Teen Ink

Luke:

I wanted to say something to Faith, but she seemed insecure around me. I didn’t know why though. She talked a lot and laughed and wasn’t afraid at lunch today, but when she sat across from me at Chipotle, she was silent; looking everywhere except in my direction. Everything was running through my mind. Compliment her shirt. Say hi. Ask how her summer was. I was about to give up when she looked up and asked me about my summer. She seemed shocked like she didn’t believe she’d said something to me. Shit. Now she was talking to me. What was I going to say?
“Uh, I went to Detroit. Visited some family. Pool. That was fun. It was pretty mellow, yeah,” I lied, leaving out the part where I got drunk and was kicked out of my house for a month. “And, uh, you?”
“Pretty much the same. I hung out with my friends and family, um, yeah,” she answered.
“Cool.”
I smiled at her, searching her eyes. She really had beautiful brown eyes.
~
Later on, I was walking home, my mind wondering off to Faith. I kept smiling like an idiot and when I entered my house and plopped down in the kitchen, my mother was surprised.
“Somebody’s happy today,” she noted as she moved around, opening cabinet doors and washing her hands. “Why?”
“This girl . . .,” I began.
“Oh, I get it. You like her?” Mom asked, leaning against the counter.
“A little.”
“What’s her name? Are you going to ask her out?”
“Mom, it’s the first day of school. And besides, Faith’s shy,” I said.
“So her name is Faith? Is she new? I’ve never heard that name before.”
“No . . . she’s just . . . different now. She’s been hanging out with us.”
“Have fun, sweetie,” Mom said, growing distracted by the dinner she was preparing. “Just be careful.”
“Trust me.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to, Luke.”