The next morning I woke up late. I decided it was from my depression over the last few days. I looked into the mirror and noticed that my eyes were almost red. I needed to stop crying. I knew for a fact that the cute little hamster in the store would put a smile on my face for a little while. Another thing I knew was that it wouldn't help me stop thinking about my mom.
I tip-toed to the bathroom forgetting that my father was obviously up. I could hear the television in the small living room and I could also hear Tara's nasally voice. I hopped into the shower after taking off my clothes and turned the handle. I jumped in surprise when the freezing water landed on my body. Without thinking I jumped out of the shower, my eyes wide and my thoughts mad that I had to wake up. I fixed the water to a warm, comfortable temperature and lathered my wet knotty hair in shampoo/conditioner. I then rinsed it out and let the shampoo/conditioner fall to my feet.
After my shower that had woken me up. I frowned from my thoughts and remembered that I could have been at my mom's house. Everything would be perfect. With that, I fell to a corner and held my towel onto my damp body and let tears fall down my face. Thoughts interrupted me and I gasped.
"Drew!" I whispered to myself. I sprung to my feet and ran to my room. The green numbers on my new digital clock told me that it was twelve fifty eight. I had about two minutes to get ready if drew were to be on time. Quickly, I brushed my damp hair until all the knots were out and pulled it up into a pony. I then got some comfy, grey sweat pants on along with a teal t shirt. I shoved the giant mess on the floor from the past week underneath my bed and decided I didn't need to do anything more.
Just in time the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" I yelled to my dad. Tara thankfully, was gone to work. I had know clue where she worked but I was hoping that she wouldn't come back anytime soon. I took a deep breath and swung open the door.
"Hi" he said as he walked inside. He was holding three large boxes with thing hanging out of them, in a small plastic container was my hamster. He looked even better than the last time I saw him and I was caught (once again) staring at him. I pretended that didn't just happen (again) and politely lead him up to my room smiling.
"Sorry about the mess" I said as I opened the door, blood rushing to my cheeks.
"Don't worry about it" he smiled "I know what summers are like" he laughed as he set the boxes on my messy bed and pulled out the clear plastic box holding the hamster.
"Here he is" he said cheerily.
"Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me, it's like a cure for my..." I didn't finish the sentence knowing that I'd already told him too much information. A puzzled look grew on his face and he was silent for a moment.
"Was that your mom?" he asked trying to figure out why I was tears were slowly streaming down my face. For a minute I had no idea what he was talking about until he said more.
"The fire" a shocked yet melancholy expression grew on his face. His arms encircled around me and tears stopped coming out of my eyes. I was totally shocked... he actually cared and for some reason, I knew that that hug would turn into a relationship. It sounded so unbelievably corny to me but yet I still believed it. I finally blocked my thoughts from my mind and hugged him back.
He let go and my hands folded across my chest. He caressed my face and then wiped my tears away with his thumb.
"Don't cry" he whispered I sat on my bed and looked out my window.
"I have to" I yelled quietly as I watched him from the corner of my eye. He was started to set up the cage on my nightstand.
"What are you going to call her?" he asked, changing the topic of the conversation.
"Peanut" I chose.
"Cool name" he replied. I could tell he didn't really care about the hamster. Instead, he was probably thinking about me.
"So why did you decide to come here instead of me coming to the store?" I wondered.
"Uh... I just thought it would be nicer" I could tell he was lying but didn't try to get him to tell the truth. It was silent for a moment and I studied his movement. He was putting the newspaper down in the cage and started to place the hamster's "furniture inside the cage. I wasn't focused on the fact he was setting up my hamster though. I was focused on the fact that I knew he liked me and that I liked him. For some reason, there was an instant connection.
"I'm finished" he said as I carefully unfolded my arms and strode next to him.
"This here is..." he paused "what's the name again?" he proved to me that he didn't care about the name. I smiled and held my laugh inside me and answered his question.
"Peanut" I said in a wondering voice. I tilted my head and thought about the name for a moment. It suited her.
"Can I hold her?" I asked in a quiet voice. He slowly pulled Peanut out of her cage and handed her to me. I stroked it's soft, silky fur and held her to my cheek. She felt like a feather caressing my skin. I sat on my bed and Drew followed curious of my thoughts.
"Do you want to know how to take care of Peanut?" he questioned getting used to her name.
"Sure" I said looking up at Drew with a pleasant smile on my face. He then went on explaining how to manage my new hamster and so on. All the while, I watched his face and nodded whenever he looked at me to see if I understood.
"Okay, well I think that's it" he said clapping his hands together. "I better go back to the store, my dad wouldn't be too happy if he found out I left some new worker there alone" he smiled at me and studied my face. I could tell he was concentrating on something.
"Would you be allowed to come with me?" he asked "I can drop you off after" I thought about what he had asked me, put Peanut in her cage and flew down the stairs quickly, knowing that he would follow me.
"Dad? I am going with Drew to the pet store" I panted. With a nod of his head, I opened the door. Drew ran in front of me to his dirty, old, (not so) white car and opened the dirty door to the passenger seat. I sat down quietly and reached over to shut the door forgetting that he would do it for me. When he slammed the door I jumped in my seat and giggled. As the engine revved loudly, I thought about what we would do at the Pet Store.
