An Exchange

Chapter Eight - Giles and Penny's date

 Giles

At the elders’ quorum service project down the street, I found myself doing a lot of the work. As the ward’s unofficial handyman, I kept busy, so I didn’t think of Penny once. But when I got home and remembered my date with her that afternoon, I felt nervous. I really wanted to make a good impression because, as of yet, I had been unpleasant more than I had been friendly to her.

I hit the shower to wash off the morning's sweat and grime, then spent twenty minutes trying to tame my hair before, as always, I gave up on it.

I walked out into the house wearing just my jeans, and found Sarah with a group of her friends sitting around the dining room table. They giggled at the sight of me shirtless. Sarah quickly spoke up, “Giles! You're so distracting.”

“Sorry, Sarah.” I turned to my room, heat rising in my cheeks.

 As I left, one whispered, “Sarah, your brother is hot.”

I grinned, flattered. That was a new thing. Around the middle of my junior year, I finally hit puberty. I shot up six inches in two months—which was very painful—then the next seven months I grew another three. I bulked up a little too, mostly across my chest and my arms, so I no longer appeared to be sickly skinny. I now stood at 6'2 and no longer a buck twenty. Since my rapid growth spurt, girls had begun paying attention to me and it made me very uncomfortable.

I shut the door to my room behind me and found myself a nice shirt to wear for my date with Penny. I wondered if she, like my sister's friends, thought I was hot. I looked out my window that faced their side fence, and heard her and Jonas in the backyard.

He played football with himself, commentating loudly on his moves while Penny laughed and tried to steal the ball from him. She really was the sister he had always hoped for. Ruth, Esther, and Naomi would never have played football with him. Instead, Ruth usually ignored him and went out with her friends, while Esther and Naomi would steal his ball and tortured him with their mind games. Penny was his dream come true, someone who loved to play with him instead of treating him like an idiot. I was happy for him. He deserved a sister he could bond with and relate to, and it would hopefully get him over his fear of girls.

There was a soft knocking on the door. I answered it to find Sarah gazing up at me. “Giles, can you help me for a minute?”

“Sure.”

I followed her back into the dining room. Her friends watched me in silence. She sat me down, then sat beside me. “Giles, we want to know what makes a girl pretty to a guy.”

The girls giggled and blushed as I gaped at her, surprised. “Sarah, I don't think—”

She huffed. “Giles, you're a guy, who else are we going to ask?”

“Maybe Jonas?”

The giggling rose as Sarah blushed. “No, I'm asking you.”

“Well...” I hesitated as I scanned their faces. “Aren't you all a little young for this? None of you are sixteen yet.”

“We will be in about two years and we need that time to prepare. We all go to youth dances now, so we need to make sure that when we are sixteen, boys have noticed us and want to take us out.” Sarah leaned forward and grabbed a note pad. “So, my handsome brother, what do guys like about girls?”

“Um...” I ran my hand through my hair. I really didn't know how to answer that. Girls weren’t my thing. Now a car—that was something I could answer questions about. But girls? I had no idea. I had never gone on a real date before, just group dates or taking a girl to a dance as was customary.