are you?"
Rather than agree, and admit that it was in fact, the perfect temperature in her room, she lied, "A little."
He moved closer, and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. But that was it. He didn't do anything more. She was reminded of the scene in 'Just Friends' when Ryan Reynolds plays the guy who has been best friends with Amy Smart's character his whole life - and secretly in love with her and trying to get into her pants, and when they opportunity is there, he chickens out...
Omg. We're not going to be more than just friends... She thought to herself. And while he began lightly snoring in his sleep, she was awake, trying to convince herself that this guy that she had been falling for, was just tired, and had he not been tired, there may have been a little more action in her bedroom that night...
- - - -
"So how was your night?" Blake asked the next morning. "I heard that Jarrett stayed at your place."
"Yes," she groaned as she rolled her eyes.
"What was that for?" Blake laughed.
"I just... I guess I was kind of expecting something to happen, but nothing did."
"Something like..." Tessa nodded, and Blake gasped. "He didn't even, like, try?"
She shook her head again. "And I don't know if its me, or if he was just tired since it was kind of late, but I just figured since he brought up the subject of making us one of those official couples with the boyfriend-girlfriend label, that he might want to go a little farther."
"I'm sure he was just tired," Blake tried to reassure her. "But just in case, suggest him staying over tonight after the dance too, and if he says yes, maybe last night was an opportunity to get comfortable with his surroundings."
"He's a guy, not some skittish horse," Tessa laughed. "But I get what you're saying." Her phone began to ring in her pocket. She glanced at the clock on her computer screen. Four o'clock. It was Teddy.
"Listen, I'll see you at seven ok?" Tessa waved goodbye as she answered her phone. "Hey."
"Hey," he said happily into the phone. Their last few conversations had been a little depressing, because Teddy was convinced that things between himself and Jessica had to end.
"You sound happy," she laughed.
"Well, I did just buy my plane ticket for when I fly home on Thanksgiving." He told her. "And Jessica broke up with me."
"Wait. Isn't that supposed to make you sad?" She laughed a little, then hid it because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
"Nah, it was a mutual thing, ya know?" He laughed. "We were more like friends anyway. Although, I don't think she really wants to be friends... But whatever."
"Ok then," she laughed a little louder this time. "So how's the weather down there?"
"Sunny, a little chilly, but nothing compared to New York," he informed her. "I don't even have to wear a coat. Its insane!"
"Yes it is," she laughed, wondering what it would be like if she was there.
"What about you? Don't you have that dance thing you have to go to?"
She let out a groan. "Yes. You would think that after high school, school dances would be a thing of the past, but here I am, dressing up for a guy that I'm not even sure is still that into me even though we're one of
those couples."
"
Those couples?" Teddy laughed, although his interest was more on the part where she said she wasn't sure if Jarrett was still into her.
"You know, the kind who spend every day together, and share awesome kisses, and make everyone around them want to gag?" Tessa laughed. "But, last night, he stayed over at my place, and I just naturally assumed that there would be a little... Action. But there wasn't."
"He didn't even try?"
"No!"
"What is he blind?"
Tessa snorted as she turned into her parking spot in front of her townhouse, and immediately wondered when she had actually gotten into her car, but shrugged it off and assumed she had been so into her conversation that she didn't even realize what she was doing.
"I don't know, but I just started thinking about that movie 'Just Friends'."
"Ryan Reynolds? When she stays with him at his mom's and they're like, this close to getting it on, and he chickens out?" Teddy laughed. She smiled when he knew exactly what part she was talking about.
"Exactly." If she had been truly paying attention the whole time she had known Teddy, she would have known that they were made for each other, but this very moment made her realize it. It was how they always understood each other and knew exactly what the other person was talking about even if someone else like Marshall or Hailey or Lauren didn't.
"Hmm."
"What?" She laughed as she made her way to her closet and pulled out the black dress that had fit her just right, and fell just below her knees.
"I don't know, I just would have thought that any guy, given the chance, would take that opportunity."
"What do you mean?"
"Tessa, I don't know if you know this or not, but... You're hot."
She let out an obnoxious laugh, then heard a few voices on the other end. "Who's that? Am I on speaker?"
"Marshall and Ty, and yes." Teddy laughed. "Guys, isn't Tessa hot?"
"I think both of their opinions are just a little bit biased, don't you think?" She laughed when both boys shouted a loud 'yes' at the phone.
"Maybe, but so is mine, so... "Teddy sighed a loud sigh.
"What's up?" She asked.
He wanted to tell her that he knew where she lived now. He wanted to tell her he knew, and that he wanted to show up one day and surprise her and tell her how much he wanted to be hers again, even though he was never really hers to begin with, and she as never really his.
"Nothing. I guess I'm just tired. Me and Marshall are in this competition to see who can stay awake the longest." Teddy told her.
"And how is that working out for you?"
"I haven't slept in... Two days, six hours and twenty-four minutes." He laughed. "Its not that hard, really..."
At least, not when I'm thinking about you, he thought.
"I miss you," she blurted out when he heard him sigh again, only this time it wasn't because he was tired, it was just because it was something he did to fill the silence, to let you know he was still listening.
He felt his heart start to beat a little bit faster, "Me too."
She couldn't believe she had just done that. She was crumbling...
Why is this such a big secret anymore? Vermont, Ted. Vermont. She thought as the doorbell rang, and she knew it was Jarrett, there to pick her up and take her to the dance.
"I have to go," she sighed, realizing she had managed to fix her hair and get dressed without even realizing it.
"Talk to you later," he said as he hung up before she did.
- - - -
She couldn't believe how elaborate the gym was decorated. And she couldn't believe how packed it was with every student that attended Lakeside High, and even some who didn't.
"This is ridiculous," Tessa laughed as she and Blake danced together in the middle of the floor. The older teachers were giving them dirty looks from their "teacher's table" along the wall. She knew that come Monday morning, there would be a teacher's meeting, explaining the proper behavior of a teacher at a high school dance.
"I know, but its so fun!" She laughed. They had been there for at least three hours, and all they had done was dance. Blake was like a dancing machine. "Even if we're not teenagers anymore!"
"I know, right?" Tessa laughed as she realized the gym had grown less crowded and most of the underclassmen had left to meet their strict curfews, leaving mostly seniors, who were also dancing their hearts out like they would lose the function of their legs come Saturday morning.
Nate and Jarrett finally came to join them, where they slow danced, then fast danced, then slow danced, and then fast danced some more, until it was midnight, and the dance was officially over. It had been one of the best nights Tessa had had since she'd been in Vermont.
After staying to help clean up like she was expected to, she asked Jarrett to stay over again, and when he accepted, she felt the same feeling in her stomach she had felt the night before, only this time she couldn't help but wonder if anything would actually happen.
She decided to make the first move. She had said she was going to change into her pajamas, but after kicking her shoes off in her closet, she walked back out, and found him lying on her bed, still in his dressy shirt and pants, but with the shirt unbuttoned, and flipping through the channels on her TV.
She sat next to him on the bed, then began kissing him, falling into their usual routine of making-out until he eventually stopped them. But he didn't stop them, and pretty soon, she was waking up next to him, in only her underwear, and she knew they weren't going to be just friends...
