“No way, man. I can't take it any longer,” Brandon finally says.
Yay! We win!
Our team huddles up and we hoot, holler, and high five each other.
“Do you see my sweatshirt?” I ask Phillip.
My teeth are chattering now that I'm not running, and I realize how cold I am. Phillip bends down and lifts my sweatshirt up out of the snow, where Dillon had carelessly flung it. It's all wet and cold.
We both look sadly at it.
Then he does the sweetest thing.
He says, “Here, Princess,” and takes his own warm sweatshirt off and pulls it over my head.
Now I know everyone gets all hyped up over Danny, but Phillip, who is his workout partner, is a few inches taller than Danny and carries more weight. Quite honestly, Phillip's muscles are bigger, and I kinda like them even better. I get a little peek at his abs because when he pulls up his sweatshirt to take it off, his T-shirt rides up with it.
Yummy. Very yummy.
You know, being friends with cute boys does have its benefits.
Phillip wraps those muscular arms around me and rubs his hands up and down the sides of my arms, trying to warm me up. He's saying something to me about a great team, but he's standing so close to me, that for a minute, I kind of get lost in his eyes.
I swear, he's so sweet, that if he wasn't my friend, I think I might have kissed him. “Thanks, Phillip,” I say, blinking away that thought. “I think we need to hit the hot tub!”
“Come on.” He grabs my hand and drags me behind him. “Let's get a head start.”
When we're halfway to my house, he yells. “Last one in the hot tub is a loser.”
Then he looks back at Danny and his team and says, “Oh sorry, I forgot. You already are!”
I grab my phone and am just getting ready to call Phillip for our nightly phone call, when the phone rings in my hand and startles me. I look at the caller ID expecting to see Phillip's number, but instead I see Renner, David.
Who the heck is David Renner?
Was that the name of the hot guy Lisa and I met at the sporting goods store the other day? She used to detest going to the sporting goods store with me. But she's recently discovered that it's one of the few place GUYS actually LIKE to shop at. I mean how many guys has she ever met in her girly stores?
EXACTLY NONE!
So while I was trying on jogging shorts, she was trying on boys. Well not literally, but she did get herself a date and well, supposedly one for me too, with this guy's friend. Who I might add, is clearly not capable of getting his own dates. I mean, he is not very fortunate in the looks department. So aside from the fact that I already have a boyfriend, I'm sure I will be coming down with something highly contagious this Friday.
Then it hits me.
Renner.
Allison Renner. Phillip's girlfriend, right?
Is he calling me from her house? No, it's past ten, his school night curfew.
As if he needs one. I swear he's the only person I know, and quite possibly the only teen in the entire universe, who prides himself on being home before curfew.
I look across the street and see his bedroom light's on.
I answer with a polite, “Hello.”
“JJ this is Allie,” Allison says, using the name her friends call her.
No shit.
“Hey Allison, what's up?” I answer, trying to sound pleasant, but purposely NOT using the name her friends call her.
Cuz this is weird. I mean she and I aren't good friends. Honestly, we're not friends at all. In fact, I really don't care for her much. She's very annoying and talks a mile a minute. It's like she hardly needs to breathe. The boys at school make crass remarks about what else that would make her good at. Boys are sick. Anyway, she acts like she owns Phillip, and they've only been dating for like three weeks. I don't think she'll last much longer though.
I've never spoken to her on the phone before, so naturally I get the feeling I'm being set up. You know, like when your friends call you on a three-way call, but pretend that only one of them is there and she tries to get you to say bad stuff about the other friend, who is secretly listening, and then they both get mad at you?
“Um JJ I have a quick question for you it's about Phillip well I'm sure you guessed that and I mean I know you guys are neighbors and good friends and well I really need you to tell me something because I really like Phillip and I don't want to be stupid and not believe him but I also don't want to be stupid and be like cheated on.”
God, she talks fast!
“Allison, Phillip is not cheating on you!” He wouldn't! He's not that kind of guy. I mean granted, he'll be dumping her soon, but it will be because her clinginess is driving him mad. As in she is always complaining he spends too much time with me. But that's beside the point. “What would ever make you think that?”
“Well I just called him and he answered the phone in this sweet sexy voice and he never talks to me like that,” she pouts.
“What did he say?” This should be good. Did he call her another girl's name?
“He said, Hey Princess,” she says, imitating his velvety smooth voice.
Oh shit.
Double shit.
Surely he didn't. He would never tell.
I'd kill him!
I glance over to his house and see his bedroom light flickering off and on, on and off.
I'm assuming that is some form of SOS.
I hear the IM tone from my computer, and I'm sure it's a message from him. I've got to stall this girl. “Um, Allison, did you ask him who this Princess is?” I ask as I run over to my computer.
“Yeah I did.”
“Well, what'd he tell you?”
There is an IM from Receiver (Phillip). It's just one half of a word. ASH.
I send him back an IM from Cess. Everyone thinks it stands for Excess, which I tend to do everything to, but Phillip set up my instant messenger account, so it's really short for Princess. I write: U OWE ME, USE CALLER ID NXT TIME STUPID!
“Um JJ you know who it is don't you so could you please tell me first so I know if he's lying to me?"
“Sure Allison,” I say bored. “Phillip's sister, Ashley's nickname is Princess,” I lie.
Totally lie.
Her Royal Queeness, possibly.
Her Royal Highness, Ruler of the World, perhaps, but NEVER a lowly princess.
“Oh thank goodness,” she gushes.
She's all happy now and rambles on, “I mean I wanted to believe him but I just didn't know what to think and I mean his voice sounded all sweet and gentle and I guess it would make sense that he'd talk to his sister that way.”
Not.
They fight like crazy.
He really loves her, but he says that it's his job to annoy her. And he does.
But I'm not really listening to Allison ramble. I'm lost in thought. I never realized it before, but Phillip does have a special voice he uses when he speaks just to me. It's one of the reasons I love talking to him before I go to sleep. It's sort of soothing.
I don't think I would've ever qualified it as sexy.
Pul-eezzee. That's just silly.
But when I talk to him, it's kind of like I do a brain dump, tell him about my day, the good, the bad and the ugly, and then he tells me what I should do. Of course, I usually don't do it, but talking to him is kind of like getting a mental massage.
Allison says, “Thanks JJ see you at school.”
I hang up and call Phillip, while I type ITS ME PICK UP on the IM.
He answers, “Hey Princess.”
Okay, so it is kind of dreamy.
“You owe me,” I tell him.