Rollercoaster Ride

We were all hanging out in Pat’s basement, including Morgan too. Morgan lived in Pat’s house since she was his cousin and all of her family members were still living in Australia. Her parents didn’t allow her to live alone although she had known America for all of her life, she said.

Oh, she also announced that she was going to college in Collins with photography as her major. She was going to start her first year next January, if I wasn’t wrong. She was an early graduate in Australia, but she was a late college sophomore in here. She spent a year in Australia after her graduate to help her mom running a small coffee shop.

After she told us about various things about her, she asked about how we were all doing. She honestly stated that she never saw it coming about Neyla and Kennedy because they always teased each other back then, and I swore I saw a pained look on Garrett’s face in a flash when she said that.

Does he like her? Hmm.

And I still remembered that Garrett and Neyla exchanged smiles at each other during the practice. Maybe it was just a friendly smile?

I was drowning myself in the green bean bag, plopping gummy bears into my mouth. My eyes were glued on the screen of the TV, watching the Guitar Hero match between Kennedy and Jared. Then my gaze moved toward John who was sitting on the couch with Macbook on his laptop, but sometimes he would sneak glances at Morgan who was fighting over the last piece of pepperoni pizza with Pat.

I couldn’t stand the look John was giving, so I stood up, threw the pack of gummy bears and went upstairs to the kitchen.

Mrs. Kirch was dragging out a freshly baked blueberry pie out of the oven, and the delicious smell just spread everywhere. I loved her cooking.

“Oh, hello Daphne,” she said after noticing my presence while placing the pie on the kitchen island.

“Hi,” I replied, approaching her and stared at the pie.

She noticed I was staring. “You need to wait for half an hour, sweetie.”

“I know, Mrs. Kirch,” I smiled. “I just wish I had a mom like you. You know both of my parents are so busy with their job. They are even in Ottawa right now and they just left a note on the refrigerator; they could at least call or text either me or Kennedy.”

She smiled sympathetically at me. Her dark, wavy brown hair flowed pass her shoulder, reaching her mid-back. Her matching brown eyes represented friendliness that lied beneath her. She looked so young for a woman in her late 30s.

“You wanna try the pudding I just made?” she offered as she headed to the refrigerator.

“That’d be nice.”

She took out a cup of chocolate pudding and poured the white sauce on it before handing it to me, along with a spoon. After gulping down a spoonful of the pudding, I immediately added it into my ‘favorite foods’ list. The chocolate pudding has a piece of brownie inside, and trust me it was really good.

Mrs. Kirch’s foods are always amazing.

“AHH! Mom! You promised me to be the first one who eats it!” Pat’s voice roared. We both looked toward where Pat was. He had his lower lip pouted.

“Have you cleaned your room yet?” Mrs. Kirch asked.

Pat froze.

“Clean it now if you wanna eat the pudding,” I sang.

“But…”

“Pat, you promised me too that you’re gonna clean your room before you eat this,” Mrs. Kirch asked sternly.

“But moooom,” he started to whine.

“No buts.”

Pat huffed, turned around and headed to his room upstairs.

“Now I’m gonna head out with some friends. If Pat comes back down here to eat the pudding, do something so he won’t. I’ll see you in a few hours, sweetie.”

“Yeah, bye Mrs. Kirch,” I said as she walked out of the kitchen. “Thanks for the pudding.”

I stared at the pudding before continued to eat it and put it in the sink after I was finished. My feet were heavy as I dragged it to head back to the basement. When I got there, everyone was concentrating on watching War of the Worlds with the lights off. I seated myself between Garrett and John.

“Where have you been?” he asked.

“The kitchen, eating pudding.”

He nodded. He then snaked his arms around my waist and leaned his head on my shoulder. I really liked it when he was being clingy on me.

A few moments later we heard the basement door slammed open.

Pat’s voice complained way too loudly, “Mom is being so mean she didn’t let me eat the pudding but Daphne got a pudding!!” And he seated his butt on Morgan’s lap who was sitting on the floor.

“Pat, you’re heavy. Get off!” Morgan said, pushing him off.

”Sshh,” Garrett shushed them. From the corner of my eye I saw his eyes were open wide and he had his mouth slightly open from too concentrating on the movie. I had seen the movie before so I didn’t put too much attention on it, unlike Garrett.

I sighed at him and leaned my head on John’s, wishing that this moment could last forever.