Lucky Jeans

We all need a pair

I knew I would be late. But it was only when I actually did look at the clock that I realized with a sudden shock and I yelped, "Oh no! I'm really late!"

I was supposed to be at Nina's house in another 15 minutes and normally, it would take at least 25 minutes to reach there. Being late would mean that Nina's impression of me would go down. And I couldn't possibly let that happen. Ever.

I quickly slapped some hair gel on my hands and lathered it on my hair as I would butter on toast (but without a knife, of course). I took a look at myself in the mirror to make sure I seemed decent. And then another quick gander, this time to keep my posture in check. After a few more couple of poses and last minute hair-waving, I finally decided to leave the house.

I wore my old blue jeans, nearly completely faded but only up to a point where people could still make out that the colour of blue still partially existed on the garment. These were my lucky jeans and they got me through a messy stint with a cake, an embarrassing brush with the law for under-age driving and now hopefully it would help in impressing Nina.

I wore my sneakers and tied the lace, all with such swift accuracy that by the time I realized that I was wearing two totally different pieces of sneaker footwear, I was already halfway to Nina's place. I just prayed to God hoping that Nina wouldn't notice. I got off at the bus-stop near Nina's house and then strode towards her front door. I was ready to make contact and re-affirming that my back was straight. I constantly checked to make sure my hair was wavy enough. Assuring myself of the optimum state at which I will be able to present myself to Nina, I rang the doorbell and waited to be greeted by the sweet scented air of Nina - my crush.

"Hey, Patrick!" She greeted me in her usual sweet and chirpy voice. She was wearing a brown dress. The type which was a frock and also a top at the same time. She looked quite pretty. "Hey, Nina," I calmly replied. "I hope I'm not too late." I quickly yet discreetly removed my shoes and hid them somewhere around the flower pots at the entrance to her house.

"No, not at all, 5 minutes isn't that late," she said. And I suddenly felt so grateful for her kind and gracious words.

She seemed really anxious for some reason. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But whatever it was, I knew it was something big. Nina was in 'excited' mode now and she constantly stressed her forehead until those stress lines could be noticed. She also kept twirling her brownish burgundy streaked hair until she formed curls that rolled up her ears. These traits of hers made her all the more cute.

"Charleston is on his way right now," she excitedly proclaimed.

"Charleston? Sounds great." I was trying to hide my deep curiosity as to who could possibly possess such a name. I tried putting off various possibilities of Princes or English-accented young good-looking men. I kept my face as calm as I could, trying not to feel intimidated by that. I was secretly hoping that this 'Charleston' would be some small adorable kid, perhaps a distant cousin.

"Yea, he's so awesome. He's really handsome. He's got beautiful golden hair and he's really intelligent. You'd really love meeting him." Her voice now quirky as ever, but this time with a slight hint of increased pitch in her tone.

"Seems like a great guy. I'm looking forward to it," I said, with a seemingly confident voice. But with an even more menacing doubt in my head. This guy didn't sound like any cousin that she would be having over. Had it been that, she would have commented on how cute his face was or something like that. Nevertheless, I kept my hands firmly clasped to my jeans as we were sitting in her spacious hall.

"He'll be quite happy to see you. He's really friendly and gets along well with everyone. He's quite popular with the kids too." Her eyes beamed with such great admiration for that seemingly sparkling individual.

"I'm sure he is. So when is he going to be making his grand arrival?" I was not really as eager for his arrival as I sounded.

Nina responded to me with dark brown eyes twinkling as bright as her overjoyed mood while in wait of Charleston. "My sis is driving him here as we speak. Aw, I can't wait for him to come! I'm so in love with him, Patrick!"

I was completely and utterly darkened by this. I knew Nina since we were both 7. We were best friends. It was only until last year at her 17th Birthday that I actually realized that I was developing these feelings for her. And now, these feelings that I had harboured for her would mean nothing. All because of some new blond-haired guy with a fancy name.

Sure, she didn't know that I liked her and she always knew that she could confide in me over any matter. But this seemed all so sudden and I was caught unaware. I started to think well, maybe it was never meant to be. I didn't reply but instead just gave slight nod.

I discreetly sighed to let go of my agony as much as I could and tried to avoid letting Nina notice my despair. Not that she would actually pay any attention to it, seeing as she was so fixated on that guy Charleston - that lucky jerk.
If he was as good as Nina said he was, why was her sister driving him? Couldn't he drive himself if he was so 'wonderful'? Not that I had a license either, but I failed my Drivers' Ed tests 2 times.

I thought that having high expectancies about this person would be quite advantageous for me. Since that way, when I would actually meet him and see him horribly fail through my high expectations, I could cherish the thought that he wouldn't turn out to be as perfect as my impression on him turned out to be. That slight victory, no matter how shallow could very well allow me to satisfyingly spend the rest of my life, even without Nina. However, the only way that could have made this whole affair much worse was if he managed to meet all of my high expectations.

We heard the arrival of a car outside the house and we both went to the door. Nina was sprinting rather than actually walking. She noticed my shoes in the corner of the entrance and giggled at them. Out from the car came her older sister, wearing sunglasses and what I could only assume to be a frilly top and jeans. She had that same chirpy look on her face as Nina did.

"Dana! I missed you so much! I hope the drive was good," Nina exclaimed with joy. Both the sisters met and embraced.

"So where's Charleston?" Nina asked, obviously very intrigued as to his whereabouts.

"Oh, he's still in the car. Let me go and get him," Dana said, as she walked towards the car to open the car door for the highly anticipated and acclaimed guest. I kept my hands in a fist, eager to see the man that made my Nina go gaga over him for so long. I was determined to find out what this person looks like and whether he was even worthy of Nina's compassion.

As the car door opened, out came Charleston, matching every single piece of description that Nina had laid out for me earlier. He walked right to us and looked at us with the eyes of someone who had just seen their beloved people after many years. He seemed like everything that Nina had told me he would be. And looking at the end result of the anticipation, I was very happy.

As soon as he reached us, Nina gave Charleston a big hug and Charleston looked completely smothered by her thick brown fabric.

"Patrick, meet Charleston," Nina said, as she decided to introduce the two of us.

"Hello, Charleston! Nice to meet you." I delightfully reached out my hand to him.

"Woof!" He excitedly replied, as if in approval of a new friend.

"You guys will be great friends," Nina said, as she held my hand in hers.

"We definitely will." I smiled at the friendly Labrador as it rubbed itself against my legs in affection.

"Patrick, look. Charleston is getting all his fur on your jeans", Dana warned me, obviously concerned that he might spoil my jeans. Though she couldn't help but smile at the delight of Charleston as his face leaned against my soft faded jeans.

"That's quite alright, Dana," I said confidently. "These are my lucky pair. Seems like Charleston is quite fond of my luck"

Charleston wagged his tail in approval.

Author's Note

I'm still new to the world of story writing. So I'll appreciate any feedback. :)

Reviews

[Different Wings]

I like the concept, especially the first few paragraphs where you get us really excited to meet this girl, provide some background to the character and detail just the right level of action. But I feel that this intrigue drops off once the narrator reaches the house. There is no direction- does NIna invite him in? has he been to her house before? why doesn't he ask who Charleston is?- and some thoughts that I think could be better expressed as dialogue. Instead of having the narrator do a complete one-eighty, have a a few awkward moments and get some laughs. Give some detail on the two of them. What are Nina and the narrator like together? Maybe THEN introduce Charleston. I like this idea, too, but I think that I predicted his canine nature long before it was revealed. Take a step back, maybe? These are all just thoughts I had while reading, and you can pick and choose as you wish. I look forward to reading your future stories!