Stargazing

Chapter 2- Lewis

"There at least seventeen other way this could have gone better. Literally I'm counting them right now, you moron." I pushed Dec forward, towards the bushes, sending him into the dirt.
Dec caught himself and stood back up.

"Come on! This isn't that bad." Dec turned towards me and smirked. Why did he smirk like that? No matter who it was towards his charm seemed to work on who ever. Which didn't help the fact we were sneaking through some girls backyard.

"Explain again why we are doing this?" I whispered. Dec shrugged and I punched his arm. "Dude! Why am I trampling over soon poor lady's petunias?" I had absolutely no idea what type of flowers and plants this girls yard contained but in every movie they mention petunias so I assumed that was a good guess. I stepped forward again, doing my best not to trouble and destroy all the flowers, and now the house was visible.

The house stood, towering over us three stories and probably included a basement, unlike our homes, which were two, a single above ground story and a basement.

I've lived in my house for all my life with my parents and three younger siblings. Being the oldest made me the "most responsible" even though I never lived up to the title. Dec moved in down the street to an almost identical house when I was five. One night after my family and I went to bed, I heard a knock from my bedroom window. Being the adventurous five year old that I was, I threw open the window curtain to reveal a small chubby kid with tangled brown hair and dirt on his cheeks. I opened the window and he introduced himself.

"You can call me best friend." He pointed to himself and smiled. He was missing one of his front teeth.

"But George is my best friend." George was my desk buddy and about twice my size. He was held back twice and stayed in Ms. Green's kindergarten class three times that year. He had blood shaggy hair and liked playing the kick and run game. Only, I didn't really realize it wasn't a game until third grade when some older boys decided to play kick and run and they got in a lot of trouble after I showed mom the black and blue bruises.

"I don't care. You and I are best friends now. Got it?" I nodded slowly and let my brand new best friend into my bedroom. I grabbed his hand and he pulled away which I didn't mind. So I just gestured over to my toy rug, pointing out all my toy trains. We played with the trains for a few minutes and then the dirty boy got up to leave.

"Wait!" I whisper yelled, making sure not to wake my sleeping family. The boy turned, and smiled his toothy grin. "What's your name."

"I'm Dec." He climbed out the window and started running down the street. His feet smacked the pavement as if he were mad.

"I'm Lewis!" I yelled out the window as I watched Dec turn into his drive away, hop the fence to his backyard, and disappear.

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Dec turned towards me. "Listen Lewi. This girl is amazing. Her eyes, her smile, her lips." He licked his lips and I did my best to look disgusted. The thought of kissing a girl didn't disgust me, it terrified me. What if I did it wrong? What if I went to fast or to slow? What if I eat something she's allergic too? The possibilities were endless. I would know.

I have Compulsive list-making or CLP for short. This means when ever I feel the need (which was almost always) I made a list. And not like what I needed to buy for school or what to pack. No; I listed everything. I listed the amount of three digit even numbers that can be made from 0-6 with no repetitions. The answer is 150. I list the possibilities when talking to people.
For example:
-They could mishear me and make fun of me
-They could walk away
-They could pretend to listen and care and then I will find out they aren't and be offended and then people would call me over emotional
-Or quite frankly, a rhino could escape the zoo and trample over me 

I've learned that girls don't like the lists I make about them, which sucks because I do it for everyone. The number of times Dec has stalked a girl for more then two weeks: 44, the swear words mom sputtered under her breath every time she burnt the food: No, I'm not listing that. The list of lists go on for years.

"Lewi? Lewis!" Dec shook my shoulders and gestures up words towards a second story window. "Did you hear me?" I shook my head and Dec let out a long heavy sigh. "I said, that's her room. Maybe there's some way to get me up there." I laughed and Dec punched my shoulder.

"Not happening. There are at least 87 ways that could end badly and only 1 way that could end well. The chances of a successful mission are very slim my friend." I turned from the house, hoping Dec would accept the defeat and turn away as well. But, he didn't. He just sat down the the dirt and starred up towards the closed window.

"Addie." Dec let out another sign, this time more pleading then upset.

"Huh?" I took a seat in the dirt next to him, and rubbed my forehead.

"That's her name." A smile crawled into his face.

"How long has this relationship been going on?" I asked making a list of the relationships Dec had had: 167.

"A few months. I only brought her up a few days ago because I was positive she was out of my league. And then we were an item and her best friend was not afraid to let us know." I looked at him, a confused look on my face. "Let's just say, she hasn't had the best of luck with relationships and when Addie and I became close she wasn't afraid to tell Addie and obviously Addie told me." He shrugged.

"Women!" I said as I rolled my eyes and Dec slapped my on the back.

"What the heck would you know about women?" Dec let out a laugh, which was joined with more laughter from the both of us. I shrugged and stood up, helping Dec out of the dirt and brushing it off our shorts. "Here's an idea!" Dec said, leading the way back to the car.

"What?"

"So her friend works at the Snow Shack. And I know she's single and you're single."

"Stop right there." I stopped in my tracks and Dec turned to face me. I shook my head. "There is no way I'm going on a date."

"You're going to have to sooner or later." Dec started back towards the car again and I followed slowly behind calling after him.

"I'd prefer later!"  We both jumped in the car, Dec in the drivers seat and I in the passenger.

"I don't care what you think. You're going. I'll ask her tomorrow about it and I'll let you know. Okay?" And with that he stuck the key in the ignition and started the rusty old thing. When I tried to make a list of reasons that I shouldn't go, my mind struggled. Maybe part of me really wanted this.