Promise Me

2.

On Sunday, a few days after I'd met Cara, I was standing in our huge new kitchen. Big black marble countertops, top-of-the-line appliances, same gray granite floor as the rest of the first floor. It was open and connected to both the living room and the room around the corner with the formal dining table, another TV, and my parents desks. There were three cone-shaped lights casting a warm glow over the island, two over the stove, and three over the sink. It was crazy big, and to be honest? As much as I loved our cozy kitchen back in Cali, I had to admit that this was pretty darn amazing.
Perched on one of the stools at the island, I crunched down into a deliciously sour Granny Smith apple, while thinking about my life, the mean of being human, the world in general, and all jazz. This was one of the perks of being up early on a Sunday; it was perfect solitude, and your thoughts could roam wherever they wanted in the calm silence.
I stretched, throwing my arms up, and yawning wide. I heard a snore come from far down a hallway off of the living room, where my parents' bedroom was. Rolling my eyes, I checked that their door was closed before I plopped down onto the plush couch and grabbed the iPad on the glass coffee table in front of me. Just as my finger tapped the Netflix app icon, a tap echoed, coming from the glass wall to my left.
I whipped my head over. There was a boy standing there, on our tile patio, smiling at me. I throw him the universal look for what do you want, and prayed that the sliding door was locked, although due to the glass-ness of the wall, if he was a serial killer, there was a good chance that he could break through. I hoped he wasn't a serial killer though, because he was cute. Really cute.
The second my feet padded over the threshold that led to the patio, Mystery Boy burst out laughing.
"I didn't seriously think you'd come out to see some stranger, especially without your phone." He nodded his head towards inside, where my phone lay on the countertop.
I raised my eyebrows. "I thought I'd take my chances. And Abercrombie shorts don't exactly say menacing," I commented, glancing pointedly at his black A&F running shorts with the white stripes up the sides.
"Point taken, but still. Don't they teach y'all about stranger danger in California?"
"Well, I'm guessing they don't teach about trespassing in Texas." I smirked.
He laughed. He had a nice laugh. Not too loud, not too deep. His eyes crinkled in that way that made me go all melty, and he threw his head back just the right amount. "Point taken. Although your parents did invite me to come over sometime to meet you and someone named Hanna."
"But I highly doubt that they were expecting you to come tapping on our back window at..." I paused as I peeked through the glass to see the clock. "7:37 a.m. on a Sunday."
He gave me a confused look. "Why ever not? I thought that was the 'in' way for people to visit in sunny C.A."
It was my turn to laugh. "Definitely, how else? And because you keep mentioning California, how'd you know we lived there?"
"Your parents stopped by a few days ago and they talked with mine for a while. So, yes, I basically know your entire life story." He gave me an evil grin and stroked his chin.
I dropped a huge circular pink inflatable raft into our equally huge pool. "Well then, it's your turn to tell me yours," I told him with a smirk and a smile.
He carefully made his way onto the raft, then offered a hand to help me on. I took it and with a quick smile, he pulled me straight into the cool blue water.
"You're kidding me, right? Oldest trick in the book. I didn't think you were actually going to fall for that!"
Without responding, I pulled his hand, and with a hard tug, he splashed into the water beside me. I burst out laughing at his shocked expression. "Oldest trick in the book. Can't believe you actually fell for it."
He splashed a wave of water at me, then attempted to climb back onto the raft. Not the most graceful attempt, and he fell off every single time. I pulled myself up onto the side of the pool, then took a running jump and landed smack in the middle of the raft.
"How even?" he asked incredulously. "Every time I try that I fall straight back into the water."
I laughed and splashed him. "Same. I seriously don't know how that worked."
He edged onto the raft, and we lay stretched out for a while, gazing up at the sky as the sun rose. Eventually, he turned his head to face me; and I turned mine.
"What's up?" I asked.
He laughed. "Your pajamas are soaked, you know?"
