HAUNT DAWGZ STORIES

THE BEST GIRLFRIEND

The food court at the mall buzzed with many voices on this first Saturday of summer vacation. Jacob paid for his pizza slice and large soda, grabbed his food tray, and spun around. His tray smacked into the girl in line behind him. His soda exploded everywhere. Good thing the girl caught most of the soda with her tee-shirt. Well, not good for her.

Jacob's eyes widened. "I am so sorry!" He reached into his pocket. "Please, take this twenty, and let me buy your lunch."
"No, it was an accident, but thank you anyway. I'll dry out by at least next week with this amount of soda on my shirt." She winked.

Jacob shook the girl's hand. "I'm Jacob, and again, sorry about the flying soda."
Nice to meet you, sort of. I'm Emily."
"I see your by yourself, Emily. Can I at least dazzle you with some intelligent conversation by sharing a table?"
Emily smiled. "Sure. I'll get my food and find you. I won't need to get a drink, I'll just wring out my shirt." She smirked.
"I feel horrible."
"Hey, no worries. Go find us a table."

Lunch included good food and a lot of laughs. After lunch, Jacob hugged Emily. "Fantastic meeting you. Although you live about twenty-five minutes from me, if you give me your number, we can hang out sometime."

That chance meeting over an exploding soda led to a summer filled with movies, dinners, and many days holding hands while strolling the wet sand at Zuma Beach. After summer, they attended the same community college. One Friday afternoon after Jacob's last class of the day, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. "Hey, Emily!"

"Hey, now that our classes are all done, let's kick off the weekend by grabbing some chow." "Cool, I'm hungry."
"Good, me too. Let's go to this restaurant I don't think you've been to before. It's up in the north woods, but their good food is worth the drive. It's also beautiful up there."

"Um, the north woods? I'd rather not due to the rumors. Meet me in front of the library."
Jacob perched himself on a brick planter in front of the library. A pair of black low top Converse shoes containing Emily approached. "Okay, dude. You can't give rumors too much credit. You need to face your fears and go with me to this restaurant. Come on, what are the realistic chances that we'll actually see a ghost, werewolf, or the boogie-man? Zero! We're not in a movie. Hey, Is the boogie-man called that cuz he always has a lil' boogie hanging from his nose?"

Jacob chuckled. "Hey, I know my fears are a misbelief, I hope, but traumatic stuff to kids tends to haunt them. When I was a kid, I had bad dreams of ghosts and scary monsters. However, I can't let fears get in the way of spending time with you."
Emily hugged Jacob. "You're so sweet!"

Jacob shimmied off the wall. You can leave your car here and we'll come back to the school later for you to pick it up."

The two held hands as they walked to Jacob's 1996 old pickup truck. Jacob smiled. "So, girlfriend, it's about a forty-five minute drive into the mountains to get to this restaurant? "Yeah, I figured it would be a fun change of scenery for ya, and you've never been to this restaurant."

The two drove from the school and entered the foothills of the mountain. Emily twirled her long, reddish-blonde hair in her fingers. "I think you'll like this place, Jacob. They have a small menu of sandwiches, burgers, salads, and I think some pasta. But mostly I just wanted us to get out and have a little fun on a school day."

Jacob smiled. "Well, I'm pretty darned hungry, so although their menu is small, I'm hoping their portions are big."
"Yup, and they have fabulous fries!"
Jacob smirked. "Is that what they're called, 'Fabulous Fries?"'

"No ya big goof! They have fries and they're fabulous. Come on, boyfriend. Get your head in the game." Emily winked. Jacob smiled.

Jacob's old 1996 truck climbed in elevation, and they were soon passing pine trees and in the forest. Jacob's mouth hung open. "This is gorgeous up here!"
"Yeah, it makes you feel we're not in a big city area."
Jacob nodded. "Well, Los Angeles is diverse with its beautiful scenery. You can go surfing and snow-boarding in the same day. We should have been coming up here all summer to hang out and beat the heat."