"Michael!"
"Yeah?" His head pops up over the top of the bridge guardrails.
"C'mere!" I call him down.
Within fifteen seconds, Michael appears at my side. He peers curiously up at Myka. "You're my brother's friend, aren't you?"
Myka smiles and nods, bending down to his level. "Yup. I'm Myka." She sticks out her hand.
"We have almost the same name! I'm Michael!" He shakes her hand.
"Do you wanna show me around?" She asks him.
He nods vigorously, with a big grin plastered across his face, then takes her by the hand and starts to pull her away, pointing around at different things. Quickly, I stash my guitar inside and catch up to them. Michael shows her the playground, the pool, the little field, the duck pond, and the front office, before he runs out of things to show her.
"Come on, Michael," I beckon him. "Let's go in the car and show her everything else."
"O-kay!" He basically hops to the car.
Myka falls into step next to me. "You know you don't have to do that," she reminds me quietly.
"I know," I smile, "but I want to."
I take back roads up past the high school and Michael's grade school and a couple of restaurants up to the mall, at which Myka sort of shrugs. I keep driving past stores and restaurants and other random places. I finally stop when we come to a café a little ways off the main road. It's one of my favorite places, but we hardly ever go there, so I usually end up dragging my friends. Alicia took me there for the first time the day after she got her driver's license. I try not to think about it as we sit down at a booth.
"Dinner is on me tonight. Get whatever you want."
"Sweet!" Michael yells, picking up the kids menu and reading it. "I want macaroni!" He loses interest in it quickly and starts coloring the placemat.
Myka and I both laugh. "You can have macaroni," I assure him. Then, turning to Myka, I say, "They have really good burgers."
She nods and flips the menu over to the burger section. I don't even bother looking at the menu. I get the same thing every time. Instead, I look around at the cartoon posters, old-fashioned jukebox, and Elvis memorabilia. Or at least, I pretend to. I steal glances at Myka every chance I get and just try not to stare.
"You know I can I see you, right?" Myka says, without looking up, after a few minutes.
I immediately look away and pretend I wasn't looking at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a smile spread across her face. She closes the menu and looks up at me. She opens her mouth to say something but before she gets the chance, a waitress descends upon our table and takes our order.
"I'll have a cheeseburger, straight up, and a glass of Mountain Dew, please." Gesturing to Michael, I continue, "He'll have a kids' order of mac and cheese and a fruit punch."
"And I'll have…" she glances down at her menu one more time. "The downtown burger, please. With ketchup and mayo."
Don't even worry. I have another update for right after I post this one. Yay reading material!
Working on the school and the healing. Who knew being a senior would be so hectic?
Thank you for continuing to follow this! I really appreciate it!