Just a Girl

I trudged home after catching up with Andrew on everything I missed. The warmth in my stomach from the hot chocolate was long gone by the time I was walking up my porch steps. I twisted the handle on the door and stepped inside my house, peeling of my coat, shoes, and scarf, putting them in their designated spots.

I was about to go up the stairs to my room when I remembered how much unpacking I had to do. Maybe I would just keep everything in a box until I needed in and then put it away. That would be easy right?

I walked up the stairs to my room. I was ready to pass out. When I opened to the door to my room I opened the door and almost jumped back ten feet in fright. There was a guy in my room. What the heck?

I cleared my throat and he looked over at me with a big, goofy grin on his face.

“Um, hello?” I asked.

“Hi.” He said casually, as if he wasn’t in my room, invading my personal space.

“Not to be rude, but what are you doing in here?” I asked.

“Don’t you not remember me?” He asked, mocking hurt.

“Um…” I thought.

“Wow, I thought you would remember who I was after all those years.” He said. “I guess I have no reason to be here.” He said, looking hurt.

“Wait, no!” I exclaimed. “If I know you…just give me a second to think.” I said, trying to keep him in there.

I thought and thought until finally recognition dawned in my mind.

“Zeke!” I shouted running over to him and throwing my arms around hit muscular frame.

“So you do remember!” He shouted, hugging me back.

“Of course!” I smiled. “How could I forget?”

“Well, you did forget.” He pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. “So where did my mom find you?” I asked.

“I’m your next door neighbor.” He replied.

How could this get any better? I have all my classes with Andrew and now my old best friend, Zeke, is my nest door neighbor.

“This is going to be great.” I declared.

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Now, let’s get to putting this bed together.” Zeke said seriously.

I sighed. “But I thought my mom was paying you to do it.” I said.

“Yeah, but I thought we could do it together and then split the money.” He replied.
“I guess that sounds okay, but I don’t know anything about tools.” I warned him.

“That’s okay. I’ll teach you.” He replied.

I don’t know why but those words brought a smile to my face. I shook it away and started towards the heap of bed parts on the floor. I picked up one piece of wood.

“What do we do with this?” I asked.

Zeke burst out laughing. “I have no idea.” He said, his laugh reducing down to a mere chuckle.

“Well then why don’t you start us off?” I asked.

“Ok…well how about we start with these as the base of the bed.” He said, grabbing two long pieces of wood and two pieced with the same height but smaller in length.

***

About 2 and a half hours later we were done and I walked away with only two bandages on my arm. My clumsiness was getting better. Now if I could go a whole day without hurting myself. That would be a day to mark on the calendar.

“So here is your share.” Zeke said handing me 25 dollars.

“I don’t really think that’s fair.” I said. “I barely helped.”

“That may be, but you did keep me company.” He replied.

“Okay…if you are sure.” I said taking the money from his hand.

“What are you going to do with yours?” He asked.

“Save it.” He replied. “And you?”

“Same.” I said. “I need to get a job soon. This will be the first money I put in my account.”

“Hey, the store I work at has an opening. Someone had a breakdown in the middle of their shift and they got fired.” He replied.

I was ecstatic. Everything was just going great for me. Could it get any better?

“Great.” I replied.

“Well I should probably be heading home. My mom and my sister will flip if I’m not home by dinner time.” He said smiling. I could see just talking about them brought a smile to his face.

“Yeah, well my mom’s cooking is horrible so I usually do the cooking around here. Dinner waits for me to make it, so I can’t really be late.” I chuckled.

With that we hugged one last time, said our goodbyes, and Zeke departed.

I headed downstairs to make dinner. What should I make, I thought. Hamburgers? Pasta? Soup? None of those sounded very good to me at the moment.

I headed into my living room to find my mom watching a documentary about chimpanzees. She had a weakness for animals and so did I. When I was younger we had 5 dogs. My dad took them with him when he went away though. Something about how he needed a companion more than my mom did because she would have me. I didn’t know my dad even liked our dogs that much.

“Mom,” I said quietly, not wanting to scare her. “What do you want for dinner?” I asked.

“I was actually thinking we could go out.” She replied.

Phew, that way I didn’t have to cook anything.

“Where to?” I asked.

“Hmmm.” She thought for a second. “What was that place we always used to go when you were little?”

“Tank and Scott’s?” I asked.

“Yeah! That’s the one!” She exclaimed.

Tank and Scotts was a little diner owned by two men; Tank and Scott. You probably already figured that out though. Any way, I loved going there when I was little because they had the best food and the best workers. They were always so kind because we were a pretty close knit community. Ann Arbor was nothing like that though.

“Ok well lets go then.” I said, excited to see my childhood favorite restaurant again.

So with that we hopped in the car and drove down the familiar streets to our favorite restaurant. My mom and I chatted about nothing particularly important on our way there. When we finally got there I was nearly jumping out of my skin with excitement.

We entered the restaurant I was ambushed with familiar scents. And then I saw a familiar face. I had to think for a minute before I could put a name to it.

I walked over to my old friend and stopped right in front of her hoping she would stop and recognize me. As soon as she looked up in engulfed her in a big hug, earning weird looks from everyone in the room, even my mom.

“Amelia!” I shouted as she returned the embrace.

“Cara!” She shouted back. “I have to get back to work though or I’ll be fired. But sit over there.” She pointed to the left corner of the room. “That’s where I serve.” She whispered.

So we sat in her corner and she served us. We ate and gave her a bigger tip than normal. By the time we were done eating her shift was over too. We exchanged numbers and I gave her one last hug. She promised to see me at school and we left. My life was just going great.