Aurora's Love

Chapter 6

"We rescued her about five years ago," Tyler explained. He was telling me about his dog Rosie. When I brought him his food we started talking and never stopped. At some point during the conversation, I must've leaned on the counter. My elbows were on the ceramic countertop and I just now noticed how close we were.

"Well, she's really cute," I said as I handed Tyler his phone back. He had shown me a picture of Rosie.

"Do you live in Brisbane, since you have a pizza shop there?"

"Yea, we live on the upper east side of Brisbane, near the water," he said.

"That's cool. Did you move here permanently?"

"Only me, my parents and little sister stayed in Australia," he said. I was actually interested in our conversation. That's when Frankie interrupted.

"Hey, Rory, can I see you in the back for a minute?" asked Frankie.

"Yea, sure," I agreed, waving bye to Tyler. When we got around the corner I was still smiling and Frankie literally slapped me in the face. Not hard, but it was still a slap.

"What the hell!" I almost shouted.

"Snap out of it," she said. As if it was obvious what she meant.

"Snap out of what?" I asked.

"Whatever trance that boy has put you under. You have been standing there talking to him for almost 15 minutes. I took two orders to the counter for you and told tom you were in the bathroom," she explained. Tom is our manager. He must've gotten suspicious when Frankie was taking my trays from the kitchen.

"Shit, really? I'm sorry, I was just-" Frankie cut me off.

"You were just making googly eyes with Mr. accent over there," she said, this time laughing at her own joke.

"Sorry," I said, laughing a little too.

Tyler ate and left and I finished my shift. It wasn't over until 2:00 that day and Frankie's had ended nearly an hour earlier, so I was dying to get out of there. But of course, who was standing outside waiting for me? Tyler, the one and only.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I think I sounded a little bit annoyed because he said...

"Someone's grumpy."

"Sorry, I just had a long shift at work today," I said as we started walking the way to my house. "What are you doing here?"

"I figured I would walk you home from work," he said casually.

'How did you even know what time my shift ended?"

"I asked the hostess before I left," he said.

"Just to walk me home?" I asked.

"Well, I was also going to see if you wanted to go to the beach with me this afternoon," he said. He looked at his feet when he said that, a sign of nervousness. I found the nervousness cute though.

"I would love to," I said with a smile. He looked up at me and smiled back. "But I have to get ready first."

"That's fine," he said. We walked the rest of the way home which was only about 5 blocks. I realized that we never had a chance to finish our conversation from the diner, so I asked him who he was staying with. He told me that he was staying with his aunt and uncle. They have a shore house here but never use it so they let him stay in it this summer. By himself, for the most part. I also asked him about his sister. She's 11 years old and I could tell by the way he talked about her how much he loved her. He told me about how he went home last summer and they built a treehouse together in their backyard.

"Why didn't you go back home this summer?" I asked.

"Well, the coach offered to give me extra football practice this summer, and since this is my senior year and my most important year for college scouts, my dad thought it would be a good idea," he answered. I thought it was weird that he was spending the summer down the shore if he had to go to football practice up at the school. Tyler explained that practice doesn't start till after independence day and it's only on Tuesdays and Saturdays after that. Since school was only about 2 hours away from the beach he was willing to get up early and drive on those days. I liked that he was so responsible.

We were nearing my stepdad's place so I told him to let himself in the guest house while I went and told my mom what I was doing.

"Hey, mom!" I said as I walked in the door. She was in the kitchen doing the dishes when I came in.

"Hey hun," she said. We hugged as soon as I saw her. I don't know why but my mom and I have always been really close. "How was work?" she asked.

"It was good. Also, my friend and I are going to the beach this afternoon. He's just gonna sit in the guest house while I get changed if that's ok." I said. I figured quick and to the point was best. I wasn't sure how she was going to react because I've never really dated anyone before. Not that this is dating, but it is a heterosexual man alone with me.

"A boy?" she asked and turned off the water. "Who's this boy you speak of?" she continued, drying her hands with a towel.

"It's my friend Tyler. Remember I mentioned him yesterday? He goes to my school and wanted me to show him around."

"Ah, yes. The boy you have a crush on," she said, putting her hand on her hip.

"I don't have a crush on him," I assured her.

"Yea, sure," she said sarcastically. "He can hang out while you get ready just keep the curtains open so I can see what's going on."

"Ok, thanks mom, love you," I said, rushing out the door before she could change her mind.