"What does that mean?" Greg asked.
"I have no idea!" I replied.
Greg hesitated, "do you think he likes you?"
That caught me off guard. "Well I don't know. I doubt it."
"Don't doubt yourself Mel. You is smart, you is kind, and you is important." Greg replied as I bust out laughing.
"You have such a way with words." I replied.
"I would like to thank the academy, my mom and God." Greg started his speech and rambled on for a while before I cut him off.
"I gotta go Corn invited me to sleep over." I said grabbing my sleeping bag.
I hung up the phone and rummaged through my drawers for pajamas. I picked out my sophomores in space shirt and my Mickey Mouse pajama pants.
Corn is short for corn rows which is what I call my friend Emily, not the one dating Dennis. This Emily has a brother. Every time I go into the house I'm secretly praying he doesn't walk by, but also that he does.
My mom drops me off and before I can ring the doorbell Emily opens her front door.
"Hey Squeak!" she says.
"Hey Corn!" I reply. We're so weird.
We go upstairs and I place my bags in her room. I hear the floor boards creaking an I just know it's him coming in here. They push the door open a bit and in walks Emily's cat Aurora.
"Hi bubba!" Emily exclaims. She really loves cats. I'm not kidding. She has an obsession. "Did you bring your bathing suit?"
"Yep! I brought the black one with pink flowers." I say and grab it from my bag.
"Ya know, we have a salt water pool." Emily says giving me a creepy smirk.
"I know I know. It also has jets." I reply. She tells me this every time I come here. I'm not sure if she's joking or has short term memory loss.
We got changed and grabbed our towels. Then Emily takes her radio, and I pull out the bag of Doritos I brought so we could pig out when we were done swimming.
Her pool is warm, but I'm sit on the steps slowly easing my way in. My whole lower half is under the water when Emily grabs my hand and pulls me in. We splash around and dunk each other. We stayed more towards the shallow side, but eventually we ventured over to the deep end.
We climb up the ladder and stand on the diving board together. We hold hands and count to three before jumping in. Our combined weight causes us to sink immediately.
I'm not the best swimmer and I'm struggling to swim upwards. Emily resurfaces, but when she realizes I'm still under she quickly swims back down to help me up. She has her arm around me as we swim to the steps. I get out of the pool and am coughing a bit while we just sit on the ground in the sun.
"Thank you." I mutter quietly. I know I shouldn't be,but I'm really embarrassed.
"Mel don't worry about it." Emily hugs me while she speaks.
Me and Emily go back inside and play Apples to Apples with her mom. Then we watch Netflix as we play Minecraft and talk about school and drama. We say goodnight and as we get settled Emily remembers she needs to take her makeup off. she leaves the room and I get comfortable.
I am fluffing the pillows and setting up for bed when I hear a dainty knock on the door. I knew he'd show up sooner or later.
