It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 27

I was such an idiot.

“Tom,” I murmured, testing the name out on my tongue.  Was I even going to regard him as Tom?  Or would he prefer Mr. Barone?  Or even just Dannon’s dad?  Oh my gosh.  I was so overthinking this!  This was insane.

“Yes, Tom,” Dannon said, nodding and grinning at the same time.  He looked away from the road for a moment, at me.  “Why do you look so nervous yet excited at the same time?”

I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to slap him.  “I do not look nervous.”

“Oh, you can see yourself now?” Dannon countered, smiling.

I shook my head slightly, refusing to argue that.  Whatever I said would come out completely idiotic, and I didn’t feel like dealing with that.  So, instead, I decided to ask some more questions.  Because that was so much better.  “So,” I began, keeping my eyes on Dannon as he drove, “how far until we reach the Barone residence?”

Dannon chuckled, turning down a dirt pathway.  “Not far.  Just down this road and then one more turn.”

You know, I thought that meant in like two seconds we would be there.  But no.  Dannon didn’t include the fact that the dirt road was long.  Like, super long.  Seriously, for like five minutes there was nothing but trees, trees, and more trees!  I felt like we were in a warped movie where things popped out of the forests and attacked some lonesome car in the middle of nowhere.  Damn, I watched too many movies—weird movies.

Finally, we turned onto another dirt road.  I sat up in my seat, ready to get a look at Dannon’s house.  I wondered how big it was.  Obviously not as big as Aunt Jill’s.  His eyes looked as though they were going to pop out of their sockets when he saw how gigantic it was.  Maybe it was about the size of my house?  I sighed.  I hated not knowing things.  A lot.

A house finally came into view.  I turned and looked at Dannon, who nodded.  My head whipped back to his house.  Let’s just say, I did not expect what I saw.

His house was a mobile home.  I had nothing against mobile homes, I really didn’t.  I just didn’t expect it!  It was a double-wide home, and it was a pale yellow color.  The window shutters were a pale orange, going along nicely with the small gardens in the front.  The porch was wooden, its color reminding me of milk chocolate.  One glance around the yard and I realized that it was about the size of mine—around twenty feet long. 

“Surprised?”

At the sound of Dannon’s voice I turned and smiled.  “Yeah, but not disappointed.”

Dannon seemed to like this answer because he smiled back.  But, on the other hand, he smiled even when he was upset.  Most of the time, anyway.

We parked in the little driveway next to the house and stepped outside.  I stretched my arms out, watching as Dannon trotted toward me.  He smiled.  And then suddenly he grabbed my wrist lightly, pulling me toward the house.  He seemed to have gotten into the habit of pulling me places.  I allowed him to, though, because frankly?  I didn’t mind.

“Dad, we’re home!” Dannon called, opening the front door.  He turned, smiling at me.  “You can put your shoes here.”

He pointed to a small rectangular mat with a pair of penny-loafers placed on top of it.  I guessed that they were his father’s shoes.  I kicked my Converse off, scooting them together neatly with the tip of my toe.  Dannon chuckled, kicking his shoes off not-so-neatly.  I stared at his discarded shoes blankly, kind of tempted to fix them neatly.  I didn’t really know where the urge came from.  But it was there.