The unfortunate adventures of Sarah Richards

Chapter twelve ~finding you~

I grabbed my dog's collar so he wouldn't run out the door when i went to let my friend in. "Hi!" I laughed and stepped out of the way for Thea to walk in. "Hey! Oh, he's so cute! What's his name?" She asked as she bent down to pet Doug. "Doug." I answered and bent over a little to pet him as well once i had let go of his collar. "He seems very sweet." Thea said and as we both stood up at once, or foreheads knocked together. "I'm so sorry!" I said quickly and stumbled back, holding my palm to my head. "Way to go, Sarah. That's some way to treat your guest." My mother's joking tone sounded from behind me. She must have come out of the kitchen to witness Thea and I clashing heads. "Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes at her a little and pushed my hair out of my face. "Oh, ma, this is Thea." I motioned from my mother to my friend. "Thea, this is my mom." I said and proceeded to motion back the other way. "Hi!" My mother grinned as they shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Richards." Thea said formally. "It's nice to meet you too. But please, Call me Kelly. Mrs. Richards was my husband's mother." My mother laughed. She looked as though she were about to say something else but Orwell began crying from his play pen in the dining room. "You have a baby?" Thea whispered harshly as we headed upstairs to my bedroom. "Yeah, well, he's not mine. He's my six month old brother, Orwell." I told her as we entered my room. "I apologize for the mess. Between feeling like i had been drugged and stabbed and writing newspaper articles i didn't really have proper time to clean." I said nervously. As we walked in i had suddenly noticed all the clutter on my desk and dresser, all the paper on the floor from printing and the pile of laundry in the corner. "Think nothing of it!" Thea waived her hand dismissively. "It shows that you actually live here." She giggled. I found myself smiling a little. "That's certainly a good way of looking at it." I commented. I could sense things getting a little dull in the way of conversation. As they always do during the first few times you hang out with someone. "I never got a proper chance to thank you." I said and leaned against my desk. Thea sat on the side of my bed. "For what?" She tilted her head to the side a little. God, that was so cute! I mean, what? "Helping me." I chuckled and extended a leg a little to poke her knee with the toe of my shoe. "Come again?" Thea still sounded confused. "Well, firstly, you helped me at the train station on Sunday. If i hadn't had you there with me i doubt i'd have made the connection with Lee Anne and Kyla. And you helped me figure out why my necklace is blue." The last sentence was a little awkward for me. I don't know why. I mean, it was part of my identity just as much as my romantic or sexual orientation. "Ah," Thea nodded slowly, "it's no problem, really. I'm happy to help." She grinned over at me. I couldn't help but smile back. "If i ever need help with more research, i know who to ask." I joked and winked sarcastically at Thea. Was it my eyes playing tricks on me or did she blush when i did that? "Why wait? Do you think we can make predictions with our gathered information?" She laughed. "Perhaps." I nodded slowly. "What colour is your brother's necklace?" Se asked. "Green." I replied and moved to sit next to her on the end of my bed. "The one kid we saw with a green necklace was tall and looked to be some sort of athlete. If your brother is into sports when he gets older you owe me ten bucks." She smirked. Did i blush when Thea smirked at me? Maybe. Did she notice? I hope not. "Do you have any siblings?" I asked and leaned back so i was laying down with my legs dangling off the bed. "Nope." Thea replied and shook her head. "But, i hear things coming from my parents room a lot so that could change." She giggled and cast me a devious look. "Thea!" I shouted and poked my fingers into her ribs hoping that she was ticklish. She was. She leapt off the bed and went to lean against my desk, holding her sides and breathing heavily from laughter. "You know it's true. I bet you've heard shit like that before." She giggled. A small smirk played across her face. "Yeah..," i shuddered a little, "i usually just go sleep downstairs or on the second floor so i can't hear it as well as through the wall." I said. "Good idea, i should try something like that some time!" Thea stepped forward very quickly and jabbed her fingers into my sides. I jumped practically a foot off my mattress. In case you couldn't tell, i was very ticklish. "Ah, sweet revenge." Thea laughed wickedly. I caught her hoodie sleeve in my hand as she moved away, pulling her back. This did not go as i planned. My heart started racing and a warm feeling spread up from about the lower bit of my belly to the top of my head. I didn't realize it till after the fact but in trying to pull Thea back and continue the tickle war, i had pulled her down on top of me. "Well hi there." I chuckled awkwardly and felt heat rising in my cheeks. "Hi." Thea replied with a smirk. "Sorry about that." I said as i let go of her hoodie sleeve. "I should probably get off now." Thea muttered and bit her lower lip. I neither objected nor told her to stay. Honestly, i wouldn't have minded either. Maybe i was just plain Bisexual instead of Heterosexual/Biromantic. Thea stood up slowly so she wouldn't just fall back on me and brushed the wrinkles out of the front of her hoodie. As she did this her necklace moved up and popped out of her hoodie collar. Both our jaws dropped and we stood there, frozen, staring at each other with almost a look of horror. Her necklace matched mine to a T...