I put my moms RAV-4 in park outside Carlie's two story baby blue house. I was a little early, but my mom always said "better early to rise than late to bed". I really don't understand what she meant by that but I assume its somewhat smart.
I opened the door and stepped around my car. Her front walkway seemed to drag on and on, like it was never ending. I dried my hands on my board shorts, my tank top fluttering in the light breeze. I got to the door and knocked waiting for Carlie to answer the door. I only occurred to me that it might not be her answering the door. I should've just texted her I was here.
My fears were very accurate as her little brother opened the door a few seconds after I knocked. I stood there dumbfounded, staring at this five year old kid. He just stared back at me before he called for Carlie.
While we waited for her to come downstairs, I saw her dad walk past the door. He gave me a gruff look before he kept walking to...wherever he was going. "Are you my sisters boyfriend?"
I looked back down at the kid, who I thought had left, and stuttered "Uh-n-no, um I'm not, we're not, like we're, um" Luckily, Carlie came down at that moment and saved me.
"No Billy, he's not my boyfriend. We just work together." She said looking at him, before she looked up at me, "Hi. Ready?"
"Uh, y-yeah I'm ready. You look great by the way," and she did. She was wearing a light gray camisole and blue skinny jeans with sandals. "The other picked up a pizza, but if you wanna stop somewhere else on the way, we can stop wherever." I said as we walked to my car.
She smiled, "Pizza sounds good. I wouldn't want to put you out."
"Oh I don't mind." I replied, starting the car. She affirmed how she was fine with pizza, and so we drove over to the beach. We laughed and talked like we did at the pool, but this time about us, rather than students or our coworkers.
It was a half hour drive to where the bonfire was supposed to be, and we really bonded. We had grown close over the past two weeks, but we grew even closer on the drive. When we got to the beach we had to head down this narrow path from the top of the cliff to the dunes below. Carlie almost fell on the walk down, but I was able to grab her by the hand and arm and hold her steady until she got her balance back. I couldn't escape the blush forming on my face when she didn't pull away, instead lacing her fingers with mine.
When we got to the bonfire, it was in full swing, flames reaching five feet in the air. Tyler walked over when we arrived and Carlie pulled away, going to talk to her friends. I was offered a beer, which I turned down. Now, any other night I would've accepted, I mean who doesn't want to try beer. But I had to be responsible, I was driving home later. As the night went on the sun set and the stars came out. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, sharing laughs and enjoying stories of odd kids and their weirder parents.
After talking to her friends, Carlie came over and sat next to me. Unlike myself, Carlie had no need to decline a drink, so when Ally brought over a Truly she gladly accepted. I don't think she got drunk drunk, but she was a lot more giggly than usual, which I had no problem with, considering she would laugh and fall into my side.
Eventually the fire died down and we ran out of logs to refuel it, so we started to pack up. Tyler shot me a thumbs up as Carlie leaned into me and I put my arm around her on the walk back up. I blushed and looked down, before I looked back at the beautiful girl on my arm. She sobered up as we drove back, just in time to meet her dad waiting on their porch. I waved to him as she got out of the car, but I had to stop confused when she leant back in and then kissed my cheek. I drove home that night with the biggest grin on my face.
The rest of the summer was more of the same, working with Carlie when I could, working with Tyler when I couldn't. August came all to quickly, long warm days turning to shorter warm days. It's L.A., what did you expect, sleet and rain? As the start of the school year neared I realized that despite our frequent "dates", and constantly hanging out, I hadn't actually asked Carlie out. So, about a week before the semester started, and the day before the pool closed for the fall, I asked Carlie to be my girlfriend. Boy oh boy was I happy when she said yes! I was going into my senior year with a girlfriend, new friends, and an amazing course schedule.
While I wasn't taking any easy classes, I took enough classes in the previous year to have two free periods, one of which I shared with Carlie. I had A.P. Calculus first period, Applied Physics second, free third, followed by A.P. Economics, lunch, free period again, Intro to Pottery sixth period and then finally English Literature. I had two of my favorite teachers again, and three new ones. The first half of the year went by quickly, and I didn't have many dreams other than the odd pop quiz and what to say when Carlie's Dad decided to grill me.
The next 'Big Dream' I had took place two weeks into November. I could see flashes of a red and yellow metal man, flying across a desert, fighting a bigger silver metal man and a large blue explosion. When I woke up that morning, I chuckled to myself. While it felt like one of my premonition dreams, there was no way for any of that to be true. Boy was I wrong.