Jared picked me up around noon. I was so nervous to talk to him since it actually has been a while since we talked face to face, but he wanted to talk. So, that is what I was going to let him do. Not sure what we were going to talk about. But avoiding him wasn’t going to make me find out what the reason was. So, I headed to his forest green jeep with its many rusted areas. I felt my stomach start to do turns as I moved closer. I felt like a pathetic little girl around the hottest guy at school. Man, this was so much like high school all over again.

Jared looked distracted as I opened the passenger door making it let out a loud creak. It kind of reminded me of the creaky floor boards in my father’s room. Or, like the doors they have in horror movies right when the main character goes into a dark room looking for the killer. All I could think about was, where was the creepy music and the crazy man that is going to kill everyone? But, I was snapped back into reality as I heard a faint sound of music. Jared had turned down his CD, knowing fully well that I didn’t care for the music he listened to. I’m surprised that he even remembered me mentioning that at some point during our conversations. Let alone cared enough to turn it down. It showed how caring he was. One of the reason why I even had a crush on him in the first place.

“Hey Jared,” I said quietly as I slammed the door close. He just smiled as he put his jeep in reverse and pulled out of the drive way. I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to talk much. He was always the quiet guy in class, but yet he had a lot of friends. Everyone liked Jared, he had no enemies. I wish I could say the same about myself. I was nothing to anyone. Jake and Jack were my only two friends in high school. If you asked anyone about me, they would have had no idea who you were talking about. But, Jared and his best friend, Jordan, noticed me during gym class for some reason. We all started to hang out after they had asked me to join their group because they needed another girl on their team during a unit we were doing for gym that day.

Jordan is someone we didn’t see much anymore though. I remember he had the brightest blue eyes ever. He was pretty muscular, only because he played a lot of sports. Jordan also had a slight tan from doing baseball for so many summers. I kind of wondered what he was doing right now. All I know is that he broke up with his girlfriend on graduation day and went out of town for school. I wonder if Jared still keeps in touch with him and did not lose touch with him like I did.

I guess I wasn’t that smart to only go for a few years, but I did graduate. I did want to go back and get more of an education. I just see a problem holding off until later because I really needed to motivate myself to go back in the first place. Jack went to college in New York, but he was back now. Not sure if he had any plans on going back or not. He could be staying for good for all I know. That should be something to ask him the next time I see him. Jake, well he’s a total different story, he just didn’t want to go to school. I still don’t know how he managed to get perfect grades in high school if he hated to do work. Kind of made me jealous.

“Leah, are you hungry?” Jared said suddenly, breaking the silence that I was using to get lost in my thoughts. I looked at him for a quick second before looking around to see where we were. Noticing the brownish tan house with white trimmed window, made me realize that we were parked right in front of his house. It was a standard two two story home that included a finished basement. The place was where our friendship started and most likely end one day. Making me somewhat scared on what this talk he wanted to have could be about. I wasn't ready to lose a friend yet.

I didn't respond to Jared's question. He probably took it as me being angry with him and was giving him the silent treatment. Honestly, that wasn't the reason for the silence. Things were just happening too fast for me to process. Making me wish I was back in high school where there was nothing to really worry about other than what college to go to. Now I had someone coming after me for some unknown reason, new people entering my life, and a best friend who I nearly watched die. What ever Jared was thinking was probably far from the truth.

Jared was actually handling my silence pretty well, to tell the truth. I expected him to get upset and storm out of his jeep. Instead he continued to sit in the drivers seat, staring at the road ahead of him. He didn't even move to turn off the ignition. It was as if he was more lost in thought than I was.

“So have you heard from your brother?” I asked, breaking the silence between us. Making him relax a little bit. Jared’s brother had gone off to college to study the major of partying. I am not sure what he really went there for, but last I heard he was on academic probation and on the verge of being kicked out if he didn't straighten up soon. Something Jared's parents weren't too happy about hearing.

I kind of feared that Jared would end up like that when he went off to college around the same time as me. But he decided that it wasn't for him and dropped out all on his own. His parents just saw that at least he wasn't wasting their money like his brother was. Unfortunately, I didn't see him making that choice all on his own. Something told me that Katelyn may have convinced him to drop out. She tended to do those kind of things because she had to be the center of everyone's attention. Even when school was involved.

“Last I heard was that he was getting kicked out if he didn’t pass his finals. That was it,” Jared said as he finally turned off the ignition. He was probably waiting to see if I decided that this was too much for me and wanted to go home, “I think that was about six months ago. I don’t really pay attention to what he does anymore. But my parents are out of town for the week, probably hunting him down because he wasted their time and money.”

It was strange seeing the relationship Jared now had with his brother. They used to be really close growing up. Time just showed how different they were making Jared the more serious out of the two. I know that their mother wanted him to go back to school and make something of himself. But Jared had decided to continue on with the family business and was getting training through that instead.

“I recently found out that I have an uncle that my mother never mentioned. She always told me that she was an only child. Turns out she has an older brother in New York," Jared announced as he opened the door and started to get out. Making me follow his lead.

“Really? I wonder why she never mentioned it before. How did you find out?” I asked with a little bit of curiosity in my voice. We met up on the sidewalk before heading towards his garage. The place was our little hang out since Jared and Jordan both had liked tinkering with cars all through out high school.

“I recently met my cousin. He explained to me that my mom didn’t want anything with her side of the family and left. She ended up marrying my dad and that was that,” He told me as he took out his cell phone to read a message. I assumed that it was Katelyn who had texted me, but he didn't tell me. Instead he ignored the message and put his phone back in his pocket. Then he proceeded to open the side door of the garage, “Hey, you remember that graduation gift I promised you?”

“The one I told you not to get me. You better have listened because I don’t want to explain to my father where I got a motorcycle,” I warned him.

He just smiled as he tossed me a set of keys before entering the garage. I ended up glaring at him, while I was internally excited and doing a happy dance. We had taken motorcycle classes during high school, using the money from our paychecks so our parents wouldn’t find out. It was like our little secret that no one knew about. We ended up promising each other that we would get motorcycles and head out on a road trip on them after we graduated college. I figured it was now void since he dropped out and had no intention of going back.

“I even fixed one up just for you,” he said with a smile going from ear to ear. Walking up to two motorcycles that looked as if they were well taken care of. I couldn’t help, but smile with him. Jared actually was able to keep a motorcycle at his parents house and not have them have a huge fit about it. It was a miracle in itself. He was just full of mysteries lately, including the fact that he was able to date someone without any of us knowing until he was engaged. But I'm sure the fixing up of the motorcycles helped a lot to keep things quiet.

“Is the motorcycle the reason you wanted to talk?” I hinted. Kind of hoping that it was the case, but knowing fully well that it wasn't. But a girl could hope.

“You probably already know about it since Jordan and Jake are on talking terms,” he mentioned as he walked over to a table full of tools and leaned against it.

“I’m just amazed you kept it a secret for so long. You are aware of her track record, right?” I told him. It was best to tell him about it before making the biggest mistake of his life. But there wasn't really anything I could do if he already knew about.

“It wasn’t easy I’ll tell you that. This town is too small to keep things hidden for long,” Jared explained as he scratched the back of his head as he always did it when he was nervous, “But, I honestly think that Katelyn is willing to change for me. I'm not going to hold her past against her. Also I really do love her, Leah.”

Wasn’t he in for a rude awakening. The Katelyn that I know, does not change for anyone. The girl just didn’t have the heart to. Sadly, I couldn't tell him that. Not when Jared looked so hopeful. So once again, my mouth stayed shut not matter how much I wanted to say something. I really hope it doesn't bite me in the butt later on.