Hope

Chapter Three

Hebrews 6:11 (ESV) -- And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end

"It's gonna be a long, hot summer, we should be together," I hummed as I stirred a bowl filled with cookie dough. With one final fold, I sat the spoon around and reached for the chocolate chips. The radio playing in the living room was switched off, presumably by my mom. I poured in the chocolate before I continued to mix the dough.

My mom walked into the kitchen. "Ooo, cookies," she sniffed.

I rolled my eyes. "They aren't even baking. You can't possibly smell them."

"I smell the vanilla extract and the sugar you used," she said with a laugh. Her tanned hand reached for the bowl of dough; I slapped it away. "Why can't you allow your poor mother a touch of cookie dough?"

"And let you get sick? I'll spare you for today. Especially since you finally turned that awful music off," I teased.

"There is nothing wrong with country music!" my mom protested. "Besides, I heard you singing along."

"Cause they play that song all day long. I could sing it in my sleep."

"Then my job here today is done." In the moment I stopped stirring to reach for a scoop, Mom dipped in her finger and caught a sample of the cookie dough. "Thanks Ryan!" she chirped as she left the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head with a laugh at her idiotic ways.

I finished placing the cookies onto the baking sheet, and I shoved them into the oven. The timer was already set at twenty minutes from previous baking, so I hit start and walked towards my room, through the living room and up the stairs.

I left my bedroom door plopped wide open, to keep a nose out for burning cookies, and played around on my phone for a while. Today is one of those days were the world seems to be shut off. Nothing interesting will happen on social media, and I don't get or send any texts.

After minutes of rotating through the apps, I huffed and sat my phone aside. Laying on my back, I stared at the ceiling. "Great summer so far," I thought sarcastically. "It sounds crazy, but I can't wait to get a job and start working. It will be something to pass time. And a great last minute attempt to earn spending money for college."

I do have a job interview after this weekend; it's for the local clothing shop that my neighbors own. They seem to already like me, and I've talked a lot about the position to them. If I nail the interview, I'm confident I could have the job. Plus, I know they will be understanding about working whenever I come back on break.

My phone let out a beep. I jumped for it, but my shoulders slumped when I saw it was a game request from Facebook. I groaned and plopped back to the bed.

My phone rang out again. "Probably another waste of notification," I thought. However, I changed my mind when it consecutively rang again. It was an actual phone call.

Without checking the identity, I halfheartedly answered, "Hello?"

"Sound a little more excited, please."

"Alex!" I sat up with a start. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting it to be you."

"I pity whoever you expected. They were in for a rude greeting." The conversation paused, and I scratched my brain to think of what to say.

"Well, how-"

"So, I was-"

Alex and I spoke at the same time. "You go ahead," I assured him. "Mine was nothing."