Chapter 12 

Wes's front lawn looked like it was just mowed and was very well taken care of. I walked to his front porch and passed the two cars that were on his drive-way. One of them was a Chevrolet truck that looked nice and clean. The other one was a Nissan Sentra that I thought was brand new.  

I climbed up the couple of stairs on their porch. I searched for a door bell, but couldn't find it. I searched again, which seemed for hours to find, until I saw a bright little light in the far left end of the door. Ding Dong. Nobody answered and I pressed the doorbell again. Ding Dong. Nobody answered again, but then a little girl opened the door. She rolled her eyes and then looked at me from head to toe. "Wes, it's for you!" she screamed. She closed the door. I was guessing that was his little sister. A minute later the door opened and this time it was Wes who answered.  

"Hey, you made it! Come in. Sorry about my little sister, Sarah."  

"It's okay." He led me into his house and into the kitchen. His home was well organized. The house didn't have anything anywhere. No pile of clothes or anything. In the kitchen was a middle aged lady taking something out of the oven.  

"Hey, Mom," she turned around and I could see that she was probably in her mid-40's. "This is Jaden." His mom looked like she was clueless. She had on a face that looked as if she was in her own universe. "She's the girl I've been talking about," he was starting to lose his patience. "The one who is coming to eat dinner with us." Then suddenly it was like if the light in her head just turned on. "Oh yeah. Wes talks about you every day." I turned to Wes, he was starting to blush. "Anyway, dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes." She started to show something to Wes with her eyes. "Umm...while my mom is doing dinner, I'll show you around the house."  

"Okay." I said. When we walked a little bit to the living room I heard Wes tell his mom something.  

"Uhh-this is the living room, as you can probably notice." He pointed. "Yeah," I started to chuckle, "I see that." I guess he didn't think it was funny because he was blushing again.  

We walked upstairs to go see his room. "My parent's room is down the hall on the right, my sister's across from mine." He opened the door of his room, "and this is my room." His room color was sky blue with the wall almost covered completely with posters. Most of the pictures were pictures of bands. His room was a mess; he had piles of clothes in a corner and another one close to his bed.  

"Sorry," he explained, "about the mess. I just forgot to clean it up." Wes stacked his pile of clothes next to his bed to the ones in the corner, which made the room cleaner. His bed still wasn't made yet, but other than that it was clean.  

I stepped more in the room to see a better view of his room. He had posters of lots of bands. He had Linkin Park, Greenday, Paramore, Eminem, and Maroon 5. He also had posters of SpongeBob, the Simpsons, and Family Guy.  

On his drawer there was a frame with a picture of his parents, sister, and himself. His parents were on the left and right with their hands on Sarah's and Wes's shoulder. This picture looked like it wasn't the most recent photo of them. Next to that picture was another picture of Wes laughing and a girl laughing together, throwing popcorn into each other's mouth. I was actually dumb enough to ask him who she was, "Hey, umm who is this?" I pointed to the girl in the picture. He grabbed the picture from his drawer and stared at it for a while. "That was my," he took a big breath, "my ex-girlfriend." He sighed. He sat on his bed with the picture in his hand. I followed him and sat on his bed. He looked uncomfortable with what I asked him. "She made me very happy," he said with a voice so low, he was whispering. I knew that he didn't like this.  

My thought was wrong; he doesn't like me like I thought he did. I shouldn't have even mentioned it. Why did I come here? I should've stayed home with my family and eaten as a family. "You know, if it makes you uncomfortable then I should leave. I got up from his bed and walked towards the door.  

He grabbed my arm so hard, I tried to let go but couldn't. I turned to face him. "She was my past. Don't go. I should've taken that picture weeks ago. I don't like her anymore. I like you!" Did he actually mean it? He likes me! I stood there frozen like an idiot in front of him. He let go of my arm. He put his arms around my waist leaning in towards my face. I put my arms on his shoulders. I started to lean- "Wes, it's time for dinner!" his mom interrupted. We went down stairs for dinner. His dad and Sarah were already waiting to be served. "Dad, this is Jaden from school." His dad sort of waved. "Nice to meet you, Jaden." He said.  

"Nice to meet you, too sir." I said.  

"Okay enough. Let's take a seat and eat." His mom said. I took a seat by seat and Wes sat across from Sarah. His mom made roast chicken from the oven with white rice and mashed potatoes.  

"So," Sarah said, "now that you're Wes's girlfriend-" A thud was heard. I was guessing that someone accidentally hit themselves. "Oww!" she screamed.  

Wes looked frustrated again. I chuckled, "I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just his friend." Wes looked a bit more calmer than before. "Mrs. Cremer you're roast chicken was very good." "Thank you, Jaden." She said rolling her eyes at her husband.  

Later on it was time for me leave. I said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Creamer and Sarah before I left. Wes walked me to the front door. "I'm glad you came. I'm sorry about what happened." "It's okay. It was kind of fun."  

Silence.  

"Hope you can come again another time."  

"Yeah, I'll make sure." I told him. He scratched his head a little bit. Wes leaned towards me to give me a kiss on the cheek.  

When I got home, I put on my pj's and went to sleep. I dreamt about the kiss Wes was going to give me. How'd it be if I was his girlfriend? I feel fast asleep after this thought.

The next morning at school when I saw Riley she asked me, "So," with a push on my shoulder, "What happened at his house?" I was sort of hesitant.  

"It was fine."  

"Yeah right, tell me what happened." She hit me again.  

"Well, his parents were nice and his mom is a great cook." I stopped and didn't say anymore, hopping that she wouldn't ask me more about it. But she didn't look very convinced. She had her tell-me-the-truth-I-know-you're-lying face. I felt awkward when she looked at me like that. We were headed to the cafeteria. 

I got my tray of pizza, a cookie, and orange juice. I paid my food and sat down at our usual table. Riley pretty much gets the same thing every day. A hamburger, French fries, and a can of Coca-Cola.  

I took a bite of my slice of pizza and asked Riley, "Don't you ever get tired of the same thing?" She nodded with her mouth full after taking a big bite.  

After she swallowed it she asked me, "Where's Wes?"  

"I think he's at track. Something came up."  

"Tell me what really happened yesterday!" She was really interested in what I had to say. I was hesitant, "He showed me his house, his room." I took a sip from my orange juice. "I saw a portrait of him and his family together and next to it was a picture of a girl and him, throwing popcorn at each other."  

Riley barely took another bite from her hamburger when I told her this. "Did you ask him who she was?"  

"Yeah, it was his ex-girlfriend." I said in a lower voice.  

"That was his ex? Was she pretty?" I stared at her for a while. She slid deeper into her seat. "I'm sorry it's just that for some reason I got angry."  

"Why?" she got back to her old self. "Do you special feelings for him?"  

I thought about this for a long time because Wes came back from his track meeting. "Hey," he sat down besides Riley. "Sorry I was at a track meet."  

"We know." Riley responded. I think she was going to tell him or ask him about last night, but before she opened her mouth I stopped her by pushing her leg. "Hey!" she screamed. "What happened?" Wes asked.  

"Nothing." I said.

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Jaden met his parents! What pressure! Hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to comment...