I Sell T-Shirts to my Crush

Chapter 11: The Truck Wash

Tyler's POV:
"This is going to be the best surprise yet." I talk to myself, walking up to Katie's house. It's really big compared to my house, and they have a monster truck!? Like who has one of those! I check my phone for the time for the third time; 5:40.

Well, it's better than never to come early and hang out, I mean she invited me right? I step up to the front door, taking a deep breath. "Here we go." I whisper, pressing the doorbell.

It takes less than a second before the door opens to Katie. "Tyler! What are you doing here so early?" She questions me. She doesn't see happy about this. Oh no ...

"I just thought ... coming early to hang out would be fun." I explain briefly. "Kat, who's there?!" I hear yelling from inside. "Just someone to help me wash your car- I mean truck!" Katie yells back. "Look Tyler, I know your trying to be nice and help, but-"

Katie gets cutoff by whoever's inside. "You better get scrubbing! It needs to be clean before 6:30!"

Katie gasps. She looks worried before answering, "We're getting started right now!" And she shuts the door, grabs my hand, and drags me into the driveway. She's really holding my hand! It's soft despite her being totally stressed.

She lets go to pull up the garage doors. "Change of plans, we're starting early!" She says unenthusiastically. "Weren't you just telling me to go?" I ask in confusion.

Katie turns to me with a worried expression on her face. She runs over answering, "No no, of course not. I mean-your like cute-what I trying to say is ..." She looks down, not able to finish her sentence. She's so cute when she stutters, making me feel special when around. "Katie," I pull her chin up so she's looking at me. "Let's clean the truck and have a blast going so, Ok?"

She smiles in defeat and nods. "Ok then, so where's the cleaning stuff?" I ask, rubbing my hands together. "Back here." She answers, directing me to the car washing supplies.

After getting the hose on and getting the car soap in buckets, we started washing Katie's stepmoms car. Before I even touched the car, I see its spotless. Not one gram of dirt is on this monster truck, so why are we cleaning it?

"Why are we cleaning her truck, it's already clean?" I ask Katie. She climbs up to the side and starts scrubbing at the window with a sponge. "Well number one, she hates me. And number two, she only likes flawless. This truck will need to sparkle when we're through, or else, we're not done." Katie tells me.

Her stepmom doesn't sound like a real mother to Katie; more of a boss to Katie. "So why is she so mean to you? Your her stepdaughter." I ask, wondering why this is the case.

Katie stops wiping; I can tell she's touched by this topic. "She's never loved me." She gets out. "She's only watching over me because my Dad told her to do so. If not, she would of given me up for adoption." She explains. Her voice is really close to crying, and I've felt a few drops fall on my shoulder.

"My Dad passed away two years ago, and before that, my real Mom died in a plane crash when I was only eight. I didn't know her well ..." Katie pauses to make sure she doesn't start crying. She hasn't turned around, she's still explaining facing the trucks window.

"But I know she's better than that woman inside! I just ..." and she stops. She isn't crying out loud, but the tears are definitely coming out. I set down my cloth and bucket and climb up to the ledge where Katie is standing.

She looks away from me, like seeing her like this is something bad. "It's Ok r-really." She says, trying to push me away. I grab her sides and slowly turn her to face me.

She's lonely; the reason she's so distraught is because she has no love. Her beet red face and tears explained it all. She laughs, as if seeing her like this will make me like her less. This only reminds me that she's living just a crazy life as others, and sometimes, we need a friend.

Instead of telling her something, I hug her. I stroke her hair as she finally lets go over my shoulder. I feel my own tears fall down my face from Katie crying herself. "No ones life is perfect." I explain. "If you think crying makes you weak, your wrong. Katie Vanilla is the strongest, most beautiful, and most deserving person in the world. If your stepmother can't see that, then that's her fault." I tell her, still holding her close to my heart.

She pulls back, looking straight into my eyes. "Thanks Tyler. Your the nicest friend ever." Katie tells me, wiping the tears away from her face.

She grabs the sponge she left on the hood and goes back to washing. "Come on Tyler, don't just stand there." She tells me.

I chuckle and climb back down to the ground. "I'll help." I announce. I grab the bucket of soapy water and fling it all over the truck, and Katie.

She screams as the water douses her body. "Tyler!" She screams angrily. "Sorry, just trying to help." I smirk. She rolls her eyes before grabbing her sponge, then squeezing all the water out on my head.

"Oops, I was just trying to help." She repeats naughtily. We both start laughing and throughout the whole truck wash we kept splashing each other and playing around until the car was not clean, but sparkling.

I can't believe we're still just friends though.