"Though I don't really understand why you wanted to have this talk? Layla and I already talked about this. She knows that I'm doing most of this for her. She told me that she knew that and wanted to try and live up to her own expectations."
"She did? Layla said that? Huh, she usually isn't that quick."
"Maybe I'm just too obvious."
"That's true."
Since we had finished the talk we grabbed the pumpkins that she wanted which were 3 large and 3 medium sized pumpkins.
I asked while she was paying, "Why do you need so many pumpkins?"
"Halloween is my favorite holiday. The house is already fully decorated and I'm just missing the pumpkins."
"Doing what you enjoy is always worth the effort."
"I agree."
I helped Samantha put her pumpkins into the back of her car.
We then rejoined the group and waited while Emily and Nathan chose their pumpkin. From the conversation I found out that Emily was a perfectionist who decorated for every holiday and posted it on InstaPics.
We waited for over half an hour before they were finished.
Afterward we decided to meet up for lunch at a local sandwich shop, Which Ms. Witch Sandwich shop.
…
We had a nice little lunch talking about Halloween plans and a possible party since it would be a Friday night.
Samantha volunteered to be the host since she didn't want to miss the trick or treaters.
Once we were done with lunch we said our goodbyes and parted ways.
When Layla and I got back into the car I asked, "Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
"Nope, I am free and clear. Why? Do you have any other ideas?"
"Well, I thought that if you are not busy you would want to come over and carve this dude out now."
"Come over? Wouldn't your mom be there?"
"I mean yeah. But she won't care. Or, well, she will, but only because she wouldn't have time to clean the house first."
"But, like, do you want me to meet your mom?"
"I'm indifferent? Whether she is there or not doesn't really matter to me. I mean, if you meet her, you meet her. It's not a big deal."
"Yeah, but, meeting parents is a big deal."
"Is it? I have never really felt that way. I guess it's because I am good at presenting myself. But there's nothing to worry about. My mom is pretty chill."
"Ok… I'll come, but only if it is ok."
"Yeah, it is. I'll just send a text to my mom as a heads up."
I pulled out my phone and sent mom a text, "Hey mom, I'm bringing a friend over. Just giving you a heads up."
…
It took about 35 minutes to drive to my house.
I pulled into the driveway, which goes from the road past the front yard through the side yard and then wraps around the back of the house giving a full view of the back yard.
As we drove in, Layla, having seen the back yard, pointed and wanted to say something but held back.
I parked the car and we got out. I walked back across the driveway towards my entrance. I pointed at the things laying in the tall grass and said, "Those are solar panels, battery, and satellites, also I need to cut the grass, I know. I really need to do it before my mom does and she mulches all of it."
"Oh… Ok, I was wondering what was out in the lawn. And I don't really care about the grass, that's my dad's thing. I actually like the taller grass look since it runs straight up to the forest line."
"I like it as well. I really like the more natural gardens that people build. I think that it is more calming."
"I agree."
"Anyway, I know that there was a closer door we could have gone too but I figured we should come in through my door."
"Your door?"
"You'll see."
We walked over to two glass doors that had curtains covering them from the floor to the ceiling on the inside.
I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door. I opened the door and pulled the curtain out of the way revealing the library and sitting space inside.
Layla was stunned, "Woah, this is nice."
"Thank you. I put in a lot of hard work."
"You did this?"
"Yeah, well a lot of it. The fireplace, bookshelves, baseboards, crown molding, flooring, the rugs, chairs, table, light, and all of the painting. It took forever."
"Well it looks great."
"Thank you again. And right here next to you is the shoe rack. Where we can change our shoes for slippers. Notice how they are all black? You're welcome."
"Psh. As if you got them for me."
"Darn she saw through my ruse."
We changed out of our shoes and into slippers.
I pointed to my right and said, "That is my office."
We walked over and into my office. Where Layla said, "Wow, more books."
"Lots of books, yeah."
"And I recognize those computers."
"Yep, and if you look straight back and across through the doors and across the hallway you can see the bathroom."
Leading Layla back out and around to my bedroom. I opened the door and said, "This is my bedroom."
"Ooh. Very nice, very nice. I understand why it's called your door now. It literally leads to your private space."
"Well, mostly private, the stairs still lead to the rest of the house. I decided to bring you in down here because my mom wears shoes in the house. Not often, but she does wear them in and going out."
"Oh, yeah, my family does the same. I would like to but there really isn't a point when no one else is going to."
"Yeah, if I come in upstairs I wear my shoes until the landing at the bottom of the stairs and then take my shoes off."
"Excatly, I don't want to get my socks dirty walking around, trying to be better."