Chapter 6: Long Time, No See

"Come in Reece!" I yelled to the door.

A muffled "K" came through the door, as did Reece a moment later.

As he brushed the snow off his pants, the snow floated slowly down to the hardwood floor that I had been told numerous times for varying occasions to never get it wet. It's not going to get soaked, I reminded myself mentally.

After finishing brushing off his pants, he took off his coat and threw it at me. Laughing, I removed the coat from my face and shoved it into the closet with mine. When I turned back to him, he seemed like he wasn't paying attention. I decided that it was time to snap hm out of dreamland.

"So Reece, whado we need to talk about?" I questioned.

His eyes snapped down as he remembered where he was. It appeared as if he was thinking about what to say.

"I...got bored..." Reece said slowly, a smile closing his reply.

Laughing, I told him to take off hit boots and put them in the closet. As the door squeaked shut from all the snow in the hinges, he turned to face me, a huge smile on his face. Suddenly, the picture on my phone reappeared, giving Reece a slightly chubbier face and braces all over again. For a second, he looked happy and like a kid again. But just for a second.

"What are you looking at?" He asked; I could sense the awkwardness in his voice. I quickly averted my eyes to the closet, since my face was in shock at the moment. Which, wouldn't look good from Reeces view.

"The closet...I can't believe it can hold all that crap!" I enthused, smiling wide at the end. It seemed to make the moment a little less awkward, because Reece started laughing. But as we stopped laughing, the momentarily gone awkwardness was once again back.

"So.....I guess I should get going..." Reece said suddenly, probably sick of the awkward silence. He probably could have had a more meaningful conversation over E-mail than we had just had. Which, was rare for me and Reece. Though I didn't argue with his statement.

"Alright....it looks like the weathers getting bad out there, so be careful," I warned.

"I'm not two Bryce."

"I know...just saying...."

"I know. I was kidding..."

"Alright then...."

".....Well....see ya later."

"See ya."

As Reece opened the closet and pulled on his boots and coat, I suddenly thought of something that I wanted to ask him.

"Say Reece. Do you remember the summer when we all went to your parents cottage?"

For a moment, Reece looked confused. Then a light flashed in his eyes, and I could automatically tell that he remembered.

"Who could forget it," He wispered.

"I was just looking over the photos...wanna see?" I knew it was a sad effort at getting him to stay, but I felt alone for some reason.

"Sure!" He replied enthusiastically.

For the next hour, we looked over all the pictures, laughing and making comments on eachothers faces and how fat I looked in certain photos. Until we finally got the a picture that I hadn't looked at in a long time.

"I remember this one," Reece replied while laughing. The picture was of me and Raquel at the Grad dance. I was wearing a black/blue suit, with a bright pink tie. Raquel was on the left, looking amazing in a Purple coloured tube dress that went down just past her knees. She was wearing silver heels, which almost made her my height. That was something that me and Reece used to always tease her about; her shortness. I wonder how tall she is now?

"Look at how your arms awkwardly around her, and her face is like 'what are you taking a photo of me for Reece?', and yours is like 'Ah I think I shit myself'!" Reece said, no longer containing his laughter as he exploded and fell to the ground. Even though he was 17, he still managed to fall to the ground laughing. And maintained looking good while doing it. Creepy.

"I know! And look at that pink tie! How did I end up wearing that?!" I asked enthusiastically, already knowing the answer but still wanting to hear it from Reece.

"Who could forget! You and me had a bet; whoever got asked first to the Grad dance had to wear a pink tie. The loser, had to wear a yellow one!" Reece choked, laughing even harder on the ground.

" I remember that! And we agreed on yellow 'cuz yellows the colour of stinky losers!" I replied, now laughing myself as I remembered the day in grade 2 when we made that statement.

By that time, Reece was rolling on the ground laughing so hard he was crying. I knew my mom couldn't get mad at me for Reece crying on my floor. If she asked, I would tell her why it was wet. But she wouldn't want to know why he was crying. It's just how my mom is.

"Yea....I can't....believe we ever....said that!" Jake yelled, laughing between words.

"Me either!" I yelled back, laughing harder as I remembered Reece giving me a high five for saying something so "pawsum!"

Suddenly realising that it was getting late, I turned to check the time. It was 5:46p.m. That meant that it was already too dark for me to let Reece walk home alone. Because hey, just because he wasn't a girl didn't mean he couldn't be raped.

