"Unexpected Love" Chapter 2

Here is the second chapter of "Unexpected Love". Yay! This chapter was pretty fast and fun to write. It also lets you get to know the characters a bit better. I'm already working on the third chapter so that should be up pretty soon. Read. Enjoy. Comment.-Makka (Waiting For Love).

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Unexpected Love

Chapter 2

After dinner I walked upstairs to my bedroom. My parents and I had just finished a lengthy dinner conversation about what I plan to do after I graduate from high school. My parents have reluctantly come to terms with the fact that I have no interest in college. I told them back in junior year that I wasn’t going. It took them months of trying to persuade me otherwise for them to finally realize that I was not going to change my mind. But in spite of that they are still trying to convince me to get some kind of career training.

“Well sweetie, have you ever considered culinary arts?” my Dad had asked.

I stopped picking at my mashed potatoes and looked into my Dad’s big eyes. “Daddy, I can’t cook.”

“Well I know that sweetie, but you could learn. They do have culinary arts schools.”

“No, no. That’s not for me. I don’t want to be in the service industry.”

“Marva”, my mother said, “most jobs now days are service based.”

“I know that Mom. But that’s not for me.”

“Well what is for you, sweetie?” Dad asked tiredly.

I just shrugged my shoulders. My Dad let out a long sigh and went back to cutting his steak.

I took my shower and put on my ladybug pajamas. I tie my hair in my satin scarf and pick up my laptop. As I sit on my bed and power on my laptop, I think of how my parents are worried about me and my future. I know they want what’s best for me and want me to be successful. But I have absolutely no idea of what I want to do with my life.

I push the thoughts of my future out of my mind as I log on to Facebook. I notice that my BFF Amber Connelly has left a message on my wall:

“What’s up Ms. M. Just want to scribble on your page. Leave my mark J.”

I laugh. I click on her page link and write back on her wall, “I’m chillin, funny bunny. How ‘bout u?”

I go to my feed and check up on my other friend’s pages, leaving messages on a few of their walls. I stay on Facebook for about twenty minutes before I feel like signing off. All of a sudden I get the urge to look up Rick. I type “Rick Collins” into the Facebook search bar. Hundreds of faces pop up.

“I don’t have time to go through these. I’ll just ask him his email tomorrow”, I say aloud.

As I log off Facebook and power down my computer I can’t help but think of Rick. I don’t know what possessed me to ask him to sit next to me on the bus this morning. I guess I just wanted to be polite. He totally surprised me when he spoke first at the bus stop. He usually never says anything he usually stares at me when he thinks I’m not looking or keeps his head down.

I place my laptop on my night stand and get under the covers. An image of Rick tousling his floppy red hair pops into my head. On the bus I noticed his hair had flecks of blonde in it. I had never been that close to him to notice it before. It looked so different; I had never seen red hair mixed with blond before. But it contrasted beautifully with his round hazel eyes. I giggled at my use of ‘beautifully’ in describing something about Rick. It seems so awkward but to be honest the word fit perfectly. I thought some more about Rick Collins; his hair, his eyes, his shyness, as I finally drifted off into a deep sleep.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock screaming at me. I turn over in bed and swat the alarm’s off button with my hand. I sit up and rub my eyes trying to remove the rheum that had crusted there. I sit on the bed staring blankly at my wall before I get up and head into my private bathroom to clean up.

As I make my way into the kitchen I see my mother sitting at the table reading the morning paper. She looks up at me and smiles, “Morning, Rick”.

“Morning, Mom”, I smile back as I begin to make myself some corn flakes.

“How did you sleep last night?”

“Pretty good. How about you?” I ask.

“Not so good. I think I need a firmer bed, one that gives me more support. That one up there is too soft.” She says softly, looking down at her coffee. “Your father loved that bed, so I never complained. But now it’s just become unbearable.”

I nod my head as I take my seat at the end of the table. Mom takes a sip of her coffee as she looks at me. I realize that my mother tolerated a lot of things just to keep my father happy. But unfortunately she realized too late that nothing seemed to make him happy. I turn my eyes to the right side chair where my father sat everyday at breakfast and dinner. It was empty now. As I continue to look at the chair, the unrest in my heart begins to resurface so I quickly look away from it and look back at Mom.

