Unexpected Love

Chapter 17

Jason's POV

It's Sunday today so I started getting ready for church. I went to my closet and found a navy blue button up shirt and took out some casual jeans and dressing shoes. I entered the bathroom and quickly took a shower and brushed my teeth. As I came back into my room the scent of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and other mouthwatering aromas hit me making my stomach grumble. Or more like roar like a lion. I seemed to have woken up with quite an appetite. I quickly dressed and fixed my hair with gel.
I headed down the stairs and started hearing mom and dad arguing. How weird. They never argued or fought about anything. As I entered the kitchen the arguing stopped and I wondered if maybe they always argued but tried to hide it from me.
"Good morning mom, dad," I said smiling like if I hadn't heard anything.
"Good morning Jason," they both replied. They were standing against the stove but then moved awkwardly away. My dad sat at the head of the table while mom placed a plate of food in front of him.
"Are you ready for church?" Mom asked setting a plate of food and glass of orange juice in front of me.
"Yeah," I said sticking a fork of food in my mouth. Damn the food was good!
   "Mmmm mom this is really good," I murmured with food still in my mouth.
"Eat with your mouth closed Jason!" Mom scolded. I put my hands up in surrender, apologizing.
"So..." my dad started to say. "Tomorrow's your first day of school. Are you nervous?"
"I guess so," I answered. "I already made a few friends around the neighborhood that go to Puma High so I won't be alone the first days of school."
"Yeah, like that pretty girl Mia you went to dinner with yesterday night. She goes to Puma High," Mom added. "Where did you take her for dinner?" she asked curious.
"Hmmm well, I took her to that Italian restaurant where you and dad had some history," I stated with a wink.
"Aww, honey that's really romantic," Mom answered making googlie eyes to Dad.
"You should invite her over sometime for dinner again," Dad suggested.
"Yeah, maybe I will," I said considering the thought.
"Well when you're all finished just head to the car I need to get something from my room," Mom said.
I quickly finished my breakfast and headed to the car. I wanted to go alone in my car but Mom always cared about what other people thought and said it wouldn't look good if we arrived at church in seperate cars if we were a family. I decided not to argue.
The church was only a few miles away from our house and I wondered if maybe Mia came to this church. Maybe I would see her today.
As we entered the church my parents greeted some friends and they introduced me but I decided to just go in and sit without having to talk to every single person and say hi. I looked around to see if I could find any familiar faces and I recognized some from the party on Friday. I hadn't really talked to anyone at the party except for Mia so I didn't attempt to introduce myself. More people started coming in and sitting down and I spotted a girl about my age sitting alone. I decided, what the heck, I'll keep her company.
"Hi. My name's Jason," I said when the girl turned around. She had golden brown wavy hair, light skin, and hazel eyes. Damn this girl is pretty cute.
"Hi. My name's Hazel," she answers. What a coincidence she was named after the color of her eyes.
"Do you come here every Sunday?" I asked.
"Yeah, I HAVE to come or I'll get grounded," she answered. "Are you new around here? I've never noticed you. You'd be too hard to miss," she smiled. Aaah she was flirting with me.
"Yeah I'm new around here. Would you mind giving me a tour," I winked.
"The service is about to start, would your parents mind?" she asked.
"They wouldn't even notice I was gone," I answered.
We headed out the door and took a walk to the back of the church.

