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Wyatt
1993
Like every other red-blooded American, I despised Daylight Savings Time. No, let me clarify. I despised the day when we all set our clocks forward one hour each spring. Not only did it mess with my internal clock, but I always felt robbed.
That is until today.
Tilly was grounded…again. And it was a boring Sunday afternoon. Like the rest of my family, I was groggy and a little moody. Laying on my bed, feet up on the headboard, I was bouncing a tennis ball against the wall.
“Knock it off,” Brad called from the other side of the wall, but I ignored him. “Seriously, Wyatt, I’m gonna beat your ass!”
“Right,” I muttered under my breath and turned my head to look at the phone. It was the beginning of spring break, and almost all of my buddies were on vacation with their families—lounging at the beach, visiting family, or being forced to take photos with a mouse in front of a castle. I, however, was laying on my bed, passing the time with a tennis ball.
Pathetic.
I heard the sound of something lightly tapping the glass of my window. A little startled, I sat up and pushed myself off the bed, peeling back the curtains. Tilly’s long fingernails were tapping gently, and her eyes lit up when she saw my face. She gestured for me to open the window. And I did.
“I thought you were grounded,” I said, tilting my head to the side.
“Nice to see you, too, boyfriend.”
“Sorry, no, didn’t mean it like that. I just…why didn’t you go to the front door?”
“Because: a.) I am grounded. And b.) I don’t trust your mom not to tell my mom at a PTO meeting or whatever.”
“They’re not even friends.”
She shook her head. “Still. Not risking it.”
“So, what’s up? You wanna come in?” I asked, ready to raise the screen and pull her inside. Our house was a ranch, so lifting her into my room wouldn’t be too hard. She weighed almost nothing.
“Better idea. Let’s go for a walk.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you breaking up with me? Is this one of those ‘we need to talk’ kind of things?” I teased.
She rolled her eyes. “Pfft. Hardly. Now, get your jacket, and let’s go. I’ll meet you at the end of the block.”
“You’re really going for this whole incognito thing, aren’t you?”
“Isn’t it more fun that way?” she asked in a flirty tone. “Now, come on!”
Minutes later, Tilly and I were walking down the bright street of my neighborhood, the sun still shining brightly above us, despite the fact that the dinner hour was fast approaching.
“So, what’d you tell your mom?”
“That I’m grabbing dinner with Pete. She was so busy with her needlepoint, she didn’t even care. One less mouth to feed, I guess.”
“Sweet.”
“And your parents?”
“Oh, they’re having a game night with friends. My house is unbearably loud. That’s why I had to get out.”
“Damn,” I said, shaking my head. “I thought you missed me.”
Tilly wrinkled her nose. “Well, that, too.”
“Riiiiight,” I said, patting her on the ass. “You hungry?”
