A knock on the door interrupted my practice and I gently set the instrument down, furrowing my eyebrows as I wondered who could possibly be here. It was about eleven and the sun was shining so brightly outside, I could feel its heat by just looking out the open window.
I got up to answer the door. It couldn't be Braxton. He had left an hour ago for work even thought it was a weekend.
Opening the door before some other person could get to it, I was surprised to see who was at the other side of the door. Dale looked just as shocked to see me.
"Is this your house or Braxton's?" He asked.
"His," I said.
Then he assessed me from head to toe and I turned little crimson. "So you stay here," he stated, gesturing to my shirt and sweatpants.
"Yes...but only for a short while. What're you doing here?"
"I didn't know where you lived so I wanted to ask Braxton for your address. I think I offended him a little when the security called to check with him about my identity and I told him I was only here for your address but he let me in." He chuckled.
"Oh, come inside." I opened the door wide and he walked through. I gestured for him to take a seat on the sofa. "Did you drive five hours to get here?"
"No, I go to a university nearby. I was only at my mother's to pay her a visit that time and she wanted me to meet someone and it was you. I have an apartment near uni."
"Oh, um do you want tea or coffee?"
"Tea, thank you."
I went into the kitchen and asked a maid to make one which she gladly obliged and went back to the living room.
"Would you like to spend the day with me, that is if you're not busy. I know I came over unannounced but I really didn't know you lived here. I hope I didn't creep you out."
I shook my head. "You could've just called me to ask for my address."
"And pass up on the opportunity to see where a celebrity lives? No thanks," he said cheekily and I laughed. "This is a beautiful house. Make sure to tell him that," he added and I nodded in agreement.
"I will and to answer your question, yes we can hang out. I'm free till four after which I have a shift at the library."
"That's plenty of time for us to go somewhere and get to know each other. I'd really like to know my long lost childhood friend."
I beamed at him. "Okay, you enjoy your tea. I'll get ready. We can go for some ice cream," I said.
"And then maybe a movie later?"
"Sure."
I put on some jeans and a top and dusted on some light makeup from the minimal products I had bought based on whether I knew how to use it. Taking money and my phone, I was ready in under ten minutes.
By the time I returned, Dale had finished his tea and some cake the maid had brought for him.
"You look pretty," he said and I thanked him for the compliment.
"You too," I said.
We sneaked out the back door, not wanting to create any problems for Braxton if someone should see us exiting his house.
We entered O&J's ice cream shop after walking for a few minutes. I liked this particular one. There was another O&J's shop in my town where I had my ice cream a few times and another reason I went there was because I heard that Colin lived nearby and I wasn't stalking but I just wanted to see where he lived. I never got to know where he lived but at least the ice cream helped with my disappointment.
We took seats inside a booth with our ice creams in hand. He ordered a buttered pecan and I had a burgundy cherry.
"Hmm...so are you in a live-in relationship or something?" He asked, sounding like he had wanted to ask it for a long time.
I choked on a cherry. "No, don't misunderstand. He's just providing me room and board. We're actually in some sort of a situation and for now it's best I stay at his house."
"I don't quite understand but I won't pry. I'm just curious."
I waved off his worries. "It's fine. I understand. Um...so we were quite close when we were kids, huh?"
He nodded. "I do remember playing with a girl when we were little. My mom tells me it was you. Said us together created constant chaos."
I chuckled. "I can't see myself as a troublemaker. I've grown to be quite the opposite, actually."
"Not me. I'm told I'm annoying, an attention whore and a chatterbox."
"Oh my, who said that? You don't seem like that at all. In fact I think you're pretty sweet."
"Just my girlfriend's friend. She doesn't seem to like me much. But I don't really care."
"Oh, you have a girlfriend. What's her name?"
"Lucija. She's Slovekian. We only got together a few months ago," he said with a grin. I could already tell he liked her a lot. "We were friends and then I started liking her. Told her and luckily she said she liked me back."
"That's adorable. Are you two in the same university?"
"Yes, I met her there for the first time. She took my breath away from that moment." He took out his phone and showed me a picture of him with a girl. "That's her." She was pretty.
"She's beautiful," I said and he nodded in agreement.
"I make sure to tell her that every day."
"So what're you studying?"
"Software engineeering. My dream job."
"That's great. I know it pays well so good choice."
"And you?"
"Aspiring to be a singer," I confided, my face lighting up the way it does about anything related to music.
"And you're living with one. Are you friends who go way back?"
I shook my head. "We met a few months ago. He thinks I'll make it big in the music industry. He even set up classes for me with his teacher."
"That's great. You must be really good then."
"Yes, I like to think so. The only thing I'm good at."
We finished our ice creams and he paid even when I offered, insisting he was the one who had asked to hang out with me.
We took a bus to the nearest cinema and took a few minutes debating over what to watch until eventually we settled on a new action movie which looked interesting. He told me how his girlfriend wasn't much into action movies so he couldn't catch the latest ones often.
"Then you have me as an action movie buddy whenever you want to watch one," I offered, then paused and added, "–if your girlfriend won't mind."
"Of course. I'm sure she'll be cool with that," he assured me and we moved to buy some popcorn. This time I paid when he relented after a few protests.
The movie was pretty good and Dale shared the same sentiment.
We walked out of the cinema, a lot at ease with each other than how we had started.
Looking at my watch, I realized I needed to be at the library in twenty minutes. The time flew by so quickly when one was having fun.
"Today was great," I admitted. "We should do it again some time. You're pretty cool to hang out with."
"Thank you. And we should totally hang out again. Maybe I can introduce my girlfriend to you. She'll be happy to meet you."
"I'll be happy to meet her too. Let's make a plan sometimes."
When we reached the bus stop, I turned to him. "I have a shift at the library. I should probably go now to get there in time."
"Of course. Where is it you work?"
I gave him the address.
"Great. I'm going the same way," he said, smiling.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'd also like to borrow a book Lucija had been talking about for a while now."
"Okay, I might even try to sneak you a friend discount," I said conspiratorially.
His grin widened. "Lead the way then."
We got off at my stop. Dale was telling me about Lucija's obsession with books which I couldn't understand as I wasn't all that fond of books. We turned the corner and entered the library.
"Julia, listen," he said suddenly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he spoke. "I did want to hang out with you today but that's not the only reason I wanted to meet you. I need to sh–"
"You!" Jade's screech made us both halt in our steps. She was glaring at Dale with hands on her hips as if waiting for an explanation.
Dale looked at her, his brows bunching in confusion before a look of recognition flashed in his eyes. "Jade?"
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