My Yearning Heart

Chapter 29

When Friends are Needed Most

The next morning was pretty rough for me. Somehow, I managed to sling my eyes open and grab my phone off the desk next to the bed. I opened it up in hopes that Blake would have left me something, but it was blank. It was as blank as an adult's phone could be. I sighed and crashed back down on the bed throwing my arm over my eyes. I know this separation is for the best, but I just want to know that she's alright. That's all I care about right now. Having this sense of mystery in my heart was almost too much to bear. After a few minutes of drowning in my own arm, I climbed out of bed and got ready.

As I walked out of the bathroom drying my hair, Cinder gave me a friendly good morning as she was preparing some breakfast. The lovely smell filled the room. Breakfast was definitely the most important meal of the day. I grabbed a chair at the table and waited patiently. However, I couldn't help but blurt out something that was on my mind ever since I collapsed onto her bed.

"Sorry about making you sleep on the couch. I know this was all random and all, but…"

"Oh my goodness Alex, don't worry about it. I don't mind at all. It's been so long since I've had visitors. Unfortunately, my place isn't the best for hosting." She let a friendly chuckle which gave me the go ahead to laugh along with her.

"So what are you making?"

"Eh, nothing too special." She grabbed numerous pots and walked them over to the table. There were already plates set up so she dumped the food on the plate and sat down. "Bon apatite." I looked down and saw a huge pancake with strawberries and blueberries on the top.

"Wow, this looks incredible."

"Haha, thanks. I wouldn't judge it based on the looks though. I've always been good at presentation, but the quality… Eh, not so much." I couldn't say no to this so I grabbed my fork and dug in. I took the first bite and immediately tasted something strange. However, it wasn't something worth being disgusted by. I chewed a little more and swallowed. "So, how is it?" It was too difficult to answer. I grabbed another bite and went through the same process. Aside from the beginning taste, it wasn't that bad.

"Good job. I don't know your other meals have tasted, but I don't really taste anything wrong with it.

"Really? Awesome." She grabbed her fork and dug in as well. After a few minutes of silent eating, Cinder started up another conversation. "So are you doing anything today?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Eh, you've kind of gone through some things so I thought I could cheer you up by doing something fun."

"I don't know."

"Oh come on. You can't just lie around here and dwell on what's already in the past. You just have to accept the reality of things and take them head on next time. What do you say? You wanna go have some fun?" I looked up and she looked so happy. Her smile was huge and her hand was so inviting. However, it still didn't feel right leaving this whole situation to rest like that. There were things I needed to think about, but thinking about them only made me feel worse than I actually was.

"I guess I can go out."

"Alright." At that moment, she took my hand and dragged me out the door.

"Jeez, you seem excited. Where are we going?"

"Don't worry about that. Just try to relax and enjoy yourself."

We got into town and immediately went to the shopping district. I was kind of caught off guard because Cinder didn't seem like the kind of woman who enjoyed this kind of thing, but in the end, it wasn't even for her. Every place we went to was for me. She had me try on everything she saw and somehow convinced me to buy the things that looked great on me. If this was her plan, it was kind of working. I did find some pretty nice outfits that I normally wouldn't buy on my own. After that, she took me to her favorite restaurant where she knew the cook personally. She asked for some kind of special which I knew nothing about. When it was brought out to me, I thought it was a joke. It was a burger that looked more like a steak it was so big.

"How the hell am I supposed to eat this? As you can see, I'm not much of a big eater."

"Haha, we'll share it. I just want you to get the first bite so you can experience the magnificence of this burger." I gulped as I looked down. There was no way around it. This was a real man's food and she was forcing me to eat. I slowly grabbed the knife and cut a small piece for myself. With the piece on my fork, I slipped it into my mouth and started to chew. "Well… How is it?" Out of nowhere, a blast of incredible taste hit my mouth. It was almost as if I was slapped in the face.

"Holy whoa! This is incredible!"

"I told you." Showing no hesitation at all, Cinder grabbed her utensils and dug in with me. We had pieces of meat on our forks and ate them at the same time.

"Ooooo! It's so good," we said simultaneously. I wasn't a big fan of burgers, but this one just blew my mind. There was something special about the entire thing, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It took us a while to finish that beast, but when we did, we felt like kings.

"Oh man, how about that?"

"Jesus, how often do you eat here?"

"Don't ask. How do you feel?"

"Well, aside from the obvious, really well."

"Really? That's what I like to hear." She suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me away yet again.

"Shouldn't we pay though?"

"Haha, I have a tab there. I'll pay it off eventually."

"Seriously?!" She didn't pay attention to my last comment. She just continued to pull me along without a care in the world. I, too, tried to copy her mentality. She was doing all of this for me so the least I could do was play along until it was over. Our next destination was a bowling and unfortunately, I've never bowled so this was definitely going to be a challenge. She got us our shoes and guided me over to our lane.

"Alright, you ready for this? I expect big things from you."

"Um Cinder, is it bad that I've never bowled in my life?" I looked up at her and it looked as though as she was stabbed in back.

"You're… kidding me right?" I shook my head with so much guilt in my face. "How have you never bowled before?"

"I don't know. I just never had the motivation to." She bent over in pure disappointment. "I'm sorry."

"No, I can't accept this. I am going to teach you how to bowl and you are going to put up a competition against the champ," she said as she crossed her arms. At first, I wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but as I looked around the room, I saw her picture on the walls with a whole bunch of trophies. That's when I nearly died. How was I supposed to stand up against her at a sport I've never played? "Let's get started." She pulled me off the chair and had me line up in front of the lane.

"Alright, what do you we do?" She walked up behind me and placed the ball in my hands.

"Alright, first thing you have to do is put you middle finger, ring middle, and thumb inside of the holes." I followed her instructions to the letter. "So once you get your fingers in, it's pretty simple. For this run, try not to let go of the ball. Now, you take a few steps until you get to that line. When that happens, you bring your arm back like this. This serves as the charge up. Once you make it to the line, you throw it forward while keeping your forearm straight. Also, try to release it close to the ground. Think you got it?"

"Um, could you help me out with this first one?"

"Sure." She let go of my hand and we walked back to the start. We then resumed our positions and went through the motions slowly. When I let go of the ball, it rolled pretty straight and collided with the pins giving me a strike. "Woo! That's good right?"

"Very good, especially for your first one ever."

"Haha thanks."

"Alright, if you don't mind. I'll be taking the floor now." I stepped aside and watched her get ready for her first shoot. She wiped the ball with a towel and picked up it off the rack. "Watch and learn rookie." She did the routine and threw the ball extremely fast. However, when it got to the end of the lane, it only hit the outside pin. I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. She suddenly looked at me and gave me a death glare.

"I'm not laughing."

"Whatever. You used my first shot. No matter what, my first shot is always a strike."

"Uh huh, sure." She squinted her eyes as her ball returned to the rack. She picked it up again and threw it to get a spare. "Oh jeez, this is a bad start." I turned my head and smiled.

I don't think this is going as well as she first thought.

End of Chapter 29