One Question

Chapter Four - A Letter

She considered slipping the letter into Phi's locker, but then realized she didn't know where Phi's locker actually was, and anyway, that was way too suspicious to get away with. She had to be cool, collected. You know, like Phi, she thought to herself with a smile.

She also realized, at about the same time, that they had no more classes together. The only two they shared were AP Chem and Spanish, and both of those had already had their finals period. That is when she remembered she had Phi's phone number. But she had to get to her Stats final, so she resolved to figure it out during break.

Naomi 9:30am

Hi! This is Naomi.

Phi 9:31 am

Oh, hi Naomi! What's up?

Naomi 9:31 am

Want to get lunch today? I can drive us

Phi 9:31 am

Sure!! Do you have a place in mind?

Naomi 9:32 am

Yeah! :)

Congratulating herself on her smoothness, Naomi paraded into English with the confidence of someone who knew who she was driving to Colorado with and liked the outcome.

She'd chosen a small crepe place only a five-minute drive from the school. She normally went there with Hana and Lorelai on the last day, but they hadn't said anything about it, so she didn't know if it was still on. Thankfully, the crepes were good whether or not she was eating them with her two best friends, if she could still call them that.

Phi met her with a lot more excitement and energy than most people had during finals week, or really, high school in general. Naomi knew she was the same. She hadn't gotten a full night's sleep last night, having written the letter, eaten dinner, studied a little for Stats, reread the letter, and hurriedly rewritten it into the night. But the excited and nervous energy more than made up for any lack of sleep.

Now that she was here, with Phi in front of her, she didn't know when to give it to her. Now? When they got in the car? At the crepe place? After the crepe place? When they said goodbye?

("Oh, I love this crepe place!" Phi said.

"You've been here?"

"Yeah, I used to go with Caleb."

"Oh," Naomi said. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be!" Phi said. "I felt like I was supposed to avoid it, but I really like their crepes. And now I can make a new memory here to wipe away the bad ones!"

"Huh," Naomi said. "That's awfully optimistic."

Phi smiled. "I feel optimistic about things today. I don't know why."

It was if her voice was winking. Naomi stifled a laugh and blushed.)

As it was, Naomi kept putting off giving the letter. They were all paid up, and she still hadn't. Naomi offered to drive Phi home and found she lived in a nice house with a lot of trees and a backyard and two stories. It wasn't a huge house, but it certainly felt a lot bigger than her own, Naomi thought.

Then Phi got out of the car and Naomi realized she was about to screw everything up if she didn't say something right now.

"Wait! I have something for you."

Naomi shuffled the letter out from the pages of her yearbook, got out of the car, and handed it to Phi. Phi looked at it, then back up at Naomi.

"Don't read it until you get home," Naomi said.