" What are you doing here ? " I managed to say.
" Hey " she smiled.
I looked at her once more to confirm, It was her. Brown eyes, beautiful charming smile pretty much Jenny.
She starred at me and we starred at each other her eyes seemed to say much more and me. . . well I still think I was a little sleepy.
" So Troy you didn't tell me about this beautiful young lady " Mom broke the starring contest coming from the kitchen.
" Ah, she. . . I was. . . we. . . " I had failed to come up with anything. I mean me and Jenny weren't even friends, I think.
" Uhm, well we kinda just met yesterday and we found out we are neighbors so I decided to swing by and say hi " she said.
" Well that's really great, Jenny " mom said and looked at me as a big smile crawled to her face.
Mom went to the kitchen again.
" Jenny wha. . . " I was still saying when mom came back holding a tray with what she called her special treat. Pancakes. She made delicious one. I mean she'd win any pancake competition.
I got distracted by the smell and beauty of the pancakes that I forgot about Jenny for a second.
" Jenny, will you have some " mom said and placed them in front of Jenny.
Man was I hungry I wanted to grab the tray and runaway with it, fall in love with those pancakes and probably have a family, of pancakes.
" I. . . " I cut her off .
" Shit Jenny you have to taste this stuff it's the best, you won't want to eat any another pancakes if you eat hers " I said and realised how wrong that had come out. Mom looked at me and smiled " Thanks for complement "
" Okay, let's see if I will be able to eat another pancake " she sarcastically said and picked up one. By now I was on my fifth pancake.
" Hmm, there really good "
Mom smiled proudly.
****
Jenny told we had a project together and needed to do a little bit of research out there, in the field. Mom didn't ask much about it too.
" So you hate your bed " I teased her as we got out of the house.
" Huh ? "
" Oh got it your saying I hate sleeping "
" Yeah, do you ? "
"No, why ? "
" It's just 8 and you're at my house "
" Oh sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you " her excited expression was wiped from her face.
" I shouldn't have come, maybe " I had said the wrong words again, I always do. That's why I don't usually talk.
" No. . . Jenny. I'm sorry I. . . was only joking " it didn't help restore her mood.
" It's fine, I knew you were " she said but didn't mean any of that. I saw it on her face she was still upset and it wasn't my fault.
I starred at her again, my mouth dry of words. I mean, she was really pretty. And my mind just turns off when I'm with a pretty girl.
" So, you wanna hang out for some time ? " she asked me.
" Umm, yeah. . . ofcourse " I said.
" Okay "
" Yeah "
" So. . . you're new here "
" Yeah we just moved " I said.
" Yeah, a few years ago my friend lived there " she said.
" Oh, sorry I didn't know " I said and for no reason felt guilty.
" Not your fault they just moved " she said.
" Can. . . can we just move around and. . . just talk " so she came to my house at 8 and wanted us to move around and just talk.
" No, just. . . forget it. Forget I said. . . " she was somehow nervous.
" No, it's cool we can move around and. . . just talk, I don't know this town so I could really use a tour you know, we can really talk and walk, it'd be cool " I wanted to zip up but I couldn't I had gone a little overboard if it wasn't weird I had made it that way.
" Okay, I'd like that too " she simply said and smiled.
" Let's go this way " she said and I followed.
" You're mom is really nice " she said.
" Yeah ? "
" Is she a teacher ? "
" Yeah how did you know ? "
" She's so nice " she said and their seemed to be genuine amazement about mom.
" Thanks, you know she was always like that all the time being nice and open, in pre school she used to tease about this girl Anisha, I had a crush on. She would say stuff like. I don't think Anisha likes dirty boys whenever I dodged showering. I don't know how she found out I had a crush on her but she did. She was my class teacher anyway. "
" That's really sweet " I'd thought she'd judge me but she didn't. I smiled.
" What happened to Anisha ? "
" Well, she changed school and I never hard about her again " I said.
" Sorry, that really sucks "
" Nuh, I was ten "
" Doesn't matter. Innocent love's always the best kind of love "
I took a few minutes to register that.
We moved around the whole neighborhood about three times unmindful. I did most of the talking and she listened, she didn't seem like the Jenny I knew at school. She was somewhere else her mind was somewhere else thinking about something.
" I've seen that building three times now, we've been moving in circles " I said.
" Oh, are you sure. I didn't notice " she said.
I looked at her
" Come on I know a place near here "
" A place, what place ? "
She didn't reply me just lead the way,
I followed.
She turned a corner and then stopped outside a simple restaurant " Good Taste restaurant " it said on the poster which was up. It looked modern but wasn't that fancy. It might have had an uncreative name but it looked good.
****to be continued....