The Struggles of Growing Up-Completed

Chapter 37

This route he's taking to "his house", however, is unfamiliar to me. He passes the neighborhood he lives in, and instead goes on the freeway.

"Zach, where are you going?"

He looks at me sheepishly, "I want to show you something."

"You said we were going to your house," I cross my arms in front of my chest.

"We are..." I frown at him and try to figure out what he's up to. He doesn't say anything else on the matter but he does exit the freeway. I recognize the neighborhoods, the town, it's the nicer side of LA. This is the town where I lived with my dad in the nice, big house, from before.

He passes the gated communities though, and instead turns onto a private road. I briefly see a Sold sign.

The road is paved with beautiful stones and lined with colorful flowers. Among those colorful flowers, I recognize, are daisies.

Since it's dark out, it's a little hard to see the whole of where we are. I can only really see the flowers and some palm trees, illuminated by little lights lining the road. We pull into a large driveway, and the first thing I notice is that the house is huge. Not quite as big as to be called a mansion, but it has to be at least five bedrooms. It's beautiful yet modern, with its beige, creamy colored walls and white balconies and large, shiny windows. The grass is crisp and clean, there's more daisies lining the very front of the house, and from the car I can just barely make out the shiny front door. If the front is so spacious, I can only imagine what the inside must be like.

Zach snaps me out of my trance when he shuts off the engine and zips out of the car.

He opens my door with a shameless smile and helps me stand up. I study his face, his bright eyes and charming, but nervous, smile. He seems to be enjoying the fact that I have no idea what's going on. What is he up to?

"Zach, did you–is this your house?" I ask incredulously. His smile widens.

"It's... a new house, yes, I, uh, purchased it." I frown at him, but he simply wraps his arm around me to support me.

"So it's yours–"

"Let's see the inside–but it's not furnished. I was actually waiting for... you," he says nervously.

"Me?" I stop so he's forced to look at me, listen to me. He sighs.

"I'll explain, I just want to hear your opinion on the house."

"Why, you already bought it."

"If you don't like it I'll sell it and buy one you love," he says casually. He's so serious, he just half smiles and carefully leads me up the steps to the front door. I can't take my eyes off the white daisies.

He enters a code on the front door to open it, too cool for standard keys I guess, but I like it. I'm nervous about what's inside, for some reason. Why does he care so much about my opinion on the house? He's the one that's going to be living there, unless... No, I must be wrong. He's not asking me to move in with him; he would have told me sooner, not kept everything so secretive. 

The first thing I see as I semi-walk in is a huge room. It seems so regal with the modern chandelier at the top of the high ceiling and its creme colored walls. As I focus my eyes on the walls I notice they're not solid, but actually have faint metallic gold designs, as if there are thin gold cracks in the walls. The floor is covered in large tile squares of similar color as the walls. The high ceilings add to the glamour and freshness of the room. There's a tall window that's large enough to see almost the entire backyard and the horizon, the ocean.