Moving

I sat in the back seat of the car, fuming. I can't believe my mom didn't tell me we were moving until last week. We had only just moved to New York less than a year ago... I was just getting into the swing of things, I had a few friends- then suddenly, BAM, she tells me we need to leave again. Says she needs to find work. We've moved six times in the last four years, ever since dad left her. It didn't really affect me. I never saw him anyway. But mom's never been the same, and never wants to talk to me anymore. I'm on my own, basically. And moving to Illinois.
"We're almost there." My mom says, interrupting my thoughts.
"Great." I say sarcastically. I take my headphones and iPod and put them in my pocket, getting ready to see our new house and get out of the car. I'm still humming my favorite song. My mom turns abruptly and pulls into a narrow driveway.
"Woah." I stop humming as I look at our house. It's bright yellow with nice looking doors and windows. Mom must've gotten a really good job here, because it's a nice looking house, way better than our apartment in New York.
Without saying anything, Mom gets out of the car, gets her bags, and walks towards the door. I take that as my cue to leave the vehicle as well. I open the door, but I hear a smash as I turn to get out of the car. I look down. Cursing under my breath, I start to pick up my now broken iPod from the ground. And I fall out of the car.
"Oww!" I yell.
"Um... You alright?" I hear an unfamiliar male voice. I look up to see a boy, pretty tall, with brown hair, green eyes and glasses. He looked to be about my age, 17 or so.
"I... uh..." Come on, Kaitlyn! Say something! "Hi." Is all I manage to come up with.
"You alright?" He repeats.
"Oh! Oh, um yeah I'm great! I mean, good. I did just fall." I quickly ramble. Goodness he's cute.
He extends a hand to help me up, and I take it. I pick up my smashed iPod, examining the shattered screen.
"Aw, man that sucks! Mine's broken, too." The boy pulls an iPod out of his brown leather coat pocket.
"Oh, dude! That's terrible!" I exclaim. And I thought mine was bad.
We both look at eachother and start laughing. He extends his hand again, this time for a handshake.
"I'm Brent. What's your name?" He smiles softly, and I notice he has freckles.
"I'm Kaitlyn..." I say as I shake his hand. I didn't notice when he helped me up, but his hands are really strong, and he has a firm grip.
We stare at each other for a couple seconds, until finally he breaks the silence.
"So.. You're moving in next door, huh?" Oh. He must be my new neighbor?
"Yeah. How is it here?" Really Kaitlyn? That's all you could come up with?
"It's nice. It's a good neighborhood, good kids, cute neighbors..." He trails off, smirking a bit.
"Yeah, that's always cool." I smile back, tucking my dark blonde hair behind my ear.
"Oh! Do you need any help moving in? I've got tons of time to kill." He nods at the car.
Right! Moving! Boxes! I nod a little, even though I could easily have done it all myself. Brent opens the trunk of our car and takes half the boxes easily. He's strong too? Oh goodness. Guess the move won't be too bad...
I take two of the four boxes left, and lead him inside. Why am I going first? I've never even been inside before! I try not to act weird. "Mom, which room's gonna be mine?" I shout as I enter our new house.
"Upstairs, second room on the left." Mom yells back, from wherever she may be in this massive house. I walk up the stairs slowly, not wanting to drop my boxes. I walk into the room.
"Uh, didn't your mom say second room on the left?" Brent peeks around his boxes to ask.
Mental facepalm. It's the first day and I've already embarrassed myself in front of a cute guy. Go me.
"Yeah... whoops," I say, walking into the opposite room, "Thanks."
"Welcome."
We go back downstairs to get the last of my boxes. I try to pick one up, but he insists in carrying both of them. We go back up to my room. My bed is already there, it was brought here by the moving van yesterday. I sit down, and gesture for him to sit down next to me.
"So, Brent, huh? What're you like?" I ask, partially because I want to know, partially just to keep him here to talk.
"Yeah, I guess I just really like music. I play guitar, piano, violin, saxophone and clarinet, plus I'd like to think I'm pretty good at singing," He smiles, "What about you?"
"Wow, I love music! That's amazing! I'm a singer, too. But I only play guitar and piano... well, used to, that is. With all the moving, I couldn't bring my piano with me... and my guitar was ruined last summer..." I look at the ground.
"How?" He asks.
"Well, I leaned it against the car to tie my shoe, and my mom backed up, and...." I stop, lost in the memory.
"Oh man, I'm sorry..." He grows quiet, but then his face lights up. "I know! Why don't you come over and play mine? I've got two acoustics, and an electric."
"Oh my gosh that'd be amazing! Thank you!" I say excitedly. This guy just invited me to his house!
"Well, what're we waiting for? Pigs to fly?" He jumps up from the bed, takes my hand and practically drags me out into the hall and down the stairs.
"Mom, I'll be home later!" I yell.
Brent pulls me outside and slows down to a walk. At some point he dropped my hand. I guess it was just the excitement? Brent's house is a pretty baby blue one, also huge, three houses away from mine. There's a middle-aged man reading the newspaper on the porch.
"Hey Dad, I'm gonna be in my room." He says passively.
"Alright." His dad replies, not looking up. I don't think he even noticed I was there. Brent leads me inside his house, down a hallway and to the right.
"Okay, Kaitlyn, this is my room." He makes a dramatic gesture around the space. I stop short. His room is like a music heaven. Guitars, violins and clarinet are hanging on one wall. There's a piano in one corner of his room, and a saxophone on a stand. All over his walls, he has quotes, pictures and song titles. I recognize quite a few.
"Wow." I whisper, looking around.
The room is obviously nothing special to Brent, as he's very familiar with it. He sits on the piano bench and just looks at me.
"What?" I ask, when I realize he's staring.
"Oh nothing..." He looks away.
"No, what?" I demand.
"It's cute to see you so... excited about things." He smiles again. I feel my cheeks get hot.
"Thanks..." I say, smiling wide.
"Well alright, here!" He gets a guitar for me, and takes one himself. "What songs do you know?"
I laugh. I know a lot of songs. Without answering, I strum the first few chords of a song I've written. When I look up, he's smiling, almost encouraging me with his eyes. Here goes, I think. I start playing the song, and he seems to like it alot. After I play the second verse, he joins in, creating a harmony. It feels great, playing my own song with someone else, someone who loves music like I do. I play the song over and over again, lost in the moment. I haven't played guitar in what feels like forever. I don't know when I started singing, but by the end of the fourth time I sing the chorus, he joins in. His voice is strong and smooth, perfectly complimenting mine. I finish the song for the third time, and I stop. I look up at Brent to see that he's already looking at me. The silence becomes deafening, but neither of us wants to break it. After awhile, I finally say something.
"So... what did you think? Of the song, I mean."
"It was... amazing. Who's it by?" He has a sparkle in his eye, eager to learn a new song.
"I wrote it..." I say quietly. His green eyes show surprise, and I hope that my blue ones don't show fear.
"Wow. That's awesome!" He gets up to put the guitars away.
"Was it really good?" I ask.
"Yes!" He sits on his bed, and I sit next to him. "You didn't tell me you wrote songs!"
"In my defense," I say, "I've only known you for a few hours." We both laugh a little at that. We're both thinking the same thing- it feels like we've known each other much longer than a few hours.
"Well... I should go..." I say, and I start to stand up. Brent grabs my hand.
"Wait."
"Why?" I turn around, and he has stood up too. His face is only inches from mine.
"I don't want you to leave." He whispers. My heart beats faster and I look into his eyes.
"Okay..." I whisper, even quieter. Brent gently tilts my chin up and kisses me.
"I'm glad you moved, Kaitlyn."
"...Me too."