Patrick

"Why is he coming here again?" I groaned and my Mom hit my arm.

"Be nice." Both she and Carla said.

"What?" I scoffed and reached for a piece of chicken off the table but Carla slapped my hand away.

"What was that for?" I rubbed my hand and pouted at her.

She chuckled. "You know exactly what that was for. No eating until he gets here."

I groaned again. "But I'm hungry."

Carla's grandson is coming over for the summer. His name is Keith. She hadn't seen him in years, ever since he was a boy.

"You can wait a little Elenna." My Mom said, siding with her, "you don't need food anyway." She laughed and Carla joined her.

My jaw dropped. "Of course I need food! I haven't eaten in thirty minutes!" I whined. I love food. It's my favourite thing in the world.

My Mom waves her hand. "Where does all the food you eat go? You're literally the size of an ant. Really skinny." She giggles.

I roll my eyes and sit in a chair. They make fun of how much food I eat but I never seem to get fat. I think it's a gift. My father was the same way. We ate a lot but never got fat. I miss my father.

No. I shake the thought from my head and focus on Carla and my mom teasing me. I rested my head on my hand and blow raspberries.

The sound of the doorbell ringing made me look over at them. Their staring at me and I sucked my teeth, "I'm guessing you guys want me to get the gate?"

"If it's not too much trouble." They both smile.

"Well-"

"Go get the gate!" Carla swats at me.

"I'm going. I'm going." I raise my arms up as if to surrender and got up from my chair. Yay, he's here. I'm so excited.

Note the sarcasm.

I put on the flip flops that I left by the door and go outside. I'm still in my pajamas because we didn't go out today. We're in the middle of a heatwave. So why go out? I jog down the driveway and up to the gate. Yes, our house has a huge gate. It fits the house even though it hasn't always been here.

I see two people in that car. I thought only her grandson was coming. But I still open the gate and let them drive inside. Once it's closed I jog back up the house. Just in time to see Carla's grandson, Keith, get out of his car. He has dark hair and glasses. A blond girl got out as well, they don't look alike so I assume that's his girlfriend.

He smiles at me and I return a small smiling before going inside. I kick off my shoes and look at them, "Carla is in the dining room." I motion for them to follow me as I jog my way to our dining room. My mom is talking with Carla but they turn their attention to our two guests.

"Keith!" Carla squeals and walks around the table and holds her arms up. I sit down next to my Mom and watch as Carla pulls him down to her small height and he awkwardly laughs and hugs her back.

His girlfriend is standing there looking uninterested and bored. She had her arms crossed over her chest.

Once they pull away she looks at him. "You've gotten so big!"

He laughs, "I know, Nana." He rubs the back of his neck.

She turns to his girlfriend, "Meghan right?"

The girl smiles and nods, "Yes."

"Well, " She breathes and turns to us, "this is my boss and one of my very close friends, Erin, and her daughter, Elenna." She motions to us.

"It's nice to meet you." My mother smiled, and she returned one.

"Well! Dinner is ready. Sit down." She leads him to the table.

Once we're all seated I can't wait to get my food. My stomach is growling and they're taking forever. No offense to him or anything but I need food.

"Elenna, I need you to go bring that box on the island to Kathy," Carla says.

My eyes go wide. "What?"

"You heard me. Can you do it now?"

"But I didn't get my food yet." I pout and motioned to my nonexistent plate of food.

She chuckles. "If you go now, I'll make you a milkshake."

I narrow my eyes at her and stand up. "No whipped cream?"

"No whipped cream." She promises.

"Fine." I huff and walk into the kitchen. Of course, there was a box full of spices for Kathy. That's Patrick's mom. I really hope he doesn't answer the door. I don't want to see him. We've been neighbors forever. We go to the same school and he's not good at hiding his feelings. He's weird as well. Very emotional for a boy and my mom had been trying to set me up with him before I even knew what a boy was.

I grab the box and run back over to the door. I don't bother to put my flip flops on because I want to get back to my food. I run down my driveway, out the gate, and over to Patrick's house. I press the small button the gate and wait. There are only four houses on this block but it's not a coldesack. It's just a dead end. And all of the houses are relatively big. Including mine.

Just my luck Patrick comes outside. I let out a breath and watch him open the gate.

"Hey, El." He smiles, politely and runs a hand through his brown hair. That's another thing. He's really nice to me. Like a lot. He doesn't smile as bright when he talks to any other girl.

"Hey," I say dryly, "Here." I shove the box into his hands.

"What's this?" He looks down at the box.

"Spices. From Carla."

"Oh," he nods, "thanks."

"Mmhm." I hum and nod.

I turn around and I hear him call, "I haven't seen you in a few weeks."

"I've been inside!" I call back as I walk away.

"What are you doing tomorrow?!"

"Nothing!"

"Could I come over?!"

"Nope!"

~I know, Patrick isn't in this part a lot but he will be later in the story. I hope you like it so far. Feel free to tell me what you think!~