Chapter 6 - Smile and Let me in

Colin drops Natalie off at her house, and she invites him in. They take a tour of the house, and Colin finds out that Natalie isn't the person that she seems to be.

            To say that the car ride home was awkward would definitely be an understatement. I just sat there in the passenger seat, playing with my seat belt as he drove down the road, occasionally telling him where to turn. In my opinion, it wouldn’t have been so bad if there was music playing, but he didn’t have the radio on and I didn’t want to play with it in the chance that I could get him mad by playing with it. And so we rode in silence.

 

            The silence wouldn’t have gotten to me so bad if I had something to think about other than what had happened that morning. Colin was walking around in nothing but his boxer short’s for pete’s sake! Would your mind want to picture something other than a guy walking around in nothing but his boxers? I think not.

 

            I really couldn’t blame Colin for not putting something else on, because he probably was used to walking around in them. It’s not like anyone else would see them at that time of the morning except for Gina. But even she probably wouldn’t see them, being how we left the house before she had stirred awake.

 

            My shoulder still tingled in the spot where it accidentally rubbed against his back as I moved past him to get the milk. It took all the strength I had not to reach up and place my hand on my shoulder. I know that if I did that, then he would know I was thinking about this morning, and then if he started to think about it too, it would just make this car ride awkward.

 

            Speaking of awkward, I was surprised at how the car ride wasn’t awkward, not even the tiniest bit. I thought that the silence between us would have made it so, but surprisingly it felt so comfortable, even though I was riding with a guy that I didn’t know at all. As a matter of fact, it was as if we had done this plenty times before.

 

            “That’s it,” I pointed out to him, breaking the silence once again.

 

            Slowing down, he maneuvered his Dodge Charger into my driveway.

 

            Now let me tell you, when I first saw the car that he was going to be driving me home in, I let out a little squeal of delight. Even though I may be a book nerd I do have a dream car after all, which just happens to be the Dodge Charger. Colin chuckled before being the polite gentleman that he said he was, and opened up the passenger side door for me to get in and shut it after he made sure that I was all settled.

 

            After he parked the car and turned the ignition off, I sat there rubbing my thumbs together, not really knowing what to say next.

 

            Turning to him with my mouth open ready to speak, I stopped when I saw him staring at the house with his jaw dropped.

 

            “Your house is amazing,” he whispered in awe.

 

            “Well, would you like to come in and see it?” I asked, figuring it was the polite thing to do, since I saw the inside of his house after all.

 

            He just blankly nodded his head before unbuckling himself and opening the door and stepping out. While I was still getting my stuff together, I jumped when I felt the car move and looked up and saw him sliding across the hood of his car, landing on his feet then casually walk to my door and open it.

 

            “You, mister, are a character,” I smiled and shook my head while accepting his hand to help me out of the car.

 

            “It takes one to know one m’dear. And personally, I can’t wait to figure out what your character is all about,” he grinned and I couldn’t help but laugh.

 

            “Ya know, it’s almost funny that you said that,” I began as we started walking to my front door.

 

            “How so?” he asked curiously, his head tilted to the side as he wore a serious expression while studying me intently.

 

            “Well, it’s just that I’ve heard many a people say that I’m a character out of a book. A hopeless romantic that is looking for her happily ever after,” I laughed it off as I dug into my purse for my house keys.

 

            He just remained silent as I turned the keys, unlocking the door. Opening the door, we stepped into the main hallway.

 

            “Munch, I’m home!” I called out to the seemingly empty house.

 

            The clatter of paws across the wooden floor was heard followed by a happy bark as Munchie came running up to us. Surprisingly, she completely ignored me and ran over to Colin, jumping up on him instead, her fluffy tail wagging furiously behind her. Giving him a quick lick, she got down then decided to greet me.

 

            “That was weird,” I thought aloud to myself while scratching her behind the ears.

 

            “What was weird?”

 

            “Not to scare you or anything, but Munchie usually isn’t that… friendly when I bring new people in here. The fact that she totally ignored me to greet you first is just blowing my mind away,” I said while walking towards the kitchen, Munchie right on my heels while Colin followed a few steps back.

