Another Love Another time

Chapter 26: You busy?

River

"I love my mom, but I have to find my own place. She's driving me crazy."

Auggie laughs. "What's she doing now?"

"What is she not doing? She thinks she needs to come in my room every morning and wake me up, like I'm still in high school. She keeps rearranging my stuff in my room. And I've seen her wearing some of my clothes. My. Clothes. I can't with her. I just need my own space. I'm too damn old to be living with my mom."

We stopped for lunch at Firehouse subs. We are sitting at a table waiting for our names to be called. Ever since our talk it's been easier to talk to Auggie, to let him in a little, but there is still some tension. Auggie knows I haven't told him everything and I can't put my finger on it, but I don't think Auggie has told me everything. There are times when we are talking and I can see since he wants to stay something else, but then he changes the subject. I can feel my walls slowly coming down, we have quickly fallen back into a friendship again. We talk or text daily like when we were kids. Melissa is never brought up and I'm glad. I know what I need to know about her and the things I know I don't need Auggie to tell me. We are completely in the friend zone. I can't give him more than that right now. Especially if she is still living with him. I don't trust her. Auggie interrupts my thoughts by asking me a question, "Are you wanting to rent or buy?"

"I want to buy. I'd like to own something myself."

"I can hook you up with a realtor. It's a friend from high school. They helped me find my house and they work quickly."

"Really?" I ask. Getting excited.

"Yeah, let me send him a text. He's usually fast to respond." He picks up his phone and types something into it.

"Awesome the sooner the better."

"You want me to come with you? I can look at the foundation, heating and air, electrical items to give you a quick idea of any possible repairs. You'd still want to have an inspection, but if you are trying to decide between two properties, I can get you a brief idea of what would be needed to be repaired."

"You'd do that?" I ask. Auggie asks surprised at my question.

"Yeah, I'd love to do that for you."

"Give your guy my number and I'll let you know when we start looking. I appreciate it Auggie. Now I'll have to break it to my mom." I giggle.

"She'll be okay." I hear our number called. Auggie jumps up and grabs our food and brings it back to our table. "Thanks," I tell him.

"I'm starving." We sit in silence for a few minutes eating, when Auggie asks, "I wanted to ask if you have any plans this weekend. If you don't; do you want to do something with me?"

"Just me and you or with a group?" I continue to eat.

"Just us." He responds.

"Aug- ", but he cuts me off. "Just hear me out. I know we are just friends", he says something under his breath that sounds like for right now, but I ignore it. "I've noticed you like to listen to that group "Wild Rivers", and I happen to notice they are performing in St. Louis this weekend and thought that might be fun for us to go. I didn't want to get ahead of myself, but I checked ticket prices, and they were almost sold out, so I went ahead and bought tickets for us. I understand if you don't want to," I interrupt him this time.

"Yes! Yes, I'll go. I'm so excited. I've wanted to see them for so long. Let me know what my ticket cost and I'll give you the money for it."

"No, it's a gift. Just let me do this for you."