“Really?” I burst out, as Carson told another outrageous story about a family vacation gone wrong. My sides hurt and my eyes were watering from laughing so hard for the last hour. It didn’t take me long to settle in and become comfortable with Carson’s family, they were all so wonderful and fun to be around. No wonder Carson was so awesome; he came from an awesome family.
“Really,” he nodded, looking down at me with a smile on his face. We held eye contact for a while as I let out my few remaining giggles, when I looked away again; his Mom was giving us the same look she had given us earlier.
“Do you want to go play?” Mia asked me excitedly, about to get up from the table.
“Mia,” Jean sent her a look. “Annie is Carson’s friend; he should get to spend time with her.”
“Oh… right,” Mia looked sad.
“Hey, maybe next time we can play together, okay?”
“YOU’RE COMING OVER AGAIN!?” Mia’s eyes bulged and she had the biggest smile on her face. She looked like she just woke up on Christmas morning.
“Uh…” I glanced over at Carson.
“Of course she is,” he confirmed. I smiled and stood up, stacking our dirty plates and carrying them over to the sink. “Would you like help with the dishes?” I asked Jean.
“No, Annie, you helped make supper, you shouldn’t have to do the dishes, too,” Carson frowned at me.
“Actually,” Jean shot Carson a look. “That would be a lot of help.”
“Mom!” Carson said with disbelief. For the next few seconds Carson and his Mom shared a silent conversation. They communicated with their eyes and slight head movements. Mia and I shared a look before shrugging and turning away. I started running the water so that it was the right temperature and then stuck the drain plug in. Once I found the dish soap I poured some of that in, too.
“Thank you, dear,” Jean said happily coming from behind me with a towel in her hand. I checked over my shoulder and Carson and Mia were nowhere to be seen. “They left,” Jean informed me, as she dried off a dish. “I needed to talk to you in private.”
I stared at the water with wide eyes… what did I do? Why would she want to talk to me in private?
“Did… did I do something?” I asked cautiously, slowly peeking up at her.
She started laughing, “no, of course not. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh,” I laughed nervously. We talked the whole time we were making dinner, and the whole time we were eating dinner. What more could she talk to me about… I wasn’t that interesting.
“I had some questions to ask you, well… only two, really.” I nodded, waiting for her to carry on. I scrubbed at a spot on a dish, making sure not to look at her. What if she asked something about my old school, and what I was like? How would I answer that? My heart picked up speed, Carson probably told her all about me and she was going to ban me from ever hanging out with her son again.
No, she liked me. Why else would she make sure I stayed for supper?
Then what else would she be talking about?
YOU ARE READING
Loser Lessons
HumorWhat's it like to be a loser? Annalise Fitzgerald has no idea...that's why she needs lessons. She's used to being the most popular girl in school, but when she has to go to a new school where she isn't cool anymore, she doesn't know what to do. With...
