Finding My Way (14 page)

“You too,” I say and
go to leave.  However that ever-present pull is still there.  I feel
the invisible electrical current, not letting me leave.  I pause a couple
of times not wanting to abandon her knowing I won’t see her again until
Monday.  Oh what the hell!  I walk back to her.  “You wouldn’t
want to go on a date with me
and
my sister would you?”

“Uh…”

“I was thinking maybe
we could go see a movie or something.”  Stupid!  The look on her face
tells me that she thinks it’s a stupid idea too.  “Ah forget it, that’s
probably a little weird… forget I asked.”  I say shaking my head and turn
towards the door again.

“Sure!”  She
says. 
Wait. 
Really?

“Great!”  I say
feeling stunned.  “I’ve
gotta
go, I’ll call
you.”

“Okay.”

“See you then.” 
I say as I finally leave.

I can’t believe I
just did that!  What a way to make a good impression!  Let’s go to
the movies with my little sister!  I feel like an idiot!  But at the
same time I’m excited that I don’t have to wait until Monday to see her again.

***

Tahlia’s
waiting at for me at the school gate when I pull up.  She smiles when she
sees me.  There aren’t any other kids around, so I must be a little
late.  She walks to the car and reaches for the door handle and I lurch
the car forward.  She takes another step and reaches for the handle again
so I move forward some more, laughing at her.  I can see that she’s
laughing too, so when she reaches out again, I move again.  Using the electric
window control button, I push the window down and yell out to her.

“C’mon I haven’t got
all day!”  She reaches for the handle and I move once more.

“SETH!”  She
screams while still laughing but I can tell that she will crack it soon, so I
don’t do it again.  I let her in the car this time.

“That never gets
old!”  I laugh at her as she sits down, chucking her school bag onto the
back seat of the car, purposely knocking me in the head with her forearm on the
way.  “
Ow
!”

I wait for her to put
her seatbelt on before driving off.

“Sorry I’m a little
late.”  I say to her when I notice her little pout.

“So you should be
,
you shit!”  She smiles at me.

“I just have to call
past home to get a few things first.”  I glance over to her as she
nods.  “So how’ve you been princess?”

“Same
old, same old, butch.”

“Yeah
me too.”

She reaches over to
the stereo and turns up the music so we don’t talk the rest of the way. 
Coming home at this time of day feels weird, the traffic on the road is
different and my house is void of Max, which is refreshing. 
Tahlia
looks at me wide-eyed when she sees the state of the
lounge room.

“I know.”  I say
to her with my eyebrows raised.

“Seth I didn’t know
that you were living at a rubbish tip.  You really should clean this place
up.”

“Hey it’s not my
mess!”  I say defensively holding my arms up and backing away towards my
bedroom.

“Max?”  When I
nod at her she continues, “That guy needs to get a clue!”

“Don’t I know
it?”  I call back to her as I grab a backpack from my wardrobe and start
packing some clothes and toiletries for the weekend.

“I don’t know how you
can stand it!”  I can hear that she’s looking around and moving stuff in
the lounge.

“Hey princess, don’t
touch anything you never know what germs he’s hiding in there!”  I warn
her.  Although I’m not only worried about germs, I don’t want her to
stumble across a Playboy magazine or something, which is also possible.

When I come back out
to the lounge, she is standing against the wall.  She looks so much
younger when she’s in her school uniform, I don’t normally see her wearing
it.  Sometimes I forget that she’s only thirteen.

“Ready.”

“Good I
gotta
get out of this toxic dump!”  She says heading
towards the front door.

“Yeah
me too.”
 
Though I’m not thinking just for the
weekend.

Wow.  I am going
on a date with Seth and his sister!  He’s right though, it is a little
weird, but at the same time I really want to see him.  I have this strong
need to get to know him better.  What better way than to see him with his
sister, I guess?

