Forever & Always

Chapter 6

"Riley, honey, there's someone at the door. Can you get it for me? I just got home and I'm getting changed." 

I ran down the stairs and opened the door. "Hello, partner!" Shane was standing outside in a white t-shirt and jeans, looking very nice I hated to admit. 

"Um, Shane, what are you doing here?" I asked. I looked at my phone to make sure I wasn't completely crazy. It read 5:55. 

"We are hanging out tonight, remember?" he said, confused. 

"Yes, but do you not remember harassing me in the library today and I said to come pick me up at 7?" I reminded him, startled and slightly annoyed at him being here early. 

"Who is it, honey?" I heard my mother call from upstairs. Oh shit! My mother! She'd recognize Shane immediately! 

Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't talked to Shane at all about our past history, which he apparently didn't remember since he hadn't brought it up in the many forced interactions we've had to have. Like I said, he wasn't exactly the sweet little seven year old I watched drive away and move to Florida ten years ago. My mother, however, who did not know that I've made contact with Shane, would spill the beans indefinitely, causing our time together to be made even MORE awkward than it usually is due to my hatred of him. 

"No one! Just someone trying to sell us something!" I called back to her. 

"What?" Shane asked, confused. 

"Shut up!" I instructed. I took a deep breath and thought quickly. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to go upstairs and change and tell my mom that I'm going to hang out with Sara on the boardwalk tonight, okay? You are going to hide and make sure she doesn't see you." 

"Why can't she see me?" Because you and I used to be best friends! Because she'd remember you and I'd have to explain how you've turned from a sweet young boy into an asshole teenager! "Because I said so!" I explained hurriedly, shooing him off of the porch and into the bushes while mentally hating myself for using that taboo phrase. Then, I ran upstairs to do some damage control. 

My mom was just coming out of the bathroom when I went into her room, pretending that I wasn't having a heart attack at how close these two worlds were coming to colliding. "Hey there, Mom," I gasped, slightly out of breath from running up two flights of steps. 

"That was just a guy looking for money. I just turned him away, said we weren't interested. However, I just got off the phone with Sara and she was wondering if I could meet her at the pier tonight, would that be alright?" 

She went over to her bureau and grabbed a hair tie. "Yeah, just be back by 10, okay? It's a school night". 

"Aye aye, captain," I said relieved and giving a tiny salute. Then, I thought about how ridiculous that was to do. I mean, who the fuck was I, Popeye? We weren't on a fucking cruise, this wasn't a yacht. I decided I would judge myself on how ridiculous I was being at a later date. I ran down the hallway to my room and threw open the door. I ripped my shirt and sweatpants off and changed into a really nice flannel t-shirt, jean shorts that weren't wrinkled or slutty and grabbed my white flip flops. Then, I went into the bathroom and tried to do something with my hair. It never failed that it always looked like shit when I had somewhere I had to go. I pulled it out of the messy bun I had it in and let it lie flat. "Oh, it's a good thing I'm not breaking mirrors just yet," I said to myself before I grabbed my purse and a sweatshirt and made a break for it out the front door. Shane was leaning against the side of the house when I closed the front door. 

"Did you really have to push me into the bushes?" He asked, pulling a leaf out of his hair. 

I laughed a little. "I guess not, but you have to see that from my perspective, it was too much fun to pass up."