Jaime Preciado and the Mighty Ding

The party was over as soon as Mike had passed out on his chair after the movie. I don’t think anyone had stopped grinning. Mike even looked like he was smiling in his little chair. Jaime walked me to the door as I slid on my shoes.

“Thanks for coming by, Willow.” He chuckled. I smiled and gave him a hug.

“I don’t think I can call you Ding anymore.” He laughed. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

“Ding.” I confirmed.

“Not just Ding…the Mighty Ding.” He smiled. I nodded. I liked the sound of that.

“Or MD. MD works.” I chuckled at his other name for me. He muttered something about having to write down all these names for me. We slowly walked out to my car in the cold night. I would be shivering on the ride home since my car can be as cold as the inside of the North Pole. I’m sure Santa’s elves must be constantly getting some of those hot packs for their hands…

“Well tonight has been fun.” He smiled to me. I ruffled his hair in response. He swatted at my hands and he chuckled.

“Jaime.” I rolled my eyes.

“Willow.”

“Ding.” I corrected. He chuckled. The moon overhead seemed to be smiling. My mom always told me that a man was walking up there and got stuck, so he just got absorbed into the moon but was happy there. That’s why there was always a smile on the moon.

“Seriously, tonight was fun, MD.” He said. I nodded with him.

“Ding.” I responded. He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek and I must’ve exploded into a thousand little doorbells sounds because whatthehelljusthappened?

“I’ll text you to meet up sometime, okay?” He asked. I stepped into my car and nodded, still feeling the heat from that cute gesture. He waved as I backed the car out and went down the ten mile long driveway. As I crossed the border from Canada back to the US, I pulled into the street and started to silently scream with joy!

Yep, tonight is great night. I’d say one of my top ten.

When I pulled into my driveway, I got a text from Autumn wondering how it went. I shut off the car and replied to her text. I told her the good news about what I was saying now. She replied with a bunch of exclamation points afterwards.

But then I got a bit of worrying text after I told my best friend about the little kiss.

Autumn: Wait, Make out, or nah?

Me: Go with the or nah part.

Autumn: Well, he still kissed you!

Me: I guess that counts for something...

Autumn: Hey, you know that he has a girlfriend, right? :/

Me: Um…where’d you hear that?

I bit my lip for the response. I didn’t see any girl there with Jaime. Oh and if she says that she heard it on the internet, I’m going to internally scream. Autumn believes anything she hears on the internet.

Autumn: I saw it on his Twitter account about a month ago.

Me: Oh, well it was probably nothing!

I tried to laugh it off, but I felt my heart drop on the inside. I kind of hoped that it had greater meaning than that. Well, it was Jaime Preciado. How deep could that guy be?

Autumn: Well don’t lose hope, Dinger. Maybe he’ll open his eyes and realize what he’s missing.

Me: Thanks, Autumn. I’ll see you soon, okay?

Autumn: Kk, see ya.

I shut off my phone and shoved it into my pocket. I tried to breathe and even out my fluttering heart. Yeah, it just meant nothing…

“Hey, Willow!” My mom called out as I entered the house. I walked in to see her in the kitchen. It was about eleven at night, but I knew my mom wouldn’t be sleeping until I got home.

“How was the party? Not to wild, I hope?” She chuckled. I nodded and grinned. She eyed me suspiciously.

“Please tell me you used a condom….” She trailed off. I rolled my eyes playfully and shook my head, sticking my tongue out.

“Good! I didn’t expect to be a grandma this early. Now tell me, who was this boy?” She asked. I took a deep breath.

“Jaime.” I responded. Her eyes went wide.

“WILLOW!” She cried out. Scurrying over in her pink bunny slippers, she wrapped her arms around me.

“Jaime!” I cried out again, hugging her back. She kissed my forehead.

“I’m so proud of you.” She whispered. I laughed and gave her another hug.

“Jaime.” I whispered again.

“I would’ve loved to have your next word to be ‘Mom’, but you’re talking and that’s even better.” She told me. I sat down at the counter as she pulled out a mug from the cabinet. Pulling out hot chocolate, my mom began to make the drink for me. We might live in California and it’s never cold, but I loved the warm chocolate drink.

“I owe this boy a big thank you for this. I can’t believe you spoke your next word today.” She shook her head like I was four years old and just ran a marathon in thirty minutes. I chuckled silently and took the mug from her hands. Sipping on the drink, I smiled and enjoyed the happiness my mother expelled. She was always really happy when I talked.

Back at Jaime’s house…

“Dude! You did not!” Vic sighed. Mike snored. Tony hiccupped. Jaime just sat there at the counter drinking some water.

“Oh come on, it meant nothing.” Jaime countered. Vic slapped him on the back, causing him to choke.

“Nothing!? Come on, you have Oliva, man!” Vic shook his head. Jaime punched himself in the chest, trying to clear his chest of water. Tony hiccupped again in the background.

“Come on, hic, Himes. You, hic, like, hic, her!” Tony choked out. Jaime just shook his head again.

“Shut up! I do not!” Jaime blushed and looked down, although it was painfully obvious that it wasn’t true.

“Do to! We see how unhappy you are with Olivia. Dump her and take Ding!” Vic encouraged. Tony hiccupped another yes to agree with Vic. Mike snored and Vic took that as a third party agreement.

“Well, I don’t want to cheat on Olivia, but I don’t want to push MD away.” He sighed. Putting his head in his hands, he tried to search for a solution. Vic leaned on the bar beside him.

“Himes, all you have to do is keep up with MD. Invite her to coffee with Olivia sometime. We’ll be your wingman, err, wingmen.” Vic smiled. Jaime threw him a grateful look.

“Come on, it’ll be, hic, fun!” Tony added. Jaime nodded, finally accepting the fact his friends won’t leave him alone.

“I still can’t believe you kissed her.” Vic shook his head.

“CAAAAANNN YOUUU FEEEEL THE LLOOOOOVE-“ He started to sing.

“Shut up, butt-queef!” Jaime smacked him.

Notes