The Carvings

Living or dying

"That's Thomas." Dan said.

"He's not hitting on you is he?" John asked Joan.

"No, I'm Julia's boyfriend." Thomas said. My eyes grew wide as I looked at him. He winked at me.

We started walking down the road again.

"Why'd you say I was your girlfriend?" I whispered to Thomas.

"To calm the guy down. I didn't want him assuming that I was hitting on your sister." Thomas whispered back.

"You could've said you were our cousin." I snapped.

"No, I knew this would irritate you." He said giving me a side glance.

"Well, it only irritates me because I could like someone else and what if I want to go out with him? Well now you're saying that we're an item so now he'll never ask me out." I said. Thomas' expression changed.

"You like someone?" He asked disappointedly.

"Maybe." I said.

"Who?" He asked.

"I'm not saying." I said. I spotted a small pond and a bridge that ran over it. I turned and looked at Dan who was talking to a girl and Joan who was sitting on a bench with John. I realized we were in a park. I ran over to the bridge and looked down at the ducks swim under it. Thomas came and stood beside me.

"I love this place." He said quietly.

"I can see why. it's beautiful here." I said looking up at the big white clouds.

"Hey James." Thomas said looking passed me. I turned to see a very handsome guy.

"Hi Thomas." James said. He then looked at me and smiled. "Who's this." He asked never taking his eyes off me.

"This is Julia." Thomas said.

James stuck his hand out for me to shake. "James." He said smiling.

I accepted his hand. "Hi." I said smiling.

Thomas looked at us then said, "Okay well Julia and I have to get going, thanks for stopping to say hi James."

James smiled at me then looked up at Thomas. "Right." He said then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He quickly scribbled some numbers down. "Call me." He said then handed me the paper and walked away.

I stared at the number then looked at Thomas. "To answer your earlier question, the guy I like is him." I said nodding to James' back. Thomas looked at James then back at me.

"Cool." He said then walked over to Dan.

"Come on guys we have to go to the library." Thomas said.

"Why?" Joan asked.

"There are newspaper articles about your house there." John said.

"Oh, great." Joan said getting up. Dan walked over with a big, goofy smile on his face.

"What's that?" John asked pointing to the paper in his hand.

"Cindy's phone number." Dan said pointing to the girl he was just talking to.

"Nice!" John said high fiving Dan.

We walked to the library  which was surprisingly close to the park. Once we walked in, John and Thomas led the way to the back where a bunch of books. Thomas went over to a shelf and pulled out a folder with newspapers sticking out of all sides. He laid it on a table and we all crowded around it. Thomas opened the folder and pulled all the newspapers out of it.