Why?

He had been staring up at the stars for a while wishing that he was anywhere else while Sonya was lying next to him, this probably being the highlight of her week. He looked down from the sky and looked straight ahead of him. Sonya’s feet were bare as she was always taking her flip flops off and going barefoot wherever she was. It drove him crazy that she did that. Why couldn’t she just wear shoes and keep them on? He didn’t want to look at her feet. They were a size 9 so they stuck out compared to her petite body. Her skin on them was pale which made them stand out even more on this dark night up on the hill. She wasn’t even wearing toenail polish. Even the female MMA fighters that he had seen would wear toenail polish before their fights. What kind of girl didn’t wear toenail polish?

Why was he here with this nerdy girl? He was better than she was. He was a good looking guy, tan skin, gelled up hair, well-dressed, and physically fit. He was only 25-years-old and he was already driving a BMW. She was a nerdy girl, a year younger than him, who wore nerdy glasses, had pale skin, dressed in Walmart clothes, and she drove an old Ford. 

He should be able to do better than her. He DESERVED to be doing better than her. His friends were all able to get the hot girls. His friend weren’t any better than he was. He had been pursuing Heather. Heather was exactly what he wanted. Long blond hair, tan skin, very well dressed, nice boobs, and a beautiful smile. But Heather had shot him down when he asked if she wanted to hang out tonight. All of his friends were going out and they were going to get laid. He had to get laid too so he asked Sonya to hang out hoping she’d be happy just to be able to hang out with a good looking guy like him and that she’d put out.

He had asked her if she wanted to go out to a bar and hang out. It seemed like she’d want to do that so she could get to be seen in public with him. Then he’d get to have some drinks to at least have something to make hanging out with her a bit more bearable. But no, she wanted to go drive up on the hill and sit under the stars and talk. He couldn’t convince her otherwise. He should have figured that a loser girl like her who spent her free time reading and painting instead of partying, working out, and hanging out with friends like normal girls like Heather did, would want to do something dumb like this. 

He turned his head to look at her. She was just looking straight up at the stars with a smile on her nerdy face like lying there next to him doing that was making her so happy. He thought about his friends who were all out at the bars now, a beer in one hand, their other arm around their hot girlfriend, laughing, busting each others’ chops, and knowing they were going to go home with their hot girlfriends. Meanwhile he was stuck here lying in the grass next to her.

“Looks so beautiful up there,” she said in her soft, shy voice. “Makes you wonder what’s out there.”

He had to bite his tongue from telling her that was the dumbest thing he ever heard. Who the heck wondered what was out there? Who cared? Maybe if she spent more time socializing and trying to improve her looks instead of wondering what was ‘out there’ she wouldn’t be such a loser.

His phone rang. He was eager to answer it no matter who it was but when he saw it was Heather, he got noticeably excited. He saw Sonya look at him a bit annoyed that he was so anxious to take a call on their date but he didn’t care. Heather was calling.

“Hey what’s up,” he said, cracking his first smile since the date started.

“Hey Matt, what ya doing?” Heather said. He didn’t want to tell her, so he was glad that she started talking again before he got a chance to open his mouth. “Some of the girls and I are downtown. Want to come meet us?” 

“Yes!” he said excitedly. He could tell that Sonya thought he looked foolish but he didn’t care – it was Heather calling! Sonya didn’t matter anymore. “Text me where you’re at and I’ll be there soon.”

“Okay babe!” Heather said and the call ended. Finally he was getting his break and getting to hang out with Heather. He shouldn’t have gotten so down for things not going his way and known that everything was going to work out in the end.

“I gotta go,” he said to Sonya, unapologetically. “I can take you home.” They were both now sitting up.

“Where are you going?” she said. Was she serious? What business of it was hers where he was going? It wasn’t like they could sit under the stars all night.

“I’m just going out.”

“You meeting another girl? Was that who called you?” He thought about lying but then wondered what the point was. If he lied it would seem as if he was embarrassed or ashamed which he definitely had no reason to be. 

“Yeah,” he said proudly.

As he looked at the angry look in her eyes behind those nerdy glasses, he watched her arm wind back, her fist come forward, and before he could react, her fist punched him right in the nose. 

He fell backward landing on his back and as the pain shot throughout his face and then his head, he very quickly realized that he shouldn’t have been thinking of her as less than him. The pain he felt that had him holding back tears told him that she was the superior one and that he never should have thought otherwise. How stupid he had been to be so cocky. She was the one that could hurt him and he better remember that or he’d end up getting punched in the nose again. He opened his eyes and all he could see was stars.