Girl [GXG]

Snickerdoodle

"Yeah, shit," I answered.

I heard a loud crash outside, and walked to the window to see the girl. She had dropped a box while trying to unload the truck. She bends down to grab it, and everything slows down. I stand there by my window fixated on the movements of her legs. I can see a small tattoo of a bird on her calf. I turn away from the window, and pick up my book on the zodiac killer, but I just can't focus so I decide to put on some music. I put my playlist on shuffle, and Leftovers by Dennis Lloyd starts playing. I lie down on my bed with Patches sleeping next to me, and my thoughts drift to the deity that is outside my window.

When the song ends I get up because I hear the garage door open which means that Pop is home from work. I walk downstairs, and see my dads embracing like one of them is falling apart. I'm the one that's falling apart not them. They turn to face me, and Dad's face is tear streaked. "Well this sucks," I say.

"Yeah no shit sherlock," answers Pop. He walks over, and pulls me into a big bear hug.

"So...what do you want to do with your last day of freedom?"

"Oh maybe watch an 80s movie, hold my cat, and bake some cookies for the neighbors," I answer.

"Well don't let us keep you," and they walk away with Pop pulling Dad to go talk in private about the hospital.

With my dads out of the kitchen i turn on some Beatles, and start baking snickerdoodles. As I put plastic wrap on the dough, and put it in the freezer I hear a knock at the door. I walk over and see the deity, and her father. I open the door, and her eyes stay fixated on the ground.

"Hi I'm Mitchel Rosso," Her dad says extending his hand for me to shake. "and this is my Daughter Olivia," I let my eyes roam to her, and she looks up to give me a quick nod before looking back at the ground. "We just moved in, and wanted to say hi," he says maintaining his smile.

"Oh hi, I'm Delilah. I was actually just baking cookies to bring over to you."

"What kind?" Olivia blurts out. She looks in my eyes for a split second before looking back at the ground.

"Snickerdoodle," I say

"That's my favorite kind."

"They'll be done in about an hour so I'll bring them over," I say trying to keep my smile plastered on. Trying to look like I wasn't just diagnosed with death. Mitchel smiles and Olivia just turns on her heel and follows her dad back to their house. 

I close the door, and go back to cleaning up the kitchen whilst I wait for the batter to be ready to be baked. I bring the bowl over to the sink, put on the rubber gloves, and turn the water on hot. I slowly scrub to try to get all of the cookie dough off the sides. I get lost in my thoughts as I continue to scrub. I feel something brush against my leg. I look down, and see Patches. I turn off the water, take off the gloves, pick him up, and carry him into my room. I turn on my computer, and pull up The Shinning. He falls asleep on my stomach, and I hear him purring while I watch the movie. 

The alarm on my phone goes off, and I go downstairs. I take the dough out of the freezer, and roll the dough into little balls, and put the sheet with the cookies in the oven. 

Christopher texted me back. "Am I still driving you to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah" I say. 

"Well your senior year is off to a great start." He responds.

"Very funny" I text back. 

The timer on the oven went off, and I take the cookies out to put in the next batch. 

Dad walked into the kitchen. 

"Smells good," he says, and reaches for a cookie. I hit his hand away.

"Those are for the new neighbors. I'll make you your own later."

"Wow you're feisty when you bake," He chuckles. 

"I just want to be a good neighbor."

"So how are they?" He asked.

"They're nice. His name is Mitchell, and he has a daughter named Olivia. She seems like she's around my age."

"Oh that's good. Is she nice?" He noted.

"She seems kind of awkward, but she's fine."

"We'll all go over together when you deliver the cookies. Maybe you could show her around school tomorrow," He suggested.

"Yeah sure," I said reluctantly. She seemed nice, but I wasn't the type who liked showing people around, and being their first friend at a new school. Along with that she didn't give off the vibe that she liked me very much, but I've been wrong before. 

"How about you invite her to ride with you and Christopher tomorrow."

"Ok yeah...that's good. I'll just ask him if that works."

I pull out my phone, and text Christopher.

"Hey I have a new neighbor, and my dad wants us to drive her tomorrow. Is that ok?"

The timer goes off again to tell me the second batch is done. 

"Could you get me a container for these?" I ask dad. He goes to the drawer, and pulls out a tupperware container. I put 12 cookies in the container, and pop the lid on. 

"I'm going to go get your pop, and we'll head over," Dad says as he starts to walk away. 

"Just a few minutes so I can get into some clothes that aren't covered in flour," I say as I go up to my room.

"Ok. I'll give you five minutes."

I run upstairs, and Throw on some jeans, a t-shirt, and some sneakers. Patches is still sleeping. I scratch the top of his head, and run back downstairs. 

"Everyone ready?" I ask.

"Someone is taking his time to get ready," Dad says annoyed.

"Ahh yes. You know he has to look presentable." I laugh.

"How are you doing honey," He asks looking at me like a puppy with a broken leg. 

"The best I can be doing."

"Well try to smile when we go over there."

"I will," I say.

"Samuel darling, we're waiting on you," Dad calls out. Pop waltz's out finally ready to go drop off the cookies. 

"Dear god you are so high maintenance," Dad chuckles. 

We grab the food, and we're out the door.