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I took a deep, steadying breath, and new that if I didn’t do something productive I would never stop thinking about him. I had never been so swoony over a boy before and I didn’t like the feeling. I was a smart independent woman and I did not need a man to complete me. But oh, how badly I wanted him to complete me.
I finally sat down on the floor and pulled one of the moving boxes towards me. I was exhausted but I didn’t want to go to sleep yet. I knew my body would handle the change better if I just jumped right into the time change. After all this was my home now. I had to get used to it.
After I had unpacked several boxes I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I yawned, stretched my stiff muscles, and headed into the room that I assumed was mine.
It was small and had an old, unlived in, smell to it. The mattress was dirty and the walls were stained. I sighed. This was not the warm, comforting, home I was used to but it would have to do. I disappeared back down the hall looking for the box that was labeled: sheets. It was already open. I had fixed my mom’s bed for her and before he left Jonathon had carried her back. His concern had surprised. Surly, someone that gorgeous couldn’t be kind too? He was just too much to handle.
I grabbed my sheets and began to make my bed. My muscles protested. But just because my body was tired didn’t mean my mind was. I showered, changed, and climbed into my bed but I couldn’t sleep, not yet, my mind was on a constant spin cycle. Around and around it went. Mom. Jonathon. Mom. Jonathon.
I was extremely worried about her. She wasn’t herself. Not by a longshot. She was a stranger to me.
And then there was Jonathon and my impending ride with him in the morning. The thought brought butterflies to my stomach. For some reason I wanted him to like me, to think I was special, and it wasn’t just because he was good looking. There was something different about him.
Back and forth my thoughts went until finally, exhausted, my eyes closed.
I had forgotten to set my alarm clock but by some miracle I woke up on my own with plenty of time to spare.
I let the hot water from the shower beat down on my sore back. That mattress would have to go. I dressed in the white button down shirt, tucked into khaki pants, with a navy blazer that had the schools emblem across the breast. Luckily my uniform had arrived a few days before we were scheduled to leave otherwise I would have had to have gone to school in my regular school. I shuddered at the thought. I could see it now, me in jeans and a t-shirt while everyone else wore the school uniform. I would have stuck out like a sore thumb and everyone would have known I was the new girl. I hated being the new girl. This was a new experience for me. In California I had went to one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. I had never been the new girl.
I checked my hair in the mirror again. The ends were already curling. I dabbed on a little makeup and went in search of breakfast.
I finally found a box of cereal and since there was no milk I ate it dry.
I heard no stirrings coming from my mother’s room so I decided I better check on her. My, how the roles had been reversed. I was now the concerned parent and she was the angst ridden teenager.
She lay in her bed curled into a ball as if she was trying to hold herself together. She looked so fragile, like a china doll. It broke my heart into a million pieces to see her this way.
“Mom . . .” I whispered.
“Not now Kylie not now.” Her voice cracked on the last word so I could tell she had been crying. I left her room closing the door behind me.
I still had plenty of time until Jonathon showed up so I started putting the stuff away that I had already unpacked. All too soon I heard a light tap on a car horn. My heart thudded and skipped a beat. He was here. I straightened my clothes and checked my hair one more time before grabbing my backpack and running out the door.
I slipped out the door locking it behind me trying to hide my smile. He was in his black car and my earlier assumptions were correct. The car was a ford mustang. Jonathon was behind the wheel and looked more like a god than any one person had a right to. No one should ever look that perfect. Especially when wearing a uniform. When he saw me coming he slipped a book back in his bag which he then threw into the back seat. I climbed into the passenger seat which was on the side I was used to. I grinned at him.
“You have an American car?” I asked surprised.
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s just surprising . . . comforting to see something familiar.”
“I’ve always liked American cars more than European. I guess because they are foreign to me. Americans probably like European cars better because it’s something different and unexpected.” He said his accent more prominent today than yesterday. But I felt like he wasn’t talking about the car anymore and I blushed. I tucked my hair around my face so he wouldn’t see the red flaming vibrantly there. He began to back out of the driveway.
He went down another hill and turning left getting onto another smaller highway with only one lane for each side. Of course he wa
s driving on the opposite side and it freaked me out. He laughed at my expression.
“I’m not going to hit anything you know that right? This is Rome.” He asked me with a grin.
“I know. But it’s . . . scary.” I said blushing again. That made him laugh. I looked up at his perfectly sculpted face. “You really don’t mind driving me do you? I don’t want to impose.”
“I don’t mind. You’re funny, it’s a nice change,” He said. Funny? Most people thought I was way too serious and in my opinion I was way too nervous around Jonathon to be considered anything near funny.
“Good I don’t want to infringe on your driving ability. My beauty might distract you. ” I said joking, emboldened by his comment.
It was so easy to talk to Jonathon. Natural. He made me laugh which was something I hadn’t done in a long time. I felt comfortable around him.
He parked in a place smoothly. He turned to me. I noticed his hands clenched the steering wheel tightly.
