AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Texting is odd, I reflect as I open my wardrobe. For the brief time you’re messaging someone, it almost feels as though they’re right there inside your phone, looking up at you. Then you say goodbye, and they disappear, and you realise they’ve been miles away from you all the time. Still, it isn’t for long. I’m meeting him in a couple of hours.
I go downstairs to find Mum in the kitchen making coffee.
‘Would you like one?’ she asks.
‘Just a quick one,’ I say without thinking.
Her eyes narrow. ‘Why? Are you going somewhere?’
‘I thought I’d take a walk this morning. It’s been so full on here for the last couple of days that some exercise might be nice.’
She looks thoughtful. ‘Perhaps I’ll come with you. Some fresh air would nice after all that cooking.’
I almost let out a strangled squeak. I hadn’t imagined that anyone would offer to come with me. None of my family are great walkers.
I think quickly. ‘That would be lovely, but I’m planning on taking a long walk. I’ll probably take some sandwiches with me and make a day of it.’
She considers this. ‘Perhaps I’ll sit this one out. If that’s alright with you?’
I breathe a sigh of relief. ‘Of course. Some other time.’
‘But you aren’t going without breakfast,’ she says. ‘Not on a day like this. Go and sit down, and I’ll bring you something.’
‘I’d love some toast,’ I say. ‘And while you’re doing that, I’ll make some sandwiches in case I stay out all afternoon.’
Mum bustles around making toast while I quickly cut a pile of sandwiches. I add a packet of biscuits and some chocolate.
‘You won’t be hungry if you get through that lot,’ she says. ‘You seem to go from one extreme to the other.’
‘I’m being prepared,’ I tell her. ‘Wasn’t that what they told us when I was a brownie?’
‘I think that was Jamie in the cub scouts,’ she says. ‘Still, it’s a very good motto to live by.’
I find an old backpack and put the picnic in it. Brownies can be just as well prepared as cub scouts. It may not be exactly what Brown Owl had in mind, but there’s no reason not to apply her principles to a date with Alex.
It feels odd to think of this as a date. I’ve thought about him every day since September, but I didn’t really expect anything to happen between us. It was like the time I had a crush on Justin Bieber when I was fifteen. Fun to think about and dream about, but something that even in my besotted state I never expected to happen.
Still, here I am, about to meet Alex for what is very definitely a date. You can’t kiss someone as he kissed me on Christmas Eve and then claim to be meeting up as friends.
I say goodbye to Mum, hoping I don’t have a goofy smile on my face to give me away. Her eagle eye rarely misses anything. Luckily, she’s up to her elbows in bread dough and barely looks up.
‘Have a good time, love. Don’t stay out after dark. I worry.’
‘I won’t,’ I say. ‘But you’ll have to let me stay out after dark someday.’
‘What you do when you’re at university is your own business,’ she says. ‘When you’re at home, under my roof, you can show a little consideration.’
‘Got it,’ I say. ‘No boys, no drinking, and no smoking behind the bike sheds.’
She stops kneading. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous. I didn’t say anything about boys. You’re old enough to go out with a nice boy if you like. I’ve been meaning to ask you. Are there any …?’
‘Not even a nice one,’ I say hastily, wishing I’d never started this subject. ‘I must get going if I plan to be back before dark. I don’t want to turn into a pumpkin and freeze out there all night.’
‘It’s apple, not pumpkin,’ Mum says absently. ‘Although I’m not sure why I’ve bothered. I’m only making it because it’s your brother’s favourite, and now he’s announced that he’s going out with Melissa tonight.’
‘Dad likes apple pie too,’ I say. ‘I’m sure it will all get eaten.’
‘Yes, well!’ she says in a tone that leaves me in no doubt what she thinks about having to cook a pie just for Dad.