 

            “So um, how does Munchie usually greet new people?” he asked warily.

 

            “She usually growls and bares her teeth at them. You must be something special if she completely ignored me to say hi to you.”

 

            “Well, I don’t want to come between you and your dog,” he joked, looking down at the ground while stuffing his hands into his pocket, a sly smirk on his face.

 

            “As long as I’m the one who provides her food, she’ll always love me more. Here Munch!” I called while rattling her dish to which she immediately stuck her nose in and started to chow down immediately.

 

            “Well, now that she’s fed, would you mind giving me a tour of the house?” he asked while taking in every single detail of the kitchen.

 

            “I don’t see why not. As you can tell, we are currently in the kitchen,” I said, blandly gesturing around with my hands.

 

            “I envy you.”

 

            “Why?” I asked, not sure why he would envy me.

 

            “Because of your kitchen. It’s huge. One day when I own my own house, I want a kitchen that is exactly like this,” he rambled on and I could only stare at him. “This may sound weird, but I’m a man who loves to cook.”

 

            “It’s not weird at all. It’s… interesting. A big kitchen is nice, but since I’m the only one who lives here, it doesn’t get as much use as it should. For just living here by myself, I would have chosen something a little smaller, but this house kinda fell on my lap,” I said while tracing along the wooden grains of the small island in the middle of the kitchen.

 

            “How so?” he asked.

 

            “Well, this house used to belong to my parents,” I said, trying to block out the memories that started to pop in and out of my mind.

 

            “Used to? Does that mean…” he asked trailing off.

 

            “Yeah, they’re dead,” I said bluntly while also trying to hold back the tears that had somehow managed to form at the corner of my eyes.

 

            “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked so many questions,” he said, concern apparent in his voice as I saw him reach out for my shoulders.

 

            “No, it’s fine,” I said, walking away and brushing him off. “It’s in human nature to be inquisitive. Let’s continue, shall we?”

 

*******************************************************************************

 

            Right after he asked that last question which brought up her parents, she became cold, closing herself off to him. Something bad had obviously happened to her parents, otherwise she wouldn’t have done a 180 turn from the cheerful girl that was standing right in front of him. Just when he thought that he was getting close, she pushes him away.

   

         He made a mental note to talk about it to her later. Obviously it was still sore, and if every time someone mentioned her parents she acted like that, it was going to take quite some time to heal, or even make her feel slightly better. He wanted to be the one to help her though her pain and help move her life forward.

 

            Following her, they stopped briefly in the living room. Studying the room, he should have seen it earlier when he passed through that none of the decorations in the house look like something that she would have picked. While she was more quiet and down to earth, the room was vividly covered in bright yellows, looking warm and inviting to anyone that would happen to walk in the room.

 

            Once again, he made a mental note that she probably hadn’t changed the way anything looked in the house and left it as her parents had it before they became deceased.

 

            On the other side of the living room was an open doorway which led to the hallway that they had entered earlier. On the right side of the hallway was a closet and a few feet down from that was a bathroom.

 

            At the end of the hallway at the other end of the house was a staircase. As he followed her up the staircase, he couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of the photos that were hung. In one was Natalie, a couple years younger wearing a cap and gown with two smiling people standing next to her, looking perfectly happy.

 

            He guessed it must have been at her high school graduation. There was also a slight difference, and not just about the difference in years. She looked so much livelier, her eyes glowing and her smile just exuding radiance. She was also a bit thinner, making him wonder what she would be like now and think about how much he wanted to see her eyes glow with happiness like they did in that picture.

 

            Not allowing himself to be caught staring, he quickly whisked up the few short stairs that were there. He tuned in just in time to hear her say that the room straight ahead was yet again another bathroom.

 

            “Which bedroom is yours?” he asked while looking around the landing, seeing three doors other than the one that was the bathroom.

 

            She visibly tensed up at his words. Turning to face him, she bit her bottom lip while mulling over what to tell him.

 

            “My bedroom is the last one on the right. The room across the hall used to belong to my parents, while the other room was just a miscellaneous room. At one point it was my dad’s office when he had the idea that he was trying to be a writer, which didn’t work out so well,” she told him, remembering this while laughing at the idea. “Then it was transformed into a play room, and then it turned into a room for comfort, which we all would use when we just wanted to get away from it all. Now it sits empty.”

