No Strings Attached

5

I sat down. "Hey," I said, and stopped. Then, I forced myself to continue talking to thank her. "Uh, thank you. For getting him to stop the bus for me. You know."

"Oh, yeah," Naomi waved it off. "Really, it's not a big deal. I kind of owe you one." She laughed. "You know, for that one time on the first day. So now we're even. It's all good."

"Cool," I said simply, and she smiled again, settling further into her seat. By now, she had grown accustom to my few words, and abstained from crazy and involved conversations, which I now appreciated. We sat in a comfortable silence until we both reached our stop, and when we did, we both stood up, shuffling up to the front of the bus to get off.

"Thanks, Lenard," I called as I stepped off.

"Yep," he responded, swinging the doors closed. "See you on Monday, Lucy," he said before the doors shut and I began walking down the street with Naomi.

"Whoa," she said as I adjusted my backpack, still walking next to her.

"What?"

"The bus driver!" She exclaimed.

"Lenard," I identified him by name.

"He was so nice to you," she observed, and I let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess. He's nice."

"He's not to a lot of people. Are you guys... like, friends?" she asked me, and I shrugged.

"I mean, we are friendly but not friends, if that makes any sense," I said.

"If you guys are friendly," she said, putting the same emphasis on the word as I did, "Then aren't you friends?"

I thought about her words for a moment, then shrugged, giving up. "Okay. Yeah. Sure."

"That's cool," she commented as we reached my house. I turned to walk up my driveway, assuming she would walk past as normal, but instead she followed me.

"Uh, no offense, or anything...but what are you doing?" I asked.

She laughed. "I don't know. Walking you up? It's a friendly thing to do," she said, and I blinked before shrugging and letting her walk up next to me.

I began to feel around my backpack for the front door key as we walked up to the door in silence. "Hmm, that's weird," I mumbled when we finally reached the door, still feeling around.

"What?"

"I can't find my- oh crap, I think I left my key inside this morning," I said, after remembering setting it down on the counter during breakfast. "I don't know how I'm going to get inside."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Naomi said. "You can come over-" she started, but she was cut off by the door swinging open.

"Hello?" my dad spoke as he looked at both of us standing on the porch.

"Dad?" I said at the same time. "What are you doing here?"

"Got off work early today, I just got back home fifteen minutes ago," he responded to me before looking over to Naomi next to me. "So, who's this"

"Oh, hello!" Naomi said, placing her familiar wide grin on her face again. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Abrams," she said, reaching out her hand for him to shake. He met her halfway, shaking her hand firmly as she continued her introduction. "I'm Naomi, Lucy's friend."

"Please, call me Sam," he said to her, simultaneously sending me a glance before flashing her a warm smile.

"Alright, will do," she said as she released his hand.

There was a moment's pause before I cleared my throat. "Erm, well, I'm just gonna get inside. Lots of pre-calc homework to do, don't want to do it on the weekend," I attempted to excuse myself, when Naomi suddenly spoke up.

"Oh right! This weekend!" she said, suddenly remembering something. "I was supposed to ask you today, but it totally slipped my mind. Our group is going to Jane's house to hang out tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to come?"

"Our group?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, you know. Jane, me, Parker, Aiden, Elliot."

"Uh, I don't know, I think I have a doctor's appointment," I said, feigning disappointment, but my dad cut in.

"No, actually, it's Sunday," he said, thinking he was being helpful. "You can go, and take the car, since I'm working from home tomorrow!"

"What-" I started, but Naomi cut me off.

"Perfect!" she cheered. "Okay, give me your phone so I can put my number, and Jane's in it, and then I'll text you all the details later."

"Great," I mumbled, handing my phone over to her reluctantly and watching as she tapped her number in.

"Alright, here you go," she said moments later as she handed it back to me. "This will be really fun, I can't wait! See you tomorrow," she said as she started to back up. "Nice to meet you too, Mr.- I mean, Sam," she gave a small wave and my dad returned one.

"Bye," we both called as she jogged down the steps and returned to the street, walking away.

I stepped inside the house and my dad closed the door behind us. We both walked into the living room and I collapsed on the couch, while my dad went to the kitchen. "Naomi seems like a very nice girl," he said as he searched the pantry for some snack.

"Almost too nice," I mumbled, and his head poked out of the cabinets to look at me.

"Hmm?" he mumbled. He didn't hear me.

"Nothing," I said, and he continued his search. Seconds later, he emerged with a bag of chips and then joined me on the couch, kicking up his legs.

"So why didn't you tell me you made a friend?"

"I don't know," I said. "Not much to tell about it."

"Alright," he shrugged, and I slid off my shoes, curled up in a ball on the couch and clicked on the TV. "Hey," he said through a mouth full of chips. "I thought you had a bunch of pre-calc homework to do," he said.

I sighed as I flicked through the channels. "Yeah. I need to relax right now, though," I told him, and he nodded, tossing me the bag of chips. I gave him a smile and popped some in my mouth, chewing carefully as he placed a blanket over both of us on the couch. Then, I sighed and turned my focus to the TV, hoping to forget what was planned for me tomorrow.