ShawnMendes entered Wattpad.

60

<<expectations>>

"Do you wanna drink something, too? I've got some homemade lemonade or cocoa if you like to," Karen offers, and I can't but smile back. "Lemonade sounds great, thank you."

"Here we go." A few moments later, she comes out with a tray, on it a carafe full of lemonade and some of the muffins from earlier.

"Wow, that look's all great, thank you," I say. "You're a baker?"

"Oh well, I'm not. Honestly, I only bake when my son comes home."

"You've got a son, too?" I watch her surprised. "You didn't mention that earlier."

"Didn't I? Well, yes. He's kinda much en route. He doesn't live here at home anymore, ya know?"

"Yes, of course." I take a bite of of the muffin. "Mmmmmh, Karen, they taste amazing!"

Karen smiles warmly. "Thank you, darling. – My son always says, that they have this precious something he can't get in a coffee-shop. I guess, that's a real compliment. Although, I think it is meant a bit ironically."

"Probably it is – but he's definitely right – you can't get such muffins in a coffee shop."

"Why, thank you!"

We both laugh, and Karen takes a muffin herself.

For a while we just both eat. Then, Karen breaks the – not uncomfortable – silence.

"Your mother told me, that you're not happy with what you're studying? Do you think about giving up your studies?"

"Honestly, I'm not thinking about it anymore," I answer and take my glass.

"Oh, so you've decided to continue studying?"

I clear my throat and take a sip of the lemonade. Then I smile. "I just sent the e-mail for my exmatriculation."
It feels a bit weird to say it loud now, because it means, that the Amy-and-Mandy-era has really come to an end. But it feels good at the same time, because i also means that I'm free to do whatever I want now.

"Oh, wow. That's surely a step that needed a lot of courage." Karen looks impressed. "Do you know what you want to do next? Will you just change the subject of your studies, or do you wanna chose some other kind of education?"

"I don't know." I look in my glass. "It's not that easy. It depends on many things I guess."

"For example?"

I look up.

Karen looks at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't wanna offend you, I'm only being curious. My son went through some kind of that phase recently, too, and my daughter has some trouble with her options either."

"It's fine." I smile. "It's just, that I had a lot of... changes ... in the last time. My best friend and I had a big dissent, and now we're going different ways. Well. Former best friend," I correct myself. "We were studying together, but I realized that this wasn't what I wanted to do anymore. And at the same time, she realized, that our friendship wasn't what she wanted anymore."

"And how is the boy the dissent was about?" Karen asks.

I stare at her bewilderd, and she laughs. "I was young too, Mandy. And I have a daughter nearly your age, so I'm used to a bit drama. A longterm friendship ending so suddenly has quite often it's reason in romance. Not always but often."

I smile a bit. "Any advice?"

"If your friendship is worth to fight for, then do it. If this boy is worth to fight for – then do it, too. Just don't lose – and remain true – to yourself."

I breathe in some of the cold air, and I have the feeling, that this woman told me something very true and something very wise. "You're right. Thank you, Karen."

Karen smiles back. "Nothing to thank Mandy. And by the way: You deserve true friendship and true love, too."

"That's very kind of you," I say. "But sadly, it isn't that easy as I wish. Honestly, nothing did work out the last weeks as I wished."

"You really like that boy, don't you?" Karen looks at me empathetically.

I nod and shake my head and shrug all at one time. "We don't know each other that much in person. We just wrote a lot, and I had this feeling, that we would get along when we meet for real, and that he'd like me in person, too, when we would meet. But when we finally met, he had only eyes for Amy."

"Amy is your former best friend, the girl that likes this boy, too?"

"She loves him by heart," I answer. "But I think, that honestly, she does only like him, because of the idea, she has of being in a relationship with him. I don't know how to explain this, it's really difficult."

"I see," Karen smiles. "But does he like her the way she likes him?"

"I don't know. Maybe." I look in my glass again. "Probably." My heart hurts when I think about the way Shawn looked at Amy. I see it all right in front of my inner eye, all the scenes, where she hughs him, where he smiled at her, where they seemed to belong so perfect together. My eyes are burning a bit. I clear my throat. "Well, I think, I gotta go now." I take a look to the sky. "I think, it will be snowing more later, so I better get home, help my mum preparing the driveway."

"You're such a kind young woman, Mandy," Karen smiles at me, and when I stand up, she stands up too and hugs me warmly. "Whatever this other girl has that makes her interesting for this boy, he has to be very dumb if he doesn't like you."

"Thank you Karen. I'm just very glad, that he's not around at the moment." I give her a smile that feels a bit shaky. – I feel a bit shaken by all those things happening to me currently.

Karen seems to think a moment, than she seems as she made a decision. "Do you wanna come to dinner Sunday? If you didn't travel back to your apartment, of course. You could get to know my daughter. Ally surely will be happy to meet you."

"I'd love to, thank you for the invitation."

"Your mother is invited of course too," Karen says.

"We'll be coming." I smile again at Karen, and then turn around to go.

Suddenly, a black van stops in front of the house. The motor is turned off, then a door claps. Abruptly, Karen looks worried. She seems like she wants to say something, but before she can react in any way, or I can leave, someone walks around the drivers side.
I hear the person humming in a very melodic way, I see Karen looking hectically at the car, at me, and then back, like she is thinking about wether I could have left when the person comes around, and I have the strange feeling, that in the next seconds something very weird will happen.
And then, the person appears with the words: "Mum? I smelled the muffins 'til Toronto, so I decided to step in my car and come home earlier."

My smile freezes.
My heart makes a bump.
My cheeks are turning white and then red.

The world seems to stand still when the only person I absolutly didn't want to see, the only person I didn't expect here in the front yard of my mum's neighbours, brown haired and caramel-eyes, appears on screen.