"No, really?" I answered sarcastically, peeling my top up from my stomach and letting it smack back down.
"That's why I didn't bother putting on a shirt or shoes this morning. And most guys' casual shorts are basically the same concept as swim shorts, so I'm prepared for anything."
"Unless I enjoyed hiking," I pointed out. "You feet would be experiencing worlds of hurt without shoes."
He snorted. "And where would we hike? Down to the duck pond? Ouch, rough terrain that sprinklerified green grass is."
As if in response, an extremely loud quack echoed through the neighborhood right after he said that.
"You know, I just realized I don't know your name."
"Oh wow. How did that even happen?" he wondered. "I'm normally like 'I'm Luke. Oh, and by the way, hey.'"
I rolled off the quickly heating plastic and into the water. "So I'm guessing your name is Luke?"
"And you're Aubrie."
I gave him a thumbs up and ducked under the water. As I came up for air, the door slid open at the speed of light, and Hanna stepped out. Her brown hair was tied up in a perfect messy bun, and she had a short red satin robe tied tightly around her waist. Her eyebrows were raised to her hairline. "Who're you?" she directed at Luke.
I giggled. "Jeez, Han. Way to introduce yourself and say hello."
"Hello, I'm Hanna." She paused, giving me a pointed glare. "Who're you?"
Luke paddled the raft over to the edge of the pool. "Luke. Nice to finally meet you."
"And why the heck are you in our pool at 8 a.m., Luke?"
I seriously had no idea what her problem was. It was probably the early hour. Hanna + mornings - coffee = disaster.
I took over. "Luke's a neighbor. Our parents are friends with his."
Hanna rubbed her temples. "That still doesn't explain why he's in our pool so early, dearest sister, dear."
"I had zero idea, so you're stuck on that one, Han."
Luke laughed and I joined in. Hanna rolled her eyes and wandered inside, mumbling about Advil, bagels, and stupid alarms.
"Well, she seems great, huh?" he commented as he shielded his eyes to glance at me.
Laughing, I stepped out of the pool and dropped onto a pile of white pillows on a circular bench. "She's actually normally about twenty times nicer than that, she's just pissed about the move, misses her boyfriend, wants to be in California, and hates mornings."
"Ah, the moving away from loved one dearest. That would make me grumpy, too."
I felt something pinch inside me. Did he have a girlfriend? And wait, why did I even care? He was some random neighbor that I'd met an hour ago. "Well, Deuce was her loved, loved, loved one. She's even got a promise ring to prove it." I sighed. "It's actually really sweet and romantic."
"A promise ring? Why? Is he really that scared she's going to cheat on him?" Luke slid into the circular bench next to mine.
I fiddled with the ruffle on the edge of my plaid pajama shorts. "It's actually a 'I'd marry you, but we're too young, so I'll just get us promise rings instead, because we're definitely getting married' type of thing. They've been together since early seventh grade and everyone's 100% convinced that they're souls mates."
He smiled. "Well now I guess I understand her attitude."
"Well, yes and no. I mean, it's hard, but at least she has someone like that at all, you know? Like, even if they're a few states away, they're still in love, and that romance probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I kinda think she needs to get over herself. Hanna was so much more fun to be around when we were in California, and now if she's not moping, she's either grumpy or FaceTiming Deuce." I pulled out my sopping wet ponytail and shook the hair around my shoulders.
"Ah, Deuce. An interesting name. Much better than Luke."
I gathered my courage and took a deep breath. "I think Luke's an extremely cute name."
Luke winked at me. "So's Aubrie. A very pretty name for a very gorgeous girl."
I swear to God that my heart stopped beating for a few seconds. Did he just tell me that I was gorgeous? Very gorgeous? Does that mean he doesn't have a girlfriend?
"Thanks," I said, as he extended his arm over eg gap between our benches. Somehow, my arm followed suit and our fingers clasped. He smiled at me. Lord, did that boy have a nice smile.