Clyde and I ended up talking and walking together while picking up things and either putting it in a basket he was carrying or putting it back. Of course, that was after telling mom I was okay and talking to her a bit before our call ended. Eventually, we got a cart as the basket was getting full and I carried the basket. It was nice to talk to Clyde though, I felt like out of most of the group we talked the most when we saw each other. Vic was another I felt I was close to but maybe not. And Farley I felt like I was getting close to him. I should try speaking to Lily and Cory more. Especially Cory from what had happened earlier.
"So you came here to shop for Christmas presents too?" Clyde asked and I nodded glancing at him.
"You?" I asked which I felt my cheeks heat up because of course he was but I didn't know what else to say in response.
"Yeah." he smiled and I glanced at his basket that carried the watch I picked out for dad and some other things he had put in there.
"Is all of that for your grandmother?" I asked and his cheeks tinted with a shade of pink making me tilt my head a bit.
"Um..no just the knitting supplies and supplies for me to make her a necklace. Hopefully, I can finish it before tomorrow. I already shipped out my parents' gifts." he said turning the corner to where the cakes were.
"Well, what's the camera for?" I asked as my photography class kind of came to mind but I shook it away, ever since I've been in school I felt better not thinking about it unless I had to after school.
"Just a replacement from the one I broke at school. I finally made enough money to replace it, you probably forgot about that happening." he laughed slightly as I smiled.
"Well good, you're getting it replaced now instead of never," I said and he nodded as he seemed to be deep in his thoughts, that's when I realized he had two cameras and not one. "You have two cameras?"
Clyde flinched slightly which made me frown as he put a few more things in the cart. I was about to ask what's wrong but eventually, he turned into a line with other carts. It seemed he went deeper into his thoughts then glanced at me.
"The other one is for someone else," he mumbled and I decided by his reactions that I should not ask any more questions about the things he put in the cart.
"Well, I hope your Christmas tomorrow will be good," I said pushing away the silence that was trying to come.
"Yours too," he said, sounding more relaxed and looked at me smiling a bit.
After we checked out we headed our separate ways. I waved him goodbye and he did the same. I started talking back to my dad's when barking caught my attention. Turning to the sound of the barking I found Pepper, Farley's dog. Farley was by Pepper trying to shoo away a cat and hold Pepper back from it. I quickly walked over causing the cat to turn towards me hissing. I bent down to the cat's height and the cat stared at me making me smile as it's composure relaxed. The same happened to Pepper. Farley sighed in relief as I got the cat to follow my lead to the other side of the road until finally, it ran off on its own.
"Thanks for your help." I heard Farley say and I turned around to see him walking over to me.
"You're welcome!" I said smiling. "Pepper seems to be doing well last time I saw him." I bent down petting him.
"Yeah, been a while since the last you've been over my place. Well, I was just walking the dog to the diner nearby," he said as Pepper did his business in the grass making Farley huff as he pulled out a bag.
"Oh? There's a diner?" I asked trying to not watch disgustedly as he cleaned up after his dog, better than those owners who didn't clean up after their pets I guess.
"Yeah, want to come?" he asked then glanced at the bag in my hand. "Well, it seems you need to take that home."
"Oh uh well I could come afterward, yeah. I don't have anything else to do today really." I fumbled with my words a bit as I played with the bag and Farley seemed to be thinking then looked down at Pepper.
"Think you can wait for a little while longer before getting that human food you love so much Pep?" he asked and Pepper tipped in response with his tongue out at his tail wagged. "Sounds like a yes to me, what do you think?" he looked me now, his eyes meeting mine making me gulp as heat rose to my cheeks.
"Yea-Yeah sounds good," I said feeling a smile come to my face and he shot me a smile back.
We walked to my house after that. I wrapped up the gifts quickly and stuck them in my closet. I checked on dad to see he was still sleeping it seemed. It made me a bit worried so I checked his temperature and breathing. He seemed fine and I realized his laptop was still open but off. He must have been working late or real early. I smiled and wrote him a note telling him I would be back also where I was going. After all that Farley led his dog and me to the diner. Once we got there Farley opened the door and held it open for me making my face hot.
"Than-Thank you," I said walking in as Pepper yipped at me wagging his tail making me smile.
The two followed right behind me. I took some steps back when I noticed a lot of people were in this diner. The size of the diner wasn't that big. I looked around for a table but it was a bit hard since it was kind of crowded. All I saw were bodies and the top or back of people's heads. I felt a tug before being pulled forward, past lots of bodies until finally, an empty table was at sight. It was all the way in the back by a jukebox. Farley let go of my sleeve and slid in a seat as Pepper tried climbing up on his lap. I took a look around before sliding in a seat across from him.
"It's nice here," I said smiling at Farley as he passed me a menu.
"Yeah, it is." he shot me a grin and I looked at the menu to ignore the heat rising to my cheeks.
I read the menu humming to myself. I realized I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, the time would be more close to lunch. It was a bit difficult for me to choose what to eat. There was many to choose from that sounded good. Glancing up at Farley who didn't even look at the menu. Seems he knew what he wanted and probably had been at this diner often. I wonder if our friends would like it here. This would be a nice place to hang out and eat at... Well on a day it wasn't too crowded.
