the girl in the green house » david dobrik au

nine

"It's raining again," I said into the phone once the ringing stopped.

"Not even a hello?" David chuckled into the phone. "I know. Calhoun isn't fun when it's raining. You're calling me pretty early."

He was right. It was only three. If I were going to call David, it was usually later at night, once my parents were asleep. Any other time and I'd be worried Margaret had her ear pressed to the door. She was nosy like that.

"My mother went into town with some of the girls. Don't know what they're doing. What are you doing?"

"Aw, do you miss me?" I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Of course. I always tell you you're my best friend," I answered honestly, no shame in my words. I was never one to get embarrassed or shy about genuinely liking someone. "So what are you doing?"

"Sitting at my grandma's. She's at the shop and told me not to come. Rainy days usually aren't too busy."

"No self respecting person in Calhoun would willingly get themselves wet," I said, a sarcastic edge to my voice.

"Exactly what I was thinking. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. It's raining," I peered out the window. "Can I come over?"

"Sure."

"Okay, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"You know where I live?" he seemed mildly shocked, but not freaked out.

"Yeah. I know where everyone lives. It's Calhoun."

"I didn't think you ever came to my part of town."

"Natalie and Zane live at your part of town, remember? And I don't discriminate," I reminded him. "So fifteen minutes?"

"How are you getting here?" he asked.

"My bike."

"It's raining, Luella."

"Don't call me Luella," I turned my nose up, though he couldn't see my disgust. "You sound like my mother."

"I'll pick you up in ten minutes."

"Okay," I sighed. "You can pull into the driveway. Gloria won't tell."

I hung up before he could answer. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and threw on a jacket over my outfit of a t-shirt and shorts, knowing it was probably cold due to the rain. I didn't bother with makeup; David had seen me looking every type of way. He could handle a little ugly.

He got to my house in six minutes, not that I was counting every second I had to spend in these walls.

Gloria looked up from where she was dusting one of the TVs when she heard me bounding down the steps. She smiled like she already knew, but still asked, "Now where are you off to?"

"I'm going to hang out with that boy you met. David."

"Oh, David, huh?" she raised her eyebrows like it was supposed to be some big juicy secret. For me, it wasn't, but I was sure Gloria didn't know what I got up to late at night at Big Creek Park. This was probably the most rebellious thing she'd ever see me do. "Rosie really liked him. Didn't stop talking about him for days after you played with her."

"Yeah, he's nice. He's good with kids," I explained. "Is there any way you could text me when my mother gets back, if you're still here? She wouldn't like me hanging out with David."

"No, she wouldn't," she agreed, a slight but noticeable disappointed shake of the head to match her words. "I'll text you if she comes back when I'm here."

"Thank you, Gloria," I smiled. "This is why you're my favorite."

"Remember that if Margaret ever tries to fire me."

"She would never," I replied as I escaped out the front door. That was a lie, and we both knew it. If Margaret found a single piece of dust on the arm of the couch, Gloria would be gone. It was a good thing she was good at her job.

I waved at David as I shut the front door and practically ran to the car to avoid the pounding rain. He just had to make it difficult, leaving the car door locked so I'd get drenched. I beat on the window until he finally gave up. It was his seats that were going to be messed up, not mine, so I really didn't care. I fell into the passenger seat laughing. He just smiled at me, a smile so bright that I had to do a double take. "Hi. I haven't seen you in a while."

"You saw me last night," he countered.

"Yeah, but Natalie and Corinna stole you all night. You left me with Zane and Todd. It was rude."

"Sorry," he half shrugged like he wasn't all that sorry in the first place. "The ladies love me, I guess."

"Natalie and Corinna ain't ladies. They're animals."

"That might be true. Never seen two girls smoke so much. And they judged me for smoking cigarettes."

"Well, cigarettes are bad for you," I told him. "Haven't seen you smoke any, though, so I guess you're not an addict."

"I don't really need them down here," he replied. "Chicago is much more stressful. And all my friends do it, so, I guess I just go along with it."

"You should never succumb to peer pressure," I said sternly, though I wasn't even sure I was using the word succumb correctly. That's what home school will get you. "Tell me about your friends in Chicago. Are they nice?"

And he did. He told me all about Ilya and Alex and John and Mike and how they were the craziest kids he had ever met. He told me about how they once stole a car from the grocery store parking lot "on accident" because they all found it funny that someone had left their car there with the keys still in it. Somehow, they didn't get in any type of trouble for that.

He told me he actually didn't live in Chicago, but instead in the suburbs in a town called Vernon Hills. He said sometimes they'd all sneak out in the middle of the night and go on drives to the city. They couldn't drink or anything there, and usually most places were closed by the time they got there, but it still felt freeing to get out.

I wondered if David felt the same as me, wondered if there was a sharp and painful longing in his chest to just get out, to go anywhere in the world as long as it wasn't his hometown. I didn't ask. It was a touchy subject for everyone.

"I'd like to meet them," I told him as soon as I felt like he was running low on stories. We were in Maude's living room at that point, eating cheese slices off a fancy plate with some movie playing in the background.

"You wouldn't," he argued. "They're assholes. They'd love you, though."

"Really?" I smiled. "Why do you think that?"

He shrugged and answered, "Everyone loves you. It'd be hard not to."

So cute eeeek i love them. Love them sm

Xoxo abby