To Trust Him

Now it's Gwen?

I would have parked my bike at Gwen's garage like usual but the garage door was close as if she wasn't expecting me or if she wasn't at home.  In the end, I properly put my bike against the mailbox before knocking on her front door.

After awhile her mother greeted me with a surprise look on her face.

"Elly? Come in, come in." She insisted me while giving me room to enter.

"I wasn't expecting you." She said as she walked to the kitchen with me trailing behind her.

"I assumed since Gwen isn't here, your study group was cancelled." She explained before I could asked her why.

"Gwen's not here?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Right after lunch, she went out. I thought you two had a little break from studying." Her hands busied with washing the dishes.

"Here. Let me help." I took the clean plates from her.

"Thank you, sweety." She smiled and we both chatted while cleaning the dishes.

"There's still leftovers if you're hungry." She informed and her eyes pointed to the containers on the kitchen isle.

"Thank you but I've already had lunch." I declined while contemplating whether to stay or go home.

"I'm not sure when she'll be back." Her voice brought me back to their living room. She had brought a modern see-through teapot with two cups and chocolate chips cookies making every decisions meaningless.

I was going to stay for awhile or till there's no more cookies left. And maybe wait to come home and explain her MIA.

"Thank you. I'll wait for her, if you don't mind." She shook her head with a gentle smile.

"Just bake out of the oven this morning. The perfect way to lure in guests especially you." She teased and I chuckled at that. I had been coming here too many times to make her remember my addiction to her cookies.

"Perfection as always." She chuckled at how dramatic I was being.

"I could pack some for you when you go home." I gladly accepted her offer.

"Elly?!" She called out for me from downstairs.

"Yes Mrs. Sparke?" I responded and went out from Gwen's room.

"Are you staying for dinner?" She asked and I was taken aback at how long I had been staying here. I had been doing all of my assignments without a care of the world.

"If you don't mind, I would love too." I gave her a toothy smile.

"I won't since you love my cooking too much to go home." She chuckled.

"Can I help?" I went to the kitchen. At first she tried to make me leave her alone but I grew onto her like a mushroom growing after a rain.

"Mom! I'm home!" The front door opened and soon shut close.

"Gwen! Finally! Elly has been waiting for you since lunch." Her mother scolded.

"Here, help her set up the table. Dinner's ready." She handed Gwen a jug of freshly squeezed lemonade.

"Where have you been? You should have told me that you were going out before I came and waited." I tried to hold onto my anger.

"I just wanted to get some ice cream. School has been really stressful and I wanted to change the pace for awhile and I forgot about the time." She explained without making any eye contact.

"We could have had ice cream together and did some work in the mean time. You could have text me or reply to my text." I sighed.

"I did." She said and took out her phone.