"How can I help you?" a familiar voice asked and I looked up to see Farley's aunt.
"The regular for me Pam," Farley said and I was glancing back and forth at him then his aunt.
I should have known the diner belonged to his aunt. The menu did have her name on it. But I guess I didn't pay too much attention to it. Besides I didn't really remember her name either.
"Aunt Pam to you mister, you're lucky I'm at work," she said with narrowed eyes then looked at me and her face lit up. "You again." she smiled.
"Ah ah um yes, me again," I said as my cheeks burned and Farley grinned at me before looking at his aunt.
"Sorry Aunt Pam, I was trying to be formal since your at work. I just feel weird saying Aunt all the time," he mumbled the rest and pet Pepper who was under the table still.
"And what is he doing here?" His aunt said glaring down where Pepper was.
"I always bring Pepper after his walk," Farley said huffing and his eyes looked like he was begging for his aunt to let Pepper stay.
I got a little lost in them. A lick on my hand brought me back. Looking down I saw Pepper nuzzling my thighs and lick my hand. A giggle escaped my lips as I pet him, causing Farley and his aunt gives me a look over before looking back at each other.
"He can stay as long as he doesn't cause trouble. Or the both of you are out of here. Not counting your friend." she said and Farley nodded huffing. "Anyway." she looked over at me. "What are you ordering?"
"Um...Ham and Cheese Omelet with the Salad please." I said as she wrote it down in her notepad.
"To drink?" she asked glancing up from it at me.
"Uh...Iced Coffee?" I said questionably and she quirked an eyebrow before writing that down as she left.
"Iced Coffee?" Farley said making me look at him huffing.
"I want to try it, I've only tried hot coffee," I said putting the menu down and he leaned his head in his hand being supported by his elbow on the table.
"Well, you might like it. My aunt is good at a lot of things edible wise." he smiled and I nodded smiling back.
Farley and I ended up talking for a while. There was a lot of people here in the diner so it wasn't much of a surprise. But Farley told me that our food would be hot and not to worry about it being cold. We also talked about school a bit but only of what classes we wanted to have. Then I kind of slipped up.
"So your not on your phone as much like most of our generation," Farley said.
"Oh, I think I'm on my phone more than I use to be. I kind of made a friend on an app I got and he's nice." I said feeling my cheeks slightly hurt by them being turned up into...a smile?
"What app?" Farley asked and I was about to answer when I realized I had just told someone I was talking to someone I've never met in the flesh before.
"Uh um....uh enough about me. What about you?" I mentally facepalmed by being so rude avoiding his question.
"I don't think I'm on my phone a lot but my aunt might think differently. Though I like outdoors versus being in the house all day," he said looking around the diner.
"Ah...well, I feel safer at home. I'm used to being at home most of the time but being here has really flipped my life upside down a bit." I laughed awkwardly and ruffled my hair.
"Oh?" Farley said and before more could be discussed his aunt placed our plates of food down on the table with our drinks in glass cups.
Farley had a chicken sandwich with fries and a glass of Sprite. I thanked his aunt and she smiled before leaving. I glanced at my iced tea before eating my omelet. I never had an omelet before and it was a different taste but none the less was good. And so was the salad but most salads were good. All was left to taste was the iced tea. I looked at it before putting the straw in the cup then sipped some before kind of spitting some out in a napkin. Farley looked over from his drink and stopped drinking his soda.
"Are you okay?" he asked frowning and I nodded with hot cheeks.
"Sorry... the um iced tea doesn't taste that good." I laughed nervously and he chuckled.
"It's okay, I'll just ask my aunt if you can get another drink," he said and called his aunt over.
In the end, I loved the Tropical Punch. And Farley decided to stay at the diner until closing time or until his aunt was leaving. I could have stayed with him since the diner was closing early or the aunt could have been leaving soon but I wanted dad not to worry too much. I realized dad had text me and I text back but he didn't answer so I called. He still didn't answer which was a bit worrying but when I got home I saw why he wasn't answering.
"Hey bug, did you forget that we were supposed to be getting a Christmas tree today?" my dad laughed as he pushed the tree in the corner of the living room.
"Ah, I did! Sorry, dad." I frowned but he shook his head smiling.
"Don't worry about it," he said putting some wrapped up gifts under the tree. "You can still help decorate," he said pointing to the box of ornaments by the door I just came out from.
I walked over and picked up the box. Starting to walk back over to where dad was something caught my eye. My eyes widen as I almost dropped the box tripping over the rug in the living room. Dad looked over and quirked an eyebrow then glanced on what was on the coffee table.
"Oh yeah, that came in the mail for you I think." Dad said smiling as I sat the box on the coffee table and looked back at what seemed to be a gift wrapped in a wrapper that had an icon...very similar to my icon on Feather book.
XD duh duh! Cliffhanger...well kind of! Anyway finally updated yay! But do you all think maybe I should stop forcing myself to write 2,000 a chapter so much. Well I try to and sometimes I don't. Though if I didn't force myself to try to write that amount maybe I would be able to update more and easier? But maybe not, what do you guys think?