One afternoon after school, Rebecca went downtown to run some errands her mother had asked her to do. She was almost done with them when she looked at the last thing on her list, picking up some paddle tennis equipment at Deportes Lopez, the local sporting goods store owned by Colby's parents.
Then Rebecca got nervous, she didn't want to run into Colby, whenever he was in front of her she always got so nervous, she became more clumsy than usual and her stomach tingled, like a hundred butterflies were fluttering in her tummy. When the whole group was together Rebecca felt calmer and the butterflies were calmer too, but if it was just the two of them she didn't know what to do, she had never felt this way with any boy before, she didn't want to admit it but she was falling in love with Colby, what she didn't know was that this feeling was reciprocal.
After a long time standing in front of the sporting goods store, Rebecca took a couple of deep breaths and plucked up the courage to go inside. She made her way to the counter where a woman was checking some papers.
-Hello, good afternoon, I was just coming to pick up an order for Annette Quin-, she said politely.
-Yes, you must be Rebecca, right? Your mother told me you were coming by this afternoon to pick up her paddle tennis equipment-, the woman replied with a friendly smile, she looked nice and looked a lot like Colby, except for her eyes, which were light blue.
-Yes, my mother works late and asked me to pick him up.
-She already told me he had the late-night shift this week. I'm Holly and if you ever need anything I live at the end of your same neighborhood.
-Thank you, I don't want to sound rude but if you could give me the paddle tennis equipment, I still have to finish my homework-, Rebecca said shyly.
-Oh yes, of course, wait here for a moment, I'll get it for you right away.
Holly went to the back room to pick up Annette's order and at that moment the front door of the store opened.
-Mom, I've finished delivering all the packages, if you don't need anything else?
Colby froze at the sight of Rebecca.
-Hi, your mother is in the back room-, she said shyly.
-Thank you, uh, what are you doing here? You don't look like a sports fan.
-I'm not, I came to pick up some paddle tennis equipment for my mother, she's joined a club with her colleagues from the hospital.
-Well, here's everything Rebecca, that'll be 98 dollars. Oh hello son, have you finished delivering everything?
-Yes, it's all delivered, Mom.
-Well, now you can go home and finish your homework.
Colby left the store, Rebecca paid for her mother's purchases and also left the store with the intention of going home. As she left the store, after walking a few steps a hand touching her shoulder made Rebecca startle.
-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you Rebecca-, said Colby.
-Hey, don't worry about it.
-Do you need help with the bags? I can help you if you want.
-You didn't have to go finish your homework.
-Yes, but I wanted to go to 329 for coffee first, I only have a few more exercises to finish and they're so easy, I'll finish them quickly.
-Easy? They look like hell to me, I'm really bad at math and I promised my mother to get better grades, so I have to go home and study, but thank you.
-I can help you to study if you want, we can go for some coffees and then go to your house to finish my homework.
-Okay, if it's not too much trouble, I need some help with something.
-Then you've found the right guy.
