Chapter 19

From the end of her street, May could make out the shape of a car in her driveway. As she got closer, her suspicions that it might be Emily’s were confirmed. There was a strong temptation to just keep on jogging past her house—she knew she had been unreasonable before and didn’t want to face the music.

Their friendship had never been the kind where they had fights, so this was all new. Putting things off wouldn’t make them any easier, though, so she resolved to just act grown up and deal with Emily.

May walked in the door, and listened for voices as she took off her shoes. From the family room, she could just make out the rhythm of Jared’s deep voice, and Emily’s higher voice in conversation.

“Hi guys,” May said, trying to sound as friendly and normal as possible. The two were sitting on opposite ends of the couch, just watching television.

“Hey,” they answered in unison. Emily didn’t seem angry; in fact, the look on her face seemed to be saying to May, Let’s just please forget about what happened.

May crossed the room to sit down between them. “Dog the Bounty Hunter? Seriously, Jared? Why are you making poor Emily watch this?”

“What? She said she liked it!”

May turned to Emily, “Is it all good, then?” Not referring to the choice of TV show.

“Yes, all good.”

May instantly felt all better about things with Emily. In the interim, she had been so filled with anxiety over having to patch things up, that she had forgotten the reason she liked Emily so much was how easy she was to get along with.

“So where have you been? I’ve been here for twenty minutes waiting for you to show up!” Emily asked.

It would be unnecessary to apologize for making her wait, May knew that Emily was probably very happy about it. “I decided to go jogging for a bit.”

“Oh.” Emily was silent for a minute. The reason she came by, which was probably to work out their little spat, was now pretty much resolved simply by their behaving friendly again. “So, do you want to hang out tonight?”

“Actually, I just made some plans to go out tonight.” May didn’t want to reveal much more; Jared would make fun of her, and Emily would probably have something to say, too.

“Really? What plans? A date?” Unfortunately, Emily was very interested.

Jared groaned, “Oh, please don’t say its that Ethan guy again!”

There was a little pang at the sound of his name. “No, Jared…" She said sharply, "and I don’t know if it is a date or not…” May trailed off.

“Is it Ryan!?” Emily sat up straight, excited. She obviously approved. May hadn’t gotten around to telling her about having decided to turn her attention to Ryan.

“Who, Ryan Rivers?” Jared asked. “He’s alright.” That was high praise, coming from Jared. Especially in regards to a guy spending time with his sister.

It felt nice to have these two backing her decision. “Yes, it’s Ryan.” May looked at the clock. “And sorry, but I have to go shower and get some of my homework done. I’m really behind.” She exited quickly, in order to give Emily the opportunity to stay there with Jared a bit longer. It was meant as a peace offering, and she hoped Emily could see that.

The hours that May had hoped to spend on her mountain of homework were frightfully unproductive. Her mind kept wandering, especially to her conversation with Ryan this afternoon. He had said that Ethan ‘really, really’ liked her; that he had wanted to be dating her. It made her want to give in and stop fighting against how she was feeling. But then she’d look up at the mirror hanging on her wall, and would resolve anew to get through the next couple of weeks, or however long it would take to get over Ethan. A five to ten minute bout of homework would follow, then she would repeat the cycle all over again. Eventually she just tried to focus on looking forward to her evening with Ryan. Currently, the appeal of spending time with him came from knowing that she would benefit from the calming influence he had on her. She hoped that it wouldn’t be too long before she could start feeling more romantic thoughts about him. It shouldn’t be too hard, she still regarded him as being pretty much perfect.

A few minutes before seven, May was all dressed up and ready to go. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard, so she just wore her favorite jeans and a top she had been told complimented her complexion. She wore her hair down and straightened.

At six fifty-nine, there was a knock on the door. It didn’t surprise May at all that Ryan would be so punctual.

“Hi, Ryan!” She greeted him warmly.

She started to step out on to the porch, closing the door behind her, but he stopped her. “Wait just a second. Are you parents around?”

“Oh.” It had never occurred to May to have her parents meet Ryan. “Um, I’m not actually sure…” Her mom was probably gone again, but she thought she had heard her dad puttering around earlier. “Here, come in.”

He followed her inside while she quickly scanned the house for any sign of her parents. She glanced out the back yard and saw her dad working on the busted car by his workshop.

“Dad?” She called to him as Ryan trailed her across the yard to where her dad was working.

Her Dad poked his head up from behind the front of the driver’s side. “Yes? Oh, who’s this?” He smiled welcomingly at Ryan.

“Dad, this is my friend Ryan. We’re going to hang out tonight.” She chose her turn of phrase very carefully.

