Lawn Boy

When we reached the house that mom had rented, the movers were already there. They were moving in our furniture and boxes. The one good thing about the new house was that we would each get our own room. Jack and I had to share a room back in California. If you’ve ever had to share a room with a straight teenage boy, then you know what I was going through on a daily basis.
Anyway, I’m getting off topic. It was morning and I was exhausted. We’d been on the road for nearly eleven hours. All I wanted to do was crash. But, first, we had to pick our rooms so the movers could put our beds and all of our boxes in the right rooms. Jack and Ashley couldn’t run up the mahogany stairs fast enough. Rebecca and I trail afterwards, prepared to take whatever rooms were left after our siblings took the good ones.
My room was across the hall from the master bedroom. The walls were painted a dark turquoise color. I didn’t really mind the color and decided right away that I wasn’t going to paint over them.
I walked over to the window, which actually had a sill large enough for me to fit my whole body on. I would probably only have to bend my knees a little. The sill was painted white. I looked out at the tall, dark green maple in the front yard. It was quite beautiful.
I brushed my hand across the sill—it was dusty. I started to walk around the room which was only a little bigger than the one I had back home. I liked it. I felt comfortable enough. This was definitely a good space for me. I must’ve been distracted though, because I didn’t even notice that Rebecca had walked into the room. She put her hand on my shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Shit, Becca you scared me.” I had one hand on my chest and the other on the side of my head.
Sorry,” she giggled. “Is this the room you want, ‘cause the movers are ready to start bringing up the boxes?”
“Yeah,” I said. “This one feels right.”
“Kay,” she answered and left the room.

It took about two hours for the movers to finish distributing the boxes and furniture into the right rooms. Of course they waited to put my bed in my room last, but when they did—I was so excited!—but only because I could finally crash.
I didn’t care if there wasn’t any sheet, blankets, or even pillows. As soon as the movers were out of my room, I was on that bed and knocked out.
I woke up about twenty minutes later according to my watch. I got up from my bed and started to look through my boxes. I grabbed my sheets, blankets, and pillows from where I found them and started to make my bed. After, I walked down to the living room where Ashley and Jack were fighting over the last ninety-nine cents bag of chips. There wasn’t anything else to eat.
“Max!” The way my mom was calling me, I knew something was up. She wanted something from me.
I walked towards her voice. She was in the foyer. “What mom?” I asked.
She held out money to me. “Can you please take your brother and sister to get something to eat? Rebecca and I have got to stay here for when your Grams gets here.”
I took the money from her hand and looked at it. It was a fifty. “Cool,” I said. “But I have no idea how to get around.
“Well, just around the corner is a major avenue. Just follow that and I’m sure you’ll find something.”
“Come on guys!” I called to Jack and Ashley. “Let’s get something to eat.”
“Yes!” called Zack, walking right passed me and out of the house to the SUV. Ashley soon followed him.
Mom handed me the keys to the SUV. “Drive safely.”
“Sure,” I said as I walked out.
When I got to the car, Jack and Ashley were already sitting in it. Jack had obviously beat Ashley to the front seat.
“Can I drive?” Ashley asked as soon as I got in.
“No,” I said.
“Why not?” She whined.
“Because you only have your permit and mom is supposed to be in the car while you drive.”
She grunted and folded her arms and I started the car. I drifted off to the avenue that mom was talking about. It was Pine Avenue. I started to drive down the avenue. We were in an area that was mainly residential, but eventually we started to run into supermarkets, liquor stores, and gas stations.
I spotted a diner and immediately turned into it. I parked and Ashley, Jack, and I walked out of the car and into the diner. I tall, thin, girl with blonde hair showed us to a booth. I noticed Jack checking her out as she walked away.
I started to look through the menu and it was filled with normal diner stuff. We still hadn’t had breakfast, but it was past noon so we had the lunch menu—burgers, salads, sandwiches, and stuff like that.
Soon a young waitress came by and took our drink orders. Jack seemed to be concentrating on the waitresses looks as she walked away, but I noticed Ashley’s concentration seemed to be going elsewhere. I looked to where she was looking.
He was tall, about six feet and lean with short brown hair. He was busing all of the tables, so he had an apron on. But underneath that apron he wore a grey t-shirt that tightly hugged his biceps. This man was pure beauty. I looked away quickly, though, so no one would notice me looking.
“Shit, I just realized that we have to go to school on Monday,” said Jack. “I can’t believe mom won’t let us take a few days off.”
“At least we won’t be bored for too much longer. I heard mom say that the satellite company can’t come out until Friday. We won’t have TV for an entire week,” said Ashley. “I have to miss America’s Next Top Model.”
“Oh, how will you live?” I mocked.
“Whatever, just because you’re a weirdo and don’t watch TV,” said Ashley, rolling her eyes.
“I watch National Geographic,” I said.
“That doesn’t count. That’s boring as hell,” said Ashley.
“I’d rather read, that’s all.”
“What a nerd,” said Jack. “And you wonder why you have so little friends.”
I felt kind of offended by that remark, but I tried not to let it show. Anyway, the waitress came with our sodas and then took our food orders. I ordered a turkey club sandwich. Ashley ordered the grilled chicken Caesar. Jack ordered the double cheeseburger with steak fries.