Zach closes his door and side steps to the left. Balls his fist and raps his knuckles against the door. A minute later Kayla opens it, still in her pajamas.
Zach pushes his spectacles back up his face and looks down at his feet.
"Uh, hi Kayla. I was wondering if you wanted to walk over to the common room together? I can wait for you to get ready if you want?"
Kayla sheepishly looks down at her attire.
"Uh, yeah. That sounds good. Um, do you wanna come in?"
Zach smiles at Kayla and nods his head. She steps aside, letting him in and closes the door.
"Just give me like 5 minutes."
Afraid he might say something stupid, Zach just nods his head and looks around the room. He awkwardly waits by the door as Kayla moves around the room grabbing things and running into the bathroom.
"Your room looks like mine, but flipped."
"What?" Kayla shouts back
"Your room, it's just like mine but flipped." Zach says a little louder.
A minute passes with no response, then the bathroom door opens and Kayla steps out in some ripped blue jeans and a red checkered flannel over a white tank top. She's got no makeup on and Zach just stares at her. She notices and stares back, making Zach look away.
Zach clears his throat.
"Uh, yeah. Same room, flipped."
"That's cool. Do you wanna head out?"
"If you're ready?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Let's go."
Zach opens the room door and holds it open for Kayla. He follows her out and makes sure to shut the door behind him.
They walk side by side, down to the ground floor and towards the common room in silence. Again, Zach holds the door open for Kayla as she steps inside.
They enter and look around, noticing that there were retirees everywhere. Some were watching tv, some were playing mahjong, chess and other board games, some were knitting or doing arts and craft at the far table and then there was a group in the far corner chatting excitedly with someone.
Zach and Kayla looked at each other and silently agreed to walk towards the back to see what was up. They got closer and Zach had an uncertain look on his face.
"Mom?"
The person listening to all the gossip looked up with a wide smile.
"Oh hi honey! Hi Kayla!"
"Hi principal Jones."
Not knowing what was going on, Zach questions his mom.
"Mom, what are you doing here??"
Principal Jones excuses herself from the group and walks toward Zach and Kayla.
"Oh, I'm helping out here today. I kinda thought no one would sign up for this and I felt bad, so your mama and I decided to do some work. But here you two are! This is great!"
"Mama's here too?"
Just as Zach says this, Leslie Jones floats out of a room they didn't notice before in an apron.
"I heard my baby call me!"
She hurries to Zach and engulfs him in a hug that makes his cheeks go super red from embarrassment.
"Mama....do you have to?"
"Oh shush now, I can hug you whenever I want! Now who's this lovely lady? I don't believe we've been introduced."
YOU ARE READING
Floating by
Teen FictionKayla Davis is a 17 year old high school senior, popular and smart. But two days before school ended she found out that her boyfriend of 2 years had cheated on her with her best friend. Now she's stuck on a cruise ship with them and the rest of Forr...
