Sometimes I wish people understood me better, or at least cared enough to notice me. Every day when I go to school I just find a place to sit by myself, looking around at the other kids. Most of them seem to know each other already or have found a group to be a part of. The band kids usually sit either to the left or the right of the cafeteria. The bookworms and anime club members usually sit towards the front entrance, and the jockeys and cheerleaders usually sit in the middle. Every once in a while I'll see a new kid or someone who is like me; an outsider.
A lot of times when I want to be outside, I'll either go out by myself or with my older brother, Matt. He's a lot of fun to be around and will invite me to hang out with his friends on the weekends. A few years ago he and I went camping over the summer in the Smokey Mountains, and we had this crazy encounter with family of beavers. Matt insisted that I stay behind him, but I just wanted to do the right thing and return the baby beaver home. We found him just out in the middle of the forest and he seemed lost; I just wanted to hold him and return the poor thing to his parents. Matt warned me to not scare the baby and just stay behind, but I didn't listen. I picked up the little guy and we made our way to the nearest river. Now I wasn't sure how the baby's parents found us, but they did and started splashing water on us with their big tails. By the time things had calmed down and the beavers left us alone, we were soaking wet, so we just decided to pack up our things and drive home. We laughed for a good ten minutes about the situation and how each of us reacted. That was the most fun I've had in a while.
These days Matt is mainly focused on work and his girlfriend, Maya. Sometimes she'll come over to visit and we're all nice to each other, but even then, I can tell that things are different between us. He seems to be more distant and whenever I ask if he wants to hang out, he either says he's tired or too busy with work. Now being in my last year of high school, I know that I need to start thinking about my own future and such. Ever since freshman year I've wanted to be an engineer for NASA, so my next step after graduating would be to move out to Seattle and go to college there. Surely I know that I can take care of myself- my brother is the one who raised me since our parents died while we were young- but it'd still be nice to spend some time with him before I leave.
"Hey Greg, would it be okay if I left you in charge here over the weekend?" I peered out from behind my computer screen and looked in Matt's direction. "I've been assigned to work on a project in Nashville. Apparently my boss is wanting to go over a few things on the new building over there, 'cause you know, he's working on expanding the company."
"Yeah, that's fine."
"Awesome. There's some money on the kitchen table for dinner tomorrow night. Don't go throwing any wild parties while I'm gone," he said as he winked at me.
"Ha, okay." I gave him a quick smile then went back to doing my homework. This semester has been a pain to get through, and my Ecology teacher has assigned the class to work on a research paper on environmental issues and how to best resolve them. It's going to take me at least another week and a half to get through this since he required us to find twenty different cited sources, and the whole thing is due by the end of the month. I just hope I can get it done at least a couple days early.
This week has seemed to pass by so slow, but since we have a 3-day weekend coming up, at least I'll have extra time to catch up on some reading for my English class. School has just ended for the day and everyone is talking to each other about their weekend plans. If I'm being honest right now, I wish I had someone to hang out with this weekend. I can only do so much homework and house chores before I drop dead of boredom.
Out of the corner of my eye towards my right, I can see a girl walking from the archway over to her car, which is parked next to mine. I've noticed her sitting by herself in the cafeteria a few times, but I can never find the courage to walk up and say hello. Usually when I see her she has her hair tied up in a ponytail and her nose glued to a book. She seems to have one pair of glasses for each day of the week as the frame color is different every day. I've also noticed that she likes wearing skirts. I've hardly ever seen her in jeans and her hair is something that I could honestly get lost in. It's just the right amount of thickness and texture and I just love how blonde it is. People would say that a girl like that is out of my league, but I don't care. She's beautiful and I'd give anything to have her notice me.
Just as I had gathered up enough courage to walk up and introduce myself to the girl, someone in a motorcycle ran right past me and almost made me loose my balance. I was able to steady myself and I adjusted the straps on my backpack, but then suddenly something knocked the wind right out of me and I fell down in the middle of the parking lot.
"Hey, are okay? It looks like that football hit you pretty hard. Here, let me help you up." I took the stranger's hand and recognized her instantly when I got back up to my feet.
"Thanks. Do you mind telling me your name? I've seen you around before."
"It's no problem, and my name is Emma. What's yours?"