I float back to my
desk and finish out my day.  It drags as I’m up-to-date and the phones are
quiet.  The office is also quite empty.  It seems Seth isn’t the only
one that left early.  At quarter to five, I decide to leave early too. 
It’s not something that I normally would do but the place is dead and Julia’s
not in her office, she left for a meeting an hour ago.  So I figure why
not
get an early start
on furniture shopping?  I
shut off my computer, tidy my desk and remember, this time, to switch the
phones to night mode.

Closing the kiosk for
the day my thoughts turn to going to the club tonight.  Friday nights are
always the best night there.  We usually meet at Dan’s place at about
ten,
have a few drinks before we leave, then catch a taxi to
the club around eleven when it really starts pumping.  Unfortunately,
that’s still five hours
away,
I have no clue what to
do until then.

“Hello.”  I hear
Em’s
angelic voice, just as I am pulling down the
roller door. 
What’s she doing here? 
I catch a glimpse of her
out the corner of my eye and automatically drop what I was doing and catch my
finger.

“Fuck!  That
hurt!”  I holler as I grab it with my other hand.  I turn to see her
face and this time I am the one that blushes, she’s the one that looks
smug.  “Take an early mark from work today did we?”

“Yep work was
boring.”  She says.  I get the feeling she’s more chatty tonight.

“Well I am glad you
did because I don’t normally get to see you on a Friday.”  She seems
confused by that so I explain, “I always work the late shift on Fridays. 
Instead of 6 to 12 like the other four days of the week, I work 11 til 5.”

“Oh I see.”

“So what are your
plans this evening?” I ask, maybe my night just got better.

She hesitates for a
moment before answering, though it sounds more like a question.  “Going to
look for a bed?”

“Really?”
 
She’s bringing up beds again.  I’m not sure if she is flirting with me or
if she is as sweet and innocent as she strikes me.  Either way, I can’t
help myself, I love a good stir.  Raising my eyebrow I say, “Well like I
told you, I can help you with that, anytime!  Just say the word!”

“Yeah I bet!” 
Immediately her face goes that beautiful pink colour and she storms off. 
I shove my keys in my pocket and catch up to her.  I walk beside her and
eventually she lifts her head to look at me.  She has a feisty look on her
face.  It really is quite endearing.

“You’ve got some
nerve!” she spurts out and speeds up.  I want to laugh out loud but I
don’t think it will do me any good.  I let her go on ahead of me for a
bit, let her think she’s winning, but I am not about to give up.  I
continue to follow her.

“I really get under
your skin, don’t I?”  I ask when her pace eventually slows.  She
doesn’t reply, she just continues to walk.  I have no idea where she’s
going but we’ve left the train station car park already and surely she has her
car parked somewhere here.  I can’t help but laugh at the thought she
thinks I would try to get in her car or maybe she is so flustered that she has
forgotten about her car altogether. 

“
Em
!”
  I yell out, as she continues to walk
about ten paces ahead of me, but I don’t get a response. 
“
Em
!
”

“What?”  She
says defiantly as she turns around, pouting and places her hands on her
hips.  She reminds me of my three-year-old niece.  It’s adorable.

“Seriously, I can
help… my cousin owns a furniture store.”  I say trying to sound
sincere.  Con will definitely be able to help her though.  “It’s just
around the corner.  I’ll show you.”

She drops her hands
and looks defeated but unsure.

“I won’t bite, I
promise.”  I say and try to give her a reassuring smile.  She seems
to buy it.  “Where are you going?”

“Um, I was just going
to the home centre around that corner.”  She says pointing in the
direction of Con’s store.  What a fantastic coincidence!

“That’s where my
cousin’s store is.”  I say as I start walking again.  I motion to her
with my head as I walk past her, “C’mon”.  She reluctantly walks beside me
in silence for a bit.

“You don’t like me
much do you?”  I ask when I see that she is still not smiling.

“I don’t even know
you.”  She replies simply.

“Well that can be
fixed.”  I tease as we reach Con’s store.  I open the door and she
moves past me without saying a word.

