53 Minutes That Changed My Life

"Which one should it be?" I asked looking at all the paint samples at Lowes.

"I like the purple." Sierra said again for the third time.

I rolled my eyes, "but you know we can't get purple because our furniture is red, white, and black!"

"Why must we love our college so much?"

"Because NC State is amazing!" I said, laughing, "And, our new friend is from the Carolina Hurricanes."

Sierra laughed “Oh yeah, I never realized that it was the Carolina Hurricanes colors.”

I gasped. “What?” Sierra asked looking worried.

“Jeff’s seen our apartment, what if he thinks we’re obsessed? That would be terrible!” I said, I could feel a look of horror form on my face, but Sierra just smiled.

“Madeline, relax,” she reassured me calmly. “When he came in he looked kinda happy, so I doubt he thinks we’re obsessed and if he does, then it doesn’t matter because he still spent all afternoon with us.”

I guess she was kinda right. “Well, then we should get classic red!”

Sierra started to laugh, “That’s the spirit!”

“So do we know what we’re gonna paint the walls?”

“Yup!’ she said excited.

Just then, my phone buzzed. “Hey, Sierra guess what?”

“What?” she said picking up one of the cans of paint.

“Jeff just texted me and he said, do I need glasses or are you in the paint section?”

Sierra smiled and I did too and just at that moment Jeff came walking to us. When he saw Sierra and I struggling with the paint he rushed to help us taking the cans away from us.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Jeff said jokingly.

Sierra and I laughed.

“Just getting some paint,” I said trying to sound casual, but the effect of him still hasn’t worn off. “What are you here for?”

“The kitchen sink broke, so I decided to fix it myself, instead of calling a professional, sort of a manly thing don’t you think?” he said trying to act serious but still kinda grinning.

Sierra and I laughed again and she said “Well, good luck with that,” trying to be serious too.

“Yeah sounds great,” I said but I just couldn’t keep my face straight and just started laughing. So did Jeff and Sierra. If someone walked by us they would probably think we were all crazy but we kept on laughing for about 5 minutes until I realized that I was hungry and asked Jeff to go out for lunch with us.

“Sounds great” Jeff said. “Where to?”

“I feel like Miltons,” I said “Sierra where do you want to go?”

Looking up Sierra agreed “Yeah, Italian sounds good”

“Let’s take my car” Jeff said agreeing with both of us.

“Okay but we have to buy our paint first.” Bringing us back to the subject of painting our living room and Jeff asks, “So why red?” I noticed him grinning.

“For NC State” Sierra answered quickly. Jeff’s grin didn’t even falter.

“So is that where you go to school?” he asked as we walk up to the cash register.

“Yes it is but I’m really hungry, let’s save this conversation for lunch.” I answered as we walked up to his bright red, brand new, Jeep Grand Cherokee.