Still Here

our new neighbor

"Hey, you must be the new neighbor." The guy asks,coming close but wary of pepper.

"What makes you say that?"  Asking with an obvious smile.

"Well , I've lived here for a long time and haven't seen you before, and no one around here goes running , and definitely not on this road before the suns up." He laughs and smirks up at me.

"Oh, well then, yes I am. Im Ronnie, we just moved in yesterday. My brother and father and i." I state as I extend my hand out to him.

He shakes my hand and i smell why he was outside.

He noticed my nose wrinkle at the smell.

"Sorry, I cant smoke in the house and I couldn't sleep. I smoke bud to calm my nerves." He explains while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Its fine, I have anxiety and smoke from time to time." I explain trying to calm his nervousness thats written all over his face.

"So how old are you, are you in college?" He asks changing the subject.

Laughing and patting peppers side as she lays by my feet."no ,I missed a year. Im a senior in high-school. Ill be starting next week." I tell him.

"Oh, thats cool. I'm a senior also, I can show you around school if you want?"
He says with a cute smile that shows a glimpse of a dimple on his right side.

"That would be awesome! Thank you." I exclaim

" No problem, by the way I'm  Derek."
He looks behind him when a noise comes from the inside of his house.
He rolls his eyes, then gives me a smile.
"Well I gotta go before my mom finds out my morning ritual. Can I get your number maybe we can hang out sometime?" He asks so low i can barely hear.

"Um sure,that'll be cool." I give him my number and he instanly texts me so I have his as well.

He waves goodbye and runs back inside his house.

The sun has risen now and the wind has picked up. I thought with the sun coming up, it would be a little warmer, but it looks like a storm is coming.

I give pepper a pull and we start running back to the house.

I unhook pepper and she runs to the back yard, probably to her water bowl.

As I walk into the kitchen dad is  sitting at the bar drinking his coffee and looking through his emails on his laptop.

"Hey sweetheart, you take pepper with you on your run?" Dad asks ,not taken his eyes of his screen.

"Of course, you know she would be upset if I left her."  I tell him as I grab a pop tart from the box labeled pantry items.

I look at my sad little pop tart wishing we had milk so I could have some cereal.

"We need to make a grocery list, I'll drive to the walmart we saw in town in a bit." I explain between bites of my strawberry pop tart.
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We make a long list of things to fill the freezer and fridge to keep us stocked for a while.

I run upstairs ,and take a shower washing my mornings run, sweat off.

Looking through my closet to find something comfortable and warm. I settle on a Hoodie dress and a pair of ankle length boots.

Drying my hair and leaving it down, im ready to go. I grab my cell and notice I have a new text.

I'm hurt that my friends back in Texas still haven't reached out to me.
The cute boy from this morning texted me...

Derek- Hey, im glad to finally have someone my age living close. I'm usually stuck babysitting my brother and sister.
If you ever want to hang just hit me up.😊