In the morning, I awoke to Todd's shining blue eyes. And, I almost had a heart attack. I jumped up in surprise.
"Sorry. Did I scare you?" Todd's voice was still quiet, meaning the others were still asleep. I looked at the clock, 8:00 am.
"How long have you been up?" I said, rubbing my eyes. He shrugged.
"Since 7." That's when I remembered Todd's black eye.
"Who was the fight with?" He looked confused.
"What?"
"The fight." I pointed to his black eye and he sighed.
"No one special." He replied.
"Why won't you tell me?" I said, and looked at him pleadingly.
"It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
"Why?" I looked at him.
"Cause you got hurt." I said softly. He sighed and gave me a hug.
"His name's Oliver." I stopped the hug quickly.
"Oliver? Oliver Rights?" Oliver Rights was one of the toughest kids in school. If you got in his way, he would pound you to a pulp. Todd simply nodded,"What were you fighting about?" I asked.
"You." Okay, this shocked me.
"What? Oliver wants to date ME??" He laughed. I found nothing funny about this.
"No. He was just being a jerk."
"What'd he say."
"It doesn't matter." I sighed.
"Do we really need to go over this again?" He hesitated.
"He was saying things about you around school, like that you were dropping out, but there was worse stuff than that. I'm drawing the line right there." He said,"But, if you think this is bad,"He said pointing to his black eye,"You should see the other guy." I smiled. He always knew a way to lighten the mood. I heard a door open, and figured it was either Patty, who had a key to the apartment, or Leila or Maddie getting up. I supposed that they would find out that Todd was here eventually, but before they did.
"Who came with you here?" I asked suddenly.
"No one." This shocked me. He had just gotten his driver's permit, and he hadn't rode with anyone down here.
"You didn't have to come." I said quietly,"Especially the way I acted last night."
"But I wanted to. And you didn't act any certain way." Todd said. I gave him a look saying,"You're kidding, right?" and he smiled back at me innocently. I rubbed my eyes again.
"We should probably go to the living room." I said, knowing what Leila or Maddie might think if they'd known we'd stayed in my room. He nodded and we walked to the living room. Leila's mom was out there.
She turned around and looked surprised to see us. She walked around.
"Patty, this is Todd. Todd, this is Leila's mom, Patty." They shook hands.
"Stay here." Patty said. Todd looked at me questionally and I just shrugged. Patty came back with an ice pack. For the black eye, I was guessing. Todd and I both looked like crap. Not saying that he wasn't as bad as me.
"So, is Todd your boyfriend?" Patty asked. I blushed and nodded. We hadn't been really called boyfriend and girlfriend. Sure, Leila called us lovers or lovebirds, but never boyfriend and girlfriend. It was kind of weird. Then Patty said to Todd,"Are you the father?" This surprised both Todd and me. I answered for him.
"No." Patty just kind of nodded.
"Well it's nice to meet you Todd." Then she turned to me,"You should get ready." Huh?
"For what?"
"Church. It's Sunday, remember?" Well, I wish I hadn't remembered. I wondered how angry my father was. I wanted Todd to stay. At least for that day.
"Umm..I don't really have anything nice to wear." I told Patty.
"That's okay, Leila has plenty of nice things. You can choose something of hers." Patty said with a smile."Todd? Will you be coming?" Patty was still smiling away.
"Umm...Well, these are the only clothes I have with me." She continued smiling.
"My husband is coming here soon. I'm sure he has something you could borrow." Todd looked at me, wondering if he could stay. I nodded.
"Okay." Todd said.
"Great." Patty seemed very pleased by this. She rushed into the kitchen,"I'm making pancakes. And, Leah, I'd like for you to come here for a moment." I walked into the kitchen.
"Yea?" I asked.
"You've got a good boy there. Don't let him go." She said. The grin on her face didn't annoy me anymore, and I smiled with her.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to."