Mia's POV

I woke up to the sound of loud knocking on my door and noticed how Cole's arm was around my waist and his chin was on my head. How did we end up like this? I never felt him move throughout the night. I guess because I'm a deep sleeper, I thought.
I slowly got out of his arms and tiptoed to the door trying not to wake him up. I opened the door and my mom popped her head in noticing Cole was still asleep. I closed the door and put a finger to my mouth telling my mom to be quieter.
"Is he okay," she asked concerned.
"Yeah, he just had a rough night," I lied. Mom still thought Cole had come over because of his family problems.
"I feel so bad for him. I wish we could do something about his situation," she whispered.
"Well we're at least giving him a better place to sleep letting him come over. He'll be fine. One more year and he's out of that place," I said.
"Yeah... Well when he wakes up come downstairs for breakfast. Oh and we're going to the afternoon church service since Cole slept in," she said before going downstairs. She had her garden gloves on so I figured she was gardening early. What time is it? I thought looking for my phone. I found it on my dresser and checked for any messages too. It was 10:23 A.M. but no new messages appeared. Weird. I'd think maybe Jason would have texted me about how the dinner went. Maybe he'll text me later.
I went to my closet and grabbed a flowery blouse, white bandou, white shorts, and a pair of sandals. I quickly changed in the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror and wondered what to do with my hair. I decided on a high ponytail and left the bathroom. As I looked through my dresser for a hair ribbon Cole stirred. He must be waking up already.
"Good morning sleepy head," I said.
"Good morning," he yawned, stretching.
"So ummm, I'll meet you downstairs imma help my mom finish breakfast," I let him know.
"I won't take fast, wait for me yeah?" he said jumping off my bed and going to the bathroom. I noticed he was shirtless.
"I guess," I said when he couldn't hear me anymore. I sat on my bed thinking about what happened yesterday. I had a great time with Jason, but I couldn't deny my strong feelings for Cole. Jesus, why is it so hard to just pick a guy?
I hear the door open and look at Cole. He was now wearing a shirt. Thank God or I'd probably keep gawking at his body. I never noticed how he was built but I could see his muscles now showing through his shirt and I was impressed.
"Alrighty, let's go," I said making my way towards the door, but suddenly I feel his hand grab my wrist and pull me back towards him.
"Why are you in such a rush?" he asked suspiciously. It's like he knew I couldn't stand being a few feet away from him or I'd do something he would totally like but knowing I'd feel guilty. "You seem so distant all of a sudden."
"What are you talking about?" I answered hoping he didn't catch the nervousness in my voice. "I'm just hungry and want to eat breakfast already. But I have to wait for your slow ass to hurry," I teased.
"I am not that slow," he said offended.
"Oh, yes you are," I laughed and headed to the kitchen.
I went to the kitchen ready to pull out some plates when I noticed the food was already served on the dining room table with a glass of orange juice on the side. She had made scrambled eggs with bacon, pancakes, and toast with butter. My mom must have really woken up early, I thought. She usually just left the food ready on the pan and we would just have to serve ourselves. She wasn't in the kitchen either and she always liked to accompany me to breakfast.
"Hmm weird," I said outloud. "Sit down I'll go look for my mom," I let Cole know.
"Mhmm," Cole mumbled already shoving mouthfuls of food in his mouth.
I went to her room first calling her name but she wasn't in there so I checked the bathroom. She wasn't there either. I was starting to worry so I ran downstairs and thought maybe she started gardening again so I went to the back where the second little house was. As I passed the pool that separated the two houses I noticed there were broken vase pieces floating in the water and I was starting to panick. What the hell. My mom was always so organized why would she through broken pieces of a vase in the pool?
"Mom," I yelled. I entered the small house and heard a sniffling sound come from the little kitchen. As I approached I see droplets of blood on the floor and I felt the blood drain from my face. I run to the kitchen hoping nothing bad had happened. Much to my relief she was near the sink and wasn't on the floor like I imagined. Many thoughts had run through my mind when I saw the blood. Horrible thoughts of what might had happened.
"Oh Jesus Christ, Mom! What happened? You scared the living crap out of me!" I screamed. I stopped when I noticed she was crying. My mom rarely cried and when she did it was from the loss of my dad. I also noticed the blood was coming out from her arm.
"Mom. You wanna talk about it?" I whispered.
"I just, I have this feeling inside," she sobbed. "Of pure loneliness. I'm so sorry sweetheart it must be hard for you to see me cry," she said wiping away the tears.
"It's ok mom. You always told me that when I needed to cry that I shouldn't leave that feeling inside. That it was better to let it out," I answered.
"I was just grabbing a vase to put the roses in when the thought of your dad being gone just hit me," she explained. "So I grabbed it and threw it on the side of the pool. One of the pieces flew back towards me and hit my arm," she said looking at the wound. She turned around and rinsed her hand with water. I watched as the water turned red and finally crystal clear as it went down the sink. She grabbed napkins and put pressure on the wound.
"I didn't even hear anything... You should go inside," I offered. Why didn't I hear the vase, I thought, it should have been loud enough for me to hear and maybe I could have helped sooner. At that moment Cole walks in with confusion written all over his face. As he takes the scene all in he almost runs towards us.
"Oh my god. Do you need help? I'm first aid and CPR certified, let me see the wound," he said taking a hold of my moms hand.
"It's just a cut Cole, I'll be fine, thanks," my mom chuckled. "But it's good to know we have someone like you around," she smiled patting his hands that were still on her arm. She kind of sideways glanced at me with a smile and I wondered what she was trying to say.