Just What I Needed

Just What I Needed (55)

Not having been sure about anything to do with the shopping trip that was coming, Keely sat in the rental car, savouring the last moments of warmth as she looked up considering at Marco’s house.

Her knowledge ended with the time and place she was supposed to show up. She didn’t know if she was supposed to drive all the women or go in a car with them, not to mention what mall they were going or where that happened to be. Apparently Dave hadn’t thought to bring her a car with the necessity of all tourist, a GPS, and it was ending with her being very lost. Finding her hotel the night before had been a journey. After an hour, and swallowing her pride, she’d called Seth to give her directions as she drove.

Pulling in a sigh that was riddled with nerves, Keely leaned into the backseat, snatching up her white knitted toque and with one last look at the house, crammed it onto her already messy hair. Shoving out of the car, she quickly skipped through the almost knee high snow in her slip on sneakers.

At the door she skidded to a stop, knocking on it hurriedly.

But when it didn’t open instantly she fell back onto her heels, hopping lightly from foot to foot in the chilly weather that crystallized her breath in front of her mouth. She quickly rubbed her hands together, blowing on them wishing vainly that she’d worn more snow worthy shoes than the sneakers.

Not having done laundry the night before, not wanting to go out to find a laundry mat, Keely had opted to create a makeshift wardrobe that was somewhat lacking against the snow covered ground and clear skies. In a pair of ripped jeans, an open hoodie beneath her jean jacket to show the black Ramones shirt with a scarf twined around her neck, she was wishing for a few more layers by the time the door opened.

Still when she spun around, she made a sound of surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Colton grinned happily, leaning against the door with his hand on the door handle. “You’re so nice to me sometimes.”

Rolling her eyes, Keely hugged her arms around her stomach. “What I meant was, what are you doing here, at Marco’s house?”

“Organizing a whole freaking concert.”

“Huh?” she asked confused, still shifting restlessly.

However, before he could answer, there were exclamations of happiness from within the house, clearly female exclamations. Jolting in shock made her realize how unused to women she was becoming, sure, she saw them all the time at the concerts or in town, but still the majority of her time was spent in a bus with three boys. It was a rather nerve racking thought. With that in mind, Keely peeked around Colton to see the horde of mother’s making their way down the hall.

But that was when the nerves from before kicked into high gear. Not only was she not a big fan of shopping – something Haley had always thought was her biggest fault – but she was going shopping with three women, and she was far from being accustomed to women in general at the moment, who were the parents of her closest friends and people who’d she’d only spent a few hours with the day before.

Yeah, Keely felt that was worthy of a few butterflies.

“Hi sweetie,” called Liz happily, brushing past both of them, pinching her cheek as she passed.

Wincing slightly, Keely rubbed her cheek looking back to an amused looking Colton, she doubted she’d ever get used to the pinching of the cheeks. But she only had a few moments of those thoughts before her attention was grabbed elsewhere.

“I’ll see you in a few hours,” announced Heather, stepping up onto her tip toes to kiss her son on the cheek.

He looked down at her with a face that made Keely bite her lips together, trying to hold back laughter, a boy could only look at his mother with that pouting face. Anyone else, he’d get the shit kicked out of him. “Can I come?” he asked in the little boy’s voice.