It was a sunny afternoon, and although it was blistering hot outside, Mike had to blow all of the leaves and grass out from his driveway. He had been outside a lot more working in the yard, in hopes to see Carrie. He went on jogs and took the same route hoping she would do the same. However, he never saw her. She hardly ever came out of her house and when she would leave, she wouldn't be back until late at night.
Mike was blowing leaves out when he saw Carrie's car pull into her driveway one afternoon which was a first since she had moved in two weeks ago. He tried to mind his own business but failed to do so when he heard a huge crash coming from her garage. He looked over instantly to see groceries everywhere on the floor. He ran over immediately helping Carrie pick up the stuff on the floor.
"Ugh," Carrie let out a groan of frustration. "This is just great."
"Rough day?" Mike questioned.
"More than rough actually," Carrie answered picking up all of the vegetables off of the floor. "And now, I have nothing for dinner."
"I was going to order some pizza," Mike blurted out. "If you want to join..."
"That's really nice, but you really don't have to," she blushed.
"Nonsense," he shook his head. "I'm not letting you go hungry."
"I guess that's okay then," she looked up at him. "Thank you."
"No problem," he replied. "Here, I'll help you put the rest of this away."
The two gathered their things and walked into Carrie's house where they set everything on the counter. Mike looked around his surroundings, trying to play it cool while also examining the house. "It's a nice place you have."
"Thanks, it's a bit empty now but I'm sure I'll fill it with all of my crap," Carrie joked. "You want a tour?"
"Sure," he grinned, following her lead.
She showed him around the entire area. From the living room that had pictures of Carrie with her family, parents, and friends, from the main foyer, her office which was already filled with messes of papers scattered everywhere, her home gym which she was in love with, guest bedrooms, ignoring her own bedroom and moving to the basement where her music room was. There sat a grand piano and guitars set to the side, gold and platinum records plastering the walls and awards displayed everywhere.
"Wow," Mike's jaw remained dropped. "This is absolutely incredible."
"It can be my favorite room and least favorite room to be in all at the same time sometimes," Carrie huffed.
"Why's that?" he questioned the blonde.
She shrugged, "Sometimes when I'm writing in here, I feel all of the pressure. I sit in a room surrounded by all of this craziness and have to come up with a way to make it even bigger and better, none of this is real to me."
"I understand," he nodded, looking down at her. "I have a room in my house similar where I watch film for games. In the same room, I have all of these athletic awards that I earn and there's some games I watch and wonder how I ever deserved any of those."
Carrie looked up at him, realizing he was looking at her. With all other guys, it would have been awkward but with Mike, for some reason it wasn't. She was comfortable. She was comfortable enough to share a side of her that only her true friends and family knew all too well. "You want to know my new favorite place to write?"
Mike smirked, intrigued by the girl standing beside him. "I'd love to."
Mike followed Carrie outside to the patio out back. There was a balcony made of stone and rock where Carrie led the both of them to the very edge where she sat on a stone, her feet dangling off the edge as she held her guitar.
"It's beautiful out here isn't it," Mike admired his surroundings. Both Carrie and his backyards together made beautiful green grass hills along with oak trees that stood tall and proud throughout. Across the sky was the sunset illuminating in colors so beautiful it was hard not to get lost in.
"Sure is," she responded.
"So, what skills you got on that guitar?" he turned his attention back to her.
"Not much," she chuckled. "Just a few chords and licks here and there. Enough to get me by though."
"Play me something, anything," Mike begged.
Usually Carrie would have been weirded out by people asking her to play and sing when she wasn't working, but she obliged simply because she enjoyed hanging out with Mike. She strummed the first few chords of her favorite hymn, How Great Thou Art, which was very fitting for the scenery that surrounded the two. She didn't play much of it, just the first verse and chorus before getting lost in her words and thoughts. She quickly wiped them away and played it off cool by grinning at Mike.
"That sounded beautiful, Carrie," he spoke genuinely.
"So, how about that pizza," Carrie changed the subject before starting to get up. However being the klutz that she is, she tripped on the stone, causing her to fall into Mike's embrace, who was quick to catch her. She lingered in his arms a bit longer than needed, feeling the warmth, his strength, while feeling gentle and safe. She enjoyed it, but her mind somehow brought her back to reality.
"Watch what you're doing there," Mike joked.
She couldn't help but giggle back, completely blushing, "Sorry."
They stayed in together that night and ordered pizza before they parted their separate ways in their separate houses. Carrie already knew she loved living where she lived. Her and Mike had become friends without a doubt, and Carrie needed that. She didn't have many and she knew Mike could be there for her. He could be there for her in a lot more ways she would expect.
