Holden Peters expects nothing exciting to happen during the summer before his final year of high school. But in a spontaneous act of bravery, he saves his pretty next door neighbour from drowning and is deemed as a local hero.
Thanks to his newfound...
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Flo and I were still in that place between a friendship and a relationship and I intended on finally make a move. She invited all of us over for a backyard screening marathon of Harry Potter, but Tess declined because her roster changed and she was now taking night shifts rather than afternoon ones and Quinton said he had plans with his old man. That left just the two of us.
I crossed to the neighbouring house at eight, holding a jumbo two litre bottle of Coke and a bag of Sour Patch Kids. Flo met me half way in her backyard, classic boxes of popcorn and a bag of Maltesers sitting on the blanket of grass. The portable screen was set up in front of us and Flo used an extender cord to hook up the projector and laptop.
"This is awesome."
She grinned and dropped onto the blanket, grabbing a box of popcorn just as the opening sequence rolled. I sat next to her and opened the bag of lollies sitting between us, getting comfortable and looking up at the screen.
"Harry Potter brings back fond memories," Flo mumbled.
"I agree," I answered.
"The books were basically my guidance in life," she added.
"Yeah."
I had never actually read the books before.
"You've never read the books before, have you?" she asked, practically reading my mind.
I smiled sheepishly as she reached under the blanket and pulled out a tattered old paperback with dog ears and a creased cover. She ran her fingers over the exterior and smiled to herself.
"I'm basically giving you a part of my life," Flo said, handing it over.
"It's an honour."
Her fingers brushed against mine and despite the cheesy romance films I had seen, there wasn't a spark of electricity. It was slightly awkward and shy, lasting less than a second as I took the book and we both looked away nervously. But the discomfort wasn't evident for long. Flo picked up a box of popcorn, took out a pair of chopsticks from next to her and started eating.
"Do you ever do anything normally?" I teased.
"Define normal," she answered, deadpan.
"Oh... W-Well, you know..." I stuttered, my tongue tripping over my words. In that moment, I wanted to shrivel up like a prehistoric sultana.
But her expression softened and she smiled. "I think the question is more along the lines of: why does everyone do everything the same?"
"You got me beat, Flo Jefferson," I muttered.
Flo left me at a loss for words. Literally. But at the same time, I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to make her laugh and educate her on meaningful things; make her question mainstream life choices like she had done to me. I wanted to challenge her thoughts and display the amount of intellect the way she did so effortlessly. But the only things I could rave on about were food and sleep and how it would be awesome if we could do them simultaneously.
