Tea Party

Term 3 began and I had found a new friendship in a lovely young girl who was going through the same emotional rollercoaster as I. She was waiting for a man 4years older than her, and she had to wait until she was 18...a whole 6months or so after she graduated from High School!!

Needless to say I was loving my parents greatly by this stage.

I remember one recess in the beginning of August, sitting on the concrete in the school yard with her discussing our dilemmas.

It was cold, but the sun was brighter than normal and kept us fairly 'warm' in the sense of the word. Somehow, during this quiet, sunny day we ended up chatting about the subject of tea parties.

We both decided that they were lots of fun; cucumber sandwiches, delicate china with hot tea and jellies, biscuits and cake. So, our loving and sharing nature soon kicked into gear, and we found ourselves planning a tea party which would be held at Lockie's place.

I knew Lockie would be thrilled with the idea.

For some reason (perhaps the desire to prove that he was indeed perfect, and did want to pretend he enjoyed tea parties) Lockie agreed to the double date at his place and a Sunday afternoon was chosen.

Sunday 10th August 2008 came. After church had finished I went looking for Lachlan to head off to his place for the party. As I looked I received a devastating text.

My friend and her man couldn't make it as they were both sick! I began to do what I did best whenever faced with dealing with alone time in this new relationship, and felt panic set in.

Luckily as my frantic, panicked gaze scoured the crowd looking for Lockie, I found myself facing Karen. Maybe, my fears weren't necessary quite yet.

"Karen, would you and Matt like to come out to lunch with Lachlan and I now?"

"Sure. I don't see why not. I'll go get Matt."

Saved by the insane, panic gaze.

I sat alone in his car on the way there and for the most part, I stared out the passenger window, trying to stay 'cool'. I tried to maintain perfection in everything; the way I folded my legs, the way I smiled, the way I strained to silence an annoying cough without him noticing, the way I subtly wiped away the tears in my eyes from supressing the cough, the way I barely breathed lest it be too heavy for his precious ears to handle etc etc.

Plus, I had one more fear to face; his parents.

I knew they would be lovely people, for how could such a lovely man such as Lachlan come from parents who were nasty? However, although this logic was flawless, it still did not help calm my fears.

We drove for what seemed like eternity, and finally made it to his driveway. I was totally taken aback, for his house was not what I had expected. His driveway alone was endless, giving me the sense that this boy had a spectacular home at the end to show.

As we approached the house, I am sure my mouth was gaping wide open. His home and land was huge! I just remembered thinking about how pretty his home was. The space, the simple design, the serenity which would come from living in this place; it simply made my heart feel completely envious.

Once I finally closed my unattractive gob, we got out of the car. As soon as we got out, we were greeted in the most jovial manner by his two dogs at the time, Roofus and Nelson. Gosh they were beautiful dogs! Although Roofus kind of intimidated me a little; you'd be scared too if you faced a dog that size! He was like a miniture horse!!

I immediately loved his dad. He was so friendly! It calmed my nerves down so much. His mum wasn't home at the time, so we all headed inside and started getting lunch ready.

When I went into their kitchen, I knew exactly what a blessing a big kitchen was. Their kitchen was wonderful! Perhaps it's only a girl obsession, but seriously this kitchen was huge, spacious and pretty much perfect in my books. My kitchen will be just like that one!

Lachlan started preparing the steaks for lunch. I think back to that day, and the way he was trying too hard to impress me with his kitchen skills. It was the most delightful thing I've ever watched. Nevertheless, his cooking was rather brilliant, so perhaps the showing off worked.

By the time the steaks were prepared, his mum arrived home. Again, she was so friendly, and I felt rather foolish for feeling so nervous. We cooked and ate our steaks, and then settled down for a movie.

Then the unexpected happened.

Karen and Matt had to leave, because Matt had to get to work, and he was Karen's transport home! I would have to hang out with Lachlan all alone in the end anyway! Maybe God was trying to send a subtle message and tell me to get over my fear, grow some confidence and be normal!

So I took a deep breath and slowly,carefully sat down next to him. So far, so good. I hadn't done anything stupid...yet.

Halfway through the movie, he paused it and asked if I wanted anything to eat or drink. In those few moments I had a couple of choices; say no, and pretend I cared about my appearance, weight and appetite OR say yes and eat something delicious.

In reality I was craving chocolate, so I thought I would ask what he wanted to eat first before I gave my final answer.

He wanted double coated chocolate TimTams.

The perfect man was improving by the second! We ran upstairs, grabbed the packet of chocolate goodness, and headed back down to our film. We also grabbed a slice of cake each, because let's face it; it was a day for all things indulgent.

As I sat there watching, I sensed Lachlan was not really watching the movie, but me.
Glancing over, I smiled.

"Everything OK?"

"Oh yea, sure." he said grabbing his third TimTam.
"I'm just trying to distract myself with these biscuits."

"Ah, ok?" I said slightly confused.

"If I occupy my hands with these biscuits then I won't be tempted to hold your beautiful hand."

Well, wasn't that completely unexpected?

I blushed and looked at the 'beautiful' hand, and realised that I should probably do the same thing to avoid trying to hold his hand.

Being 'just friends' was going to be harder than we both realised. I think I resented school from that moment on. So there we sat for the rest of the movie, not saying anything at all, and eating as many TimTams as we could.