Chapter 10: A Wish Remembered (The Next Day)

Jenna woke up the next morning and wondered why she felt different, before she remembered her wish from the night before. She then mentally kicked herself for wishing at all – her wishes never came true. Wishing may work out all fine and dandy for everyone else, but Jenna's wishes had never come true. She had never even wished for a horse: that came by her mother's default. She had wished for Tana back, of course, but that hadn't come true. Needless to say, she wasn't holding out much hope for her wish.

Jenna went through her usual routine, taking extra care to make sure all the hay was out of her hair. Not because she wanted a Starbucks, but because she wanted to make an impression on Andric today. She knew it was a lost cause, but wore her lucky tight jeans anyway.

She drove to school in her Volkswagen as usual, taking care on the still-ice roads. It was an uneventful drive, and she expected it to be an uneventful day.

Upon her arrival at school, Jenna headed to Colin. She was surprised to see that Andric had beaten her there, and he was holding a single beautiful dark red rose; the kind that is so dark red it's almost black. Inwardly, Jenna sighed, because she knew the rose must be for Zoë. Still, she smiled, grabbed her stuff, and headed over.

Andric saw her coming from a mile away. He had been watching for her dark blue Volkswagen ever since he had gotten there, a full 15 minutes before anyone else of the group would even think to show up. True, it was cold outside, but if this is what it took to catch Jenna alone on a Friday, without her friends hanging around and watching his every move, he would do it. He saw her get out of and lock her car, stuff in hand and jacket still on. He saw she was wearing his favorite shirt of hers: the deep burgundy one, and those jeans that made her legs look oh so sexy. He had to suppress a grin himself.

Jenna arrived at Colin and greeted Andric. She tried not to look at the rose, but Andric must have noticed the puzzled look on her face, for he spoke first.

"Hi Jenna. You are well today, I assume?" A nod was his response. "Good, because I was wondering if you had any plans for tonight. And if not, I was wondering if you'd like to do something. With me. Just us two." He offered the rose to her as he said this.

Jenna stared at the rose for a moment while she pondered his words. Was he really asking her out? Was she dreaming? Was her wish finally coming true? Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to them both, Jenna spoke, "A-are you asking me out? Because the answer is I'd love to." Jenna took the rose he offered.

Andric visible relaxed and scooped Jenna into a hug, rose and all. They stood there in their warm embrace for a moment, until Jenna started to pull away. Before he let her go, Andric brushed her lips with his, in the quickest, lightest kiss either of them had ever seen or felt. He didn't give her time to respond, but stepped back just as Zoë was arriving.

Andric recovered first. "Hey Zoë, how are you? Looking forward to this weekend?" he asked nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

Zoë had to suppress a grin at what she had just seen, or thought she had seen. She would consult Jenna later. "Why actually, I am. All this new snow is going to make for killer powder up at Copper this weekend, and Nick is getting back from Kansas this weekend. How about you?" She directed this at Jenna.

Jenna snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her name. She had been reliving the past few minutes over and over. He had kissed her. HE had kissed her! She had been kissed for the first time, ever, by the only guy she ever really liked! It was amazing. At the sound of her name, she tried not to visibly jump, which would give away that she was in her own world. "Yeah, I guess I am. My mom's got a big show Sunday, so I'm supposed to help her get ready tomorrow. She's thinking of debuting Visions, but she's worried that he's not ready yet. I keep assuring her that he is, but she wants us both to jump a few courses on him tomorrow to be sure." Visions was their beautiful black and white paint, who would be beautiful as a show jumper due to his coloring, but he wasn't trained as well as her mother's main horse, Starlight, was. She wanted badly to show him, to show off his colors, but was always afraid he would spazz out in the middle, as he used to frequently do. He was getting better, but her mother was overly cautious sometimes, especially when her reputation in the equitation world was at stake.

Zoë rolled her eyes and inwardly sighed. "You and your horses. If you weren't my best friend, I think I'd alternate between being insanely jealous of you and annoyed that you won't shut up about them." She said this as the performed her routine check for hay, unconsciously. "And guess where we're going during lunch today? Yup, that's be Starbucks. Good job Jenna!"

Jenna smiled. She had almost forgotten about their deal; it had been so long since their last trip. "It's Ayame's turn to treat, right?"

"I do believe." Zoë replied.

The three were quiet for a moment until the warning bell sounded. They headed inside to their homeroom, Andric and Zoë leading the way. Zoë fell back and said to Jenna, "So, are you going to explain the rose, or am I going to have to tickly it out of you later?"

Jenna just smiled in response.

The rest of Jenna's morning went well, uneventfully, or so the thought it did. She was so preoccupied with the events of that morning, she didn't actually notice much. Her mind was busy figuring out a way to get her mom to let her go … fortunately, she remembered that she and Zoë had already planned to go to the movies before Zoë found out that Nick was back in town, and Jenna hadn't had a chance to tell her mom of the "cancellation" yet. Therefore, Jenna figured that she could go to the movies with Zoë and Nick and Andric, and she and Andric would go and see a different movie. Jenna's mother would never know.

The girls and Andric piled in to several different cars at lunch time to head to Starbucks. Everybody ordered their usual, which for Jenna happened to be a chai. Ayame, of course, treated Jenna, as was their deal when she came to school completely hay-free, however rare an occurrence that may have been. It was kinda fun, and Andric stuck by Jenna's side the entire time. Jenna had filled Zoë in via note in chemistry, and she had, naturally, spread it around the group.

Jenna's afternoon went uneventfully as well, until Spanish. She took her usual seat near the back of the room, with the twins on her left, Andric on her right. The twins were so close, they were often referred to as one person. They were both a year ahead of Jenna, who was in the senior level Spanish class.

