One House Behind | ✓

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧

Tanner

Once I turned and saw her silhouette, I felt freer. Not talking to her had made my days boring. I had looked forward to someone who was a free spirit.

Although, since I was only seventeen, I didn't know the meaning completely.

"Ah, so are we both stalkers now?" I tilted my eyebrows in opposite directions at her floating face above the fence.

"I mean, does this make me a stalker?"

"I mean, you called me a stalker for doing exactly that."

"But we hadn't known each other then! You just looked over the fence like you owned my backyard."

"Well, it's rude to not talk to someone face to face."

"About the...not talking, I'm sorry. I needed more time away from the world and I should have told you. I wasn't ditching you, it was just-"

"It's fine. I...ended up doing what you did. That's why I didn't reply." I huffed out a chuckle.

"Oh."

"So, how was your vacation?"

"I still had homework but it was nice. My cousin painted my nails and did my hair. I still didn't get texts from anyone but it's fine."

I could tell that it wasn't. Her voice was filled with embarrassment, pity laughter used to cover it up. I frowned but didn't comment on it. I leaned my back on the fence and faced my house before I saw a spider crawling on its web.

"Ahh!" I screamed as I whacked it.

"What? What's wrong?" Shelly asked alarmed.

"Spider. I have arachnophobia."

"Oh my gosh, I do too. Who knew?"

"I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not but my face was almost eaten off. It's not Charlotte and Wilbur ain't around so I'm officially scared."

I shivered. It was a black widow too. Granted a baby but still nonetheless. I decided to stay away from the fence from now on. I'd just have to find another way to talk closely to her.

"Hey, I have an idea," she said.

"Yeah? For what?"

"How to reach the moon. I'm talking about how we can talk face-to-face. I'd be freaking out with having a spider in my face."

"That's...nice."

"Yeah, I'm known to be nice," she tee-heed.

"Okay, so, what's your great idea?" I asked waving my hands in front of me.

"I think that we should meet face to face...seven feet apart that is but still. Like, you come here one day and then I go over there. To yours. Or is that too much? Are we there yet? Not like that but still. I'm sorry, this is awkward again and I can't hide behind a screen."

"Shelly, I think it's a great idea." I could tell she was nervous. I would be too. I already was. I'd never seen her up close and somewhat personal. This would be one step closer to seeing society again. "When do we start?"

"Any day you want? Maybe tomorrow so that I can tell my parents and explain why there is a boy outside of my house talking to me. And let them know that nothing is going to happen to me."

"Yeah, I should probably talk to mine too. We could do our homework together. You got wifi right?"

"Yeah, I-I do," she let out a sigh of a laugh.

"Okay, so, tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Tomorrow, I would see her face at a closer distance. Tomorrow, we would have our first official talk face to face. Tomorrow, I would finally get to see the front of her house. But most importantly,

I would see if her family had green or brown grass.

******

A/N:

Tanner is just one of those guys who likes green grass. Can't blame him, I like green grass too. Brown grass is too dry and uncomfy to sit on.