I set the table at 7:10, right when the food came out of the oven. I made my special chicken for dinner. Everyone loves chicken, right? The table was set, we had our patterns out for some light because the porch light is burned out, chicken, green beans, corn, and mashed potatoes.
The doorbell rang right on time, 7:30 P.M. I looked past him to see a 1960 Chevy truck. It needed some work, there's no doubt about that, it it was beautiful. He greeted me with a small group of yellow flowers he must have picked down the street. I told him thank you and invited him in.
"Dinner is in the back on the porch. Take any seat you'd like, I'm going to go put these in a vase." He told me how much he appreciated having him over for dinner. He said his parents were out of town on a business trip and it would have been a lonely night.
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket so I pulled it out to check the message. "Who's at your house." It was Chase.
"The new boy down the street, why?"
"I was coming to pick you up so you and I could go to a football game and I saw and ugly truck in your drive, so I left."
"The truck isn't ugly, it's just old. And he's just a friend, it's not a big deal."
"Whatever. I know his intentions."
I simply ignored the last text and put the phone back into my pocket. Whatever is right. He's just a friend. It's not like it's a date. It's a welcome.
I went back to meet him in the backyard to find him putting on some country music through the speakers. I closed the screen door and he turned to face me. "I hope you don't mind. I hope you like Tyler Farr." I smiled and told him I loved Tyler Farr.
He pulled out a chair and showed me to it. I sat down and he pushed in the chair carefully. What a gentleman. This is a new feeling. He walked to the opposite side of the table and sat down.
We discussed our favorite songs, before I heard my dad come in from the field. He had to build a fence around the chicken coop with chicken wire lining it, last night a coyote made his way in and helped himself to few of our chickens. My dad came to the back and found us sitting waiting on him for dinner. My dad smiled and walked towards Brice.
Brice stood up and shook my dads hand with a firm grip and looked him in the eye. "Brice, pleased to meet you sir." My dad shook his head slightly and replied back, "Troy. It's nice to meet you too." They took their seats and they said grace. I'm not religious but my family is, so I tagged along too.
We talked for hours about our ranches and our animals. By the time things shut down, it's was nearly eleven o'clock. He thanked me for dinner and I offered to walk him outside. He said "sounds good," and hurried in front of me to open the door. I followed him to the truck and he offered for me to come over. But I politely turned the offer down because I had to train in the morning before competition.
He thanked me again, and actually gave me his number on an old napkin, before got into the truck and fired it up. I waved goodbye and headed back to the front door— smiling like an idiot. I needed time to get my face back to original coloration before I go inside so my dad doesn't decide to say anything.
After I recooped, I went back inside to see my dad standing, leaning against the door. "I'll clear the table. Go text your friend and tell him to come back over tomorrow. I take as if ya'll get along?" He smirked at me and I rolled my eyes and went upstairs. To clean my room— not text him... Should I?
