Home For The Summer

Chapter 5: An Awkward Encounter

I woke up the next morning with a small bruise on my forehead. Courtesy of Austin of course. I mean his friend, right?

I checked my phone and saw that Austin hadn't followed me back yet. For someone as apparently popular as he was, you would think he would've checked his Insta account by now.

Unless he really didn't want to follow me back.

When I got downstairs, my dad was already sitting at the dining room table, coffee and phone in hand.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said as soon as I walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," I said back. He looked at me a second longer, squinting his eyes a bit. "What the heck happened to your forehead?"

My hand quickly flew to my face. "Some random guy accidentally hit me with a frisbee yesterday, it's no big deal.

My dad shook his head. "Are you okay, at least?"

"I'm totally fine, it didn't even hurt really."

"So, what's the plan for today?" My dad asked, changing the subject. Almost no concern with that man.

"I should ask you the same question," I said. We'd only been in Cali for two days, but he hadn't done much except unpack.

He took a long sip of coffee before responding. "Well, for now, I'll be looking for a job. Maybe I can see how the old hardware store is doing."

For as long as I could remember, my dad worked as the manager of this really popular hardware store in Burbank. You wouldn't think a place like that would get a lot of attention, but I guess people liked to build and add to their already perfect homes. It's a California thing.

"Maybe you could try somewhere new. I think it's time for new beginnings," I said, thinking about my whole situation.

He just shrugged. "So how's Hannah doing?" My dad, the master of changing subjects.

"She's actually really great."

"And doesn't she have a brother?"

I could feel my face turning red for no reason. "Yeah, his name is Sam," I said, pouring myself some cereal.

"That's right! I remember you coming home all upset because he would be pulling your hair or something."

I didn't say anything. For some reason, talking about Sam made me uncomfortable.

"I think I'm gonna go to Hannah's after breakfast, actually."

"That's fine. Tell her I said hi."

I sat at the counter, munching on my breakfast in silence. Luckily my dad wasn't much of a talker, especially in the morning.

An hour later, I drove down to Hannah's house. While I was sitting in the kitchen, waiting for Hannah to be done getting ready, I saw a car pull up through the big window. Sam and some girl I didn't recognize came out a second later, catching my full attention. I walked over to the window to get a better look and watched as Sam walked over to the girl, pulling her in for a big hug.

"Whatcha looking at out there?" I half jumped, not noticing that Hannah had finally come down.

"Who's that girl Sam's with?" I asked as casual as possible.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's his girlfriend, Morgan. She's kind of annoying to be honest, but she makes Sam happy so I don't let it get to me."

Girlfriend?

"What do you mean by annoying?"

"Like she's a little self-centered, always complaining about random shit. I don't know how Sam deals with it sometimes."

"And how long have they been dating?"

Hannah began counting on her fingers. "Maybe like eight months."

I looked back out the window and noticed they were both gone.

"Why do you care anyway?" Hannah asked, reaching into the fridge to grab a fruit cup.

"I'm just curious. He's just grown up a lot since I last saw him."

Hannah grabbed a cantaloupe piece with her fingers and plopped it into her mouth. "I know right? My baby brother's turned into quite a stud."

I gulped. He sure has.

Just then, I heard the front door open and two very loud voices filled the next room.

"No, that would be stupid," I heard Morgan's voice say.

"Prove me wrong then," Sam shot back. They both walked into the kitchen at that moment, staring blankly from me to Hannah, then back to me.

"Hey, Syd. Didn't expect you to be here," Sam said. His girlfriend just kept staring at me, almost like she was staring me down.

"Oh, this is my girlfriend, Morgan. Morgan, this is Sydney Wilson, Hannah's old best friend."

Hannah cleared her throat. "Syd's my current best friend, actually. She always has been."

I smiled at her.
"It's nice to meet you Sydney," Morgan said, giving me a sly smile. I don't know if it was intentional or not.

"It's nice to meet you too, Morgan." I tried to match her grin, but I'm sure it came out more like a grimace. Nobody said anything after that, so this time, Sam cleared his throat. "So Morgan and I were just going to chill up in my room if that's okay?" He said it like a statement, but it sounded like a question, almost like he was trying to get Hannah's approval.

"I honestly don't care," Hannah said, grabbing a blueberry out of her fruit cup. Without another word, Sam and Morgan walked out of the room.

"Well shit," Hannah said, wiping her forehead.

"What?" I asked.

"That was awkward."

"How so?" Hannah looked at me as if I was crazy. "Did you not feel the tension?"

I shook my head. Hannah sighed. "There was way too much silence and Morgan looked like she wanted to strangle you or something, almost like you were a threat."

"Are you serious?" I was so confused, but at the same time, she did look at me weird.

"But that would be crazy right?" Hannah started laughing a bit. "I mean, it's not like she knows you or anything. You and Sam? How bizarre would that be?"

I fake laughed along with her. "Yeah, totally."

"So, what's the news on you and Austin?" Hannah asked, her eyes lighting up when she said his name.

"Oh, well, last night I followed him on Insta, but haven't gotten a follow back yet."

Hannah frowned. "That's odd."

I nodded. "He'll come around, I mean you're such a catch."

I scoffed. "Not even."

"Yes, you are, girl. And we should totally go shopping today! Get you some cute outfits to show off to this man of yours."

"Okay, Han. Let's go shopping then." Hannah clapped wildly. "Goodie!" She turned on her heel and headed for the stairs. "Let me just grab my purse and we can get out of here."

As Hannah ran up the stairs, I pulled out my phone and noticed I had two notifications; one that said 'Austin Lemont (austinslemont.ree) started following you' and the other saying 'austinslemont.ree sent you a message.'

My heart started racing as I opened up the app and went to my messages. I clicked on his and it said, "Well hey there (smiley face emoji). Not sure if you were stalking me or not but either way, I'm glad you found me. We should totally hang out sometime. I promise I won't hit you with a frisbee this time (winky face emoji)."

This guy was hella cheesy. On the outside, he was like art. On the inside, he was pizza.

And now I am too for saying something like that. Maybe it really was fate.