“You seem awfully happy tonight,” said my mother as we cleared off the dinner table.

I shrugged and carried my plate to the sink.

“It’s all that fresh air.” My father pulled me to his side and ruffled my hair. “Told you it would be good for you.”

“Right dad. That must be it.” Fixing my hair, I headed for my room.

I closed the door and threw myself on the bed. Letting out a sigh, it had been almost a month since I started going to the campground, and in that short amount of time, I actually was excited to go. Sitting up, I thought about going to the hot pools again with Titus on Monday. I already had my bag packed for it.

Grabbing my laptop from my desk, I flipped it open. Going to Youtube, I clicked on one of my music video playlists and settled in for the night.

***

I opened my eyes to a tapping at the window. I looked around the darkened room and saw my computer had been moved. The scratching sound came from the window again. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes. The noise got louder. I scooted up against the headboard and turned on the lamp on my desk.

Titus’s face appeared, and he gave me a wave. “Aden.”

“What in the world?” I climbed off my bed and went to the window. I flipped the lock to the side and lifted it. Putting my head outside, I gave Titus a confused look. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged and climbed into the room. “Just came by to say hi.”

I glanced outside. There was a slanted roof outside as well as a good ten foot drop to get to it. “How’d you get up here?”

“It wasn’t that hard.” He plopped down on my bed and put his arms behind his head.

“You could’ve come in through the front door.” I closed the window.

“Your parents don’t know me.” He sat up. “And I didn’t want to be told to go away.”

I stood at the foot of the bed. “Okay, but how did you find me? Please don’t tell me you’ve been peeking into my neighbor’s houses?”

He laughed softly. “No, saw your dad’s truck parked out front.”

I chuckled to myself. “That stupid thing keeps giving me away.”

“Yep.” He put his feet on the floor. “So this is your room?” Standing, he started wandered around.

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “It’s kind of boring.” I did a quick scan to make sure I didn’t have anything embarrassing lying on the floor. Thankful, my mother had done the laundry yesterday.

“I think it’s nice.” He examined my laptop for a moment. “Hey, what’s in there?” Titus pointed to my closet.

I jumped up and laid across the door. “Nothing.”

“Well if it’s nothing, then you won’t mind me taking a look.” He nudged me to the side.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Really Titus. There’s nothing interesting in there.”

“We’ll see.” He opened the door and disappeared inside.

“Titus stop!”

He reached for a box, and I dove for it. I knocked it out of his hand, and it crashed onto the ground.

“Great,” I dropped to the ground to pick everything up.

There was a knock on the door. “Aden?” called my mother. “Is everything alright?”

I bolted from the closet and ran to stop her from entering. My mother was halfway inside.

“I’m fine.”

“Aden?” She narrowed her brow. “What going on?”

“Nothing,” I breathed. “I was just getting something out of my closet and a box fell.”

“Are you sure, sweetheart?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it nothing. I woke up, and I’m still a little disoriented. I’m fine.”

“Alright, good night.” She pulled me down to her and kissed my cheek. “Get some sleep, okay?”

“I will. Good night.” I closed the door and leaned up against it. I don’t think I’d ever be able to explain having a random stranger in my room this late.

I looked over to the bed to see Titus sitting with multiple boxes around him. “Have you ever heard of privacy?” I tried to take away the sketches he was flipping through.

“Aden.” He grabbed me and yanked me over to him. “It’s not that big of a deal.” Grabbing the bundle of papers from me, he glanced through them.

Backing up against the wall, I waited for the sarcastic comments and sideways glances to come. Titus just continued to look through all my drawings.

“I’m not very good.”

Titus spotted a book on my desk and went for it.

“Wait,” I held up my hand.

He didn’t listen and flipped it open. “Wow, you’ve really improved.”

I rubbed my arm. “They’re not very good,” I muttered.

Titus shrugged. “I can’t draw at all, so I’m impressed.”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

He grabbed another box from the pile at his feet.

I recognized the markings. “Titus no!” I jumped on him and tried to wrestle it away.

“Come on Aden.” He jerked it out of my hands. “It’s a little too late for that.”

I felt my face heat up when he removed the lid.

“Did you make these?” He pulled out a wooden lion.

“It was a long time ago.” I clasped my forehead. “I was really into animals as a kid.”

Titus laughed softly.

My face blared red. I snatched it away from him and dropped it back in the box. I tried to take it away, but Titus wouldn’t let go.

“Aden, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just thought it was funny you got so defensive about them.” He picked up the wolf. “I really like them.” He handed the wooden figurine to me. “This one is my favorite.”

I sat on the bed next to him. “You don’t think it’s stupid?” I ran my finger over the wolf’s face.

“No.” He carried the box over to my dresser. “Why don’t you have them out?” He began to line them along the top. “It’s a waste to just have them sitting in a box.”

I walked over and scanned the lines of wooden animals. “I don’t know,” I said softly.

Titus took the wolf from me and examined it. “It’s almost life like. You’re really talented.”

With a sigh, I took it back. “The fur isn’t right, and I took too much off the arm.” I tossed it back in the box.

“Hey,” He grabbed it and placed it with the other. “Why did you do that?”

“I’m too old for this stuff anymore.” I scratched the back of my head.

“You’re not a very good liar.” He followed me to the bed. “What’s the real reason?”

I gathered up all the sketches and loose papers. “Just because.”

“Aden.” He took them from me. “They’re really good.”

I wrung my hands together. “My friend would make fun of me when they came over, so I stopped. It’s just kid stuff.”

“It’s called talent, Aden.” He flipped through the pages. “It’s not something you outgrow.”

“My friends think so,” I muttered.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but your friends suck.”

“No, they don’t.” I started to gather up the books and put them back in their box. “They just didn’t want to be friends with the artsy kid, so I quit. I figured it would be better to be the nobody friend of the popular kids than a nobody with a pocketknife and a block of wood.”

“Well, I think they’re beautiful,” Titus stated. “Just like that stick you carve the first time we met. I still have it.”

I couldn’t fight the smile from forming on my face. “My grandpa showed me how when I seven. He gave me my first pocket knife on my birthday. My mother wasn’t too sure about it. She kept lecturing me about being careful. I only cut myself a couple of times,” I laughed at the memory. “It was never really bad, but she always threatened to take it away after she patched me up.”

“Would you make me one?” His eyebrows pinched together. “Please.”

I walked over to the dresser and picked up the wolf. “You can have this one, and I’ll make you another one to go with it.”

His face lit up, and he pulled me into a hug. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you. I promise to take good care of it.” He held me tightly against him.

“Your welcome,” I whispered, laying my head against his chest. “I’ll get started on the other one tomorrow.”

He released me and stepped toward the window. “I better get going.”

“Yeah, you probably should,” I replied, chewing on my lip.

“I’ll see you Monday,” said Titus, straddling the window frame.

“Yep, Monday.”

“I’ll have everything nice and clean before you get there.” He gave me that cheesy smile before disappearing outside.

“Bye,” I called after him. I stood there for a moment, staring at the wooden animals. They did look nice lined up along the edge. Smiling to myself, I picked up the boxes and stacked them next to my desk. After closing the window, I slipped into bed. The figurines could stay there, for now at least.