Across the Street

6.

According the nurses, I wasn't in a good state to drive, so Tom ended up driving me home. Well, to his home.  I didn't have my keys and Tom was convinced on "taking care" of me. I tried to tell him repeatedly that I didn't want to impose and that he should just drop me off somewhere else like my job so I can work something, but he continued to refuse. The ride there was weird though. Since I'm six years older than Tom, I've always driven him where ever he needs to go. I remember when I drove him to his first day of middle school, and how scared he was of being bullied by the other kids because he was smaller. I remember picking him up from theater practice after hours, and how he would stay late at the high school football games so he could watch his brother Harry take pictures for the year book. Most memorable moments I have of Tom are when he's in the passenger seat of my car. So sitting where I am right now is definitely a new experience.
I watched as he kept his eyes steady on the road, breaking completely for every stop sign, never going above the speed limit, glancing at me every so often. Then I noticed something funny.
"Do you clench your jaw when you make turns?"
He stopped tapping the top of the wheel with his fingertips, "Hm?"
"Just back there, that last turn, you clenched your jaw."
He shrugged his shoulders, "So?"
"And the turn before that, and that one, and the other one-"
Tom waved his hand in the air, "Okay I get it, what are you trying to get at?"
"Well, why do you clench your jaw when you make turns? Do they stress you out that much?"
A nervous laugh escaped from his mouth, "Who said I clench my jaw when I'm stressed?"
"Tom," I rolled my eyes, "I've known you before you sounded like a little boy, I know what your little mannerisms are."
Tom chuckled under his breath, "I know you know me."
"I've always known you Holland."
~~~
His house was empty, and slightly cold. Just the living room temperature gave me shivers. I looked around for some kind of sweatshirt, and found Tom's flannel. I buttoned up and followed him up to his room, which happened to be full of... boxes?
I palmed around the piles boxes, labeled all sorts of things like "socks" and "shoes" as he dug through his closet a few feet away. There were even more boxes as I made my way through his bedroom, a few under his desk, under his bed, even some cluttered against the wall. His walls were blank, and I could even make out where there used to be posters. After a few seconds he came out of the closet, holding a small brown box labeled "Kelly".
"Tom what's going on?"
He sat on his bed and patted a seat in front of him, "I've got something to tell you."
I sat in front of him slowly with my suspicions, "What is it?"
"For a while, I've been thinking about moving. Not to another state, obviously, because I go to school here, but somewhere closer to school, or just to get a place of my own so I can have some independence. And, geez this is gonna sound so dumb, well, remember that house you like about a mile away from the park next to the high school? The one that was 'small enough to be roomy and big enough to be comfy'?"
I nodded.
"Well, it was for sale not too long ago, and I've been saving up for a really long time, so I uh..."
I gasped quietly and put my hand over my mouth, "Tom, you didn't."
He squinted his eyes, "I bought it."