Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills

“You’re from Chicago, aren’t you?” I ask as William and I walked to my house. He nodded when I glanced at him.

“Yeah, but I don’t live anywhere near here,” he says in some sort of dream-like voice. “I’m from Libertyville, actually, but I spent a lot of my time in urban Chicago while I was younger.”

“Yeah? I’ve never been there before,” I mumble, thinking to myself. I had heard of Libertyville and just how close it was to Chicago, but never had I been there.

“You should change that,” he says, a smile in his voice. I smiled too.

“What did you do while you were in Chicago?”

He shrugged. “Mostly listened to underground bands and came around to practice with the guys when we weren’t big.” Now he was sounding cocky. “That seemed so long ago now,”

That sparked yet another question in my mind. “How old are you?”

He chuckled. “Do you know anything at all about me or my band?”

I flushed. “Well, I’ve heard your music, but I can’t say I cared enough to look any of you guys up. No offense.”

“None taken,” He was looking at my face when I looked at him.

“It’s just that I never thought that I would need to know anything about you. I never thought I was ever going to meet any member of some big band, but yet…”

“Here you are!” he exclaims, tossing his long arms up.

“Yeah,”

He continued walking in silence for a couple of minutes, but then William spoke again. “To answer your question, I’m twenty-two.”

I snorted. “Holy old.”

He gasped at me. “Well, how old are you?” he asks in a defying voice.

“Nineteen,” I smirk in repose and William made a face looking and looked forward again.

“Ok, that does make me feel a little old,”

“Only three years,” I mention with a shrug. “Not even, really. I turn twenty in a month.”

“So two years?”

“Whatever makes you feel younger, Slim.” I reply and he nudged me with his elbow, causing my walking pattern to swerve slightly.

We turned onto my street now that much later and I could see my house from the stop sign that Kayla and I had always met up at. This time, I nudged William.

“That’s my place,” I say, pointing towards my house.

“It looks nice,” he comments and I smiled at him.

“You’re too sweet,” I say in a faux Southern accent like those ladies you see in those old western movies. Then I looked back at the house. “It’s nothing special. Just a house for two.”

I could feel him look at me again. “Two?” he asked, his voice curious.

“My mom and me,”

“Oh.” Was his reply and then he let the subject drop until we were walking up the front steps of my porch.

“Is your mother going to mind my being here?” he asks, sounding anxious and that’s when I decided that the strain on his voice didn’t do it justice.

“No, she’s at work right now.” I say as I unlocked the door and stepped inside, allowing William to step through behind me.

“It is nice.” He says again, looking around and walking deeper into the house. I felt myself blush.

“Thanks,” I walked past where he stood, examining the living room, and into the kitchen. “Do you want anything?” I ask, gesturing toward the refrigerator.

“No thank you,” he replies politely, not keeping eye contact with me long as he walked into the kitchen slowly, looking about it carefully as well.

“Are you a health inspector or something?” I tease when he continued this act for another couple of minutes.

He smirked at me. “Well, I seem to have forgotten my white gloves and my magnifying glass, but from what I can see, this place deserves an ‘A’.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled at him; it was impossible not to when his eyes glittered like that.

I hopped up onto the counter top and folded my hands on my lap, thinking of what to do now.

“Quite the party-giver, aren’t you?” he asks, leaning against the counter perpendicular to me.

I looked at him evenly. “Ha. Ha.” I say sarcastically, enunciating each syllable. He laughed silently and then looked down at his shoes. Then, a scratching noise sounded from the back door.

“What’s that?” he asks, having heard the noise before me.

“My dog,” I respond and then jump off the counter and walk toward the back door. William was right behind me.

“What’s his name?” he asks.

“Jude,”

He snickered behind me and I stopped abruptly so that he crashed into me before continuing to walk casually like nothing had happened.

I slid the door open and Jude came barreling inside, his claws making clicking noises on the wooden floor. He halted at my feet when he saw William, however.

“He’s a little shy,” I say when I heard Jude whimper slightly, his tail tucking between his legs and his head drooping.

William glanced at me before dropping to his knees in front of my timid little puppy, holding his hand out and making quiet noises. I watched carefully as Jude slowly uncoiled himself and almost tip-toed toward the stranger.

“That’s a good boy,” William whispered. Jude sniffed his fingers carefully, deciding whether or not William was a friend or foe. Having decided upon the first choice, he licked his hand and his tail slowly started to beat back and forth.

“That’s a new trick,” I say in amazement. Jude had never warmed up to someone so quickly.

“I have a way with animals,” William replies with a shrug. “Come on, Judey.” He scooped my dog up in his arms and carted him off toward the living room. I followed after a moment.

When I was in the living room too, William was sprawled out on his stomach across the carpet, Jude in front of him on his back. William was scratching his stomach. It was quite possibly one of the most adorable thing I’ve seen.

I didn't say anything only walked into the room and sat on the couch, letting the two of them continue with their fun while I watched in silence.

William continued to talk to Jude in that same tone of voice; the kind of voice a babysitter uses to entertain an infant. He would touch Jude's nose with his own and Jude would respond by barging forward, attacking William's face with his tongue. This didn't seem to bother either of them one bit. I smiled when William noticed me watching. He rolled onto his back, scooting back so he was propped up against the couch, and Jude crawled to his side to that he was curled up into the notch between his hip bone and ribs. He looked quite comfortable.

William looked at me for a long moment—I didn't have it in me to look back at him, but I knew because I could feel his eyes—and after his silence, he spoke quietly.

"You have really pretty eyes," he says in an almost-whisper.

I looked up to him finally and as our eyes connected, a smile spread across his face.

"Do I?" I ask, somewhat surprised. No one had ever said that to me before.

"Yeah," he says, now sounding like he was evaluating something. "They're this weird combination of green and grey. I've never seen anything like them."

I could feel the color rising in my face and I quickly busied myself with my bangs that were in my left eye in attempt to keep him from seeing me blush.

"Well, thank you," I say timidly.

"You're welcome," he was grinning again.

I sighed. "What do you want to do now that your entertainment seems to have fallen asleep?" I nodded toward the puppy that was currently snoozing in his side.

He shrugged, carefully, as not to wake Jude. "We could watch a movie."

I shrugged and moved toward the stack of DVD's that lay on the coffee table between us. "There's not much of a selection so do you have any preferences?"

William shook his head. "Surprise me."

So I did.

I popped in The Lion King and then settled myself on the floor beside him, a foot away given the space taken up by my dog. William laughed softly beside me as the opening credits started to roll in.

"You could quite possibly be the strangest girl I've ever met,"

"And you will learn to hate me for that," I reply with a smirk. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head, and turned his attention back to the movie, as did I, and Jude snored quietly between us.