Summer Love

Phone Calls

Upon arriving home, he took off his shoes in the mud room and arranged them on the shoe rack conveniently provided. He was greeted by his folks who were seated on the living room sofa. His father was glued to a newspaper while his mom was watching television. She turned off the television and looked at her son. “So Max, how was school?” she asked curiously. Max put down his belongings and sat down on the couch beside the sofa.

"School was fine as usual. The same old, same old, but at least there’s no homework," he explained.

His father chuckled, “Anything special happened today, son?” Max swayed his head from side to side, contemplating telling his parents about the incident with Sophie. He shrugged his shoulders, "Well…a girl at school invited me to join her for some charity work over the summer holiday. I said I'd think about it, but honestly I’m not too interested."

His mom gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. "A girl!? You should definitely join her. You never have any plans for the summer holidays, and you’ve always spent them cooped up in the house."

His dad also nodded in agreement.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, if you're both fine with it, then I guess I’ll join her." He sighed softly, "I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to do something else for the summer."

After that, Max excused himself to his room, bringing along his belongings. He dropped his belongings near the bunk of his bed. He took a shower, put on a fresh set of casual clothes and jumped onto his bed. Finally, he was able to rest after the whole ordeal. He lay down comfortably, looking up at the ceiling. "I wonder when Sophie is gonna call," he thought to himself. Although he showed reluctance, he was actually looking forward to spending time with Sophie.

He waited and waited, but nothing came up. Eventually, he got tired, and his eyes started to close. Almost immediately after, a ringing sound emanated from within his bag. His eyes shot wide open. He scurried to his bag and took out the phone. "Oh, unknown number? It must be her." He promptly answered the call and put the phone to his ear.

A familiar voice came from the other end, "Hey Max, it’s Sophie! How are you?"

"Hello there Sophie. I’m quite alright, and you?" He inquired in an attempt to exchange pleasantries.

Sophie let out a muffled giggle, trying to contain her excitement. "I’m ecstatic! And I can’t wait to hear your answer. So, have you thought about my invitation?"

Max nodded smugly. "Actually, yes. I have given it some thought, and I cordially accept your invitation."

Sophie squealed, causing Max to immediately hold the phone away from his ear. It echoed throughout his room, but not loud enough to be heard from outside. After she was done, he put the phone back to his ear.

“Oh, sorry about that. Guess I’m just pretty excited. Are you excited?” she asked, trying to contain her excitement.

He chuckled softly. “Well, probably not as excited as you, but I am looking forward to it.” He said nonchalantly.

“Aww, really? Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow and we can discuss more about it.” Sophie chimed in.

His eyes widened, “Wait, wait, wait. Tomorrow? Already?”. He heard a disappointed sigh coming from the other end. “N—Not that there’s anything wrong with starting early, but I’d like some time to rest before we start.”

“Hmph, fine. Call me when you’re ready, but don’t take too long!” she exclaimed, pouting.

Max nodded quickly. “Of course, it’ll just be a few days, but I will call you back. Goodbye, Sophie.”

“Alright, see you Max. Thanks again for accepting the invite. It really means a lot,” she said before hanging up.

Max lay back down on his bed. He put his phone away on the table beside his bed. He stared into nothingness as he realized the situation he was in. Not only was he going to spend time with Sophie, but he was also going to spend it doing charity work. It would be vastly different from his usual summer holiday routine. He spent the rest of his day as usual. He decided not to tell his folks about the phone call.

The next morning, Max stood in front of the mirror all dressed up. He lightly pulled down the hem of his black t-shirt, adjusted the long sleeves of his plaid cotton jacket and dusted off his beige slacks. Finally, he grabbed his sneakers and headed downstairs.

He saw that his parents had left the premises, but they had left a note on the fridge. "Hello son, your father and I have gone to work. You know where the food is, and make sure to be a proper host to the girl if she comes over. We both love you very much, and we hope that you have a nice day." The rest of the note included a list of things to do if Sophie came over, and a list of things to do if he were going to her house instead.

Max skimmed over the list, trying to take in all the information he could. "Serve her food..., thank the host..., respect the house rules." He softly whispered to himself some of the things on the list. "That is quite the list." He admitted with eyes wide open. He shrugged it off and decided to have breakfast first.

After breakfast, he plopped down on the living room sofa. He let out a soft sigh. He remained seated for a while, basking in the silence. His eyes were focused on the turned-off television. Then, he decided to strike into action. “Yeah, I should go call Sophie.”

He opened the messaging app to check for any new developments. He noticed that it was the same as yesterday. “Either she’s not up yet or she’s more understanding than I thought.” He commented due to the lack of messages from Sophie.

He temporarily placed down his phone to prepare himself. He patted his cheeks and took a deep breath. He picked up his phone, dialed Sophie’s number and lightly pressed the call button. The phone rang for a few seconds before he heard a familiar voice speaking through his device, “Oh, hi Max!”

“Yes, hello there Sophie, I’m here.” He responded, holding his phone to his ear.

“Ah, there you are. I take it that you’re ready to plan the charity work?” Sophie inquired. He could hear the excitement from her voice alone.

“Well, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Max responded, followed by a nervous chuckle.

He could hear a loud clap coming from her end. “Perfect! You wanna come over to my house, or should I go to yours instead?”

“Um, could we just meet up at school instead?” he suggested.

He heard laughter coming from Sophie, followed by a sigh of relief, "Oh come on, Max, are you serious? It’s just my house, or yours. Plus, the school should be closed, so I don’t know if we can even meet there."

“Firstly, yes, I’m serious about not doing it at our houses. Secondly, we can just meet outside the school, we don’t actually have to go in,” Max explained, holding up his fingers. He partially covers the gap between his phone and his mouth with his free hand to prevent any outsiders from listening. “Plus, isn’t it inappropriate for us to be at each other’s homes?” He whispered into the phone’s microphone.

Max heard another burst of laughter coming from the other end, “You know what, Max? I’m just going to your place. We can talk more then.”

Before he could say anything else, the call suddenly ended. He looked at his phone, dumbfounded by Sophie's action. He crossed his arms as his smile dissipated into a frown. “Well, that was a bit rude.”

His frown quickly disappeared upon hearing a notification sound on his phone. He checked the notification to see that Sophie had sent him a text, "I'll be there soon :P." He shrugged his shoulders, deciding to forgive Sophie.

He kept his phone inside one of the pockets of his slacks before rushing downstairs to the living room. As soon as he reached downstairs, an afterthought came to mind, “Wait, how does she know where I live?”