Becca, who was the closer twin, said to Jenna almost as soon as she had sat down, "So, Jenna, did he finally ask you?" The question had also caught Alex's attention, although she was on Becca's other side.

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Is there anyone that doesn't know?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"There won't be now." Becca replied with a smile as the bell rang.

Jenna went to Zoë's house after school, to get ready for their "date". It was odd for Jenna to think of it as such, but in truth, that's what it was. The girls stole the Spotlight section of the Denver Post, that had all of the movie listings. They decided that there was only one movie worth seeing, so their date would become double, which made both girls' parents happier anyway. Although, in all fairness, Jenna's mother only knew about it as a movie with Zoë, no guys around.

Jenna borrowed Zoë's red velour sweater, the low cut one. It was the color of an overripe strawberry, and soft to the touch. It was low cut to the point that a tank top was required to be worn under it, so Jenna chose a snow white one. Jenna had worn her newer tight-fitting jeans, a deep navy blue, to school that day, and they had remained clean, so she kept them on. After brushing her hair and adding a pair of long, gold sparkling earrings to match Jenna's usual simple gold cross, she was ready to go.

Both girls grabbed their purses and left Zoë's house promptly at 6:30 pm; they were scheduled to meet the guys at the theatre at 7:00 for the 7:15 showing. They climbed into Jenna's Volkswagen, which was parked in the street across from Zoë's house, and went to the theatre.

Jenna and Zoë both were surprised to find Andric and Nick already there, talking to each other. Andric saw them first, and waved as they approached.

It was Zoë that spoke first. "I see you two have met, but … how?" She was curious, because neither she nor Jenna had introduced them.

Nick replied slowly, "Yeah, well, he was up at Copper last weekend while you were spending the night at Jenna's, and we ended up on a chairlift together. We got to talking and figured out that we knew you guys. It was pretty random, I guess."

Andric nodded, but his mind was focused on Jenna. He noticed that she had actually dressed up-ish, well, dressed up for Jenna. She looked hot, but he wasn't about to say so. He knew that she didn't take compliments well, so he just stared until Nick stopped talking. An awkward silence followed.

Zoë thought it was completely coincidental that Andric and Nick had met, but Jenna thought otherwise. She didn’t know what significance it might have, but she remembered that Andric had said he didn’t surf, so she assumed that he had no interest in learning to ski. She wasn’t sure, though.

“Well, we should probably head to the snack bar, before it gets too crowded. I really don’t want to miss the previews; I want to see what we can see in several months.” Zoë said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea." Andric, as Jenna and Nick nodded lazily.

The group of four moved inside the theatre, and headed to the almost-empty snack counter. Jenna got there first, and ordered the usual for her and Zoë: two large Icees and extra large tub of popcorn. She said a cheerful hello to the girl behind the counter, whom she recognized from her photography class from the previous year. The girl, who was a cute Asian named Christy, smiled in return, with a knowing look in her eye. Clearly, word traveled fast about Jenna and Andric. Or maybe it was the fact that Andric had gently placed his hand in the small of Jenna's back, which kept sending chills up her spine. She wasn't complaining, however. It was actually kind of nice. Distracting, but nice.

Jenna paid Christy the money she owed, as it was her turn to treat. She and Zoë alternated who paid for the movie snacks and tickets: whoever didn't buy the tickets bought the snacks. Although the boys bought the tickets, Jenna still bought her and Zoë's snacks. It was tradition.

After Nick and Andric got their snacks, the group found the theatre and took seats in the last row. Jenna and Zoë automatically headed there, and Nick and Andric followed. They were going to see some drama movie, the title of which had slipped Jenna's mind. She didn't much care; her thoughts were focused on Andric.

Jenna didn't watch the movie. She saw it, but her brain didn't process it. Zoë later told her that it wasn't any good anyway, although Jenna wasn't sure how she knew, seeing as she and Nick were making up for lost time throughout most of it. Hence why they always sat in the back row. Jenna ate very little popcorn, although she did finish her Icee.

Shortly after the movie started, when Andric was sure Zoë was busy with Nick, he took a deep breath and slid his hand into Jenna's, loosely, so she could pull away if she wanted to. He hoped she wouldn't, but wasn't sure. He knew she was nervous; he had picked up that vibe outside, when she was being a lot quieter than she usually was. He was as nervous as she was, if not more. He knew that this was her first "date"; that he was her first "boyfriend". He didn't want to scare her off, to send her running like a startled fawn to the safety of her barn and horse. He wanted to show her that he could teach her.

Jenna felt his hand, loose, but hopeful. She gave it a reassuring squeeze, and forced herself to relax. Andric must have felt or saw her relax, because he did as well. Jenna could tell he was nervous, but she couldn't figure out why.

The movie progressed on in this way: Jenna and Andric sitting quietly, holding hands, and pretending they were watching the movie; Nick and Zoë getting it on in the next seats over. When the movie let out around 10:00 pm, both couples left the theatre hand in hand, pretending as though nothing had happened, and they had just seen a good movie like everyone else leaving around them.

Jenna and Andric hugged goodbye at her car, as Nick kissed Zoë goodbye on the other side of it. Jenna climbed into the driver's seat of her Volkswagen, and moments later, Zoë joined her on the passenger side. Jenna started her car and left almost right away. She was eager to get home and record this night in her diary, for it had been a good one. She also knew she would be up early the next morning, working with Visions.

Jenna and Zoë were quiet all the way to Zoë's house, lost in their own worlds. Their silence was broken only by the radio, softly playing an Evanescence cover. Both girls were too lost in thought to notice the bad music.

Jenna dropped Zoë off and promised to return the shirt as soon as it was washed. She headed up I-70 towards her house, this time listening to some upbeat soundtrack to merely keep her awake. She was most definitely going straight to sleep once she arrived home.