Megan McMahon

2007

Fall Afternoons

It was a chilly fall afternoon. I was sitting on a bench, waiting for a friend of mine. He wasn’t my best friend but we’ve been friends for two years now- ever since we started high school.

I rubbed my glove clad hands together to warm them up, hoping Scott would hurry. He wanted to hang out today and told me to wait at the park entrance for him at one. It was already one-thirty and my cheeks were getting cold from the wind.

Thank goodness I put my newly dyed pink hair in a ponytail or else it would have been a mess from all the sudden rushes of winds. I turned to the pathway to see Scott walking towards me with something in his hands.

When he finally plopped down on the bench, his first words to me were: “Oh my fuckin’ God, Roxanne! What happen to your beautiful blonde hair?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I dyed it. I was tired of being called a dumb blonde.” I looked down in his lap to see two steaming cups. “What've you got there?”

Scott followed my eyes. “Oh! Sorry I was late. To make up for it, I got you a hot chocolate and I got myself a cappuccino.”

He handed me my hot chocolate. I smiled up at him. “You know me too well.” We sat in silence. I liked Scott for awhile at the time, but what surprised me is that I don’t act like a giddy school girl whenever I’m around him; which is weird for me since that’s how I usually act around my crushes.

I glanced at Scott to see him looking back at me. “So, why did you want to hangout today?”

Scott put his drink down next to him and stretched. He had this lazy look on his face. “I was bored.”

You know, sometimes, he makes me wonder why he does the things he does. “Okay, that makes sense. But why at the park? It’s a bit chilly out.”

He grinned at me then looked at the trees in front of us, “I love the fall colors of the trees.” Scott put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in closer to him; he started to rub my left arm.

Scott was always one of those touchy feely people. It’s not like it’s a bad thing for me, it’s just I’m not. What surprised me was that I didn’t pull away from him like I would usually do; I guess I must have been really cold and he was warm.

I looked up at him. He had this weird look on his face like he wanted to say something but couldn’t decide if he should. “So, what do you want to do today, Scott?”

He looked away and scratched his head. “Hmmm...” Scott then looked to our right to look at the street. Then looked back at me, I knew that look on his face. He had another one of his ‘Let’s do something stupid’ looks on his face. “Let’s play chicken!”

I glared at him like he was an idiot. “Are you Fuckin’ stupid? You’re going to kill me one of these days.”

So the idiot rolled his eyes at me and laughed, what nerve. “Geeze Roxanne! Chill out. I was only joking.”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, he’s always trying to get me to play chicken with him. I finished off my hot chocolate. It really warmed me up on days like this.

After I put my cup down next to me, I turned to look at Scott, now with this evil smile on his face. We held a staring contest for a minute before he bellowed “Roooooxannnneee!”

My face twisted into a look of disgust. How dare he! I got up off the bench and stormed away from him deeper into the park; at least I was done my hot chocolate.

Scott got up and followed me, my frown deepened. He bellowed as he quickly caught up to me, “Roxanne! You don’t have to wear that dress tonight. Walk the street for money. You don’t care if it’s wrong or right. Roooxannne!”

I can’t believe he would sing this to me in public. It’s not like I don’t like this song, because I do. Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t like being called a whore in public. Scott finally decided to run to catch up to me because, in our short friendship he already learned that I walk fast even in my high heel boots.

He grabbed my forearm and spun me to face him. I frowned even more at him, (by the time I’m 25 I’m going to have wrinkles because of this kid.) “Fuck off Scott!”

I tried to walk away but his fingers tighten around my arm, “Aww, come on Roxanne. Don’t be like that. You know every time you wear red it makes me think of that song, and it doesn’t help that you had to buy that damn red coat.”

I puffed out my cheeks because now he was frowning at me like I did something wrong. He just doesn’t get it does he? “I don’t like getting called a whore in public.”

Scott went from frowning to looking confused like the idiot he is. “I never called you a whore.”

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wonder why I like this kid. “Roxanne in the song is a hooker.”

Now he got this defensive look on his face, “That doesn’t mean I’m calling you a hooker.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead, “You’re too good to be a hooker. Now let’s go get more hot chocolate for you at the coffee house.” He smiled at me and grabbed my hand.

