I woke up around 10am anyway. I knew that I would need at least an hour to become human again and another to clean my self up. Caffeine! I made my way upstairs and into the kitchen. My mom was already sitting at the table drinking her coffee. I grabbed my Dew from the fridge and turned to head back down to my room to complete the transformation from zombie.  Mom normally doesn’t bother me until I come back up but this morning she felt like talking. GRR ARRG!!! “Morning Sweetie. Are you alive yet? Can we talk?”

“What are the chances that you’ll pretend that you haven’t seen me yet?”

“Slim to none. Come on It’s nothing bad. Sit down next to mamma.” She patted the seat on the chair next to her like I was five all over again. GRRR double ARRGH. I walked over and sat down in the chair. I popped the tab on my Dew and took a big swig. “Taylor called me when she got home last night.” My eyes bugged out of my head and I nearly spit all over the place. She wouldn’t have, would she? I pulled myself together. “Sorry, went down the wrong pipe. You were saying?”

“Well, what are your plans for the day?”

“Nothing really, why?”

“Taylor wants to take us out to a late lunch today. She said that there was a surprise and that she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Do you have any idea what she’s got up her sleeve?” Mom shook her head no very as a matter of factly. “I swear I have no idea what she’s up to. Are you up for it?”

I thought about it for a second and agreed to come along. “Oh crap! What time do we have to meet her or whatever?” She looked at me kind of strangely and said around Two o’clock and asked why. That was a relief. I really wanted to make sure that Sarah got her stuff back. I told her about yesterday and that Sarah would be here around noon.

“Oh, that’s funny. I wish I’d been there to see that.” She let out a small laugh but her face became all serious again. Oh great here it comes.

“She also told me about your little chat in the kitchen.” I started to speak but she put her hands up to stop me. “She didn’t tell what you talked about or anything. She just told me to leave you the hell alone and stop pestering you about things.” I knew she wouldn’t rat me out!

“Did she actually say that or are you exaggerating?” She smiled at me and I knew that Taylor wouldn’t talk to my mother like that. “So, I’m taking her advice. Whenever, you are ready to tell me anything, I’ll be here. Until then, I’m off your back. I remember how hard it was for me at 17. You don’t need me breathing down your neck.”

I practically flew out of my chair to give her a hug. She hugged me back. When we pulled apart we gave each other a nod of understanding. “Now, I’m going to go away now. Be ready by 1:45pm. Taylor will be here around 2.” She got up and made her way upstairs. I retreated back to my cave, feeling so much better today then I did yesterday. A lot better actually.

About an hour and half later I was ready. Since I technically didn’t have to be ready, ready for another 2 hours, I slipped on some shorts and a tee shirt, plopped on my couch and waited for Sarah to get here. I didn’t have to wait long. Only a few minutes had passed when I heard her mustang pulling into the driveway.

I answered the door before she could ring the bell. “Hey, you found it.”

“Sure did. You were right that was easy. Sorry I’m a little early. I gave myself plenty of time incase I got lost.”

“No worries. C’mon in.” Once we were inside, my mom came down stairs and greeted us. “Hey mom, this is Sarah the girl I told you about earlier.”

“Well hello Sarah. I’m Carly. It’s nice to meet you.” She said as she extended her hand. “Hi, nice to meet you as well.” Sarah said as she shook her hand. “So, I hear you’re new in town. How do you like it here so far?”

“Well to be honest, I don’t know yet. Other than, literally running into your daughter, I haven’t had much of a chance to settle in. But I’ve got a feeling I’m going to like it here.” She smiled at me when saying it and her cheeks flashed a hint of red. My mom laughed. “Yeah, Megan told me how you girls met, earlier. Wished I could’ve been there to see that.”

“God, it was so embarrassing! Thankfully, it was Megan and not someone else. Otherwise, I think my first day of school would be unbearable.”

“And what makes you think I won’t tell everyone I know, what a klutz the new girl is.” I said it teasingly but a look of dread crossed her face. “I’m kidding. I wouldn’t do something like that. That’s just mean.” She relaxed, realizing that I really was just kidding.

“Well girls, I got to run. Sarah it was really nice meeting you. Come around again soon ok.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Megan, I’m just running up to the store. I’ll be back in a little while. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m good. See you in a bit.” With that she was gone. I turned to look at Sarah and saw her glancing about the house.  “Your house is deceiving from the outside. This thing is huge!”

“Yeah we get that a lot. Let me give you the five cent tour.” We bounced from room to room. She took everything in but still couldn’t get over how much space we had compared to the outside view. I ended the tour with my room. “You’re kidding me, right? Your room looks like an apartment!”

