The Two Month Bet

Date Seven

"You didnt have to do this, you know?" I smile at Mat and rock back on my heels. "I know, I want to." He grins at me and steps forward to kiss my cheek. "I want to get on your mom's good side." Winking, he claps his hands together. "Where's the stuff?" I smile back at him and start walking backwards. "I'll get it, you...pull some weeds or something." Pulling out my phone, I walk to the storage shed.

Eve: You wana hang out today? We gata do what I want tho ;)

I open the door and sowl at the disarray of tools, wheelbarrows and other gardening things. Dad really needs to clean this up. Pushing my way through the river of disgarded things, I pause by the Christmas decorations and check my phone.

Kat: You bet I do! What we doing, chigga? :D

Laughing, I tell her that if she comes over she'll find out. I start picking up things we might need-hoes, clippers, gloves, ect. Mat showed up this morning, way too early in my opinion, and told me his plan. He hasn't had too much contact with my parents and he wanted to do something to help them out and maybe make them like him along the way. So being the genius he is, he remembered my moms crisis with her plants and went down to Lowes to buy some flowers we could plant for her. I invited Kat because, honestly I'm a little afraid that if I'm alone with Mat for as long as it'll take us to plant these things, we might end up doing something we'd regret. Tugging my heavy load out to the grass, I unceremoniously dump it all to the ground. "Hey hey hey," Mat walks up to me and starts picking them all up,"we must be nice to the tools, they help us." Glaring at me, he begins to whisper to the non thinking items how I didn't mean it and he loved them. Seriously? Could I have picked a goofier guy?

"Aye peeps, what's crackalakin?" Kat materlizes beside me, scaring the wits out me. I didn't even hear her walk up for peetes sake! She must be a ninja. After recovering from jumping two stories high, I slap her bare arm. "You fudge nugget! You almost scared me to death!" Kat giggles and pulls me into a huge hug, squishing the air out of me. "That's what best friends are for." She whispers, squeezing me one last time before letting go. "Ladies! A little help?" Mat calls, wiping the sweat that's already dripping down his face. Smiling at him, I lean in close to Kat. "He's going to work all day. Want to go watch that movie mom got, Guardians of the Galaxy?" Before I can properly get my sentence out, Katlin grabs onto my wrist and pulls me inside to the movie room.

***

"You know," Kat says while trying to throw popcorn up in the air and catch it with her mouth. "There's only a couple more weeks of the bet left, think you can make it?" Glancing at her and laughing when the popcorn kernel drops on her face, I shrug. "I think I can, don't even do the thing with the train. Mat's not so bad, I actually... really like him." I admit, my face the color of a ripe tomaty. Kat squeals and bounces on the bed, almost spilling our popcorn on the floor. "I knew it! I called it, totally me. But..." She eyes me warily. "But?" I ask, giggling sightly at the Finding Nemo reference. "What about lover boy?" She wiggles her eyebrows at me in a weak attempt to make me giggle. I open my mouth to respond but get up and walk to the door instead, hearing the insistant ringing of the doorbell. "Yeah?" I ask, nearly hitting Mat in the face with the door as I swing it open. He glares at me. "Since you two abandoned me to work alone, the least you can do is get me something to drink." Scowling, he mutters,"Payne's in the driveway."

I step out past him and start walking to Payne's car, calling over my shoulder that drinks were in the outside fridge. "Hey." I breathe, grinning at him. "Hey.." Payne whispers, hands behind his back. "What are you doing here?" I rub the back of my neck, my face feeling hot. "I brought you a present. Kat told me you guys were gardening so..." He brings his hands out from behind his back to reveal a beautiful hybiscus flower. "Its so pretty!" I gasp, taking it from his hands. Suddenly, I find it hard to breathe. Payne shakes his hands in my face and I think he's talking but, I can't understand him. Its as if I forgot English. The flower is the only thing I can see, but even with the pretty view, my eyes begin to darken with spots. I smile weakly and fall to the ground, all strength leaving my body. I recongnise the sound of footsteps and assume Katlin and Mat came over to see Payne. Its getting harder for me to breathe and I'm drifting in and out of conciseness. The last thing I can remember is the feel of strong arms picking me up and putting me somewhere soft, like a bed or a pillow...

(I'm sorry I took so long to update and gave you guys a crappy chapter :( my bad...)