Cole

Together

When I climbed into the bus Manda was already there, as usual.  The discussion with Lance delayed me a bit too.  As I approached her I looked her in the eyes and she seemed alright.  I was worried she was mad at me after she had run off from me at lunch.

"You okay?", I asked as I sat down next to her.

"Sure, Cole.  All is fine.  You worried about something?"

"Uhh, no, I guess."

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it a little.  She let me do that, so maybe all was fine.  I guess I just didn't want Rick in my space.  While holding her hand I looked over at Manda's amazing dirty blonde hair with it's long waves of locks, and highlighted coils of gold.  Then I looked down at her amazing legs in her skinny jeans.  I just could not believe this hot looking nice girl even wants to sit next to me.  I didn't know why, but I constantly felt like at any moment she was going to dump me.

"We are going to get off at my stop, okay?  Afterwards, I will walk you home,"  I said.

"Sure, Cole, no problem.  I'd like to see your home.  That's fun.  Your mom was quite a gardener.  I'm sorry she is now gone. I miss her too."

"I know, thanks!"

I did not say anything for a while.  Manda called her home with her cell phone to leave a message letting her parent's know she was staying with me for a short while after school.  It was funny. I didn't have a cell phone, myself, and I did not use the computer much or any digital media for that matter. I was a bit old fashioned. I wonder if that was coming from the 72 year old Dr. Mos side of my brain.

While we were riding the bus it occurred to me that dad was not coming home that day. He was on a business trip.  I was going to have Manda all to myself at the house.  I could easily tell her more about the secret of the neurosynths, and ultimately my need for her to hypnotize me to find neurosyn.  That would be perfect.

I then thought of Lance.  He said if I wanted to keep Manda I needed to be more of a man.  I did not want to have sex with Manda.  She was too young, but maybe we could make out a lot.  Maybe that would get Rick out of her brain.  I started to get hard just thinking about it.  I loved doing that with Manda.

"Cole, are you okay?," Manda said now looking at me.

I looked back at her and she studied my eyes a bit.  I was sure my pupils were dilated a bit from thinking about making out with her.  She held my look for a long time questioning me.  It was like we were talking without words.  I noticed she swallowed and seemed to tremble a little.  I wondered if that meant she knew what I was thinking about or whether she worried about me for being a neurosynth.  She still did not know fully what neurosynths were all about, and maybe she did not believe me.  In any case, she did not let go of my hand, so maybe she wanted to make out with me.  I swallowed hard.  It had been a while.  I noticed she took a deep breath and then looked away from my eyes and then down at her knees.

When we finally arrived at my stop I got up out of the seat and backed up the isle to block all the other kids to let Manda out.  I carried her backpack and we proceeded out the front door of the bus, stepped to the ground and looked at each other. The bus door closed after the last kids left, and then the bus moaned away out of sight.

"I have not been here for a while, Cole.  We usually go other places for dates."

"Yeah, we probably should have come here more.  It's not bad."

"Yeah, I really like it, Cole."

We started walking towards my house, up the walk, and to the door.  I took out a house key and opened the door.