Some call it love [NaNoWriMo13]

2 - Some call it love

It was a rather cold day, and as usual, I was watching people by the ledge on the attic window. I had my beanie on and I was leaning by the rectangular frame. I was watching the boy from across the street struggle to take his dog out of the house. The wind was really picking up, and I could tell from the ways the trees were starting to sway more violently. 

However, he seemed to be patiently walking the white and brown puppy. I found it to be adorable. The puppy I mean. It trotted cutely along, and it would occasionally stop, making the boy have to either wait for it or tug it along. 

I continued to watch as the boy took his dog along the street until it had to stop to take a dump on my lawn. I watched as the boy paled slightly and then looked around the house, to see if anyone was watching him. That was until he saw me looking out of the attic window. I was laughing as I watched him turn a shade of red as he quickly went to pick up the dog's poo. 

He looked up again at me. He looked rather familiar, so I assumed that he was from my school. Most of the kids in my neighbourhood went to the same school because it was the only one in my area. The boy smiled and waved me. Impressed that someone had noticed me doing my hobby, I smiled and waved back at him. 

He then broke into a grin as he had to start chasing after his dog which had suddenly went on forward. I couldn't help but to laugh as he sprinted after it. I watched in amusement as he went after the dog and still managed to kind of wave goodbye to me. 

I then started to think or try to remember his name. I had seen him somewhere in one of my classes, but I couldn't seem to remember which one. I know that he was really familiar, but I really couldn't recall where I had last seen him, so I gave up and continued to watch the people. And since I felt highly uncomfortable not knowing him, I temporarily named him Dog Boy.

Since it was Friday, the girl from one of the houses opposite mine (it was the one next to Dog Boy's house) as usual, donned a black cocktail dress, and got into a black Lexus, which zoomed off.

After a while of the lack of activity in the neighbourhood, I got bored of looking out of the window, so I got my sketchbook out and started to draw the different houses in my neighbourhood. When I was done, I started to label them with names I thought best fit what the people did. For example, I labelled Tom's house 'dog boy' and the house next to his 'party girl'. In every household, there was at least one interesting person with at least one interesting habit.

Soon, it started to get dark, and the lights of the various houses seemed to start blinking on as the streetlamps started to wink on. I took that as my cue to leave. My attic didn't really have any lighting, so it would get very dark at night. However, as I was about to leave, I saw Dog Boy come back with his dog. He looked up to me and waved a greeting. I couldn't help but to smile and wave back. We both grinned, and then waved to each other one last time, before I climbed down to my bedroom. 

Just in time too, because that was when Terrence popped his head in. "Miranda, mum's calling you down for dinner. I grinned at my twin before removing my beanie and then following him down. We were both eighteen years-old. Although we were twins, we still looked nothing alike. 

For one thing, I had unfortunately inherited mum's ginger hair, while he looked a lot more like dad with the brown hair. However, our eyes were both grey, so I think that's the only part of us that resembles. Next to our hair, I was a lot shorter than Terrence and he also had much darker skin, which might have something to do with the fact that I cannot tan and he can very easily do so. 

It might also have something to do with the fact that he plays sports on a daily basis, and the most exercise I ever do is climbing up the stairs and crawling up into the attic. 

I never really worried about it much. For some reason, I never seemed to put on weight no matter what I ate, so I never found the need to go out. Also, I had prided myself with not leaving the house unless I absolutely have to since I was sixteen, so I was also not planning on breaking that streak. 

However, all that changed in dinner. 

My parents were discussing how well my brother was getting in soccer, and they were discussing on whether or not they were going to allow him to go on the overseas exchange to play with the English players. My brother had been begging them for months, so when the consent forms had finally been released just now; he was begging them even more. 

"Please!" Terrence was begging my mother. My father had asked him to ask his mother, so he was. "Please, mummy! Please!" He begged. He only called her mummy when he really wanted something, and he really did, so he called her mummy. Usually, we called her mum. 

"Hmm," mum said for a while, taken aback by his begging and the use of 'mummy'. 

It was her way of delaying the process, and we both knew it. "I'll do whatever you want!"

"So, Miranda how was your day?" She asked. 

"Good," I told her, remembering how Dog Boy smiled and waved to me. It reminded me minutely of a friend. I kind of missed my friends. Sure, most of them got bored of me or found boyfriends, but they were nice to have around. Now, my best friends were the books and my sketchbook.

"What did you do today then?" Dad asked. I winced. 

"I read, and drew a bit, and then finished the book," I said. And I also watched the neighbours all day long and then waved to this nice kid walking his dog.

"Did you go out?"

"No."

My father sighed. "Miranda, you should really go out more often. You know, hang around with some friends once in a while. It’s not normal for an eighteen year old to stay at home all day long in her room doing nothing but read and draw."

"I don't have friends," I told my father stubbornly. It was true, I didn't. 

Then, mum's eyes lit up. Like, literally, I could see almost see a tiny light bulb above her head suddenly light up. "I know! Terrence, I'll allow you to go to England on that exchange trip if you take your sister out to play soccer every Saturday from tomorrow onwards, and you'll make sure she at least have some form of social contact with someone within the both of your age groups!"

Dad seemed rather happy by this idea, and Terrence was simply happy at the idea of going to England. "Mum-" I protested. 

However, at the same time, Terrence sealed the deal. "Definitely! You have my promise that by the time I leave for England in two months, Miranda won't be such a wallflower!"

I groaned. I was certainly not going to enjoy any part of it. At. All. 

Word count: 1288

Total count: 2354