Chapter 4

Sarah's POV:

​I walked into my room, closed my door, leaned against it, and took a deep breath. I could feel a connection between Kevin and me. Whenever he looked at me, I got a weird feeling in my chest. It felt as if my heart was about to leap out of my chest. Whenever he smiled, my knees turned to jelly and I would have to grab onto something just so I could stay up. I lay down on my bed as thoughts of Kevin whirled in my head. Maybe he felt the same way about me? What would I do if I found out he liked me as much as I liked him? I grabbed my phone to call Carlee to see what she thought of Kevin, but before I could dial the number, my eyes closed and I drifted off to sleep.

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​I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen. I ran down the stairs and stopped when I saw a head with long blond hair with pink dyed tips in the kitchen. "Emma?" I questioned.

​She turned her head and threw her hair off her shoulder. Her golden eyes sparkled when she saw me. "Good morning, Sarah," she smiled. "I thought you would enjoy some breakfast before you saw Kevin today. Is he coming here?"

​I shook my head. "I'm going there."

​"Oh," her whole body turned toward me. "Would you like me to bring you?"

​I was about to answer but another female voice did. "No, I'm bringing her," I could tell without looking behind me that it was my mom. "Thank you for asking though, Emma," I noticed that Emma's eyes darkening when she heard my mom, which was weird for her.

​She still smiled and said "You're welcome."

​I ran back up the stairs to my room as I felt an awkward feeling creep up my spine. I quickly got dressed and tried to make myself look pretty for Kevin. I heard a knock on my door as I was finishing up. "Come in," I called out. My mom came into my room then into my bathroom.

She leaned against the door frame as she watched me get ready. She seemed exhausted, like something was draining her.

​"You look beautiful," she had a proud expression on her face.

​"Thank you," I looked at her through the mirror. "Are you sure you want to drive me? You look tired."

​She pressed her hand to her head. "It's not like it's an hour away. It's just across the street and I don't want you walking across the street anyway."

​I turned around to face her. "Are you sure because Emma can drive me?"

​She straightened up when she saw that I was ready to go. "I'm fine."

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​When we arrived at Kevin's house, she got even worse so she dropped me off and I waved to her as she drove away. I walked up to the enormous front door by myself and knocked as hard as I could so that my knock would be heard. After a few seconds of standing awkwardly at the door, I heard the door unlock and it swung open. An old, smiling face greeted me. "Well, hello, Sarah. Nice to see you again!"

​"Hello, sir. How's Kevin?" I looked over his shoulder to see if Kevin was behind Pop.

​"His leg is still bothering him, but I have been giving him some pain killers."

​"That's good," I nodded and rocked on my heels.

​He stepped out of the threshold and motioned me inside. "Please, follow me. Kevin's been waiting for you."

​My cheeks began to burn when he turned around. We walked through the living room and the kitchen before we approached a large white door. Pop opened it for me and I stepped inside the garage. The garage was enormous and was filled with bikes, different cars, and car parts that I didn't even notice. I began to admire all the skateboards hanging on the walls but as I walked, I watched my footing because there were car parts all over the floor that I could easily trip over. But just like I knew it would happen, I tripped over a skateboard wheel that I didn't realize was there. I was about to fall head first on the ground when a pair of hands caught me. The hands helped me get back onto my feet and as I turned around I expected to see Pop's wrinkled face looking at me, but instead it was Kevin's fresh face with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"

​I lifted my arm, which was dripping with blood. I had a long scrape along my forearm. It was bleeding heavily and burning. Kevin gently tilted my arm so he could get a good look at it.

"Pop will know what to do," he winced as he shifted his weight onto his casted foot so he could place me on my feet. He wrapped his arm around my waist and kept his hold on my injured arm as we headed back into the kitchen. Pop had a pot on the stove which had steam coming out of it. Vegetables and fruits were all over the counter, and he was chopping up a green vegetable when we walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Pop, we have an issue."

​Pop looked up from his cutting at us. His eyes widened when he saw the blood dripping from my arm onto the floor. "Please don't get any blood on my floor!" he cried as he ran over to us. He rushed me to the sink and quickly but gently washed off the blood and cleaned the scrape. He put a pinkish colored gel on the wound and wrapped it with gauze.

​"Thank you," I said once he was done. "It feels better already."

​"It's supposed to. It's from our...country," Pop breathed out. ​

​I turned around and saw Kevin glaring at Pop from his seat on the couch. I tried to block his view, but Kevin didn't focus on me until I placed my hand on his. When I had a firm grip on his hand, an electric current went through me. It went through my fingers then to my entire body. Goosebumps followed the current wherever it went. Kevin looked into my eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked.

​He silently looked at me as a shudder went through my body as the electricity left me. "Why don't you show her around our house?" Pop suggested. "I'm sure she would enjoy that."

​I looked back up at Kevin and he smiled. "Would you like to?" He stuck his arm out toward me.

