FicWad

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked as we drove through town in Andy's very large, very old Buick. I hadn't known this before, but Andy was two years older than Pete, Joe, and me.

"We're going to Andy's house," Joe said simply from the front seat. There was some band coming from the radio speakers, but I failed to recognize who it was.

I just nodded even though Joe couldn't see me from behind him and sat back. I wasn't sure if I was up for a whole lot of meeting new people. I started to look out the window. It wasn't much different from my home town back in Minnesota. The orange street lights passed by revealing people walking to their destinations, cats running across streets, and kids sitting outside in groups. I sat there thinking back to home, or what was home, when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I quickly turned to see Pete sitting in the back seat staring at me. I smiled at him and he blushed looking down at his hands. I blushed as well and quickly went back to watching the streets go by. Pete was definitely not my type, but for some reason, I couldn't get my mind off of him.

We finally came to a halt at a simple looking house. It was one story with a connected garage. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"Home sweet home," Andy said getting out of the vehicle. Pete, Joe and I followed him to the garage door.

"Andy has a sweet set up in his garage. His parents gave him the reign," Joe said explaining why we were going into the garage and not his house. I just nodded again. Pete was oddly quiet.

I walked into the garage seemingly surprised. I walked around in the middle of the area looking around quite impressed.

"This is pretty cool," I said nonchalantly.

"Pretty cool? It's fucking sweet," Joe said plopping himself down on the couch.

"Language in front of the lady, Joe," Andy said simply. I just laughed a little and half expected Joe to say something about me not being a lady, but he just quietly apologized.

I sat down in one of the recliners and folded my legs under me so I was sitting Indian style. The garage was nicely done. There were two couches, and three recliners all around a coffee table that had tons of music and tattoo magazines covering it. The walls were decorated with posters of bands and of course half naked girls. There was a drum kit in the back with a couple of guitars in stands next to it. Andy had set up a kickin' entertainment system in the garage with a nice TV, stereo system and some game stations. There was a blanket and pillow on one of the couches and it was assumed that he more than likely slept out here.

"So how did you get your parents to let you do this?" I asked after getting a good look at it all.

"My parents felt that if I had a space of my own, out of their hair, I would spend more time here. That way they pretty much always know I'm staying out of some type of trouble, right?" he explained going towards the mini-fridge in the corner.

"Makes sense," I said nodding.

We were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door and a couple of girls and guys barging in.

"Hey guys!" Joe said standing up to greet the group. I instantly got nervous, and it didn't help the fact that I kept catching glances of Pete staring at me.

"Trohman, how's it going?" a guy asked and slapped him a high five. He had his arm around a very petite, very cute looking girl. She had blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.

They were followed by two other girls who seemed to be missing the accessory of a male on their arm. One had jet black hair and seemed to be more outspoken than the other two. The last had brownish-reddish hair and seemed very nice.

"Hey Peter," the one with jet black hair said and sat uncomfortably close to him. I noticed him edge away slightly.

"Hey Carrie," he said quietly looking at her only slightly.

"Why didn't you call me back the other night? I missed you," she said in a seductive way. I was more than confused as to what their relationship entailed.

"Carrie, did you meet Izzy?" Pete asked pointing towards me. I immediately got tense.

"Izzy moved here from Minnesota," Pete explained. I gave a slight wave towards her. She looked me up and down with a half disgusted look on her face.

"Hi," she said simply before going back to talking to Pete. I just looked down in my hands. This was getting more and more awkward.

"I don't know you," the girl with red-brown hair said standing next to me. I looked up at her and she had the biggest, bluest, most inquisitive eyes ever. She seemed immediately warm hearted.

"No, you don't," I said back smiling and standing up.

"I'm Ady, well, it's Adrianne," she said extending her hand.

"Isabelle, but everyone calls me Izzy," I said relieved that someone was actually being nice. I looked Adrianne up and down. She had on over sized pants and a tight pink shirt making it pretty obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra.

"So where are you from?" Adrianne asked sitting down on the recliner that was next to mine.

"Minnesota. Are you from here?" I asked sitting down as well, glad that I had someone to talk to, so I could take my attention off of the girl practically sitting on Pete.

"God no. I moved here last year from Wisconsin. Surprisingly enough, I knew Andy from a long time ago," she said sitting cross-legged on the chair. I followed suit.

"So, how do you know these guys?" she asked looking me up and down. I'm sure I looked horrible with my ripped jeans and tight hoodie clinging to my body. I subconsciously put my hands in my hoodie pockets.

"I met Pete this morning in Chemistry actually, and he kind of took me under his wing," I said looking over at Pete who was talking more comfortably with the girl who continued to inch closer and closer to him. If it was at all possible.

"So you just moved here. Wow. What do you think?" she asked surprised.

"Kind of..."

"Lame?" she asked interrupting me.

"Well, I can't brag. I'm not from a big town. I've definitely had my share of gravel pit parties and such, but everyone seems so "preppy." Except for these guys, and you definitely are not. I dunno. Being this close to Chicago, I thought people would be more like me," I said looking around the room.

"We're out there. You just gotta find us. Or in your case, we gotta find you," she said nodding to Pete who was looking at me now. The girl practically on his lap continued to stare at his face. I couldn't blame her.

I smiled at Pete giving him a look as to ask what he was looking at. He took that opportunity to stand up leaving the outspoken girl on the couch to protest.

"Pete! What the hell? I was talking to you!" she said standing up as well and walking towards him and me now. I got extremely tense at this point.

