| The Mission �Good night, Craig,� I said awkwardly, watching him get into his car. I feebly waved he pulled out of Rachel�s driveway. As soon as he was out of sight, I ran, still wearing my homecoming dress, into the beige quad-level. Everyone was waiting for me inside. �What were you two doing out there, Whitney?� Lindsey asked, clearly hoping for some juicy, gossip-worthy answer. �Nothing, Lindsey. Absolutely nothing.� It may have been true, but the girls still giggled the way high school girls do, because they knew that I had a crush on him. Craig and I had gone to Homecoming as friends, and he still had no idea that I wanted him. And when I say, �he had no idea,� I really mean that he knew, but he hadn�t said anything about it. Of course he knew. Staring wistfully into his gorgeous, blue eyes; laughing at his adorable, cheesy jokes; fawning over his technical aptitude in band; memorizing every inch of his prominent, German nose. Everyone knew. �Whitney!� Rachel yelled, exercising her hockey-lungs, �Hurry up and change so we can go to Meijer!� �Why do we have to change?� asked Stacy, looking up from her milkshake. �Because we look like freaks,� I said matter-of-factly. �Whitney, who�s gonna be at Meijer at one o�clock in the morning?� �You�re serious, aren�t you?� She nodded and smiled deviously. �You freak! I can�t believe you. You freak! I am so in.� I ran down the stairs and warned everyone not to change. That night, eight girls were at Rachel�s house, but three of them decided they�d rather sleep than buy gummy worms at one in the morning. The five of us were a lovely sight, in our formal gowns, tennis shoes and sweatshirts. We all piled into Stacy�s big white minivan and drove into the night. With Destiny�s Child still blasting, we pulled into the Meijer parking lot. We giggled our way to the automatic doors and were greeting by a series of catcalls by four men in a shabby old truck. �Hey there, ladies. What�re you dressed up for?� The greasy man asked, bawdily. �I�m sorry, we don�t like dirty old men,� Rachel shot back as we hurried into the safety of Meijer. The store was nearly empty, and we were glad. We didn�t need witnesses as we filled our arms (we didn�t have the foresight to get a cart) with silly string and bulk gummy worms, and laughed our way through the aisles. �How many boxes will we need, Rach?� I asked, pondering the mountain of plastic food wrap. �I don�t know�� Rachel said thoughtfully, �Well, two for Jeff, two for Craig, maybe two for Adam� How about six?� Three or four aisles later, we came upon the best, most random idea ever. �Oh my God!� Rach shouted. �What?� Lindsey asked, a little annoyed and embarrassed at her loudness. �Look!� As commanded, we did. To the unobservant eye it was a large white rack. From this rack dangled multi-colored toothbrushes bearing men�s names. �Hey, I found �Craig�,� I announced, �Is there a �Jeff� and an �Adam�?� �Why are we getting one for Adam? Wouldn�t Brie be jealous?� Stacy asked. Rachel looked up from the display holding a blue �Jeff� in her hand. �Jealous that we�re buying her boyfriend a toothbrush?� Stacy pondered for a second. �Good point,� she conceded, �Should we get �Adam� in yellow or purple?� Twenty minutes later, we were back in Stacy�s van, driving to Interlochen, or more specifically, Nick�s house. Nick was having a post-Homecoming party, and all the guys were there, so logically we had to stop by and Saran Wrap their cars. �Take on me� Take me on!� I belted out, through a mouth full of gummy worms. �Do we have to keep listening to this?� Lindsey asked impatiently. �Dude�it�s Ah Ha,� I snapped. �Eighties music rocks my world. Deal,� Rachel insisted. Lindsey pouted in the back of the van with Ginger, Rachel�s cousin, who had remained silent through all of these events. �Rachel, I still can�t believe what you said to that guy in the checkout,� Stacy said chattily, without taking her eyes off the road. �What? All I did was ask him if we looked suspicious?