Chapter 4 Regrets and Dinner

Well, my room is finally finished. I smile as I stand up and look at the result. Then I open the window that looks out at the backyard and breath in the fresh summer air.

I lean outside and smile as I see my next door neighbour working in the garden.

'Nice weather, huh?' She looks around and smiles back at me as she stands up.

'Yep, it's great, isn't it? I love spring. Having all the birds chriping outside. It's great to see all my flowers growing. You must be Lisa.'

'Yeah, that's me. And you must be Jill. It's great to meet you.'

'You too, I've heard a lot about you.' The she turns her head towards the door as Tim walks out. She kisses him on the lips and he looks up at me and smiles.

'Well, you've met my husband Tim, I hear.'

'Yeah, we did.' I smile nervously and feel guilty again.

'Yeah, uhm, you know I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to leave you standing there. I know you meant well, I just couldn't handle it that night.'

'Oh, don't worry about it. I shouldn't have said anything. Let's just forget about the whole thing.' I nod at him.

'hey, I've got a great idea,' Jill starts, having us both looking at her. 'Why don't you come to dinner tonight? You know, you can make up and you can meet our boys. They're really looking forward to meeting you. I'll cook dinner, what's your favorite meal?'

'Oh, really, that's not necessary...'

'Nonsense, you live next door to us now. You'll just have to get used to it.'

'Oh, honey, why don't we just order take out.'

'No, Tim, I want to cook dinner for her. I want to make her feel welcome.' Tim winks at me as he turns to Jill.

'I know you want to make her feel welcome. If you really want to make her happy, don't cook.' I stifle a laugh as Jill hits him and sticks out her tongue.

'So, what do you think? You up for dinner?'

'Yeah, ok. Why not?'

'Great! Well, what would you like me to make?' I don't have to think long.

'How about pancakes? I love minipancakes.'

'Minipancakes it is. Well, I better get inside, still have some cleaning to do. See you at 7?'

'Sure, I'll be there.'

'Bye Lisa, it was nice seeing you again.' Tim smiles as they walk inside.

'You too, see you tonight.' I smile and head back inside myself, to get ready for tonight. I need to pick out an outfit, take a shower, put on make-up and do my hair. And I've only got four hours to go, I better get started.

Three and a half hours later...

I finally picked out the perfect outfit. A sleeveless kneelong yellow summer dress, with my hair in a ponytail and matching yellow sandals.

Wow, and I still have half an hour left to spare. That doesn't happen often. Well, I better go downstairs already. I can go ask Wilson what he thinks of my outfit.

Okay, so maybe asking uncle Wilson wasn't the best idea. He has no taste in clothing whatsoever.

Oh, I've got fifteen minutes left. I'll just go over there, they won't mind if I'm early. Better early than late, right?

Why am I nervous about this? They are my neighbours. And good friends with uncle Wilson. He has told them a lot about me.. I just want to make a good impression. Yeah, that's it. Oh, stop talking to yourself, just go over there.

I take a deep breath and head over to the back door and knock. I open the door and see Jill working behind the stove. I sniff up the air of the minipancakes.

'Hi Mrs. Taylor, sorry I'm a bit early. I kind of gave myself a little too much time to get ready.'

'Oh, hi Lisa. Don't worry about it, I was just finishing up anyway. Just call me Jill by the way. Could you watch these for a minute, I'll get the boys.'

'Sure.' I walk into the kitchen and make sure the pancakes don't burn. I sniff up the aroma, mm, just like mom used to make them.

Meanwhile Jill walks to the stairs and calls her sons down for dinner. Just then Tim walks out of the garage.

'Hi honey, boy, you look different. Did you and Wilson go to the same hairdresser?' I laugh as I turn one of the pancakes.

'Hi Mr. Taylor, os sorry, Tim.'

'Hi Lisa. That smells good, you should come more often.' I laugh again.

'Actually, Jill made these, I'm just watching them, makeing sure they don't burn.'

'Yeah, right. Like My wife can cook all of a sudden, please, don't make me laugh.' Then Jill comes around the corner.

'I heard that. I did make these actually.' She shakes her head at him as Tim smiles and winks at me behind her back. 'The boys will be down any minute. Why don't you go sit down. And Tim, could you put these plates down?'

I sit down at the table as two tall teenage boys walk down the stairs and come towards the dining table. I stand up and hold out my hand.