"Carrie, chill out," Pete said causing the girl to stop short in her tracks and look shocked. She then looked at me giving me the most evil look causing chills to go down my spine.

'This is just great. I have an enemy already.' I thought to myself.

"Are you two having fun?" Pete asked sitting on the arm of Adrianne's chair.

"You've found yourself a cute girl here, Pete," Adrianne said putting her arms around him. I didn't feel uncomfortable with this interaction, however. It was something about their interaction that told me not to be jealous. And why would I be jealous? I just met Pete; I have no right to be jealous of anyone. Even the crazy bitch on the couch. I smiled at my new nickname for the girl.

"What are you smiling at?" Pete asked at my grin. I looked up shocked. I couldn't tell the truth.

"I'm not cute. Your friend is just being overly nice," I said making something up.

"No, I think Ady has a point," he said nodding. I blushed fiercely, which was something I never do.

"Alright, since Ady is the only one here with enough decency to introduce herself, let me introduce these fools to you," Pete said standing up and clapping his hands together. Apparently he had gotten out of the silent funk he was in before.

"So you know Ady. I introduced you to Carrie over there on the couch earlier," he said pointing to a girl texting on her phone.

"And that's Gracie and Tony joined at the hip over there," he said pointing to the guy who had come in with the attached blonde. I just nodded as he went through the room.

"Ok," I said forcing a smile on my face. Pete looked down at me. I was feeling a little overwhelmed for it being my first day, and I knew it was showing.

"Do you want to go?" he asked quietly. I looked up at him relieved that he had said something.

"I don't want to make anyone leave," I said not wanting to be a stick in the mud. I hated people like that.

"Don't even say that. I will walk you," he said and walked over to the couch. Carrie got a smile on her face, but it quickly faded when he only ended up grabbing his hoodie.

"Come on," he said grabbing my hand. I got chills up and down my arms. We walked up to the rest of the gang that was standing and talking behind one of the couches.

"Guys, we gotta go. But, we'll see ya later," Pete said slapping Tony a high five.

"It was nice meeting you all," I said trying to be polite.

"Hey man, you coming over tomorrow?" Andy asked Pete.

"Yeah, around 2:00?" he asked making sure he had the time right.

"Yup," Andy nodded. Pete nodded back and walked out the door as everyone yelled goodbye, well, I'm sure everyone but Carrie.

It seemed to have gotten colder since we went into Andy's garage. I zipped up my hoodie and put my hands in my pockets.

"So, how was the first day?" Pete asked pulling his hoodie onto his head.

"It was fine," I said staring down at my feet as we walked.

"Just fine?" he asked sounding a little hurt.

"It was a little overwhelming. This definitely wasn't what I was expecting my first day to be like," I said trying to explain myself better.

"What did you expect it to be like?" he asked sounding amused now.

"I was expecting to be an outcast until I turned 18 or something like that. So I guess I should be thanking you," I said still not looking at him.

"You guess?" he asked. I could tell in the sound of his voice that he was teasing me now.

"Not guess, you know what I mean," I said getting frustrated. He was smiling so big now, that I could practically hear it.

"That's my house right there," he pointed to a simple two story house with a garage next to it and a porch with a swing gently swinging in the wind. In the dark it looked to be blue with white trim.

"It's nice," I smiled thinking about how warm it was probably inside that home. He was so nice, his parents must be saints.

"Yeah, and it's only two blocks away from you," he said back. I couldn't tell if he was flirting or not at this point.

"Oh yeah. I know where we are now," I said looking around ignoring his flirting, if he was flirting.

"Joe lives about three blocks behind me, so we are all in the general area," he said pointing back behind his house. I just nodded.

"So what did you think about the others?" he asked referring back to his friends at Andy's.

"Adrianne is awesome," I said sounding extremely happy that I had met her.

"She is. I had a feeling you two would hit it off," he smiled over at me. I continued to stare at my feet.

"So, is one of them like, well, your girlfriend?" I spit out sounding completely nervous about the question.

"Nope. Ady and I went out last year, but we were better off as friends, and Carrie, well, Carrie is hard to explain," he said not being put off by the question.

"She seems to like you a lot," I said now looking up at Pete who was looking straight ahead searching for words to say.

"Yeah, she does. She just isn't someone I can see myself dating," he said saying the words slowly as if he didn't know how to say them. I just nodded again. I got the vibe that something was going on there especially since he emphasized the word dating, but he didn't want to explain further. It probably meant he would and does have sex with her, but that's it.

"Do Joe or Andy have any girlfriends?" I asked so it wouldn't sound as though I was only interested in him.

"Andy and Ady have kind of been together for a month now, and I don't think anyone is strong enough to put up with Joe's shit," he said honestly. I just laughed at this.

"Well, here we are, I guess," I said looking at my dark house.

"Are you by yourself?" he asked concerned.

"Doubt it. My mom is probably asleep. She can never stay awake past eight when she's watching TV." I explained and started to walk towards the house.

"Well, have a good night," Pete said staying at the end of the driveway and turned to walk away.

"Pete!" I called after him. He stopped and turned to look at me.

"Thank you. Honestly. Thank you. I had a lot of fun tonight with you. I hope we can do it again?" I ask hoping this wasn't a one time deal. He smiled and nodded.

"You're welcome. I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said waving and sensing what I was worried about. He continued to walk down the street humming to himself. I smiled at his back. I couldn't help but feel that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.