It was the first free Saturday morning that I’ve had in a long time, and I had no idea what to do with it. I had never been one to sleep in late on days like this, so I was left to count the dust bunnies floating about my room at eight in the morning. After talking with Nat yesterday, I was actually in a good mood today, but I doubted that any of my friends would be awake at this time of day. Most of them were usually very cranky when woken up to early, so I didn’t want to disturb any of them.
Except maybe one.
Perhaps it was because I was feeling especially bold today, but I decided to take Richie up on his offer to hang out. As I waited for him to pick up, I amused myself with the idea that he probably wasn’t expecting me to call him back so early in the morning. Surprisingly, he picked up rather quickly.
“Hello?”
I was slightly disappointed in his tone of voice; it sounded like he was wide-awake. “Good morning, Richie. Am I bothering you right now?”
“Not at all. Did you want something?”
“I was wondering if you were free today.”
“Let’s see. It’s unreasonably early on Saturday morning. Only crazy people like you and I are actually awake. I just moved here and have no friends,” he replied very matter-of-factly. “I think I might have a slot open. What do you have planned?”
I smiled; he seemed much more outgoing when I wasn’t talking to him in person. “Anything’s fine with me. My dad’s working and I have no rehearsals today. I’m fine with whatever.”
“How about I come pick you up in fifteen minutes and we go out to eat or something?”
“Pick me up? You can drive?”
“Yeah. I’m a year behind in school. Most people my age would be juniors, not sophomores.”
It was hard for me to imagine Richie, a boy with such soft eyes and a childish name, as being a full year older than I was. “I see. Well, it sounds good to me. I’ll see you in a few.”
“It would help if you told me where you lived, first.”
“Right,” I said dumbly. I couldn’t believe that I had let something that important slip my mind. “I live next to that really big, brick apartment complex down the street from the school. I’m the one with the black doors. You can’t miss it. Just call me when you get there and I’ll come out.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon. Bye.”
“Bye,” I chirped as I closed my phone, said goodbye to my dust bunnies, and sprang out of bed to get ready for the day.
