Vocabulary Story 2

Date due: 07/06/08
Vocabulary: Extreme, Awkward, Bluish, Quitting, Technology
Word count: 500-1000

Twenty Feet Part 2: Peter

Peter was not the kind of person who regularly asked for girls’ phone numbers, much less the kind who asked them back to his place. Having a roommate was risky enough without showing strange girls where he lived. But for Julie, Peter already felt like he would risk quite a lot. He couldn’t ask her to come home with him, though. Even if he had the courage to propose something so extreme, he doubted she would agree to it, and he felt that he might respect her less if she did. Her phone number couldn’t hurt, though. Could it?

He made a point of saving her number directly into his phone. This was a sign of good faith that he hoped would prove his seriousness, and it had the added bonus of allowing him to casually suggest that she take his number as well. It was possible that Peter had never been so happy about the existence of modern technology. He would gladly take back every snide remark he had made about sixth graders with iPhones in exchange for this moment.

“I will call you, you know.”

“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” she teased, before adding sheepishly, “Okay, I actually haven’t heard that one before.”

“And don’t be afraid to call me,” Peter added a little too enthusiastically.

“Am I that obvious?” she smiled shyly.

Julie said goodbye and crossed to the other side of the room where the door was. He willed her to glance back, and she did, but so briefly, before quitting the room. The expanse of twenty feet that lay between them was as unfathomable as the endless possibilities of the days ahead, but Peter would not let them slip by.

***

Peter awoke with a fleeting memory of the bluish-gray shade of Julie’s eyes, which had been barely discernable in the sickly yellow light of the soft glow bulbs in the lamps at the party. The sky above him was a similar shade of gray and he protected his eyes for a moment from the brightness reflected off of them. He felt as though he had slept in the most awkward position a contortionist might dream up. Everything hurt. He was covered in bruises, and he was quite certain of this fact because he was naked. He also had cuts and scratches all over his body and a fair amount of blood on him. His mouth was dry and a foul taste lingered in it.

He groaned and rolled over on the rocky ground he had apparently spent the night on, stood, and tried to orient himself. There had to be a way of dealing with this that wouldn’t lead to him accidentally dying from exposure. At least everything seemed to be all right for now. He was just in the woods behind his house. It was only about half a mile to his front door. Peter was grateful for the unusually warm temperature of this October morning, and prayed that he would meet no one on his way home. He was even more grateful when he found a decently sized stream in his path, and used the water to wash as much blood as he could off his skin.

John answered the door and smirked.

“Good party?”

“A blast,” replied Peter as he ducked inside and wrapped a blanket around himself. John and Ralph were used to him showing up at weird times in worse states, so it was no surprise that John did not pursue the conversation and allowed Peter to climb the stairs up to his room without further comment.

Miraculously, when he had made it safely to his bedroom, he found that his beloved boots were there intact, as were his wallet and cell phone. He must have remembered to get himself at least partially undressed before he left the house. Thank God. Peter winced as he twisted his body around so that the vertebrae in his back popped into alignment audibly.

He looked at his phone. One missed call: Julie. Peter swore. He hadn’t counted on her actually calling him first. He had waited a few days because he had hoped that that would make it seem like he was playing it cool. Now he felt like an idiot for making her wait. He brought up her number and pressed “send,” suppressing a nervous pang in his stomach that did not interact well with the significant nausea he was already feeling.

“Hello?” Her voice was just as he remembered it.

“Hi, Julie? It’s Peter.” Did he sound as nervous as he felt?

“Oh, hi Peter!” Peter prayed she was really as happy as she sounded.

“I’m sorry I missed your call last night. I was studying for this Physics exam and I fell asleep at my desk! But I’ve been meaning to call you and I’m glad you got a hold of me. Listen, there’s this great movie out…”