I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

I was fairly quiet the drive back to my place – our afternoon of hanging out had seemed a lot like a date, at least to me, and I wasn’t sure what to say, because I didn’t know how she felt about it.

I parked in front of my place and turned the car off, and we sat there for a moment before we got out and headed inside. Thankfully, Marcus wasn’t around, and we didn’t have another run in like earlier. Instead the house was empty, as my family wasn’t back yet.

“Do you um, want to watch a movie or something?” I asked, and she nodded.

“Sure,” she agreed, and I stood there debating what movie to put in. Finally it was between Cars and Casino Royale, not knowing what she would want to watch.

“Which one?” I asked, holding up the two movies, and she shrugged.

“Either one – they both look good,” she said, and I grinned. She was the only girl I knew who would really want to watch either of those movies. Finally I decided on Cars, even if I was afraid she would laugh at me I hadn’t watched it yet.

“Do you want something to eat or drink?” I asked, and she shrugged.

“It’s up to you,” she replied with a shy smile, and I went into the kitchen, finding a bag of microwave popcorn and making it before starting the movie and sitting down on the couch beside her. I wasn’t sure if she’d want me to sit on the other side or not, but I figured if we were going to share the bowl of popcorn it would be harder to do with me sitting as far away as possible.

As the movie went on she leaned against my shoulder, and I swallowed hard – should I put my arm around her? Or just sit here like this?

Finally I took a deep breath, and then put my arm around her shoulders, keeping my eyes glued to the TV the entire time. She moved to lean a little closer to me and I sighed, glad that I hadn’t offended her or anything. About halfway through I heard a car pull up, and minutes later my family filed into the house, stopping dead when they saw us sitting together on the couch.
“Hi,” Tanya waved, and then I realized Kass was asleep curled into my side. A small smile came to my face – she looked adorable.

“She fell asleep,” I whispered, and Eric rolled his eyes at me.

“No shit Sherlock,” and then mom cuffed him upside the head and hissed at him for his language.

“So did you guys have fun?” I asked, and mom nodded, before I realized dad was carrying some shopping bags.

“Yes we did thanks. What about you? I didn’t know Kassidy was coming over,” mom said, raising an eyebrow at me. I could feel my face turning red and struggled to get my voice to work properly.

“We went for a walk and then came back here and started watching a movie,” I told them, and dad nodded, setting down the bags. Eric and Tanya quietly walked into the kitchen with my parents, and I gently woke up Kass.

“Hey, wake up,” I whispered, and she let out a cute little sound before her eyelashes fluttered and then her eyes slowly opened. She froze when she realized she was cuddled into my side, and then relaxed the tiniest bit, probably as she felt my arm around her holding her to me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she apologized quietly, and I shrugged.

“It’s all right – don’t worry about it. My family just got back,” I told her, and she sat up slowly, and I let my arm drop back to my side, feeling awkward again.

“Sorry, I don’t want to intrude – I’ll head home,” she offered.

“No, that’s okay; you don’t have to,” I insisted, hoping she would stay a little longer.

“It’s all right Kassidy – I’m making dinner, you may as well stay for dinner,” mom called from the kitchen, and while Kassidy blushed she nodded.

“All right,” she whispered, and I grinned.

“Cool,” I quietly replied, and we both smiled awkwardly, feeling weird again now that my family were here.

“Um, so uh, what do you want to do?” I asked, and she giggled.

“I have no idea,” she smiled, and I struggled to think of something.

“Wanna play Monopoly?” Eric asked from right behind me, making me jump.

“Uh, um…” I looked to Kassidy, who shrugged.

“If you want to,” she said, and I shrugged.

“Sure,” I sighed, and Eric sat on the other side of the coffee table and began setting up the board. For being five years older sometimes he didn’t seem any older than me or Jordan.

“Can I play?” Tanya asked, sounding a little hesitant.

“Of course,” we all told her, and she sat down next to Eric, who’d taken it upon himself to be the banker.

We played until supper was ready, and Kass was finally loosening up a little and relaxing around my brother and Tanya. She was laughing along and cracking a couple of jokes by the time we filed into the kitchen. I took the spot next to her, and Tanya was sitting on her other side. Through dinner she was quiet again, although my parents tried to get her to talk. She did answer, and make an attempt to, but her face kept turning pink and she would look down at the table.

“Thank you very much for dinner Mrs. Staal,” Kass quietly said, and mom just beamed at her.

“You’re very welcome dear! It’s so nice to meet some of Jared’s friends, I’m glad you could stay,”

“Well, I should probably head home soon, would you like any help cleaning up?” she asked, and mom shook her head.

“Oh no, don’t worry about it. If you need to get home you two better head out; it was so nice to see you again,” mom gave her a hug, and Tanya did as well.

“Nice to see you all again too,” she replied and then we got our coats and got into my car.

“That was nice,” she told me, and I smiled.

“Yeah, it was cool. My mom thinks you’re awesome,” I replied, and she laughed.

“Sure,”

“She does, honestly,” I repeated, and she laughed.

“If you say so,” she let it drop, and we were quiet until we got to her house.

“Well, this is me,” she said, but hesitated to get out of the car.

“Yeah. Um, thanks for hanging out with me today, it was fun,” I said, then felt a little silly for how it came out.

“Yeah, it was,” she agreed, looking to me with a smile.

“See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before getting out of the car.

“So… how was your day with Kass?” Eric asked as soon as I was in the door.

“Good, we hung out,” I shrugged, trying to play it off nonchalantly. He raised an eyebrow, and I felt my face turning red.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah – we went for a walk, and then came back and watched a movie,” I repeated myself, and he sighed.

“You didn’t even try to make a move?” he asked, and I’m sure my jaw hit the floor.

“Uh, well no, I mean, um, we’re just friends,” I stuttered out, and he rolled his eyes.

“Come on Jay, it’s beyond obvious you like her as more than a friend,”

“I told you guys, I don’t want to lose her as a friend,” I mumbled, almost more to myself than to him.

“Is there anything cool happening at school anytime soon?” Tanya asked as she sat down beside Eric. I shrugged, racking my brain trying to come up with something.

“There’s a dance right after Christmas,” I managed to come up with, and then connected the dots, my face heating up.

“Oh no, not happening,”

“Come on, you can’t ask a girl to a dance?” she asked, and I blushed as I shook my head.

“Not this one,” Not if I was pretty sure I’d be laughed at and disowned as a friend by the girl I wanted to ask.