Chapter 4

I had a hard time sleeping after my conversation with Mike. When I saw it was 8am on my alarm clock I decided to just get up for the day. I put on my running clothes and decided to take a jog to clear my mind. I was having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what Mike and Becka saw in the woods. I also couldn't get Cole out of my mind.

"Mom, I'm gonna go for a jog into town."

"Ok honey, see you later."

I ran out down the drive, turned the corner and headed down Main street. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was out but it was only in the upper 70's so far. Since it was Saturday morning the town was pretty quiet still. The only place that was busy was the diner with people having breakfast. Monday I'd be waitressing, at least I still had today and tomorrow all to myself. I turned onto Maple and ran past Mike's house. I decided to turn around and stop for a quick hello.

Mike's parents had a beautiful house, it was a victorian and just off of the main strip where the giant houses needed to upkeep their antique looks. I walked up the drive and decided to go to the side kitchen door because I was sure everyone would be having breakfast.

"Oh Shelby, come on in" Mike's mom was doing dishes at the sink and had the window open. I jumped a bit because I didn't expect anyone to acknowledge me before I even knocked.

"Is Mike up?"

"He's in the shower. There's some extra pancakes on the counter and there's still a half pot of coffee if you want anything help yourself."
"Thanks, I think I will." Mike's mom was always so nice to his friends. You could come over at any time of day or night and there would always be something ready to eat.

"So, Mike told me you got a job for the summer too?"

"Yes, I'm going to be working at the diner a couple days a week."

"Did Mike tell you that he's going to be working with his father?"

"Yes, he said he'll be doing some light office work"

"His dad's hoping he'll become interested in real estate and maybe persue it one day; he'd like to make the agency a family business. Has Mike ever talked to you about college or what he plans to do? He never talks to us."

"No, actually he hasn't. Hopefully this year things will become more real to all of us and we'll make better decisions once we figure out what colleges we want to go to."

"What do you want to do Shelby?"

"I don't know, my mom is always telling me about all the positions I could hold in the hospital if I decided to study medicine but I just don't know if that's something I want to do."

I never really liked talking about my friends to their parents, I always feel like I'm being probed for information. I was really hoping this conversation would end soon and decided to help myself to some coffee in hopes to distract his mom from further questions.

"Mrs. Miller, where do you keep the extra sugar? your sugar bowl on the counter is empty"

"Oh, it's over in the pantry, I also have some french vanilla flavored creamer in the fridge"

Now she was talking about something I was interested in. French Vanilla is my favorite flavor coffee.
Just as I finished making my coffee Mike came down and walked right past me to the pancakes. He just picked one up, rolled it up and ate it then he took my coffee from me and drank a huge gulp.

"Mike, I swear you are such a pain sometimes."

"What? There's more coffee"

"Ok kids, I'm going out to the garden for a little bit, I'll see you later Shelby."

"Thanks again for breakfast Mrs. Miller"

"Anytime hun."

Mike wandered over to the cabinet and grabbed a mug for himself.

"What brings you over so early?"

"I was out for a jog and since I ran right past your house I figured I'd stop by and see how fake sleeping worked out for you last night?"

"Good actually, they came in & left me alone. I haven't heard any more questions about bumping my head since before you called last night."

"Well that's good"

"So it's good to see you decided to jog through town and stay out of the woods for once"

"Whatever, I love running on the trails, they are right by my house and I have my other fellow morning joggers that I always say Hi to, but you are right, I figured it would be safer to jog around town for a little while."

"Any plans today?"
"No, none yet. I'm gonna finish my jog and then head home to shower. My mom's been bugging me to go shopping with her."

"Want to meet up for a movie at the mall after you go shopping?"

"Sounds great!"

"Alright, call me when you're done shopping."

"Bye"

and with that I left Mike's and decided to take an extended jog down past Ms. Jone's old house.