Mosdenea

Chapter 12--Swerving Cars, Cops, and Waves

Pierce was way too happy to see me again. He kept complaining about how much he missed having me around and that sharing a home with only Aaron was boring and depressing.

I gave him a hug and admitted I missed him too. Going back home to Michigan was great—to see my family and old friends. But now I was glad to be back here. Before I could forget, I handed the boys my favorite Manny Dean movie. And I made them promise they would watch it with me sometime. Even though they really really didn't want to.

The next morning—after my night out with Aaron—Pierce made a giant breakfast. "In my defense," he said. "We didn't get to spend Thanksgiving together. I think this calls for a late Thanksgiving breakfast."

I smiled, Pierce telling me to sit at the table while he brought out all sorts of food. The aroma of everything must have awoken Aaron because he soon joined us. His head shifting around the kitchen like he was trying to pinpoint a certain smell.

"Is that bacon?" Aaron finally asked in a groggy tone. He pushed his fingers through his wild hair, his glasses on. Seeing Aaron in his glasses again made me realize he probably wears contacts. I wasn't sure which I thought was more attractive, Aaron without or with his glasses.

The sad thing is, when Aaron came into the room—my heart fluttered. He looked up at me and I could see him trying to push back his smile. He took a seat beside me, just as Pierce sat down as well.

"Dig in," Pierce said as he gave us both his dimple faced smile.

Aaron instantly went to the bacon. I reached over to my right and grabbed some of the crepes and plums. "Happy late Thanksgiving," Pierce lifted his glass of orange juice and we all followed. We tapped them together, giving cheers.

There wasn't much room for talking. We were all too busy stuffing our faces with everything that Pierce made. Once we were done eating we sat around, trying to digest our food. "So how as Michigan?" Pierce asked me.

I shrugged, "Nothing really changed. Everything was the same."

"Was there snow?"

"Of course Pierce," I playfully rolled my eyes. "It was freezing."

"Man," Pierce said a sad grin on his face. He turned to look at Aaron. "When was the last time we went somewhere with snow?"

Aaron thought about it for a second. He rolled his head in the direction of the glass doors and kept his gaze focused outside. "You went to Switzerland," He answered. "I couldn't go, remember?"

"That was such a long time ago," Pierce muttered after it seemed to click in his head.

Aaron nodded, taking the last sips of his orange juice. "So Birdie," he said catching my attention. He leaned onto the table, dropping his gaze on me. "You done with the sketch of the building?"

"Uh..." I hesitated. It's been months now since Aaron asked me to draw the sketch. I've worked my butt off on it and it was really starting to come together. But yesterday when we were racing down the interstate on Aaron's bike, a new idea decided to spring into my head. Now I was simply modifying my drawings. There was no way I would be able to start over—and I wouldn't want to anyways. So I was just adding onto what I've already made.

Aaron lifted his eyebrow, "You know I need it in a few days, right?"

I nodded, suddenly feeling nervous. Exams were rolling around in few days. After Thanksgiving, students only have about a week—if they're lucky two weeks—before exams. When I was at home and didn't feel like talking to my parents, I spent my time going over my notes and classwork as a form to study for exams. This week I was supposed to go to several study sessions with my classmates. Kellie and I were going to meet up and Jackson was going to help me better understand a few concepts in math.