I'm fine. Thanks.

6. Stacy

Two weeks have past since our trip to the pool. It somehow ended with Evan, a guy from my class, asking me out the next day. I said no, mostly because he wasn't my type. He is one of this players who thinks they get every girl. It was about time for a refusal. 

It#s a Saturday and I am sitting on my couch playing the guitar and singing quietly to myself when my phone goes off. Jimmy's ID pops up on the screen and I stretch over to grab it from the couch table. 

"Jimmy", I say with a smile. It's the first time he actually calls me. 

"Stacy"

"What's up?"

"I'm bored. You have time?"

"Sure", I laughed, "Do you want to come over?"

"Five minutes"

Exactly five minutes later there was a ring on my door. I open to find Jimmy standing there in a T-Shirt. I haven't seen him in one before. The couple of leather bracelets he wears can't hide the scars he has from cutting. With relief I realize that there are no new ones since the day we went swimming. But just because you don't see them doesn't mean there not there, a voice in my head warns me. True. I hide my scars pretty well. Unless we go swimming. Then of course everyone sees them. The ones on my belly and thighs from cutting and the ones on my back. The horrible reminder that I would never return home to my family. At least not as long as my dad lived. 

I let him in and go to the kitchen to get us some water. While poring water into the glasses I hear the sweet sound of my guitar playing the first couple of chords of "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys. I didn't know he plays. With a smirk and both glasses in my hand I walk into the living room and start singing along. He looks up without stopping to move his fingers between the strings. He plays extremely well. I put down the water on the small table and walk over to the piano to play along. 

For the next half hour we're just sitting there jamming and singing. Jimmy is a quite good singer although he tends to miss some notes, but that is okay. It's not like I'm going to judge him on that. It's not like I'm going to judge him at all. 

"You play something", Jimmy says and hands me the guitar. It's Ian's black one. I grab it and begin to play "Talkin' Bout A Revolution" by Tracy Chapman. From the corner of my eye I see Jimmy smile. He's humming along as I start singing. 

We end up watching a movie and ordering pizza. The afternoon goes by fast and because it's too hot to go outside and we're lazy we just hang on my couch the entire time. Making fun of movie characters and trying to copy them in the weirdest way possible. To be honest it's one of the best Saturdays I've ever had. 

"I bet I can eat more than you can", I tease Jimmy, right after we called the pizza place for some dinner. He just laughs. "Oh it's on! The first one to finish is the winner", he says sounding pretty sure of himself. 

To make it short, I won. Jimmy doesn't seem able to handle it. He faked a cry attack and is lying on my sofa whining about how cruel I am. I haven't laughed like this in ages. My eyes tear and my jar hurts from laughing. He somehow doesn't stop to surprise me. All of a sudden he can play the guitar and sing. The next moment he is super funny. I'm still giggling long after he headed home whenever I think of what happened this afternoon. 

It's one of the first night I actually sleep through entirely since I moved to Toronto. I even sleep in the next morning. Usually I'm up at the latest at 8 am but that Sunday I wake up at 10:30 am. The last time I slept that long was decades ago. Realizing how late it is I literally jump out of bed and rush to the bathroom. I'm already way too late for school. Oh dang it. I can't miss again. I already skipped a class on the first day of school and had to promise the principal it wouldn't happen again. Anxiety creeps through my veins driving me to skip breakfast and rush out of the building almost breaking my neck on the stairs. The elevator would have taken too long. At the front door of the building I bump into one of my neighbors. A man around the age of 70. Shoot. I help him up as good as I can. Fortunately he is fit and I didn't hurt him bad. "Why are you in such a rush on this beautiful Sunday morning?", he asks with his voice sounding like he eats the cigarettes I see him smoke every now and then. Wait? SUNDAY!? "It's Sunday?", I ask to reassure myself. "Yes", he answers, "The entire day long" I let out a huge sigh in relief. How could I be so stupid. Of course it's Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday. (Duh.) Jimmy came over. I can't believe how sleeping in once caught me of guard like this. I take a seat on the stairs and take a deep breath. Oh my. I thank my neighbor and apologize once more for running him over. He just shakes his head and mumbles something about "youth". I head back to my apartment.