"Hey Reece, it's getting pretty dark.." I commented.

"Oh?" Reece replied non-chalantly.

"Ugh...do you wanna stay over tonight?" I knew what he was doing.

"Well, if you insist," He replied, grinning.

Sighing, I punched him in the shoulder and pointed him to the couch. Reece was treated as if he were family when he was at my place. He even had a key, but always knocked before comming in; to be polite. It was almost the same with Jake, but my mom still didn't know Jake as well as Reece. One time my mom saved Reece from drowning, so you can tell how they can be close enough to call eachother family. About a week earlier, my mom called Reece 'son' and he replied with 'mom'. Though we laughed at the mistake, it brought us closer together. Reece was like family to my family. Jake was, I guess you could say, a 'family friend'. Though when Reece and Jake were over and my mom was home, she treated them both the same. Meaning, Reece got treated like another Jake. But no one complained, and Jake didn't even know about the special treatment Reece got around here.

As I turned to run upstairs and get some blankets for Reece to use, someone knocked at the door. Not wanting to get it, I yelled for Reece to get the door, since, like I mentioned, we were close enough that I could let him do that. Just as I got to the top of the stairs, I heard Reece talking to someone.

"Hi..?" I heard Reece say awkwardly. Though I couldn't see who it was, I could tell it was a girl by the way he said it.

"Hey, Reece, long time no see!" A female voice said from downstairs.

"Funny...I don't remember you.....if I even knew you..." Reece replied, obviously confused.

"Reece," A voice said.

Next, I heard wispering, but I couldn't understand it or even comprehend it.

Hurrying to see who it was, I jumped into my room, tore the blanket off my bed, jumped back into the hallway, and ran down the stairs to see a girl I didn't know.

She was pretty tall. Almost my height, and I'm 5'7". She had shoulder length brown hair with a streak of blonde framing the right side of her face, and another streak towards the back. She had a narrow face, somewhat oval shaped, with bright green eyes. I've never seen anyone with eyes that green except....

"Raquel?" I asked astonished.

"No shit shurlock!" She replied matter-of-factly.

"Holy crap! It's been so long!" I exclaimed, jumping down form the stairs to give her a hug. After the exchange, I decided to get straight to the point.

"Not that its bad that you're here, but, why are you here?"

Laughing, she responded," Well, I decided that it's been a long time. I wanted to visit. And as I was checking my photos today, well, I just, missed hanging around with you guys. We grew apart ever since I switched schools. I was just thinking, maybe we could all hang out?"

Of course I didn't mind, it was Raquel. The thing was, I just couldn't believe how different she looked. I mean, she was hot before, but, wow.

Looking over the Reece to see what he was thinking, he seemed confused, shocked, happy and in awe all at the same time. Obviously he was thinking the same thing as I was.

"Well, I don't mind, how 'bout you Reece?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Uh....sure?" He replied awkwardly. He shuffled his feet as he looked back to her. She smiled at him, which made his face turn red. Looks like we gettin' some mental action here, I thought to myself.

"Alright, cool. So, do you just wanna hang out here, or we could walk around?" Offered Raquel. Good old Raquel; she never felt awkward about anything. Except when we broke up just before she found out she was switching schools.

"We could stay here," I offered, trying to sound chilled and not as awkward as Reece.

"Sounds fine with me," Reece added, his face still a light red shade. He offered a sheepish smile at Raquel. She smiled back, making him red in the face all over again.

"I think Reece likes me," Raquel leaned over and wispered to me, laughing after.

Laughing too, I looked over to Reece, who's face was bright red. Of course he did. She was the same as before, but hotter.

I offered to take her coat, but she waved me off with a flick of her wrist, then opened my closet door and shoved her coat and shoes in as if she owned the place. Good old Raquel.

As we headed for the living room, I heard Raquel whisper something to Reece. When I turned back to see what was going on, I could see Raquel smiling, and Reece more red-faced than ever.

I decided that, since it was dark, I would turn on the lights.

"Maybe you should leave the lights off, besides were watching TV. That can be the light," Raquel suddenly said.

Confused, I switched off the light and turned on what soon ended up being Prom Night. Which reminded me, that the grade 11 dance was comming up in February.