“Ned?” I called, “Why are you following me?”
“Err, sorry,” he said.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” I asked him.
“Oh, umm, I wanted to suggest you to come home with me, so we could work on our project together,” he said and pleaded me with his eyes.
I thought about it for a moment, and bit my lower lip, “Fine, but I can’t stay too long,” I decided.
His face lit up, “Alright. Alright. Cool,” He said, “Follow me.”
We walked to together to the exit and to the parking lot. The sky was clear and I clearly saw a ten-year-old Honda. Great, I don’t have a car and I also have to be punished. I looked sideways to make sure no one was there to see us both getting into an old crapy car. He opened the car doors’ locks, and we got in. The inside was old and the seats were spotted with grease and God knows what else. I looked at the back seats, were a lot of tissues, papers, and junk food boxes were tossed under the seats. The car smelled like an old restaurant.
Ned grabbed the steering wheel and turned to look at me. He smiled, “I can’t believe Celia Williams is in my car!”
I rolled my eyes, “Just drive,” I ordered.
“Alright.” He swallowed. “Alright.”
I buckled up and Ned hit the gas. While he drove, he kept glancing at me every few minutes, like he couldn’t believe his eyes that I was a passenger in his car. That made me smile a bit. He rolled down the windows and laid his arm on the window edge. I peeked my head out of the window as my hair ruffled with the wind, and looked at the neighborhood. The houses were a bit smaller, but they looked cozier to me.
Ned pulled into the driveway of a small house, and stopped the car. “Alright, we’re here!” He stated.
I got out of the car, and walked over the pathway hesitantly. I rubbed my palms on the back of my jeans, and looked at the house from the top to the bottom.
“You have a nice house,” I said.
He grinned, “Thank you,” he said, “It’s is our new house.”
I looked around to see that the yawn had some weird sculptures of metals of some kind. Someone was an artist who made these sculptures. There were moving ones too. I got closer to them and brushed one with a small metal fan on it, and it moved, creating bell sounds with the bells attached to them.
I grinned, “Who made those?”
Ned tucked his hands in his pockets, “Actually, my dad made those. He’s a junkie.”
“You mean like a drug addict?” I asked.
He chuckled, “No, no, I mean like a person who collects junk.”
“Oh,” I said as I brushed on every piece, “They’re pretty.” I was so mesmerized by every piece of art in the yard. I saw someone coming out of the front door wearing a suit. I figured that person was Ned’s dad. He noticed that I was there and came up to me, extending his hand to shake. I shook his hand.
“I’m Roy, Ned’s father,” he introduced himself, “You are...”
“Celia,” I continued, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Barnes.”
“Call me, Roy,” He informed, and pulled his hand, “It’s nice to see that Ned has a girlfriend now.”
I opened my mouth, and looked at Ned’s blushed face, “Um, I’m not his...”
Roy laughed, “Don’t worry, I’m joking around.”
“Oh,” I nervously laughed, “That’s a good one.”
“Well, I’m leaving now. You two have a good day.” He walked away, and got into his red car. When he turned the car around, he waved at us. Ned and I waved back. After Roy left, Ned scratched his head, “So, you want go inside?”
“Sure,” I replied.
Ned opened the front door, and we went inside. In the small living room, there were three guys playing Cluedo together. They all wore some costumes that went along with the game they were playing. I looked at Ned, and waited for him to introduce me to them.
The guys stopped playing when they noticed my presence and stared at me.
“Guys, this is Celia, our new friend,” Ned announced.
Their jaws dropped.
“Um, hi,” I said.
Ned pointed at the dark-skinned handicapped guy, who looked like a black American, “This is Tyler.”
“Haw you doin?” He flirtatiously asked.
“I’m Paul,” The guy with Down syndrome said.
There was the last guy, who smoked something from a pipe, and looked high. “And that is Lucas,” Ned said.
“Hola, bella dama,” The Spanish guy said, and winked.
“What?” I asked.
“It means, hey, beautiful lady,” he explained.
Ned came closer to my ear, and whispered, “Sorry, they haven’t seen any hot girl up close in a long time.”
I nodded, “No wonder why they’re acting creepy!” I whispered back.
“I’m going to get some notes from my bedroom, so we can start discussing our project,” Ned said, “Be back in a moment.”
He walked down the hallway.
I walked to where the sofa was, and sat down. There were lots of comics and magazines all over the coffee table. I took one and browsed through the pages. Ned was a comics nerd, no doubt. No wonder he had a bad sense of style when it comes to clothing. It was new to me to meet someone as nerdy as Ned, but I accepted that we had different hobbies, and he was a good guy anyways. But he wasn’t my type of a guy.
Ned came back with notes and some pens.
