Always You

Chapter 11

5 years ago | Sierra

The house was quiet except for the hum of idle kitchen appliances as the front door clicked shut behind my back.

"Hello? Mum? Jason? I'm home!" I announced with slight hesitation as the lock twisted with a sharp click.

Silence greeted me.

I glanced at the ticking clock on the wall; it was six o'clock. Mum would usually have been home and cooking dinner by now. I looked around the empty living room and adjoined open plan kitchen. Odd.

"Jason?"

More silence.

I approached the kitchen bench where a little yellow post-it note was waiting for me next to the toaster.

Sierra,
I'm out late tonight, can you and Jason handle your own dinner? There's pizza in the freezer. Jason will be back from football training at 7.
Love, Mum

I returned the note to the counter and threw myself onto the linen couch next to the kitchen bench, sighing as I fished my phone out of my pocket.

1 unread message.

Swiping the unlock bar on the bottom of the phone, I couldn't help but smile in anticipation as I tapped on the little green message icon. My heart fluttered as I registered that it was, as I had hoped, a message from Ezra.

Hey Stinky 💩 Got plans tonight? I finished track early today 🙌🏼 Wanna grab dinner? 😁

Rolling my eyes, I tapped out a response without giving it a second thought.

Who are you calling stinky, I'm not the one who's run a hundred laps around the track 🏃‍♂️🙊💩

The grey speech bubble that popped up the instant my message was delivered indicated Ezra was online, so I fired off another message before his reply came through.

Just kidding 😇 just don't sit too close to me when we have dinner tonight 😜

His little blue message popped up a couple seconds after that.

Ha! You're lucky I only ran 10 laps today! Don't worry, I'll shower before dinner. Just for you my little stinky poo 😉

Grinning, I replied.

Hehe that rhymed 🤓 Meet at your place at 7?

Catcha then homie 🤙🏼

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After throwing on a plain white T-shirt and jeans following a quick shower, I began the long journey to Ezra's house. And by long I mean a walk that took me less than a minute, around 20 seconds if I ran. Our houses were so close to each other's, I reckon if I stuck a ladder out my bedroom window, it could just about reach Ezra's windowsill and make a little bridge between our rooms. This isn't the first time I've thought about the idea of course. It's crazy, but sometimes we would throw notes and letters to each other's rooms when our families were asleep and I'd imagine that if I had a ladder, that's what I would have used it for.

It was a warm summer night, with the last rays of sunshine streaming through the lush trees in the front yard.

I admired the peonies lining the garden bed on either side of the path leading to the porch, pausing for just a small moment to appreciate the warm evening breeze on my face.

Stepping onto the most homely looking welcome mat, I raised my hand to knock on the solid oak front door. My knuckles were about to make contact with the solid wood when-

"Hey you!"

Next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back on the cold hard ground after being scared out of my brains.

Opening my eyes after several confused blinks, I looked up to see a very amused looking Ezra staring down at me, lopsided grin and crinkly eyes indicating he was holding in laughter.

"It never gets old scaring you," he smiled, reaching out his hands.

"You're the actual worst Ezra Jaggers you know that?" I said with a small eye roll, though I couldn't stop my grin growing. Reaching for his extended hand, I grabbed on and with a swift pull, I was up on my feet once again.

"I was grabbing the mail when I saw you walk past, you were so engrossed in your thoughts you didn't even see me wave," he explained with a smirk, while his left hand lazily ran through a messy tuft of hair.

Now that my eyes have adjusted back to vertical view, I finally got a good look at the boy standing in front of me.

He was still in his track athletic gear, a blue and white singlet with shorts that are a little too short. His tanned arms, moistened with perspiration, glistened as the golden sun rays hit him in just the right ways.

I got a whiff of his fresh smelling deodorant as I walked past him as he held the front door open for me. As much as I joked about him smelling terrible, he didn't smell bad at all.

"How did training go?" I asked, shutting the door behind me.

"Yeah good, coach had an emergency to tend to so we got sent home early so no complaints there," he said casually, setting down his car keys on the hallway table.

The Jaggers house, which was usually healthily noisy and full of life, was surprisingly quiet. Ezra must haven noticed my observation, as he explained, "the whole family is out for dinner. Since I was at training they figured I'd be home late."

"Yeah, I was going to say. It's way too quiet," I noted while looking around the house.

Ezra's house was probably one of my favourite places in the world, it had just the perfect balance of tidiness and mess. It somehow looked neat, but also lived-in at the same time.
Cath Jaggers, Ezra's mum, did a phenomenal job of keeping the house looking this neat with 6 kids running around messing everything up all the time. This was the most cozy and welcoming home I'd ever known and I loved spending time here. And that's just the house. Ezra's family was a joy to be around, and I could almost say I spend more time with them than I do my own family next doors. But that's because dad was always on business trips and Jason was busy with his booming newfound social life since winning a spot on the school's top football team. It's usually Mum and I around, but Mum had been spending a lot of time away from home lately, so I have been spending more and more time with the Jaggers, and I was almost guilty to say that I didn't mind it at all.

Ezra's house usually had a lingering smell of some kind of baked goods; today the house smelt of chocolate. The scent grew stronger as we approached the kitchen.

"Mmm mmm. Chocolate chip cookies," Ezra smiled as the kitchen bench came into view. It didn't take long for Ezra and I to dig into the delectable cookies.

"So where are we going for dinner?" I asked after swallowing a mouthful of cookie, thinking about dinner plans for the first time.

"Oh I've got that sorted, don't worry about that," Ezra replied casually with a smile. "I'll go take a quick shower and we can head out after that. You just relax on the couch." Slinging his sports bag over his shoulder and grabbing another cookie, Ezra ascended up the stairs. "Oh and Sierra?" He yelled while halfway up the stairs, "don't eat too many cookies otherwise you won't have room for dinner."