"Greg." Suddenly I found myself feeling flustered and nervous, and I didn't know what to say next. "I, uhh... Umm... I like your glasses," I said sheepishly. Emma smiled and giggled as she noticed my hot red cheeks. Geez, Greg. Pull yourself together!
Emma finally responded, "Thank you. Do you want to walk me to my car?"
"Sure." I stayed silent as we walked from where we were standing over to our cars. Once I got up to Emma's car door and let her in, I said, "Hey, do you want to hang out with me this weekend?"
"Are you asking me out?"
"No! I mean, it's only if you want to... No pressure." Emma propped up her legs on the side of the car and put a hand up to her chin thoughtfully.
"Okay, I'll hang out with you, Greg. You just need to give me your number." I took out a pen from my backpack, asked her to extend out her right arm and wrote it down.
"Well I better get going. It was nice to meet you," she said as she shut her door. She kept her window rolled down, so I offered a small smile and waved to her.
Ideally I wanted Emma to hang out at my place for the night, but instead, she offered to take me out to her house. Both of her parents were out of town visiting her older sister in Knoxville, so knowing that eased my mind some. What I didn't expect though was to be caught babysitting her two younger siblings.
"So that little toddler over there writing on the walls is Max," Emma said as she pointed towards her brother. "He usually isn't this unruly when my parents are home, trust me on that. Wesley is the youngest and is laying down for a nap right now. I'm gonna have to feed him here in about five minutes. Do you want anything to eat or drink?"
"I'm fine for now, but thanks."
"Okay! Make yourself comfortable."
I shut the door behind me and decided to sit in the kitchen. I can't remember the last time I had to watch anyone else's kids, but I have been asked to do it once or twice. Usually I'd pass up the offer because of school and such. I was never interested in working because I always believed that school should come first, plus I never understood how someone could handle two jobs at once. After two minutes have passed, I took out my phone and decided to check in on Matt, but suddenly a very ecstatic Corgi ran up and jumped into my lap. He looked at me for a moment, cocked his head to the right, then proceeded to lick my face. I laughed as his tongue ticked my cheek and decided to pet his head for a moment before he jumped back down. Once the dog left the kitchen, Emma came into view with Wesley in her arms. "Did Barry surprise you there?" she asked as she smiled to me.
"He did for a minute. He's cute though."
"Yeah, he's friendly to everybody. Are you hungry? We can order a pizza if you want."
"Sure. Should we split the check?"
"No need. This one is on me tonight."
"If you insist, then." I made my way towards the counter by the sink to pick up the phone, which was located towards the far right corner, close to the kitchen table. "I'll call in the order. Is pepperoni and sausage okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Once I'm done here I'll join you."
9 'o clock soon rolled around Emma was having trouble getting Max to cooperate, so she asked me to keep him still while she got his pajamas on. She then asked him to brush his teeth, but he wouldn't do so and was throwing a tantrum, so she had to spank him and again told Max to brush his teeth. The clock read 9:45 when he finally fell asleep.
The two of us were outside of Max's bedroom door when I said to Emma, "I don't see how you deal with all this. I can barely handle taking care of my own dog, and he's sixteen years old!"
She laughed for a minute before she responded. "Well you get used to it over time. It just takes a lot of patience- plus knowing when to put your foot down. Or as my mom says, 'just drink a lot of wine.'" She laughed again then offered a smile. I smiled back for a moment before I felt a pang of nervousness hit my stomach. "I, uhh... should probably head home now. It's getting late."
"Well I had fun tonight. See you on Monday?"
"Yeah, I'll see you then." I went downstairs and let myself out, but before I got to the car, Emma ran outside and stopped at the front porch. She yelled, "Wait! Come here for a minute." I was confused and wasn't sure of what to do, so I just slowly walked up to where she was standing. She smiled and started inching closer towards me. I could feel myself sweating. My hands felt cold and clammy and I could feel the panic rising in my chest. Is Emma doing what I think she's doing? I tried to calm myself down before her lips met mine, but I was given no time. Immediately I could feel her lips tenderly brushing mine, and within an instant my whole body relaxed. I closed my eyes and kissed her back. We then took a step back and smiled at each other before we kissed again. The second time it felt amazing. She then put her arms around my shoulders and I could feel her body leaning into mine. We stayed there on the porch for a long moment, hugging each other in the moonlight. "Good night, Greg," she said with a smile.
I smiled back and told her good night as well.
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