​I put my arm through his and smiled back. "I'd love to."

​He first led me upstairs to a gigantic room that he called "the theater room." All the walls had shelves that covered them and on those shelves were movies that were separated by genre, and on the last shelved wall were video games. At the front of the room was a huge television that was placed on a stand. In front of the television were three rows of theater chairs. Kevin and I sat in the last row next to each other. He propped up his casted leg on the chair in front of him. He was rubbing his leg as he talked.

​"Why do you need so many chairs?" I interrupted him.

​He chuckled. "Usually Pop does presentations in here or when we have company over we all sit in here and watch a movie together. I used to have a big family," he sat back in his chair staring at his casted leg.

​"Used to?" I questioned.

​He shook his head and slowly got out of his seat. "Come on! I have a lot more to show you," he smiled as he took my hand to help me up.

​The next room he brought me into was a snack bar area. The room was brightly colored with pinks, yellows, greens, and whites. On the walls were clear containers that were filled with jelly beans, gummy bears, chocolates, and mints. They were on different walls based on what they were. In the far right corner was a huge popcorn machine. It looked like one of the ones you would see at a movie theatre. I started running around literally like a child in a candy store. When I saw my favorite candy or chocolate I would pick out a piece, eat it, and then move on. I was in front of the jelly bean container when I noticed Kevin staring at me. "Do I look like a fatty?" I questioned him as I turned my body towards him.

​He laughed so hard that he had to hold onto his ribs. "No! It's just, you remind me so much of my mom. My dad created this room for her because she loved sweets so much."

​I closed the lid to the container. "Where are your parents anyway?"

​He looked off to the side when he answered. "They're on a business trip. Let's go. I have a lot more to show you." He waddled away and I slowly followed him.

I wonder how long his parents leave. It must get lonely here without them.

​"Do you have any siblings?" I asked as I ran up beside him.

​He nodded and I couldn't help but notice he looked melancholy.

​"Well, where are they?" I persisted.

​"My oldest brother, James, lives with his wife. Paul, the second oldest, is traveling with my other brother Kyle. Kyle's my twin but I'm still the youngest because he was one minute older than me." He turned to me. "Let's go outside. I just remember I forgot to feed my ducks."

​"You have pet ducks?" I exclaimed as we headed down the stairs.

​He led me outside where there was a huge duck filled pond that even a tennis court on the side. We stepped out onto the dark brown patio and I stared in awe of the view around me. It was what I pictured paradise to be like. The birds chirped their own little tunes as the ducks swam without worry. Kevin reached into a large grey container and pulled out two white paper bags. When he shut the lid, all the ducks started quacking and running up to us. He handed me a bag and sprinkled yellow and white stuff in front of us. The ducks got really excited and started fighting over the little corn kernels. "Are they going to bite me?" I asked as I slowly sprinkled kernels in front of my feet.

​He laughed. "They won't." I could feel his eyes on me as I continued to feed the ducks. "What do you think?"

​I looked up from the ducks and over the landscape again. "It's very beautiful here."

​"You can come back whenever you want, however long you want," Kevin stated.

​I looked up at him to see if he was being serious. "Really?"

​He smiled at me. "Of course."

​"I'd really like that," I said as we walked into the kitchen.

​Pop looked up at us as I closed the door behind me. "Hey, kiddies. Are you staying for lunch, Sarah?"

​I shook my head. "No, sir. My mom is getting off of work early so I can help her start cooking for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Would the both of you like to come and eat with us?"

"That is tomorrow, isn't it?" I heard Kevin whisper to himself.

​Pop grinned from ear to ear. "We'd love to!"

​I smiled. "Well, I'd better get going."

​Kevin turned to me. "I'll walk you out."

​I looked into his dazzling brown eyes. "Okay."

​"It was nice seeing you again, Miss Sarah," Pop said before I left the kitchen.

​"It was nice seeing you, too, Sir."

​He looked up at me. "Please call me Pop."

​I smiled. "It was nice seeing you, too, Pop."

​Kevin led me back to the front door and opened it for me. We both stepped outside and Kevin looked around as if expecting something. "Where's your ride?" he asked me.

​"I'm just walking home. Its good exercise," I stated.

​"What? No, I'm not letting you walk home alone," his tone changed to concern.

​I shook my head. "You can't walk very far with a broken leg."

​He looked down at the cast around his leg. "Yeah, you're right." He wrapped his arms around my waist and embraced me. I slowly and steadily placed my arms around his neck and held onto him. It felt right to be in his arms. It was as if the entire world had disappeared and it was just us. I wanted to stay like that forever, but he let go of me and chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow," he whispered into my ear.

​I felt my cheeks heat up. "Okay." I shoved my hands into my pockets and turned away from him so he wouldn't see my rosy cheeks. I pulled my hood over my head as I walked down the front steps and onto the side walk toward my house. I glanced back and saw him staring at me. I smiled to myself and let my cheeks burn again. I couldn't wait till tomorrow.