“Sir,” Ryan approached him and shook his hand. “I just wanted to introduce myself and find out if there was a time you want May home by.”

May’s dad was clearly tickled by this young man, and by his opportunity to play interrogator. This was the first boy May had ever introduced him to like this.

“Well, Ryan,” her dad said, putting an odd emphasis on his name. “Where do you plan to take my daughter this evening?”

“I thought we’d go play some Bingo down at the community center.”

May thought for a second that Ryan must be kidding, and started to chuckle, but then his eyes caught hers and she realized he was serious. “Bingo? For real--Bingo.”

“That sounds fine. You two have fun; I would like May home by eleven, Ryan.”

“Yes, sir. Pleasure meeting you.” Ryan gave May’s dad one of those silent nods that men always give each other, and then the two of them were on their way.

“Your dad fixes cars?” Ryan asked when they were through the side-yard and almost to his car.

“Well, not as a matter of habit… just when one of ours needs it.”

“That was the car you usually drive, wasn’t it? What happened to it?”

Ryan had apparently noticed the body damage that May was still very ashamed about having caused. “Um, I did. That is, I had a little bitty accident.”

“Wow, you weren’t hurt were you?” he showed real concern. “When did it happen?”

“No, nothing hurt but my pride. That was Monday.” Monday seemed very far away, now.

“Geez, May! I didn’t know that. You have had a rough week!” He held the door open for her as she climbed in the car.

Changing the subject, May asked, “So we’re really going to play Bingo?”

“Yes!” Ryan emphasized. “Why do you find that so hard to believe?”

“I just always think of Bingo as an activity for the elderly or foreign language classes.”

“Just trust me, it is actually really fun.” He laughed at her generalization. “Oh, I hope you don’t mind, but I need to make a quick stop on the way. It’ll be like, thirty seconds.”

“Sure, I don’t care. What’s the stop?”

“I have to drop something off at work before they close.”

This was something May hadn’t known about Ryan. “I didn’t know you had a job; where do you work?”

“Oh, it’s just a weekend thing. My Aunt and Uncle own a nursery, and I work for them.”

“You take care of babies on the weekends?” That was unexpected.

Ryan burst out with a loud laugh, startling May. “No, not like a daycare. Like, a plant nursery. Flowers, trees, dirt, bark dust… that sort of thing.”

May blushed at her ignorance, “Oh… wow, I feel dumb.”

“It’s an easy mistake,” Ryan assured her. “No, sometimes I have a hard enough time keeping the plants alive; it would be a really bad idea to put me in charge of little humans.”

The stop was a short one, just as Ryan had said. Then they were on their way to the community center, where May learned her previously held prejudices were one hundred percent accurate. They were probably the only people there who didn’t have AARP cards in their wallets.

Even though there were times when May felt like their youth and manner of play made them a spectacle, it actually was very fun. Ryan had a method of Bingo playing he called “speed Bingo.” They had fifteen cards in play at one time, all spread out before them. Each of them had their own Bingo marker, and every time a number was called, they madly scanned all the cards, trying to be the first to spot and mark it.

They agreed that whichever of them was to mark the number that was the last in a BINGO would get to select their prize from the table of prizes donated by various local organizations and businesses. The competition between them grew friendly but fierce, and they were diving under each other’s arms trying to get at the cards before the other could.

“I never knew you were so violent!” Ryan exclaimed at one point, after May slapped his arm out of her way to mark B-6.

“I really want that cheese basket, dang it!” She yelled back with faux ferocity.

In the end, Ryan was the one to mark a BINGO and pick a prize. He returned to their table carrying May’s coveted cheese basket. “For you May,” he handed it to her, “Courtesy of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.”

After Bingo, May insisted Ryan join her at her house in sharing their winnings. “After all,” she had said, “I’m pretty sure my ancestors were fighting on the British side of the American Revolution. It would be wrong of me to take all this Yankee cheese for myself.”

The whole evening, May never thought once about Ethan. She was more sure than ever that spending time with Ryan like this would be exactly the best thing for her. He never made a move that would make her think the night was anything more to him than two friends going out; but that was just right for her, too. If she were honest with herself, she would admit that she really wasn’t ready for anything more than friendship between them.

At eleven o’clock, Ryan left to go home. May walked him to the door.

“This was seriously one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had. Thanks again.”

“I’m glad, I’d hoped to be able to help you end your sour week on a high note,” Ryan said as he put on his jacket.

“You definitely did.”

Ryan stepped out the door, “We’ll do it again sometime soon, yeah?”

“That would be awesome.” May waved goodnight, “See you later.”

“’Night!”

She closed the door behind him, and ran upstairs to go to sleep before the contented mood Ryan put her in could wear off.