Pull at my Heartstrings

It Seems I Got a Boyfriend

We walk into the choir room to see two different choirs staring at us with large grins.

I laugh nervously, and duck through the crowd of my classmates. Dirk follows. We’re both wearing outfits that can go home with us; everyone else has to change out of their dresses and suits.

We make it out to the crowd of people; students meeting their family members, some people taking pictures… blah blah blah.

We walk through the crowd, but it’s hard to stay together with all these people. I suddenly feel a hand grip mine, and look behind me to see Dirk looking pointedly away, his face flushed.

We continue until we find a clearer space. Daisy and Bro are standing against a wall, talking. They catch sight of us and both grin in union. Dirk doesn’t let go of my hand, just gently pulls me with him as he walks over to them.

“So, what did you guys think of the performance?” He asks nonchalantly.

Daisy lunges forward and tackles me to the ground in a hug. My hand holding tightly to Dirk’s, I end up yanking him down with me. Next thing I know, Bro is on top of Dirk.

Daisy is squealing like a teenage girl, “I’m so proud of you! My little Tootsie Roll has a boyfriend~!”

“U-um… technically, neither of us asked the other out…” I choke.

Bro and Daisy sit up immediately, Dirk and I taking simultaneous gasps of air.

Bro points to Dirk, “Ask her out. On a date.”

He looks at me, “U-um… Amber will you go out with me? As in… do you want to be my girlfriend?”

My sister points at me, “Say yes.”

I roll my eyes and look at Dirk, “Of course!”

He seems to relax and smiles. I smile back, that is, until my sister begins choking me again.

“Oh, by the way, I invited the Knights over for dinner!” She sits up again, climbs off of me, and allows me up, Bro and Dirk standing as well.

“Why?!” I whisper/shout.

“Because! If you’re going to marry Dirk someday—”

“What makes you think we’ll end up getting married?!”

“—then I’d like to get to know him and his brother.” She finishes, ignoring me.

Bro and Daisy start walking in the direction of the front doors, Dirk and I follow behind. There’s always the occasional person to tease us for what happened on stage. We stand just outside; Daisy tells Bro to follow her to our home. We then go our separate ways to the vehicles. I get in the front next to my sister, as she in the driver’s seat. She has a big grin on her face.

“Do you plan on drinking?” I ask.

“Duh, we’re having company, why not have some fun with it~?” She gives me a sidelong glance, “Are you going to have some~? Maybe offer Dirk a drink or two~?”

I huff as she looks back at the road. Normally, I’d say yes. But I don’t really wanna get really drunk in front of Dirk then say something embarrassing or something.

“We’ll see,” I say hesitantly.

She smiles, “I can get out the less strong stuff for you two if you like~.”

“What makes you think they’ll even agree to drinking?”

“Oh, well, Bro and I were talking~ and I asked if he would like to come over. He said ‘as long as there would be vodka’ and I was like, ‘of course we have vodka!’ What kind of guardian would I be if I didn’t own at least four jugs of the stuff at all times?”

I crack a grin at her logic, and begin to space off as she rants about what kind of drinks she can make and which of those she will make for our “guests”. I look in the mirror and see a car following behind us. I can’t see into it, it’s much too dark for that. But I know that sitting behind the darkened windshield sits Bro and Dirk.

* * * * * *

Daisy pulls into the large driveway, parking the car in the two-car garage.

Bro parks his car in the empty side of the garage. I get out of the car and walk around it to the door. Before going inside, I press a button and the garage doors close. I open the front door and walk into the kitchen. Daisy follows after me, while a gaping Bro and Dirk enter last.

“Holy ****… this place is huge!” Dirk says.

I look at him, “It’s just a house.”

“I don’t live in a house!”

“Wait, what do you live in?!” I suddenly get the image of Bro and Dirk sitting in a little box in some ally way.

“An apartment.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

Daisy opens the fridge and looks over her shoulder at us, “I’ll just make some chicken spaghetti, it won’t take too long~.”

Bro leans against a counter, “I’ll keep you company.”

Dirk looks at me, “Show me everything.”

I smile at him and leave the kitchen. I give him a tour of the house, showing him my room last. We end up standing in my room on the second level, while Bro and Daisy are downstairs in the kitchen.

“Oh, I just thought I’d ask, how good is Bro at driving drunk?” I ask, ditching my shoes.

“What?” He pulls his off as well.

“I’m just asking.”

“Oh – well – terrible, probably.”

“Well, Daisy told me they’ll be getting drunk.”

He groaned, “Uuuggghhh”

“I guess that means you guys are going to have to stay the night?”

“We have school tomorrow…”

“Sorry…”

There was a pause, then he shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. Unless, you can drive?”

I shake my head as well. “Don’t have my license yet.”

“It looks like we’ll be staying the night, then.”

We hang out in my room for a while, making light conversation, until my phone rings with a text from Daisy telling me dinner is ready.

We race down the stairs; Dirk wins because he was being cocky and jumped down three at a time. I didn’t because I didn’t feel like breaking my neck tonight.

We head into the kitchen, poking and pushing at each other with grins.

“Children!” Daisy snaps sharply at us, grinning as well.

She dishes up the food on four plates, and we sit at the dining table in the dining room.

I eat the spaghetti first before I eat the chicken. It’s how I always eat it. Daisy eats it like a normal person, while Bro and Dirk shovel the food into their mouths happily.

After he’s finished, Dirk pats his finely toned stomach. “I’ve not had a home cooked meal in…” He looks at Bro, “How long ago did you light the house on fire back in Texas?”

