"Enough," I whispered, trying to bring my thoughts in line. I was living a life I could only dream about before today. Now that I'd finished off the wish I'd started earlier in the evening, it was time to enjoy it. Feeling extremely confident, and ready for a night of fun and passion, I made my way out of the bathroom to greet Jill and Rick
I found them waiting outside the bathroom having a friendly conversation. Jill was laughing, possibly a little too hard. I found myself overcome by a momentary wave of jealousy. Is she moving in on my man? I wondered. I coughed rather loudly as I approached the two of them, and they turned to look at me. As I'd known would be the case, neither one of them noticed the slightest difference in my appearance. Jill smiled.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
"I think so," I said, recovering from my momentary insecurities. I glanced over at Rick who was also looking at me. I watched as his eyes traveled hungrily up and down my body, and it made me feel all warm inside. I desperately wanted more than just his eyes combing my flesh. I walked casually over to him, trying not to stumble. "I wish," I whispered softly, "That I knew how to walk in heels." A moment later, I was walking confidently toward him, my hips swaying gently with every step.
"Good," she told me. "I managed to get a hold of a few of my friends while you were in there, and they'll be over around eight. That gives us just enough time to stop at the liquor store and be back before they get there." She began walking toward the outer doors of the mall and I followed, taking Rick's hand and leading him. I enjoyed the glances I got from some of the other guys as we passed by them. I was feeling extremely sexy right now, more so than I'd ever felt as a guy.
"Liquor store?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
"Yeah," she said as though I were the world's largest moron. "If we're gonna party, we're gonna do it right!" I looked at Rick who smiled hopefully. No doubt he was hoping I'd get drunk enough to sleep with him. Little did he know I wasn't going to need the booze to lower my inhibitions enough. I smiled back at him, and cocked an eyebrow.
I decided not to press the matter for the moment. I'd never had a drop of alcohol in my life, and wasn't really planning on drinking tonight either. I was underage for one, and I didn't know if Jill was the kind of person who would supply to a minor. I knew for a fact that she never would have before we'd made her wish.
"Just remember, I have to make it to school tomorrow," I reminded her. I was still afraid to call or speak to Karyn, but I would have to face that hurdle tomorrow.
"I know, I know," she chided me, "Trust me, I'm not about to bring Mom's wrath down on us." She smiled. "For now, let's just worry about having a good time tonight. We'll worry about tomorrow, well, tomorrow."
When we stepped outside, I immediately reached into my purse and pulled out my smokes. As I lit a cigarette, I watched Jill do the same. As we made our way into the parking lot, I noticed that I didn't see Mom's car anywhere. Hopefully it hadn't been stolen. My questions were answered when Jill led us to a bright yellow Mustang Convertible. The pain was shiny, and it looked brand new. I gasped. As far as cars went, it was extremely sexy.
"Where's mom's car?" I asked as Jill climbed into the driver's seat.
She looked at me oddly for a moment, "Probably with mom." She paused for a moment as she turned the key in the ignition. "Why would I have to use mom's car when I've got Tom's?"
"Tom's?" I asked.
She gave me a weird look. For a moment I thought she was going to start asking me all kinds of awkward questions. Thanks to the wish for Jill stop worrying about me though, her face returned to normal after a second. "Yeah, Tom. My ex. Chloe's dad? Ringing any bells here Natalie?"
The car started up with Jill and I in the front, and Rick sitting quietly in the back. He really hadn't said much since I'd come out of the lady's room.
I decided to go for it. It might come across as a weird question, but it wasn't like she was going to spend too much time worrying about it. "If he's your ex, isn't he gonna mind you using his car?"
"Well, he sure as fuck can't use it now can he?" she said rather indignantly. "and what with spending the next ten to fifteen years in prison, I doubt he's gonna come looking for it any time soon."
My heart sank. I knew now that our shared wish, the one made without Jill's knowledge had been a bad idea. She'd missed out on college, gotten involved with some loser and became a single mother. I tried to keep myself from shaking. Wishes couldn't be undone, as badly as I want to undo that one wish. I knew I could make other wishes to try and augment and fix the earlier one, but there was no guarantee that I wouldn't mess things up even more. Even more troubling was the little voice deep down that was telling me not to worry about it. The voice that was telling me it didn't matter.
I took one last drag and threw my cigarette out the window. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. I did vow to myself that I was going to figure out a way to fix Jill's life, but not until I'd thought it out extremely carefully. For now, all I could do was go with it. I glanced back at Rick and smiled.
"Comfortable back there?" I asked, offering him a smile.
He returned the expression. "Fine," he said.
"Good," I nodded. With the radio blaring a song I'd never heard before, we drove the rest of the way to the liquor store without saying much.
"I'll be right back," Jill told me with a grin. She looked at us, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm gone."
What wouldn't she do? I found myself wondering. It occurred to me for the first time that, even though I'd grown up with Jill, been her sister for sixteen years, I really didn't know her anymore. I knew she had a daughter, and ex who'd been locked away for the sake of society, but that was about all. I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned around to see Rick smiling at me, leaning forward between the seats. "Tonight's gonna be fun," he said. Even through his smile and apparently confident demeanor, I could sense the tiny little feeling of awkwardness inside of him.
I offered a comforting smile, and nodded. "It'll be a change of pace," I whispered, glancing down toward the armrest between the two front seats. When I looked up again, our eyes met, just for a moment, and I swear there was a connection there. Without preamble, Rick leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against mine.
At least a minute passed before we separated, and another few seconds lagged before I realized what had happened. The kiss had been amazing. True, it was really only my second kiss, the first being the rather hurried series of lip locks I'd shared with Malcolm in the dressing room, but it had still been amazing. For a moment I just looked at him. I was about to lean in for a second round, when I realized the driver side door was open and Jill was standing there with a bemused expression on her face. She shook her head and set a couple of bags on the floor behind her seat.
"Alright," she said, breaking the visual hold the two of us had formed in Jill's absence. "Now we head home." We drove in silence again, and about fifteen minutes and a cigarette later, we pulled into Jill's neighborhood. I felt my heart sink even further as I looked around.
I knew this place
