"Hey," Erin said, entering the office of Garrity Motors, where Jason was working.
"Is everything okay?" Jason asked, concerned.
"Yeah, why would something be wrong?"
"I'm just surprised, but happy, to see you hear," he replied. I could take my lunch break now, if you want to hang out."
"Okay," she replied happy with his eagerness to rearrange his schedule for her.
"How's everything going?" He asked.
"Good," she responded vaguely, "what about you?"
"Same here. You know what I was thinking…"
"What?"
"Now don't say no until you hear me out."
"Great," she said sarcastically, "How exciting."
"How would you like a baby shower?"
"A baby shower?" she questioned.
"Yeah, you know, a celebration for the mother-to-be. It could be a good way to round up some nice baby stuff," he explained trying to entice her.
"I don't know," she said.
"Well think about it," he suggested.
"I will," she said. The sincere and positive tone of her voice surprised her. "Now I have an offer for you," she said.
"Yes?" he asked interestedly.
"Well," she said, "I have an appointment at the doctor's next week. I'm going to get my first ultrasound and they'll be able to tell me the sex of the baby. If you have work or something, that's fine. To tell you the truth I don't really care if you come or not, I was just planning to go alone, but you're so into this whole baby thing, I decided you should get the opportunity to be there if you want to be."
"Thanks," he said. "I definitely do."
"Cool," she said casually, but let a small smile slip. "Wednesday at 9:00."
"Can I pick you up?" He asked.
She thought about this for a second. "Sure," she answered. "That'd be nice."
The early afternoon went by quickly for Jason and around 3:00, Lyla stopped by to check in with her dad. She nearly bumped into Jason on her way to the office. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," she replied already feeling embarrassed. "Congratulations," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't get to see you sooner, I've just been so busy with school and church…"
"I understand," Jason said. He really did understand, and he knew it had nothing to do with school or church. "No need to apologize."
"Well, good luck with everything," she said. "See you around." She quickly continued walking wanting nothing more than to get further away from him, even if it meant getting closer to her dad.
"Hey sweetie," Buddy greeted Lyla.
"Hey," She replied. "Mom wanted me to ask you if she could have us this Saturday for her birthday. She said you could have us Saturday and Sunday next weekend." She hated having to refer to herself and her siblings as objects.
"She doesn't think she can have enough of a celebration with that boyfriend of hers?" He muttered. Lyla just stood impatiently. "Yeah, that's fine Lyla. Tell your mother that's just fine."
"I will," she said already beginning to shut his office door behind her.
"Hi," Tim said, waiting for her outside in the parking lot.
"Go away, Tim."
"You know you like it when I stop by," he said.
"You're so full of yourself. You know that?"
Tim smiled. "But you know you love it."
"Cut it out Tim. I'm serious."
"No, you're not," he said. "You think you are but really this is just what we do, and you enjoy it. Fighting's our thing."
"You know what Tim, maybe I'm sick of fighting being our 'thing.' Did you ever stop to think maybe I don't enjoy this? Maybe I don't enjoy being treated like crap. Maybe I don't like having these screaming matches in public. Maybe what I actually want is for you to just grow up, Tim." She slammed her car door and drove away, leaving him standing there, staring at the sight of her car leaving the lot. Staring at the sight of her leaving him.
"Are you sure this library thing was such a good idea?" Tyra asked.
"Yes," Julie replied, placing her jacket on the back of the chair. "You know we have a major Chemistry test coming up."
"You know, I'm not sure I like you as a nerd." Julie elbowed her playfully and cracked open her book.
The two of them sat quietly for a moment, Julie studying, Tyra surveying the unfamiliar surroundings. "Look," Tyra whispered loudly, "Over there." Julie looked over to the computer desks and found Matt sitting taking notes from the information on the screen. "Go say hi," Tyra urged.
"No!" Julie replied immediately.
"Come on…" she said slowly. "You can't go back to being a total loser. Here," she said handing Julie a broken pencil. "Now go over there and sharpen your pencil. That way he'll be the one to say hi." Julie slowly got up from her chair and began towards the pencil sharpener. "Walk cutely," Tyra whispered snappishly. Julie turned around looking embarrassed and shushed her.
Julie placed her pencil tip into the sharpener and it began to make its churning noises. Matt looked up from his computer. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," she said.
"I haven't seen you here in a while," he said.
She nodded. "I've been studying at home mostly."
"Right," he said. There was a quick pause of conversation and then he smiled. "I think your pencil's done."
"Right," she said, closing her eyes tightly, recognizing her moment of stupidity. She pulled her insanely sharp pencil from the sharpener.
"Be careful with that now," Matt joked. Julie laughed and nodded and lacking a clever comeback she returned to her table with Tyra.