that was then*
chapter 12
"Dora? Is that you?" Mrs.Christensen called softly when she heard the sound of the front doorknob twisting.
"Yeah, Ma, it's me," Dora replied, gently clicking the door shut.
"How was the party?" She asked, looking over the top of her book to see her daughter standing in the doorway.
"Wasn't too exciting, but wasn't entirely boring either."
"That's nice. Are you getting along with all the kids OK?"
Dora shrugged with a light laugh. "A good 70% of them."
"What about the other 30?"
Both Dora and her mother glanced to the opposite end of the room to catch Brian strolling in while cleaning off the lenses of his thick glasses.
"Uh, I don't know about the other 30, Dad. I'm just not interested, I guess."
He nodded understandingly. "Well, you better go upstairs and get to bed. Don't forget you have that job interview tomorrow morning."
"Ah, yes, the stimulating anticipation of discovering whether or not I will be able to ask, 'Soup or salad?'" Dora said, her words dripping with sarcasm.
"Hey, at least it's money. Once you get used to the work down here, then you can try out for a job you really like," Mrs.Christensen said in a very motherly tone.
Dora scraped the bottom of her shoes against the wood floor, and mumbled softly, "I like my old job."
"If you work hard enough, I'm sure you'll be able to find a fashion internship that's just like the one you had back home," Dora's father noted, answering a question that wasn't even asked.
"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow then." Dora dragged her feet up the stairs, and fell willingly onto the soft down that covered her bed.
As much as she hated to admit it, her mind continually strayed back to Josh. For some reason, he made her feel unexplainably insecure. She had never felt that way when she was with Danny.
Speaking of Danny, Dora thought to herself, I have to call him. She quickly reached for her phone, and dialed his number (it was like second nature to her).
"Hello?"
Dora inadvertently held her breath. "Hi, Dan, it's me."
"Hey, Dora!" His voice sounded a million times more inviting. "How are you?"
"Pretty good. How about you?"
"I'm doin' OK. How's Florida?"
She let out an exasperated sigh that caused Danny to laugh. "It's different."
"Why don't you just tell your dad to quit that job so you can come home?"
"I wish I could, but you know how my father is. Even if we won the lottery, he would still work."
"Yeah, that's true." There was a long pause. "So...you got a boyfriend over there, or what?"
She smiled. "Do you really care?"
"Of course I do," the Irish accent that was handed down to him by his red haired, blue eyes mother started to come out.
"You're using your accent, now I know you really want to get into my personal life."
They both laughed. Whenever Danny got either angry or anxious, the slight accent that he always tried desperately to hide would suddenly emerge.
"Come on, tell me."
She shrugged. "I don't know...maybe."
"Maybe? Are you trying to piss me off?"
"Well, I don't know, it's weird. He's like the first person I met down here...he's a really popular jock, you two would get along perfectly," she joked. She and Danny always would rag on the 'populars' when they were together. They couldn't understand their seemingly conformist lifestyle.
"And?" Danny asked rather impatiently.
"We hang out, and stuff, but it hasn't really been like a date, or anything." She could tell by the silence that Danny wasn't too thrilled with her new companion, so she decided to tell a little white lie to help ease the pain. "I don't even know if I like him that way."
"Oh, so you two are just friends then?" he asked, sounding a little relieved.
"Yeah." She grabbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. She couldn't believe she just lied to him.
"That's cool then. I mean, I don't wanna keep you on a leash, or anything; you're a big girl, you can do what you want, but I always kinda thought that after your dad does his whole career thing, you'd come back here, and we could just sort of pick up where we left off."
"Uh huh. So, I'll try and keep the thousands of my gentlemen callers at bay then."
"I appreciate it."
Dora smiled. "Well, I have to get to bed. I have a job interview tomorrow morning."
"OK, good luck with that."
"Thanks. I'll talk to you soon."
"Yeah, OK. Bye, Dor."
"Bye." She hung up, and buried her face deep into the soft cotton of her pillow.
"For God's sake, Bryce, are you almost done?" Josh whined as he followed his friend around the cracked sidewalk of the local mini-mall.
"Shh! Stop bein' a bitch, J," Bryce said over his shoulder. "I just wanna get my girl a present."
"Yeah, well, you can give it to her on her 19th birthday, because that's how old she's gonna be by the time you pick something out!"
Bryce stopped, and turned around. "Answer this one question, what else would you be doing today if I didn't ask you to come here with me?"
Josh sighed, and said in a defeated tone, "Nothing."
"My point exactly. Now stop being pansy, and come on." Bryce flipped around and dodged into one of the other stores that fenced the surprisingly quiet parkinglot.
"You're a guy, you're supposed to hate shopping!" Josh called out. He threw his head back, and stared at the pale blue sky above him. I'm gonna kill him.
"Josh?"
Quickly he looked in front of him. "Hey, Dora," he said with a smile.
"Hi. What are you doing here?" she asked with a furrow of her brow.