Because of the fire.

chapter 15

Thirty minutes later, I waited outside while Earl had gone to the locker rooms to take the compulsory after any practice showers. When he came I looked up from my phone, "sorry to keep you waiting. I should have given you the keys so you could sit inside. "

"it's okay," i said getting in and added, "congratulations for making it into the team."

He smiled all the way to his grey eyes, "thanks."

We talked about him on the way home. His family was originally from Leicester but his dad had worked in the States for a while and they'd moved several times but it seemed as if this was their last move.
Minutes later we got home and he parked in front of my house.

"you know I could have just walked from yours right? " I asked him.

"yeah, but I wanted to make sure you got home safe, " he smiled.

"being the gentleman that you are? " I teased.

"yeah, being the gentleman that I am"

"okay, Sir Lancelot. The most noble of them all, " I mocked.

"ok Collins you wanna play cheeky now," he laughed nevertheless.

I remained sitted even though we'd arrived. I looked over at Earl his hair still gleaming. It was slicked back now.

"what's going on in that cheeky mind of yours? " he asked.

"wanna come up to mine? " I don't even know where I got the confidence to be that direct.

"okay? "

"we can have my famous fruit juice. It's for congratulations on your making it to the team. "

He arched an eyebrow, "sure. I guess."

I smiled as we got out of the car. Mom greeted the both of us as we entered the house. She smiled extra at Earl and I explained the whole hang out/congratulations thing.
" where's Luke? " I asked.

"discovering pre-teenage angst in his room."

That's when I heard the faint rock music coming from upstairs. It was now muffled by the walls.

"he just discovered Metallica," mom added.

"right, makes sense. "

I led Earl into the kitchen while mom went about her way doing whatever it was that she had been doing. I washed my hands and took out some fruits, red apples, watermelon, cranberries and strawberrries. I started cutting them up into smaller pieces.

"need help? " Earl asked.

"no I got it, thanks"

After a while I put all the fruits in our high powered blender then just juiced it up and poured all the juice into a pitcher before getting two glasses. Earl was quiet the whole time watching me work. I set a glass before him where he was perched on a stool by the kitchen counter.

"Ok, let's see whatchu got Ramsay," he said before taking a sip.

I smiled at the name calling.

"whoa, what?! "he exclaimed removing the glass from his lips.

"yeah?" I waited.

"this is astonishingly good. It's almost illegal," he complimented.

"glad that you're not so skeptical now," I smiled.

"where'd you even learn this fruit combination?"

"well, these are all red fruits as you've seen. Red/pink and I read somewhere that they're really good for the heart you know circulation and all so I kinda experiment with the fruits," I explained.

"genius, "

I took another sip of my own juice, "i call this one 'the water-berry-ple shake'. Shake because I didn't remove the pulp"

Earl chuckled, "truly genius. And the shake is really good "

Our eyes met. "I'm glad you like it," i smiled.

At that very moment you could feel a tinge of magic in the air but soon i was blushing at my boldness.

"can we go up to my room?" i asked again. For a second, something covered Earl's eyes. I could have almost imagined it.

But he replied cooly, "sure."

I picked up my canvas bag by the bottom of the stairs as we went up. I left the door a few inches open. Earl was looking around,

"nice room," he said

"thanks," I replied sitting on the rug. Earl sat down beside me.

"no you can sit on the chair," I said pointing to the chair in front of my dressing room.

"I want to sit next to you," he smiled at me while taking a seat. I could feel the blush but I'm sure he was getting used to it by now.

"so, we have literature, chemistry and English language together. No homework in gym so..." I trailed off as I took books from my back.

Earl stared at me realisation spanning across his face, "right."

"what?" I asked innocently.

"this is the reason why we're here. The real reason, " he shot one eyebrow up.

I looked down, "well I umm figured that we might as well use this time to put some work in, you know?"

I hoped he'd leave it at that. The truth was that I felt uneasy with all the moments we'd been having while we were having fruit shakes. The feelings were foreign to me and I just wanted to be occupied with something. Anything.

"as opposed to what? " he asked.

That's when I put back my teasing face, "just sitting around. I figured I'd put your knight qualities to use, you Lancelot."

That seemed to get him, "works only when I offer. You owe me, " he added.

"yeah right, " i mumbled.

"what did you say? "

"oh nothing. Just which subject are we starting with. "

"i heard you, " he challenged then just chuckled.

So we did the homework. Earl was smart, so easy to be around yet not so much but we got everything done.

"I could get used to this everyday you know?" I said.

"erhh, hold your horses. That's too ambitious even for you," he said.

"even for me? " i repeated his words, "what's not? " i asked.

He looked me over, "You'll find out."

We looked at each other like from earlier and a buzzing phone between us broke the spell. We both looked at it. The caller ID. Kyle.
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Hi guys. Glad you reached this part of the story. At this point it's kinda difficult for me to write but this story is turning three and needs it's ending so much.
So here's an appeal to you. Please comment. That's all the motivation i need.