Note From the Author: Total Words: 27,509. Words to go: 2491.
The rest of Jack’s stay breezes by as if on rewind. Eventually he has to go.
“Aww. Jack-Attack, are you sure you can’t stay until Christmas? There’s just a couple days left,” I pitch.
“I wish I could, Lottie, but I promised my parents that I’d be home for the holidays. I’ll visit again. Thanks for a great week,” he replies sadly.
“Come back soon. We’ll miss you. Have a great Christmas,” I say warmly, going in for a hug. It’s funny how fast things change. I guess you can’t judge people based on first impressions.
“Bye Matt!” Jack says. They hug.
“Thanks for everything Amy! Tell Gus I said bye.”
“Will do. Have a safe trip home. You’re welcome to stop by anytime,” Amy says patting his back.
Matt, Jack, and I do the handshake. They taught me the other day. We watch Jack get into his taxi and ride away.
“I wish he could stay for longer,” I pout.
“Oh, he’ll be back Charlie. Don’t worry,” Matt promises.
We don’t have any chores, but occasionally Amy will ask us to do something to pitch in. The next day Amy tells us that the attic needs organizing. Matt and I volunteer to do it.
We find all kinds of cool things up there- from antiques to new age science stuff to Christmas decorations. We bring all of the Christmas decorations downstairs to use later. I start piles of trash, recycling, keep, give away, and unsure. We’re going to ask Amy about the stuff in the unsure pile. You never know what someone will be sentimental about.
Amy brings us egg salad sandwiches for lunch. We take a break to eat.
“Charlie?” Matt says quietly.
“Yeah?” I ask with my mouth full of sandwich. When he doesn’t say anything, I glance over at him. He seems to be deliberating if he should say something. It looks like an internal debate.
“Do you have something on your mind, Matty? You can tell me anything, you know that,” I encourage, genuinely curious.
“I really like you,” he says.
“I really like you too. You’re my best friend,” I reply, confused. This is not the direction I was expecting the conversation to go.
“No, I mean I love you,” he says simply, eyes on my face trying to decipher my response.
“Oh.” I sit down. I’m caught off guard. I don’t know what to say. “This is unexpected.”
Apparently this is not the reaction he wanted. “Okay, awkward. Pretend I didn’t say anything,” he says, leaving the attic.
“Wait!” I say after him. He doesn’t turn around. He just keeps on walking. I don’t know what to do. What’s a person to do in this situation? I feel like a schmuck.
I decide to continue cleaning the attic then deal with this later. It takes me forever to finish because it’s really a two person job. By the time I’m done I’m a sweaty mess and covered in dust and spider webs. I take a shower and change my outfit.
I go down to dinner really nervous. I still don’t know what I’m going to say to Matt. My fretting was unnecessary though because Matt isn’t at the dinner table.
“Where’s Matty?” I ask Amy, sitting down.
“I don’t know. He seemed pretty upset. Did you two get into a fight?” she inquires.
“Kind of,” I answer, laying my head on the table.
“It’ll be okay, honey. These things always work out,” Amy says, patting my arm.
“I hope so,” I say. I lift my head off the table and push my food around my plate, not really in the mood to eat.
When Amy and Gus finish eating, I head to my room. By 7 Matt still isn’t home. I must’ve really hurt him. I start to worry by 7:20, and by 7:30 I rush into the garage.
“Davis! Davis, where did Matt go?” I ask hurriedly. He just purses his lips. “Davis, this is important. Please,” I beg.
“Zoo,” Davis responds.
“Oh thank you!” I cry. I run to my car and speed off to the zoo. I know where he is. When I get to the zoo, I see that I might be too late.
“Sorry ma’am, the zoo is closing. No more people can go in. Come back tomorrow, kid,” the apathetic ticket man informs me.
“Please. I have to get in there,” I plead.
“Fine, but don’t tell anyone I let you in,” she says, making sure the coast is clear before ushering me in. “Hurry.”
I sprint straight to the monkey wing. I slow to a walk when I enter the orangutan exhibit. Slumped by Baby Steve is Matt. I hear him grumbling to the monkey when I walk up.
“Hey Matty,” I say, relieved to have found him.
“Hey Charlie,” he replies sheepishly. “Listen, about earlier-”
“I love you too Matty,” I cut him off. Then we kiss, with the baby orangutan watching the whole thing.
We walk back to the car and Matt drives us home. When we walk in the house hand-in-hand, Amy looks at us over her reading glasses and says, “Looks like you two made up.”
“We sure did,” Matty replies grinning.