He thinks it over, “Three years ago, I think.”

I look at them in surprise, “Wait, what happened?” I pop the last piece of chicken in my mouth.

“Well, I tried cooking but ended up burning down the house.” Bro continues, “We had to stay with a friend for a while, and they cooked for us. It was nice.”

Daisy smiles, “I cook every night. Try teaching this picky girl here to cook, but she just doesn’t seem interested. Although, there are the nights that I just order pizza or something.”

“The nights you’re drunk.”

“Right~.”

Bro claps his hands together, standing from the table. “Well, the food was great, but speaking of being drunk…”

Daisy stands as well, followed by Dirk and me. I gather the plates and put them in the sink. I turn back to see bottles of different liquors, wines, and vodka sitting on the counter. Daisy grabs a few and begins mixing ****. After a couple minutes, a drink is placed in front of each of us. Mine and Dirk’s looks bright red, while Daisy and Bro drink something that’s more of a lavender color.

I take it with a smile, I’ve had this before. I don’t know what she calls it, but I know it’s good and isn’t very strong.

Dirk watches me as I take a drink, noting my reaction. Then, he grabs his own and takes a drink.

“This is… good.”

“Yup~!” Daisy says with a smile.

Bro looks at her after taking a long drink of his, “Where did you learn to make these?”

“Well, I was a bartender for a long time~. I began inventing my own drinks but they weren’t on the menu so no one could order them. Anyway, I was fired for experimenting, and so bought my own bar~! I own a bunch of bars all over the U.S.” She takes a drink nonchalantly.

Bro looks down at his drink silently, and just continues the chug it. Dirk and I down ours soon enough, and Daisy is making another round. After our third drink, Bro begins on his fourth, and Daisy looks at me shaking her head.

“You’ve had enough. Upstairs, you two~. Leave the grown-ups to talk.” I roll my eyes and head for the stairs. “AND I BETTER NOT HEAR ANY HANKY PANKY **** GOING ON UP THERE.”

“DAISY,” I run up the stairs as quickly as I can, Dirk still beats me.

At the top of the stairs, I can still hear their laughing, so we go to my room and shut the door. I sit on the ground, cross-legged. Dirk sits across from me.

I smile at him, “I’ve never had a friend over, much less stay the night, much much less it being a guy.”

He chuckles, playing with the carpet, “I’ve never had a friend over, either. Except Jake. He’s cool.”

I nod, then look down at myself. As much as I love this outfit, it’s a little uncomfortable.

“I should change. But I also need to shower.”

“Then shower.”

After a long moment, I nod. I stand up and walk over to the closet, pulling out my pajamas. I head for the bathroom.

“I’ll try not to take long.” I say simply, before shutting the door behind me.

* * * * * *

I leave the bathroom, my hair French braided, holding the clothes I was just wearing. I drop them in a laundry basket, and find Dirk leaning his back against the end of my bed, watching TV.

He looks at me and smiles, “You sing in the shower. You also talk to yourself.”

My face turns pink and I sit on the bed above him, “Shut up. It’s not like you don’t do the same thing.”

He chuckles, stands. I slide off the bed quickly and take off all my jewelry, placing it on my vanity desk. I turn to Dirk, who’s looking down at himself as well.

“I really don’t want to sleep in this.”

“Sorry…”

He shrugs, “It’s fine. To be fair, I don’t even have pajamas.”

“Well then what do you sleep in?”

“Usually just sweatpants.”

“Oh…” I look at the TV, seeing that he was watching Family Feud. “That’s a good show.”

He nods, “Funny.”

We stand in an awkward silence. I rock on me heels, watching as Steve Harvey laughs about something dumb someone said.

Dirk interrupts the silence.“I have to say though, you look good.”

I look at Dirk with a red face, “What?”

“Those short shorts? They look good on you. And I like the V-neck.” He’s wiggling his eyebrows.

“U-um… thanks.” After a long moment, he sits on the ground again. I sit next to him.

“So where am I sleeping?”

“Well, I have a feeling Bro is sleeping on the couch, and we don’t have a spare bedroom… you could have my bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“No. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“No! I will!” I countered.

“I’m the guest; I’ll sleep on the floor!”

“You’re the guest! You should be comfortable!”

He looks at the bed, and then shakes his head. “Just let me sleep on the floor. I’m the guest. Let me be comfortable.”

We stare at each other for a little while, finally I sigh, “Fine.”

He smiles and pumps his fist. I roll my eyes and open the closet, pulling out an extra pillow and a couple blankets.

There’s plenty of room for me to lay out a couple blankets for him to lie on. He just watches as I set the pillows over the blankets, then lay out one more for him to lie under.

I stand and look at him, “How’s that?”

“It’ll be fine.”

I look in the closet again, debating putting out the baby gate. I know Daisy isn’t going to bed for a while, and a drunken Daisy is going to have trouble climbing that thing. Deciding I won’t need it tonight, I close the closet door and turn back to Dirk.

“So what should we do?”

“Don’t know. We have school tomorrow so we can’t stay up too late.”

“Yeah…” I check the time. Ten-thirty. “We should probably go to bed now, actually.”

And with that, I turn off the light and climb into my bed. In the dark, I see the silhouette of Dirk pulling off his shirt and crouching by his makeshift bed. My eyes adjust and I can just see his features as he gets under the blanket, pulling off his shades and setting them down.

I realize I’ve never seen him without his sunglasses. I don’t even know what his eyes look like. Maybe I can get a look in the morning.

With the thought lingering in my mind, I fall asleep.