True Love

Meeting The Family

1st person
Rachel's p.o.v.

So, we finished our project early and decided that Anthony would give me a ride home and I would go to his house to practice speaking, "I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this," I knew my legs were shaking really bad, I hate speaking in front of others. 

Anthony kept his eyes on the road, but put one hand on my leg to make it stop shaking, "calm down, we're going to practice when we get to my house," something about his words made me calm down, "just take deep breaths, I know how you feel. I get this way before games," oh yeah, I forgot he played football.

"But you're the star player, number one."

"And that can be easily taken away from me, I could do a play wrong, miss a goal, get hurt, and much more, sports are dangerous," I laughed.

"The only team thing I've done is academics, and I dropped out because I had to talk in front of people," I shivered. The car stopped and he got out, "we're here already?"

"Time flies when you're having fun," I heard him say, he then came over to me and rubbed my head.

"Hey," I gave him a playful punch again.

"Ow, okay, it was funny the first couple of times, but now it hurts, how are you so tough," I shrugged, I have no idea, well, I did get beat up, but that was just this year, I don't know. I saw him walk up his walkway and I followed behind like a lost puppy.

"I've never been to somebody else's house," I said, I had no emotion in my voice, I assumed I had no emotion on my face either.

"What about your friend?"

"She always came over to my house."

"Well, you can come over here any time," he opened the door and yelled, "dad, I'm home, me and Rachel will be on the couch working on our project," I saw, I assumed it was his dad.

"Hi, you must be Rachel, Anthony talks about you all the time," I looked at Anthony, all the time, huh, I noticed his dad had his hand held out.

"Nice to meet you," I said, and then quickly shook his hand.

"You did say she was a shy one, she's a keeper, is she any good at football," I glanced at Anthony and his face was practically a tomato.

"Alright, Rachel, let's get working, dad, GO," Anthony yelled, pointing his finger to a wall, I laughed when his dad actually walked into the wall.

"Maybe, oh, I don't know, point to a door," I told Anthony.

"Okay, you," he looked at me, "don't be a smarty pants, and you," he turned to his dad, "stop talking and leave the room."

His dad shrugged, "I have to go get your brother anyways," he walked off and grabbed some keys that were hanging on a hook by the door.

I could see the anger in Anthony's face, "your house is way more fun than mine," I said laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get to work."

"We really just need to add pictures, color, and... we should probably practice talking and presenting, because I want a good grade on this," I said emphasizing the I.

"Alright, I'll go to my brother's room and get some markers," I watched him get off the couch and walk down a hallway, I guess it's time to doodle.

Anthony's p.o.v. 

I tell my dad some personal stuff and he practically gives it all away to Rachel when I specifically told him to keep it to himself when she comes over, I wasn't thinking about walking to where I didn't run into anything, I ended up running into a wall and falling on my butt causing a loud thud, "ow," I got up and finally got to my brother's room. "Where does he keep his art stuff," I asked myself out loud, I found a box that read Art Stuff, I went over to the box, grabbed his box of markers, and ran back to the living room.

"You fell, didn't you," Rachel asked me as soon as she heard me enter the room.

"Yeah," I put my hand behind my head, "was it that loud?"

She nodded her head, "how did you fall," I knew she was going to ask that.

"I, ummm, ran into a wall," she stopped drawing and looked at me.

"How the heck did you and your dad manage to run into a wall on the same day, within the same hour?"

I shrugged, "who knows," I threw the markers at her arm on purpose to get her back for punching me in the arm earlier.

"Oww," she said immediately, grabbing her arm, "what the heck was that for?"

I laughed, "for punching me in the arm, let's get this done," she was sitting on the carpeted floor, "how is this working," she laughed and then picked up the paper, "you keep a piece of cardboard in your bag?"

"Yeah, it keeps everything straight, and, it's less likely to bend the papers inside," I smiled at her, "your dad actually had it sitting on the coffee table."

"That makes more sense than you just having it in your bag," she gave me her cute smile, why does she have to be so cute, I sat down beside as she was dumping the markers on the ground, my knee touched hers, and she seemed to be, fine with it. I felt my cheeks getting hot, my heart was beating faster by the second, I turned to look at her face, she was letting her hair fall in front of her face, she was in the middle of drawing some patterns and waves and stuff. "You're, uhhh, really good at drawing," she paused to look at me.

"Thank you," she said, is she being shy again? Is she focused that much? Does she even realize that our legs are touching?  "You can start coloring it in."

"Alrighty," we were both reaching for the same color and our hands touched, her hands were little, but smooth, I sure would love holding these hands.

"Oh," she laughed a little, "sorry, here you go," she handed the marker to me.

"Thanks, and, it's fine, it didn't bother me," what the heck am I saying, should I ask her out, no, stop thinking like that, I leaned in to start coloring in her design and we bumped heads.

"Ow," we said in unison, we then laughed and worked for a little bit. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," she put her marker down and continued, "what is it?"

"Will you come to my football game this Friday, we have to toss our jersey's to someone of our pick?"

She looked at me in the eye, and I could see her blush a little, "anything for you, how much does it cost to get in, my mom left me some money to do things like that."

"My dad and I can pay your way in."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we'll do anything for you," why the heck did I just say that, I could feel my cheeks getting red.

Our conversation got interrupted when my dad and brother got into the house, "why do you have a pretty girl here," Joan asked as soon as he saw Rachel, she looked at me with a cute smile.

"We're working on a project," I said, I got up and put him in a headlock and rubbed his fluffy hair.

"Hey, stop it, I hate it when you do that," he pulled himself out of the headlock, "is she smart."

"Joan, Anthony and Rachel are working on their project, if you need help with homework, you can ask her once they're done. Rachel, would you like to stay for dinner, Anthony told me your mom is on a business trip. You're welcome here anytime."

"I can stay if you want," she replied with a smile, she then looked at me.

"I don't care."

"Anthony's got a girlfriend, Anthony's got a girlfriend, Anthony and Rachel sittin in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g," I got up and chased Joan into his room.

"For a seventh grader, you're very immature," I yelled. 

"Anthony, leave your brother alone and get back to work," I heard my dad yell at me.

"You've been saved," I walked back to the living and me and Rachel finished the project.