Mom is looking at me with that knowing gaze she gives me when she suspects I am thinking of my father.

“I already told you I have to go back into work today. So I won’t be home when you get back from school.”

“I know”, I say before eating a spoonful of cornflakes.

“Just remember that the leftover chicken casserole is in the refrigerator. Just heat it up whenever you’re ready for dinner. I probably won’t be back until nine tonight. I have a lot of work I have to catch up on.”

“Okay.”

We sit in silence as I eat my corn flakes and Mom sips her coffee while reading her paper. I wonder if Mom is really ready to go back to work after so many months off. She was on paid leave for two months and unpaid leave for about four months. How she managed to get so much time off without using any of her vacation days still confounds me. I know Mom and her boss, Mrs. Daniels were tight after having worked with each other for twenty five years. But the idea that the company would let her take so much time off because of our family emergency makes me forever grateful to them. After everything with my father, Mom really needed the time off to get herself together.

As I finish my corn flakes, I get up and wash my bowl out in the sink.

“Have you decided which college you’re going to accept”, Mom asks.

“I think I’ve almost made my decision”, I answer.

“Well, let me know as soon as you decide. Grandma Marion keeps asking me every time she calls if you’ve decided yet.”

“I will. It will be soon. I promise.”

I grab my backpack and throw it on my back. I walk over to Mom and lean down and give her a quick kiss on her cheek “Drive safe”, I say as I turn and head for the door “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Alright”, Mom answers.

I head out the door and make my way across the street. I notice Marva is already standing on the corner at the bus stop. My stomach starts doing flips like it always does when I see her each morning. She is wearing a small orange t-shirt with faded blue jeans and her green Chuck Taylors. Marva is the only girl I know who doesn’t match her clothes. She has her own individual style that is opposite of the trends. Yet she manages to be the best dressed girl at Central Bucks High School West.

As I approach the corner, Marva turns her head in my direction and smiles.

“Rick, what’s up?”

“Nothing. How are you?” I say softly. I cringe internally at how no matter what every time I see Marva my shyness takes over.

“I’m doing pretty good”, she says studying me closely.

We stand in silence for a few minutes before Marva questions, “Hey, do you have a Facebook account?”

“Uh, no. I don’t really feel like I need one”, I answer somewhat confused by her question.

“Oh. I tried finding you on there last night. But when I typed in your name about a million Rick Collins came up.”

My heart fluttered at the thought that the beautiful, lovely Marva Mallory would even think to look up anything that concerned me.

Marva must have noticed the flattered expression I had on my face before adding quickly, “I’m trying to add as many people as I can before we graduate. You know I’m just curious as to what everyone will be up to once they graduate.”

I notice how Marva put special emphasis on the word “everyone”. As if to let me know that I wasn’t being singled out for a “friend” position on her Facebook account. I mentally slap myself for even thinking Marva would single me out for a special reason.

“Well, I guess I can make an account. But you might be my only friend”, I say.

Marva furrows her eyebrows, “I’m sure some of your friends are on Facebook.”

I just nodded my head. I didn’t want to tell Marva that my only friends, Carl Richards and Jose Lopez weren’t on Facebook for the same reason I wasn’t, lack of “friends”.

“Well, when you set it up just send me a friend request.” Marva took her backpack off her shoulder and unzipped it. She pulled out a notebook and quickly tore a blank page from it. She placed the notebook back in her backpack and fumbled around inside of it until she pulled out a pen. She quickly wrote something on the paper before tossing the pen back into her backpack and zipping it up. She quickly stood and handed me the piece of paper, “That’s my email. You can find me on Facebook faster if you type that in.”

“Okay”, I nod my head. I look at Marva’s scribbled email “marva_the_muse@ymail.com”. I fold up the paper and put it in my back pocket for safe keeping.

“Do you want to sit in the same seat again today”, Marva asks.

“Sure”, I say quickly. I can barely hide the shock on my face. Marva Mallory wants to sit next to me for the second day in a row. My heart is no longer fluttering but now thumping in my chest faster than the energizer bunny. Just then our school bus pulls up.