Never I Thought

Chapter 7 - Let Me Be

I stared at the woman but she only looked ahead at the white, weatherboard home with the big window shrouded with curtains.

My hands clutched my bike tightly and I got ready to walk off. There were no intentions of me sticking around especially with some random stranger.

"Are you a friend of the family?" She asked quietly.

I looked at her in shock. She was about my height but extremely piete with her cheekbones sunken in and deep black circles under her eyes. She was around her forties, the wrinkles around her eyes giving it away.

"A friend of the family?" I repeated.

"You look to be about Robin's age," she said, glancing over at me dismally.

I felt my shock become more set on my face, she must've noticed how crazy she appeared because she gave me a soft smile.

"Sorry. I live in the neighbourhood, the Kempts live here. They're so welcoming and friendly, the whole street lights up when we can hear them."

Still extremely weird, I thought to myself.

"Uh, no. I'm not a friend of the family," I answered her.

The woman tucked a loose strain of dark hair behind her ear, "yes, despite how warm they may be it's hard to grow close to them."

I had never thought Robin was difficult to grow close to. To his friends at least. They were always posting pictures together on social media, almost every day.

There were no reason I should be close to Robin and therefore I couldn't understand the woman's fulfilled smile at she looked on.

"Have a nice evening, darlin'," the woman said, indicating the end of a one sided conversation.

I didn't even say goodbye, I just kept walking.

When I got to the edge of Penny's yard I finally turned around but the woman had already disappeared. Probably to go back into her own home.

I pushed that interaction aside so I could enjoy my night with Penny. Three loud knocks on her white wood door and she opened up with a smile.

———

"Honestly, I was surprised to get your phone call," Penny said, picking at a bowl of potato fries.

We were sitting in a small restaurant that was particularly empty but I suppose not many people went out in the middle of the week. Apart from an elderly couple on the other side of the room and three men wearing business attire laughing loudly in the middle, we were the only ones.

I picked up a chicken wing and took a bite. Usually I hated messy foods and preferred using a fork despite how strange it looked but Penny told me I needed to lean into this wild side I had taken on tonight.

"Why is it so surprising to everyone that I wanted to take a break from studying?"

Penny looked at me as if I was stupid and then cracked a grin, "because, you never take a break on a Wednesday night. After having most of your hard classes and then tutoring, you always make sure to make notes so you don't fall behind and get overwhelmed."

I blinked, "I've never taken a break on a Wednesday?"

"Never."

"Oh my god. Who am I?"

She raised her hands, "now you get it!"