I mutely nodded my head and let him steer me towards the entrance of the park. When we walked by the bench we were sitting on earlier I grabbed my empty cup and threw it in the nearest trash can. I’m not a litter bug.

When I joined back up with Scott he grabbed my hand again and started to swing our hands. I wonder sometimes if he’s gay or not.

We walked in silence till he decided to be an idiot again. “You sure you don’t want to play chicken? It’s really fun, and I promise I won’t let you get hit.”

I rolled my eyes at his foolishness, but at the same time it made me smile along with him. “You can’t promise that dumb ass.”

He winked at me then shrugged his shoulders, “You’re missing out on some fun stuff.”

I looked down the street to make sure there was no cars coming before we crossed the street. I said with my voice dripping with sarcasm. “What a shame.”

There was a quick gust of wind that whipped at our faces, making our noses and cheeks a deeper shade of pink. My whole body gave a shiver, “Burrr! It’s cold! We need to hurry up and get me somewhere warm.”

Scott laughed at me and sped up. We were a couple shops away from the coffee shop we were walking to when my boot got caught on a crack and I fell forward. “Eeep!”

Scott held onto my hand but with his free hand he grabbed my waist to keep me from falling. When Scott steadied me, I was now standing in front of him blushing like crazy; but he probably couldn’t tell since my face was already pink from the wind. I was looking at our feet out of embarrassment when he asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I think, nothing-” I looked up at him to see he was staring right at me, I breathlessly finished my sentence “-hurts.”

There was something in his eyes that I saw earlier. Something that bore into me, I didn’t know what it was but he was inching closer to my face. When he was so close that I could feel his breath on my face I tilted my face upwards and closed my eyes. His lips covered mine in a semi-chaste kiss. I swear I could see fire works in my eyes like the ones you read about in cheesey romance novels. The kiss lasted less than a minute when he pulled away.

I looked up at him, and once again I was blushing but I don’t think he noticed (again too). He looked down at me and started to say, “I’m sor-”

I didn’t let him finish. I leaned up to capture his lips with mine. This kiss this time was passionate, my hands went around his neck and I started to play with his hair. While Scott kept one hand on my hip pulling me up against his body, and his other went to the back of my head entangled with my hair keeping me there. His and my lips were fiercely attacking each other trying to gain the upper hand.

When we finally pulled apart I wasn’t cold anymore. I smiled up at him and he smiled down and winked at me. Scott grabbed my waist and we continued to walk to the coffee shop again. When we got there he held the door open for me, “Why don’t you get a table while I get the drinks.”

I nodded my head, “Okay.” I walked to a table by the window with that blissful ‘just kissing’ smile still on my face. I can’t believe we kissed. But does that mean we’re dating now? I really wouldn’t mind if we dated. He is a hottie with his black hair and green eyes. He’s a great guy too. Scott watches his little sister when his mother works since she’s a single mother. He even helps me with my Math homework, (which isn’t easy.) And he-

“Hellooo! Earth to Roxanne!” Scott was waving a hand in front of my face; I guess I really got into thinking about how great he is. Oops.

I smiled lazily up at him, “Hmmm?”

He smiled at me and placed my cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows in front of me. Scott sat in front of me. I took a sip out of my mug and it warmed me right up. “Mmmmm! My favorite!” I watched Scott as he took a sip out of his mug. “So does this mean we’re dating now?”

Scott looked up from the spot he was staring at on the table at me, with this nervous look on his face. “I hope so. If it’s okay with you. What I-”

I nodded my head, “It’s okay with me.”

Scott’s nervous look was long gone now, he had this cocky look. He smirked at me then winked. “I knew my Scotty charms would work on you.”

I raised a single eyebrow at him amused. There he goes again. “Oh really?”

Scott nodded his head smirk still intact, “Yup! Works every time.”

If this were a movie the camera would zoom out on us while some romantic song played in the back round over our voices. We’d live happily ever after; but life’s not like that. I don’t know what will happen but right now we’re just going to have fun and see what does happen. And who knows? We might live happily ever after, after all. But let’s just let time tell.

Anyway, I would like to thank the lovely Avius for beta-ing this chapter. R&R

Kisses