Wasn't Expecting You

Avoiding

I arrived at the house at exactly 8pm, but paused on the sidewalk. I was nervous, my hands were sweaty and my heart beating a little faster.

It's just Joey, you have been here multiple times. Do the assignment, go home. That's the plan. I can do this. I'm a confident girl. One foot in front of the other.

Joey answered the door. It was 8.05 by the time I finally walked to the door. He looked relieved when he opened the door to see me standing there.

"Hey," he said quietly, opening the door wider to invite me in.

"Hi," I smiled softly.

"Do you want to stay down here to work?" He asked nervously, gesturing behind him. Joey Cameron was nervous because of me.

As if on cue, the guys watching a basketball game on tv started yelling, making it clear we wouldn't be able to work downstairs.

I raised my eyebrows in their direction, laughing softly as they screamed again at the ref's call.

"Not sure that's possible. Let's go up," I laughed.

"Alright," he grinned. "Did you eat dinner? One of the guys mom's visited and she always brings enough pasta to feed us for a week if you wanted some?"

"I wouldn't say no. I only had half a sandwich when I finished work. I don't remember the last time I ate a home cooked meal either."

"You're in for a treat then! You worked today?" He asked as he led me to the kitchen. I dropped my bag at the bottom of the stairs before following him.

"Yeah, Sandra asked me to fill a couple of hours while she did some paperwork and I will never say no to some extra cash."

He nodded as if to say he understood, but in reality he probably never would understand what it's like to see single digit figures in your bank account. I was surprised though, despite how nervous I was before coming here, I wasn't anymore. We talked like we were old friends. It felt natural, normal.

He handed me a bowl of pasta, heated in the microwave and a packet of Parmesan. It smelt amazing and I didn't hold back.

"Drink?" He asked and I nodded enthusiastically.

"This is amazing!" I said between mouthfuls and he chuckled.

"Morgan! What's this? You spend weeks avoiding our boy here and now you think you can enjoy our secret pasta?" Ethan entered the kitchen, taking a bowl himself.

"First, I was busy not avoiding," I tried to pass off causally. "And second, this pasta is amazing and now I know about it, you can't keep me away."

"Busy? Sure," he snorted. "I talk to Harper you know."

I blushed. I had forgotten how close Ethan and Harper had been getting the last few weeks. Instead of replying, I continued eating and avoiding meeting anyone's eye. Once finished, Joey took my bowl giving it a quick rinse before placing it in the dishwasher and we left Ethan behind to go and do our assignment.

"Be good you two," Ethan called out, laughter clear in his voice.

As soon as we entered Joey's room I got my books out, wanting to make it clear I was here for our assignment. He seemed to take the hint, also bringing out his work.

"Alright, well I wrote up a draft. Have a read over it and change anything you want. Unless you wrote one too? Then we can combine?" I said, handing him over my laptop so he could read what I wrote.

"I didn't write anything yet," he said, starting to read already. "This is good. Really good."

I watched him make a few edits to some wording but by the end he was happy with it. We went over some more notes, ideas and anything else we had worked on the last two weeks.