 

            He was unsure of whether to place a hand comfortingly on her shoulder for he was afraid that if he did that she would break down and cry. His experiences didn’t include comforting women who bawled their eyes out. Regretfully, he just let his hand hang deftly at his side as she turned to face him, trying to regain her composure.

 

            “So, that’s the end of the tour, unless you want to see the backyard,” she spoke almost robotically like a robot.

 

            “I’d love to view the backyard,” he said with a smile.

 

            She gave him a small smile and a nod before moving past him and back down the stairs from whence they came. Her movements were stiff, like she knew that he was watching her so she put up a front to block him out from what was really going on.

 

            She led him into the kitchen and out the door that lead to the backyard. Just as she turned the handle and opened the backdoor, a loud bark was heard before Munchie came running up to them once again.

 

            “How did she get outside?” Collin asked while laughing at the dog.

 

            “There’s a little doggie door,” she said, a little of the tension easing away as she used her foot to kick the door where the flap was that allowed Munchie to go in and out of the house as she pleased. “It makes it a lot easier when I’m at work or can’t get to the door in time to let her out so I don’t have to clean up her mess.”

 

            “I see,” he said, nodding in understanding, “but aren’t you afraid that she’s going to just take off and run one day?”

 

            “Nah, you forget, I provide her with food so she always comes back. Besides, she’s more of a people person than an outdoorsy dog,” she smiled as they continued walking.

 

            Her house had a good 10 acres of land, stretching out until it met the tree line which ran across the horizon. Just before you came to the tree line, there was a decent sized lake, with wild cattails growing all around it.

 

            “I have a question for you,” he said, stopping in his tracks which made her stop as well.

 

            She tilted her head while steadily gazing at him, trying to figure out what he was going to say, but he knew that it would come as a shock.

 

            “Would you want to go on a date with me sometime?” he was somehow able to utter those words while looking down at the ground, unsurely waiting for her answer. When it took her a while to answer, he looked up and saw her staring back at him, her jaw dropped with a small blush across her cheeks.

 

            “You can’t p-possibly be s-serious,” she stammered, regaining partial composure before moving past him and back towards the house.

 

            “Oh, but I am serious,” he said as he swung around and softly grasped her on the shoulder, bringing her to a halt.

 

            “But why?”

 

            “Because, I find you interesting,” he said while brushing away a strand of hair that blew into her face from the wind. “Like I said earlier, I want to know more about you.”

 

            “This is flattering and all Colin, but I’m going to need some time to make up my mind about this,” she said while fidgeting with her hands, looking down at the ground.

 

            “What’s to think about? Most people are good with a simple yes or no,” he stated, crossing his arms while looking at her with confusion.

 

            “Please, just give me a bit of time to think about it,” she whispered.

 

            “I’ll give you some time,” he said, placing a finger underneath her chin and lifting it up so they were looking face to face, “but only because I think that you are worth waiting for. I think that I’m going to leave. I can see myself out. Have a good day Natty.”

 

            He dropped his hand and with a smile he gave her a bow before walking away around the house and to his car. He wanted to do so much more than give her a smile, but he knew that he must be patient. Hell, if she was so shy about even deciding whether or not to go on a date with him, how long would it take before she warmed up to the idea that the stars have said that they were meant to be together, let alone warm up to him.

 

            After getting into his car, he took a moment before letting his head hit the steering wheel, letting out a groan of frustration in the process.

 

            “You had better be right about all this dream nonsense Gran, or else when I next see you I’ll give you a piece of my mind,” he muttered while looking up at the sky.

 

            Starting his car up, he got situated before backing out of the driveway and head towards his apartment, wondering how he could convince her to warm up to him faster.

 

Author's Note

The dialogue seems to go on forever... any helpful suggestions?

Reviews

[Alex Thomas]

There is a lot of dialogue but to me it doesn't seem to go on forever. You could try being extremely descriptive to split up the dialogue but that might get painful for the reader. Is there also a reason that you switched from first to third person?