Take My Hand

Routine. That’s what my whole life felt like. It all felt like a simple routine. A cycle that had no end in sight. I needed to break that cycle.

It was summer and I was free from school and all the drama instilled in it. I was also free from having to work hard and study for stupid tests and exams that people older than I am give me. I was so done with all that crap. It was time to have some fun.

My long, wavy, brown hair flew with the breeze as I opened the front door. The sun was out and I was just about ready to ride my bike and look for some things to take pictures of but placed it back inside when I saw a cargo truck right next door.

A young guy, most probably my age with styled, dark brown hair was carrying boxes inside the house. From the looks of it, he had a lot of things still in there so instead of just watching him, I walked back out of the house and across the lawn and looked inside the cargo truck. I wasn’t really known for being helpful, but it seemed like he needed it.

“Can I help you?” the guy asked startling me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,”

With a smile, I said, “I was actually going to ask you that,”

“Oh, umm, I don’t know. These boxes are pretty heavy,” he said and I squinted at him.

“Are you saying I’m weak?” I asked him crossing my arms and raising my eyebrows. With the way I was talking, it’d seem like we weren’t total strangers.

“Oh, no I didn’t mean that,” he said sarcastically and laughed.

“Ha-ha,” I mocked him. “Well then fine, don’t ask for my help.” I said turning around to walk away.

“Wait, wait!” he said grabbing my arm. “I was just kidding. Don’t go,” he said and I turned to look back at him.

There was this somewhat sweet look in his eyes when I turned back to look at him. It seemed like he wanted me to stay. But well wasn’t that what I really wanted? He is kinda cute after all.

“Okay then,” I said walking towards the back of the truck to get two boxes.

I dragged them closer to me and stacked them up. But before I could really stack them up, I realized something… they were heavy. I carried it up and almost lost my balance due to the really heavy weight. I was half expecting him to help me out but when I turned towards him, he was just standing there with his arms crossed. He had a smirk plastered over his face that had a ‘let’s see what happens here’ look all over it.

I wanted to show him that I could do it so I rolled my eyes at him and started walking towards the house. But when I took two steps forward, I tripped on the sidewalk curb and the boxes flew across the yard. Shit.

“Whoa, you okay?” he said trying really hard to hold back the laughter that wanted to come out. He reached down to help me out and for a lanky guy, he seemed quite strong.

I thanked him for helping me up and then walked across the yard to reclaim what I threw in it. “Sorry ‘bout that,” I said and he smirked.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said walking towards me and picking up some things from one of the boxes.

Once I got everything inside, I took just one box into the house watching the ground below more carefully so I wouldn’t look like someone who was prone to accidents.

I set the box down in the living room which was now cluttered with boxes similar to the one I just set down. I observed the room more keenly and noticed a guitar case on top of two boxes. I was just about to go back outside when I bumped into the guy I was helping. He fell to the ground and the box loaded with his stuff landed on his stomach.

“I’m so sorry,” I said anxiously as I got the box off of him.

“We should really be more careful next time,” he said in pain as he tried to get up.

I smiled guiltily as I went out to get more boxes. Luckily the rest of the boxes he had in the cargo truck weren’t as heavy as the ones I tried to carry. Man, I should’ve gotten these boxes first. That way I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of him. But luckily, he didn’t tease me harshly. Well maybe he showed off this goofy grin every now and then but other than that, nothing. He was actually a nice and decent guy.

After we unloaded all of the boxes, the guy went over to where the driver was and told him that he could go. It was unusual that there was only one guy driving this really big cargo truck and that he didn’t help unload the boxes. What a lazy asshole.

The truck left and he went back up to the house. I was just there in the front porch, leaning on the ledge, wondering what the driver was doing and why he didn’t try and help when I realized that this wasn’t my house and that I didn’t even know whose house this was.

I looked for the guy and saw him when I spun around. He was just there sitting on the swing on his porch looking tired.

“Umm, I’m Brittany by the way,” I said awkwardly. I was never really good with introductions.

“Hey, Brittany,” he said with his eyes closed. He laid his on the top portion of the swing so he was looking up at the roof.

“And you are…?” I trailed off eager to know who this guy really was.

“Oh, I’m Jack,” he said regaining composure before sighing to himself.

“So… I’ll be right across the lawn if you need anything, okay Jack?” I said backing away slowly from the porch.

“Sure, thanks for helping me out and it was nice meeting you,” he said getting up and getting into his house quickly without waiting for me to say anything else.

I was sorta disappointed as I walked down from his porch and back into my house to retrieve my camera. Maybe I expected too much or maybe he was just tired and he couldn’t think about what he was supposed to do after someone helped him out with his stuff. I don’t know but I think that maybe this small crush is turning into something more than what it is. But either way, I don’t think I’d get have a chance. These blue eyes, brown hair and slim figure can only get me so far and he’s nowhere near the end point.

I got on my bike as I rode to the park but I didn’t really do much except think about the guy who just moved in next door. His name was Jack and for now, that’s all I know but hopefully, I’ll get to know him more and maybe, just maybe, I’d be great friends with the friendly guy next door.