The One That Almost Got Away | On Hold

3: Hanging Out

"Good. Because I was hoping you could stick around for a little while longer," he said, looking down at me. I looked down at the ground and let a huge smile come to my face.

*****

"This was fun. Reminds me of sixth grade," I said, walking out to the street with Brendan.

"Me, too. I'll be sure to try and do this again," he said, as my mom pulled up and got out of the car, getting into the passenger seat. "Hello, Mrs. Stone."

"Hey Brendan. How are you?" she asked, closing the door.

"I'm good. You can drive?" he asked, turning back to me.

"Yeah. But I only have my permit. I get my license on my birthday in a month."

"Me, too. When is your birthday again?" he asked, walking me to the other side of my car.

"Two days after yours. Now I got to go," I said, opening the door.

"Okay, bye. See you tomorrow," he said, pulling me into a hug. I hesitantly hugged back and when we pulled apart, I handed him back his jacket and hopped into the car. I said bye before putting the car in the right gear and driving away.

"He's a lot cuter than I remember," Mom said, lighting a cigarette and rolling the window down.

"Yeah, well the last time you saw him was in sixth grade. It's been three years, Mom," I said. "Do you want me to stop at the gas station before we head home?"

I looked over and she nodded, letting me pull up to one of the six gas pumps that sat in front of the gas station. I turned the car off and went in to get a fountain drink while Mom grabbed a twenty-four case of beer. She paid for everything up-front as I headed back to the car, pumping the gas as I leaned on the car.

After closing the gas compartment, I hopped back into the car and drove for another fifteen minutes, until I pulled into our driveway.

"Do you mind if Tasha comes over?" I asked as we got out of the car and walked up to the house.

"Do I ever mind when Tasha comes over?" she answered, putting her cigarette out in an ashtray when we walked in to the house. I shrugged and headed back to my room, plugging my phone into it's charger and calling Tasha.

"Hello there! How was the bonfire?" she eagerly asked after answering on the first ring.

"It was good. We just hung out with some of his friends, me and his mom talked a little bit, and then I left."

"You just left?"

"Well he walked me out to my mom, he gave me a hug, and then he said he would see me tomorrow. Not that big of a deal."

"He hugged you? Did you hug him back? Did he smell good? What was it like?" she bombarded me. I rolled my eyes at her excitement and put her on speaker, setting the phone down on the bed as I dressed into my pajamas.

"Him hugging me is not that big of a deal; it's just Brendan. But OMG! YES! He smelled wonderful!" I squealed, going into fangirl mode.

"I'm on my way. Like I'm walking out to the car with my mom right now and we are going to have a serious girls night. Got it?"

"Perfect. I actually called you to invite you over tonight so I'll see you in a few minutes."

"See you," she said, ending the call. I threw my previously worn clothes into my hamper and then carried my hamper down to the laundry room in the basement. I threw the clothes into the washer and quickly started it before taking the hamper back up to my room.