My Kmart Love (Based On True Events)

Ch.11 Facebook

The following week was the week before Christmas. They had me working erratic shifts, so I didn't get to see Lewis much. I barely had time to sleep. It was bad for him too since he worked in the Layaway department. Eventually, the holidays came and went. The day after New Year's Eve, I was sitting on the couch with my laptop next to me. My heart racing as I stared at his Facebook profile picture.

The name said Lewis, but it was a picture of a guy, from the back of the head, on a bench staring out at a lake. "Hm should I add him?" I asked myself cautiously as I continued to stare at his profile pic. "If I do, what should I say...?" I mumbled worriedly. Eventually, I gathered the courage to type in a quick hello to go along with my friend request. He accepted it almost instantly. My heart raced with excitement as I watched the little dots appear at the bottom of my chat box.

"Hannah! What's up?" He typed.
"Not much, and you? How was your New Years?" I asked curiously. I crossed my legs as I waited anxiously for his reply.

"Boring, I stayed home..." he replied. "Why? Don't your parents celebrate New Year's?" I pried. "Yeah, they went out but I just wasn't feeling it..." There was a long pause between us then. "What about Christmas?" I asked. "I went to the movies with Jenna..." he trailed off. "Jenna?" I repeated anxiously. "My neighbor" he clarified.

For some reason, a pang of jealousy rang through my heart. "What if he likes her...?" My uneasy mind spun as I stared blankly at my keyboard. After about a 3-minute pause, I typed the only word I could think of. "Football!" He sent me a question mark. "Sorry...I've just always wanted to scream football at an inopportune moment..." I trailed off sheepishly. "Like the commercial?" He asked. I nodded. About a minute later he typed another message. "Are you nodding again?" He asked I nodded yet again. "Yup, definitely nodding..." I replied.

"What are you up to?" He asked, changing the conversation. "I was watching School of Rock, and I'm at the part where he goes crowd surfing..." I trailed off. "I love that movie!" He replied. "You know, I've always wondered what it's like to go crowd surfing. How a beach ball feels when it's bouncing through the crowd..." I trailed off.

"Beach ball?" He asked. "Yeah, a beach ball lol..." I typed. "Wow, from now on your nickname is bishi-boru..." he wrote. "Why so?" I asked a bit confused. "Because it's the Japanese pronunciation for beach ball lol" my face flared bright red. "In that case, you're football!" I typed as I sent him a pouty face. He sent an lol. "What are you doing?" I asked curiously. "I'm making music..." he said as he sent me a screen shot. "Wow..." I mused as my alarm rang.

"Crap, I gotta go to work..." I trailed off sadly. "Do you work?" I asked, hoping he would say yes. "No, it's my day off. What time you out?" He asked. "8pm..." I trailed off sadly. "That's cool, I'll get on when you're out" my heart skipped with joy as I said my goodbye and got ready for work.

After my shift was over, I drove to my cousin's house and picked up my daughter. After I bathed her and put her to bed, I got back on Facebook to continue our conversation. He sent me some samples of his music and some covers he had done. We talked about music and video games till almost 3am. "I got to go, I go in at 8am tomorrow..." I trailed off sadly. "Me too" he replied with a happy face. "See you there! Goodnight Hannah..." he typed quickly. "Goodnight..." I typed with a smile on my face as I closed my computer and retired for the night.