Well that can be
fixed
.  Did he just say that?  I cannot believe this guy!

Nick abruptly stops
and I realise that we’re standing in front of a furniture shop.  He opens
the door for me.  I walk past him and enter the store.  It’s huge
with furniture for all rooms of the house.  I can see rows and rows of
beds set up at the back of the store so I head towards them.  I start at
the left hand side and start working my way down the rows.  I can feel
that Nick is watching me, so I do everything possible to avoid eye
contact.  Why does he make me feel so uneasy?

Looking from bed to
bed, I start to think how odd this is and how intimate this is.  I mean,
we are looking at
beds
.  I am with this annoying, frustrating… no
infuriating
…
(
and
impossibly sexy, I must admit) guy that I hardly
know and we are looking at beds!  I watch him as he puts his hands into
his jean pockets.  My eyes linger a little too long there and I quickly
look away.  I start to blush.

“See anything you
like?”  He asks and I can hear his not-so-hidden meaning.  I don’t
need to look at him to know that he is smirking at me, again. 
Or
that he’s caught me checking him out.

“Um, I’m not too
sure,” I plead ignorance and continue walking up and down the aisles of
beds.  Then I see it.  It’s solid timber with ornate carvings and
beading.  It has a tall rounded bedhead with a shorter replica bed end and
it’s
painted white.  It would match my other
bedroom furniture perfectly.  It is exactly what I want!  I didn’t
think it would be this easy to find, I thought I would have to look at more
than one store.

I run my hand along
the bed end admiring the intricate carvings.  Then walk to the other end
and look at the price tag.  I almost have enough money for it, if I just
save for another week or two...  Then I realise that I will also need a
new mattress, so maybe three or four more weeks then,
bugger
.

I turn around to see
that Nick is still watching me with those beautiful blue eyes.

It’s been a while
since I’ve been in Con’s store.  He’s been doing very well for himself, as
Dad keeps reminding me, and I can see the difference in the store.  It’s
been repainted and all of the furniture has been rearranged making the floor
seem bigger somehow.  I notice Con sitting at his desk.  He has his
head down so I keep following
Em
.  I follow a
short distance behind her as she goes from bed to bed.  I can’t keep my
eyes off of her.  She is wearing her long hair up and I can’t stop
focusing on her neck, longing to touch it.  The green
flowy
top she’s wearing though large, it does nothing to hide her lovely
features.  She has a petite frame yet perfectly rounded curves.  Her
size makes her seem fragile in some way.  I’m drawn to her on some
level.  She finally looks at me from across one of the beds and I notice her
checking me out, her eyes lingering on my crotch.

“See anything you
like?”  I ask her because I’m not ashamed, but I know she is and I get
that luscious pink hue to appear on her cheeks again.

“Um I’m not too
sure,” she says looking again at the beds, trying to pretend that I didn’t just
catch her out.

I’m enjoying the view
as she continues from bed to bed.  I could do this all night. 
Suddenly she stops and I watch as she runs her hand admiringly along a white
timber bed.  It is elegant and well suited to a girl like
Em
, fit for a princess.  I watch as she looks at the
price tag.  It’s obvious that she has found the one she wants.  She
turns to me with those glorious green eyes and again I am momentarily lost in
them.

“Okay I’m done. 
Thanks.”  She says and turns away. 
Huh?

“What?  I
thought you liked this one?”  I ask.  She’s walking away. 
Wait.

“I do.”  She
says turning back to me.

“Uh, so don’t you
want to buy it then?”  I’m
confused,
I thought
she needed a bed. 

“Yes, but I don’t
have enough money.”  Oh.

“How much do you
have?”  I ask.

“I’m not going to
divulge my financial situation to a complete stranger,” she says with a cheeky
little smile that makes my heart jump.

“Oh she wounds
me!”  I joke, theatrically clutching at my chest.  “I thought we were
friends
Em
!
”

That makes her laugh
which warms me from
within,
it’s the best outcome I
could have hope for.