What's Real..?

Chapter 1: Who Am I Suppose To Be?

"Hey, yea I'm Mia," I finally managed to say. "And you are...?"

"I'm Natalie..." she said. She actually didn't stop talking after that, but I stopped paying attention. I was trying to understand what was so captivating about her presence. She had long dark brown hair, and when the sun from outside hit it just right, you could see it turn a lighter brown. Her eyes were just the same, a dark brown unless in direct sunlight with dark lashes emphasized with a bit a makeup. I could tell she wasn't from here, she had the slightest of accents, hinting in my opinion towards spanish...Spanish....I couldn't tell how tall she was, because well, she was sitting down, but I optimistically assumed I was taller than her to some extent. She had the most pink lips too, and a perfect smile, maybe she'd had braces at some point like I'd had to.

"Uhm...hello...?" I snapped out of my mental cataloging of her attributes, and realized my mother had began to talk to me. "Mia, are you okay?" She actually looked worried, I wonder what my face looked like right now, or how I had been looking a few moments ago. My face started to get really hot. What the hell...am I blushing?! Black people blush now? I held in the groan that was threatening to come out of my mouth. No need to let either of them know that I was uncomfortable right now.

"Oh, yea ma. I was just thinking about some school stuff." I lied. I'm not really sure why I lied...but for some reason I felt like if I told my mom that I was, for whatever reason, making sure I wouldn't forget an inch of this person in front of me, that she would think I was some kind of creep, or gay for that matter. That would be a very hard conversation to have.

"Well, I was wondering if you would show Natalie around town." She went to go get my keys from the key rack, "I'll even give you your car back."

What teenager in their right mind would turn that down? I mean what I did to get my car taken in the first place...God, that was stupid. Either way I wasn't gonna give my mom any room to change her mind.

"Sure thing, I'll take her wherever she wants!" I strode over to my mother and took my keys, then looked over my shoulder at our house guest. "Well?" I turned all the way around to look at her, "aren't you coming?"

She had a smile on her face, or at the very least a half smile. "I don't think you'd let me stay with all the excitement in your voice, Mia."

We both hurried outside and took in the warm Florida air. The one thing I liked about Florida was that it was always warm, even in the winter, everything else about Florida? One word: Ugh. The only actual fun thing to do was to go to the beach, other than that? If you weren't at least 21, there weren't a hell of a lot of options. Which is what I had to explain to Natalie eventually, I seriously hoped that she wouldn't be disappointed. It was at that moment that she began to speak.

"You know, you don't have to take me out." she said, "My mom and your mom know each other from some school in New York, and I was kind of forced to come over to your house." She seemed kind of embarrassed that she'd just said that she was "forced", but she didn't stop looking at me as we walked to my car. She contiued to follow me, and when I unlocked the doors to the car, she got in, so I figured she was either very bored with unpacking and not having anyone to talk to, or she didn't really mean what she was saying, she wanted to be taken out.

Well what she'd said had answered one of my questions, the one about why she was in my house, but it also was going to make it a lot harder for me to just leave her alone. I knew I was stuck with her, even if she thought otherwise. My mom wasn't going to let me off the hook if this girl was her long lost friend's daughter.

New York...Okay so we're from the same place. There was no point in trying to explain to her that I was officially her ride to every place she'll ever want to go from now on, that if she ever needed anything my mom would volunteer my assistance. I mean she didn't seem that bad...And I don't mind some company.

I started the car and she was still staring at me expectedly, so I looked at her before pulling out of my driveway. "We're going to go for a walk on the beach." I told her, then put my car in drive and took off.

"The beach?" she questioned, "right now?" She sounded as if she couldn't believe that the beach was where I was going to take her. It was as if she wanted to add "of all places" to the end of her sentence. She just didn't understand how beautiful the beach was here, especially when you're from up north like we were. Hopefully, I was right and she'd love it like I did when I came here 5 years ago.

"Yes, the beach," I said, "if you hate it we can leave..." I waited a moment before adding, "I promise." At that I saw her expression change from the corner of my eye, she was smirking again like she had in my livingroom. She's so weird, what's there to smirk about? I seriously didn't understand her.

We rode in silence for a while as we headed to our destination. I caught glimpses of her at redlights and stop signs, she just looked out of the window the entire time. She didn't ask any questions about the places we were passing, she didn't care I guess. Maybe she just really doesn't want to be here. I didn't have a whole lot of time to consider it, I mean, it shouldn't really matter to me, but she was my charge as of right now, and I wanted her to have a good time. That's all I wanted. Right?

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind for the remainder of the ride and when we got to the beach, I found pretty decent parking in a shady area and put the car in park. It was only then that she decided she'd speak to me again. "You said you promised that if I hate it that we'll leave...right?"

I nodded.

"Well I take promises very seriously...and if it comes to that," she said, "let's not start out with you breaking any to me okay?" And with that she got out of the car leaving me completely confused. What type of commitment had I just made to this girl? Wouldn't anyone promise to take someone home if they weren't having a good time? That's what anyone would do...It's what anyone should do. I had to figure out what she wanted from me, she was so hard to read. I always knew what someone wanted from me, but with her, she just says things and messes with my head. I'm not even sure what I'm confused about!

Tap, tap, tap. I jumped slightly and turned to face my car window. Shit, I'd been off in my own little world again. "Are you coming Mia?" she asked, her knuckle still raised as if she was about to tap on the glass again.

The heat came back to my cheeks again as I opened the door and got out. "Yea, I'm coming." I said as I locked the car. "Let's go have some fun."

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Alright so that's chapter 1. Mia doesn't know what to do with this new friend? of hers. She doesn't know how to act, how not to act. She's so used to putting on a show, which we'll see in later chapters, that when someone doesn't directly tell her what they're expecting from her that she's stuck and she gets lost. Hmmmmm.... or maybe Natalie does want something? But what could it be?

More to come, hopefully soon. Depends on my stress level! Be patient with me.

- A. Kvng