Sometimes...

~ Chapter 3 ~

Xavier promptly took a seat next to him, staring up in admiration. Xavier always wanted an older brother, and now that there was an older boy in the neighborhood, this was his chance.

"Kori, dear, meet the Johnsons. This is their son, Matthew," Mom said, setting down the last bowl in front of Mrs. Johnson.

"Nice to meet you," I politely gave them a nod.

"You too," Mr. Johnson answered. He then turned to my brother. "And who is this young man?"

The adults started talking and eating, and Xavier filled Matthew's mind with his ideas of the future.

"We can go play ball in our yard! Oh, and maybe you can teach me how to skateboard!"

Great, the cute boy skateboards. That was a turn on for me.

I would normally keep a distance from guys, but that was because I am shy. This time, it was because I didn't want anybody getting close to me again.

"Uh, yeah, haha we probably can one day," said Matthew.

"Xavier, let him have time to get settled down. A move is a big thing," I tried to calm my way too excited brother.

"Actually, we move quite a bit. What's life without a little adventure?" Matthew quoted, looking me in the eyes.

I quietly laughed, and continued eating dinner. The adults kept talking and Xavier quickly took over Matthew once more. I eavesdropped on each conversation a little, but there wasn't anything I hadn't already expected.

Soon I was set free of the awkward dinner and into the kitchen so I could help clean up. My mom and Mrs. Johnson were in there already, and the boys went outside.

After a few dishes, Mom excused me. I wanted to go upstairs to my bedroom, but I didn't want to be rude. Yet I didn't want to go outside, because the boys were all playing tag football. I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of them by playing, and I knew if Xavier saw me, he wouldn't leave me alone until I played.

I went to go into the living room and straighten up a couple things in case that was the next visitation room. You would never guessed what happened.

I turned the corner and smashed right into Matthew.

"We got to stop meeting like this," he laughed.

"Yeah," I chimed in.

He had came through the back door to hide from my brother. Xavier didn't quite understand tag football, and was chasing Matthew around trying to play tag without the football part.

"Need any help with anything?" Matthew asked, looking around the living room.

"Nah," I replied. "It looks good in here actually."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," I looked up thinking about my room. In there was all my favorite books, a couple pages of homework, and my favorite - several video games.

"How about a tour?" Matthew smirked, hinting my glance up.

"Okay, sure."

I led him through the living room, dining room, then to the kitchen. Next I showed him my parents' room and their bathroom. Finally we headed upstairs to that bathroom, to Xavier's room, and lastly mine.

"This is it," I finished, collapsing on my beanbag.

"Impressive. Whoa, is that the newest Call of Duty?!" He pointed to a game cover. "I bet I can beat you!" He snickered.

I joked back, "Not in a million years!"

"We will see about that!" Matthew grabbed a controller and started turning on the system. I grabbed the other controller and started setting up the game while Matthew made himself comfortable on my bed.

We were both yelling at the screen and each other, saying that it was rigged or that someone had "the perfect shot". My mom must have heard it and came upstairs.

"Kori what are you - oh!" She smiled. "Having fun are we?"

I paused the game to answer. "Yup."

Mrs. Johnson stood behind my mom. She looked at her watch. She turned to Matthew, "It's about time to go."

"Mom! But I'm about to beat Kori, there's no way I can leave it here. I must fight for my dignity!" We all laughed at Matthew's ridiculousness.

"I guess you can stay a little longer if that's alright," Mrs. Johnson mentally questioned my mom. My mom replied with a nod, and Mrs. Johnson continued. "Just walk over when you're done. But not too late, okay?"

Matthew waved and we continued to our game.

It came down to 53-58 kills. I was the one with 58.

"Hm, I guess we know who was right," I winked.

"That's because I'm so tired after a long move and the first day of my new school. Got to cut me some slack! Rematch tomorrow; 4 pm sound good?"

I quivered at our newly formed friendship.