“Nope, it was a birthday present when I turned 16. My mom said that I deserved my own space just as much as she did. She gave me this space and turned my old room into a hobby room.”

“Your mom rocks! This is awesome.”  She passed by me continuing to look around. What did you do to deserve your “own space”?

“Well, I don’t think I deserved it. Actually, I think she got tired of all my friends staying over. We would take over the living room almost every weekend and sometimes during the week. Especially when it was softball season. I think she was the one who wanted space.” We both laughed as I invited her to have a seat. “So you play softball, have tons of friends and you’re a good Samaritan? Wow did I find the right girl to knock over.” She laughed at her own comments but saw that I only half smiled. Truth is I didn’t really have a lot of friends anymore. I still played softball, but after an injury two years ago, I lost my confidence and well, let’s just say I went from Hero to Zero pretty quick. “I don’t play for school anymore; just rec ball and well the only friends that I still have is Alex. She’s the one that was bent over laughing at me yesterday.”

“Oh yeah, how bad did she make fun of you after I left?”

“I only had to smack her twice before she gave it up.” I lied. Alex hadn’t made fun of me about that at all because well she teased me about flirting with Sarah. Who is now sitting on my couch.

( Finish conversation/ talk about Sarah and where she came from)

I didn’t realize that we had been talking for like two hours. She was so easy to talk to. It was like we’d been friends for years. It felt easy and natural to be around her. I was actually comfortable, something that normally takes a long time to happen when I meet someone new. We’d clicked and I hope it just wasn’t one sided. I’d like to get to know her more and possibly expand my non-existent social life. There was only one problem that I found. I was attracted to this girl and I have no idea what to do about it. I mean seriously, what do I do? Tell her? Hell, I just met her. She’s new in town and all she’s probably trying to do is make a new friend. Pathetic loser! That’s what I am. I might be in trouble here.

I heard foot steps coming from the stairs that led to my room. I glanced at the clock. It finally registered that I was supposed to be ready by now. Oh crap! “Hey kiddo, are you ready?” Taylor was in the doorway before I could answer. “Oh, I’m sorry Megan. I didn’t know you had company.”

“No worries, Taylor. This is Sarah. She’s the one whose stuff I found. I told you about it yesterday.”  Sarah stepped forward and extended her hand to Taylor. Taylor stepped into the room and accepted it with a smile. “You’re lucky Megan was the one who found your stuff. Most people around here wouldn’t have bothered. She’s a sweetie like that.” She gave me a little wink.

“ I’m beginning to see that.” I felt my face redden at the cute compliment, but turned away, hoping that she didn’t see me blush. Taylor on the other hand doesn’t miss a thing. She just smiled at me and let it go. “Taylor, I’ll be ready in a few minutes. I’m sorry, we got to talking and I completely lost track of time.” Sarah looked around the room and found the clock. I’m guessing from the expression on her face that she couldn’t believe it either. “I’m sorry I took up so much of your time today and now I’ve made you late for something. I should get going.” She gathered up her bag. Before I could think, I blurted out . “Would you like to come with us Sarah?“ Taylor looked at me kind of surprised but with approval at the same time.

“Oh, I’ve already taken up so much of your time Megan. I don’t want to take up anymore.”

“Hey, it’s my time and I choose to do with it what I want. So, are you hungry?”

“Actually, yes I’m starving. I didn’t have breakfast.”

“Well that settles it then.” Taylor finally stated.  She gave me that surprised but approving  look again. “I’ll wait upstairs with Carly. See you girls in a few minutes. Taylor went back upstairs like she had said. I went over to my dresser and pulled out the outfit I had picked out earlier and headed for the bathroom. “I won’t be but a minute and then we can get out of here.” She looked down at the clothes I had picked out then looked at her own outfit. “Am I dressed ok, I see you’re putting on nicer clothes.” I looked her over and my damn mouth started moving before my brain told it what it should say. “You look amazing.” Oh God, Sometimes I shouldn’t say words at all. Stupid, Stupid slow ass brain! I felt the heat rise in my cheeks. I couldn’t bring myself to meet her eyes. “I mean- I-I meant to say, you’re fine the way you are b-but you could change into you’re new jeans, if that would make you feel better.”

“It would, could I use your bathroom to change?”  A slight smile replaced the look of uncertainty she had just a moment ago.

“Yeah, sure. Right through here.” I held open the door for her as she started inside. She stopped before she made it in all the way. She gave me another little smile and those bright green eyes met mine. “Thank you.” She said in a soft voice and from the look she gave, I don’t think she meant me letting her use the bathroom to change.  Did she?