Soul Song

Chapter 6

Saturday, finally sleep. These are normally pretty good days. I have riding lessons that I have to get to this morning but, considering this one is actually kind of early today, I should be back home in time to have lunch on the way back instead of having to find something up near the stable. I'm an equestrian, one of the only ones at our school actually. On my way back from riding, Allie calls me. I don't even give her chance to speak, I just start ahead with the questions.

"Hey, how'd it go?"

"They said it's gonna be a while but they did some blood testing and I have to wait for the results from that."

"Oh ok."

"Mom and I are going to Olive Garden, wanna come?"

"Yeah sure, I'll meet you there. You want me to text Jackson too?"

"Yeah have him tag along."

"Alright see you there,"

"See ya."

I have to go home and change out of my riding clothes really quick but when I'm done with that I text Jackson and head out. When I get there, he and I arrive at about the same time and we go ahead and grab a table, waiting for Allie and Mrs. Laurel. When we sit down, he has a bit of a sly look on his face and I have a feeling he knows about--

"So did he ask you out?"

I just sigh and nod. He then gets this little smirk that he often gets when he falsely claims that he's innocent of something. Or in this case, when he's making me slowly curl into the corner of the booth. About time I start to hide, Allie walks up. Thank the lord.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Jackson starts to laugh about it and I just slowly continue to shrink back into my corner.

"Ace, are you alive over there?"

I just sort of smile and she gives Jackson the look. The one thing that breaks him when he's up to something.

"What? I didn't do anything."

I'm sorta coming out of my corner but I'm kind of liking this little hiding spot over here. Allie looks at Jackson again, still waiting for an explanation.

"I don't want to get in the middle of this, it's girl stuff, you can tell them when I'm gone."

I nod and agree with him, glad that I didn't have to say anything about it yet. I'm almost out of my hiding spot, slowly uncurling. Allie seems satisfied with that answer. She'll probably still pry it out of me later. When we were finished eating, Jackson had to go home but we girls decided to have a shopping day. I know, we hang out with guys all the time, you wouldn't think we'd like that but every once in a while, even we need just a peaceful shopping day without the guys with us. We headed off to the mall which was right next door and as soon as we stepped in the doorway, she remembered that she never asked why I was hiding.

"So, why exactly were you hiding in the corner of the booth?"

I stopped dead. Just the thought of actually saying it out loud, not to mention for the second time today, was kind of overwhelming. From what I've seen in my three years of high school, guys just go up to their buddies and tell them they just asked a girl out, done and done. Since it's something new, we girls are sometimes a little afraid to say it, or it makes us nervous. A good nervous, but still nervous.

"Well you know how I've kind of had a crush on Keaton since eighth grade?"

She nods and, by the look on her face, I'm gonna say she's already caught on.