An Echo in the Wind

Chapter 9

On Friday night, Austin and I make cookies to bring to the sleepover. While they're in the oven, I help him pack an overnight back and some blankets. 

About a year ago, Austin went through a chocolate chip cookie phase, where all he craved was cookies, so one weekend, we pulled every chocolate chip cookie recipe we could find and made them all.

Then we taste tested them until we found the very best recipe. 

It's the recipe we use all the time now, they always come out perfectly gooey. I make extras to bring over to Carly's. 

We say goodbye to Mom and head out the door. I grab my own overnight bag and toss both in the back seat of my car. Austin brings the cookies out and hold the two plates on his lap. I have him pull of the directions to Shade's house on my phone. 

It's only about 5 minutes away. His house is bigger than mine and Austins. It has three stories, but it isn't gigantic like Nik's. 

It's a nice house, a lot nicer than mine. It's a modern style house, brightly lit with clean cut green grass and a long driveway. I suddenly feel embarrassed, remembering the time he dropped something off at my house. 

Our house isn't nearly as nice, he probably thought we were trashy people with our half dead grass and a messy house that no one ever bothers to clean. I bite my lip, I should make sure to clean up Austin's toys when I get back in case anyone stops over again. And I should mow the lawn. It's a little overgrown and my mother isn't going to do it.

I shake my head. How we live is fine. Just because Shade has a nice house and a nice family doesn't mean that how I live isn't nice. We manage just fine. Besides, our old house wasn't nearly as nice as the one we have now. 

Different people live different ways. Nothing to be embarrassed about, right? 

I try to tell myself that, but I still can't help feeling slightly embarrassed anyway. Why couldn't I just have a normal family?

I park in the street and help Austin carry his things in. Shade answers the door and I see a handful of little kids running around. 

I chuckle, "Looks like you're in for a long night. Are you the only one supervising?"

He sighs, "Yeah, I guess I didn't think this through all the way. Maybe having 10 little kids running around my house wasn't the best idea. I did it last year with my sister, but she's in college this year, so it's just me."

"Good luck with that," I say smugly. 

He rolls his eyes, "Wow, so compassionate."

"It's what I do best, I'm a very compassionate person," I say sarcastically.

He forces a fake smile, "You can bring his stuff to the third floor." 

I follow him inside and up two sets of stairs. The third floor is set up like a hang out room with a tv. The couch has been pushed against the wall to make room for all the sleeping bags. 

Three girls sit in the corner braiding each others hair. I recognize one of them as Gabby. She sees Austin and me walk in and smiles, getting up and giving Austin a big hug. 

I chuckle and Shade stands behind me, whispering, "What's all this about?"

I never really thought about it before since I'm on the taller side of girls, but I didn't realize how much taller than me he was. He's never stood so close to me before. I look up at him slightly, "Young love. Isn't it adorable?"

He scrunches up his face and scowls, "They're too young for that."

I scoff, "Don't tell me you're a love hater."