� Rachel said innocently. �But Rachel, by asking if you look suspicious, it automatically makes you suspicious,� I said, adding my wisdom to the situation. Rachel was not going to budge. �He probably already thought we were. I mean, how many people buy Saran Wrap, gummy worms, monogrammed toothbrushes, stuffed animal sheep, tabloids, silly string and sidewalk chalk at one in the morning?� �We�re almost there, you guys,� Stacy announced, �Look. We�re on his road already.� We turned down the music as the bulky white minivan rumbled down the dirt road, and began to prepare mentally for the task ahead of us. �So, whose car is first?� Ginger asked. �Craig,� I said seriously. No one challenged me. We parked the car on the road in front of Nick�s house. A patch of trees hid the van from prying eyes, but it was late enough that no one in the house would be paying attention. Satisfied with our concealment, we grabbed boxes of Saran Wrap and quietly piled out of the van. �I don�t see Craig�s car,� Rachel whispered fretfully. �That�s because he has his mom�s car tonight. There it is,� I said, pointing at a little Subaru sedan. Craig had made a very big deal about getting that car tonight. As I passed the roll of plastic wrap over the roof of the car to Lindsey�s energetic and eager hands, I had to laugh a little at the effort Craig put into the whole evening. For weeks he had pestered his mother for her car; it was homecoming of his senior year and gosh darn it, he wasn�t going to pick up his date in his robin�s egg blue soccer mom minivan. When he finally got to use the car, he spent the whole day cleaning the car and playing with the toys he didn�t have in his car: nice speakers, a CD player, remote keyless entry. Just as this thought crossed my mind, the car�s light�s flashed and we heard the little click of the remote keyless entry. �Dude! He�s coming!� I half shouted, half whispered at my companions. We hid in the nearby woods and tried to control our laughter as Craig inspected his partially plastic wrapped car. He started laughing, and I couldn�t help but laugh too. We tried even harder to keep quiet, but it didn�t work. Our cover was blown, so I jumped out of the woods and approached our victim. �Hey, Craig,� I laughed as the others started emerging from the woods. �I knew you guys had something to do with this,� Craig said with a huge grin on his face. �Why�re you leaving now?� Rachel asked, �We thought you were staying the night.� �Obviously, I�m not,� Craig said flatly, but with an air of mischief. He never was one to elaborate, preferring to leave things purposefully vague. Adam and Jeff thought it was irritating, but to me it was intriguing. Everything he did was intriguing or fascinating or just plain adorable. Whether he was popping every joint in his body, responding to every question with, �Guess�, or play clown music on his saxophone, it was somehow adorable. That was the amazing thing about Craig, and I pondered it in every respect as I helped him un-plastic wrap his car. �Can I keep the Saran Wrap?� he asked, holding onto the partially unrolled tube. �If you really want to,� Stacy laughed. �Oh my gosh!� I yelped suddenly. �We forgot to give you your present, Craig!� He chuckled. �What is it?� �Why don�t you guess?� I asked playfully. �Come on, it�s in Stacy�s van.� He grinned widely and knowingly raised his eyebrows. �Craig!� I exclaimed in pretend shock and smacked him. �Not like that! Oh, come on.� I grabbed him by his arm and led him through the darkness. With some difficulty I opened the door and snatched up the Meijer bag. �It�s in here somewhere,� I babbled as I looked for the toothbrush, �Here�s Adam�s� and Jeff�s�. Ooh, where�s yours?� �Is it like what you got Jeff and Adam?� He asked. I looked up at him, quite flustered, �Well, yes, but yours is purple.� He chuckled a little. I never was sure if he was laughing with me, at me, or at the whole situation we were in. There we were, standing outside Nick�s house at three in the morning and I was so flustered about not being able to find a purple toothbrush that I had totally forgotten that I was alone with him. �Are you laughing at me?� I asked. �Guess,� he said wryly. �I hate you, Craig.� �Is that why you made your friends Saran Wrap my car?� �Guess,� I grinned broadly at him and then asked, �Can I have a hug?� �Of course.� |