A New Beginning

Chapter Four

I opened the door to find Leah and Em setting the dinner table, Bobby stirring something in a pan.  The girls were laughing at something, and Em placed her hand on Leah’s shoulder, almost like she was preventing her from falling. 

            When the door closed behind me, Leah turned, her smile growing.  “Hey, Sissy! What’s your friend’s name?” she squealed, walking towards me.  Behind her, Em took a seat at the table, eager to listen to me, though she tried not to look obvious. 

            I put a lose strand of hair behind my ear and sighed.  “Calm down, Leah.  His name is Louis.”

            Leah turned to look at Em, who was wide eyed.  “Louis?” Leah questioned.

            “Yes…he lives on the third floor.”

            Em stood up and came closer to Leah and I.  “Louis is my brother!” she said, shocked.  “You two know each other?”

            “Yeah, why are you two so surprised?” I asked, all the while surprised that two people who are so different are siblings.  Then again, that is the way Leah and I are.

            Em shrugged.  “Let’s just say Louis doesn’t make many friends?”

            “Really?  I didn’t know that, I know that he’s friends with Coop though.”

            “Well yeah, but they’ve been friends forever, so he doesn’t really count.  Louis is just very quiet and guarded.  He’s very independent and in his own little world.  I love him and we are close, but I see a side of him that rarely anyone else gets to see.” I nodded my head, catching myself wanting to see that side of him as well.  “So how did you two meet?”

            “We kept running into each other in front of the apartment and at Co Co’s.”

            “Oh yeah, Leah told me that you work there now.  That’s basically Louis’ second home.”

            “Dinner’s ready!” Bobby said, and we all took a seat around the table.  The subject quickly changed from Louis and I to Em and Leah.  They discussed more about the baby and about some cheerleading competition that was on televison.  That led to Bobby telling us what he did at work – which was be the head writer for an entire episode, which was a great honor.  Apparently he had this great life-changing plan for a character, and the producers liked it so much that they wanted him to conduct the entire episode.

            Once dinner was over, Em rinsed her plate out in the sink and placed it in the dishwasher, like she was a member of the family and this was her home.  She then said that she needed to get ready, and glanced at me.  “Do you want to go to a party tonight?  I would invite Leah and Bobby, but it’ll be mostly college kids.” She said, looking at Leah and snickered.  She noticed my unsure face and added, “Louis is going and so is Coop, so you’ll know a few people.  Come on, it’ll be fun!  And it will be a great way to meet new people from around here.” she said, trying to convince me.  Little did she know that I was hard to be convinced.  I never did what I didn’t feel like doing and I didn’t like things that weren’t planned ahead of time. 

            Yet this summer was all about change and going out of my comfort zone.  I should live in the moment, instead of not living at all.  I couldn’t just sit and preach about how different I wanted to be without actually doing something about it.  “Sure.” I finally answered, “when should we meet?”

            “How about at nine?  I can just come up here if you want.  This is going to be so much fun!” she blurted, practically jumping up and down.  She scurried out the door and was gone.