Chasing Charlie

Chapter Twenty-Seven | Wheelbarrow of Surprise

Charlie

"Yep, we'll be there... Half an hour? ... Sure, see you then." Chase placed his cheap phone down and smiled at me.

"Stop smiling, you never smile," I chuckled.

"We're going Sam's house."

"We're?"

"Yep, the three of us are gonna hang out and yes we should probably be studying right now but we've gotta live."

I stared at him in shock. "Didn't think the nerd would have a rebellious side," I joked.

He shook his head, a smile dancing on his lips.

____

"If I'm right, Sam should be waiting on our bench. Do you see him?"

"Yep, he's there. Race you there?"

He chuckled, "bring it."

I started to sprint to where Sam was sitting on the bench. He probably heard us as he turned his head towards the direction we were coming from. Chase was going pretty fast and I was surprised he could. I jumped onto the bench just before Chase could touch Sam and cheered in victory.

"You two are so embarrassing. Remind me why I decided to invite the two of you over?" Sam said, annoyed, but with a smile on his face.

Chase chuckled and I smiled at how happy he was lately.

Sam stood up, and extended his stick, placing it on the ground and heading off towards the exit of the park. Chase pushed himself next to Sam while I followed behind the two. I quickly pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the two. They looked cute and happy and I was glad that they were friends.

It wasn't a long walk to Sam's house. The sun was out and it was a nice spring day. When we got to the front steps, I helped Chase up whilst Sam felt around for the side wall by the steps. Sam pulled out a set of keys and slowly opened the door and pushed it open.

He folded his stick up and placed it by the door before yelling, "Mum! My friends are over."

"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me, honey," his mum replied.

"Mothers these days," he mumbled under his breath, as he led us towards his room.

Once he opened the door, he kept walking straight, towards the opposite side of the room. At one point he felt around for his bed and once he was certain with himself, turned around and fell onto his bed.

"So what do you guys wanna do?" Sam asked, as the two of us looked at him.

I shrugged and Chase mumbled out an inaudible, "I don't know."

Sam sighed, "I've been stuck in this room all weekend, busy studying and when I wanna take a fun break, my friends don't know what to do. Let's go outside since it's nicer than staying in here," he got up and without another word, walked out, towards the door.

Chase looked over at me and shrugged. He also followed Sam and since I didn't feel like being alone, I also followed the two, teenaged boys.

Sam led us through his house and towards the backyard. He touched the glass door, sliding it open and gracefully walking outside. I helped Chase over the small metal bar the door was sitting on and closed it behind me. Without any noise passing between the three of us, we all laid down on the soft, spring-green grass. Chase was in the middle with Sam and I on either side of him. We were all looking up, only two of us seeing the beauty of the clouds up high.

"What's going on between you two? Are you two together or do you just like each other? It's so confusing that I lost interest in asking," Sam said, after a few peaceful minutes.