The tall blonde stares me down and takes my hand. He kisses it. I have to try hard not to roll my eyes at him.

'Hello there, you must be Lisa. I'm Brad, the oldest and the most handsome. I'm also 18 and single.'

'Well, it's nice to see your so confident of yourself. It's nce to meet you Brad.' Then I hold out my hand at the what must be Brad's younger brother.

'Hi, then you must be Mark.' He takes my hand and looks digustedly at Brad.

'yeah, I am. It's nice to meet you. Sorry about him, he's not exactly the brains in this family. So he has to make for it by checking himself in the mirror all the time.' Brad hits him upside the head while I stifle a laugh.

Then we all sit down as Jill and Tim join us.

'Wow, Jill, this tastes really good. This is just like my mom used to make them.'

'Really? Oh, that's good. You know, this is our middle son's favorite dish, too. Too bad you can't meet him right now, you two would have really gotten along. According to Wilson you have a lot in common.'

'Oh, ok, well maybe I'll have that chance someday.'

'Yeah, probably. So, how are you enjoying yourself here so far?'

'Well, I haven't been out that much, so I'm not sure. I've been so busy unpacking I haven't taken the time to see the neighbourhood.'

'Oh, well, maybe the boys could take you then. You're not busy tomorrow, are you guys?' I don't even have to look at Brad to know he has a big smile on his face right now.

'No, really, that's not necessary.' I smile at them nervously.

'Oh, nonsense, they will be happy to do it, right guys?'

'Yeah, ofcourse. I would love to. I could show you around town, let you see the park, the movie theater and after that I could maybe show you the best restaurant here.' I am so glad he's not sitting next to me right now, he would probably put his arm around me. Oh, kill me now...

'Uhm, Brad? This is not a date. I'll be there too.' Brad rolls his eyes at Mark. 'Hey, maybe we could show you the video arcade.'

Brad laughs.

'Oh, yeah, right, like she cares about video games. She'd rather see the restaurant, right Lisa.'

'Actually Brad, I love playing video games. And we don't have to have dinner there, we could go early and have breakfast. With the three of us. How does 7 am sound?' Brad glares at Mark as he smiles at him.

'Yeah, 7 am sounds great.'

'Well, now that that's settles, how about you tell us a bit more about yourself. I know yo don't really want to tal about Costa Rica, but besides the awful guys there, were there any good things about the trip?'

'Hmm, uhm, I did meet a lot of great other people there I guess. And I learned a lot about myself, (and others) which was a good thing. I took a lot of things for granted before I went, now I enjoy everything in life, all the little things that may seem normal for us, it's not normal for all people. Like water for example. Here you just turn on the tap and you get fresh water, like it's no big deal. But there are so many countries out there that don't have that. They have to work hard to get just enough water to drink and often it's not even healthy to drink. But these people have no choice. So, now, when I get water, I don't just take whatever I want, I take what I need and that's it. No more than what's necessary. I guess It does help that uncle Wilson cares so much about the environment. He knows not to take things for granted either, that's why I love him so much.' Well, that definitely got the room quiet.

'Wow, that sounds wonderful. It's good that you learn so much in so little time. You know, Randy always had the same idea of life. Wilson was right, you two would get along so well. But maybe you don;'t have to wait that long. I mean, It's April already. He said he would be coming home around June, so It's just a few more months.'

'Yeah, who knows, maybe you've alreay met. And you just don't know it yet.' I laugh.

'Yeah, maybe.' I stayed until about 11 pm, just talking to them and laughing as Jill recounted Tim's long list of accidents. And in between I had to fight Brad away from me. He managed to get a seat right next to me on the couch and somehow every five minutes he thought of a new way to put his arm around me. I will never go for a guy like that.

But the other one, that's not here, Randy I think is what Jill said. She told me a lot more about him and I have to admit, he does sound interesting. I can't wait to meet him. Only two more months to go, I guess. Until that time, I'll just have to make sure to stay as far away from Brad as possible. Hopefully he'll get the hint, creep...

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A/N Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update, I needed some inspiration first. I hope you like this chapter, after this I'm going to skip ahead a few months if you don't mind. Then, the really interesting stuff will happen ;)

But for now, I hope you enjoy this and you know it: read and review if you want more updates! Thanks for the reviews so far and talk to you later!