Chapter Two

"I wonder if anyone thinks of me when they can't fall asleep at night."

CLAYTON

Thump, thump, thump.

The loud knocks echoed throughout the house making my eyes shoot awake. At first I thought I was imagining the whole thing, but after another set, I was certain. Squinting over at my alarm clock I winced when I made out five in the morning. Either those annoying Girl Scouts - that did pack a mighty hit - were starting business in the early hours or someone was trying to break through the front door.

"Mor, far (mother, father)! The freaking door!" I yelled out for my parents while attempting to rub the sleep out of my eyes. After a minute passed and I received no answer I put my glasses on. "Of course I would have to be the one to get it." I muttered. "Selvfølgelig (of course)."

Against all my wishes I sat up straight, fixing my glasses to sit on the bridge of my nose. Fatigue passed through me; the thought of curling back in bed and ignoring the rather adamant person at the door sounding better and better. Even so I made my way out the door, a frown plastered on my face. At least it wasn't a school day, I attempted to reason. Now that would have made me angry.

All of a sudden when I entered the living room the pounding stopped. Had they gone away? There was a tiny bit of hope in me, but it only got crushed when it started back up again. What teases.

I blinked a few times before pressing my eye to the peephole.

"Nå tuller du med meg (You must be kidding me)." I mumbled.

The pests were not Girl Scouts this time around. Instead they were two of my past close friends Zeke Sams and Mateo Raeken. I preferred the scouts more than them.

"What the hell guys?" I whispered, anger laced between my words the best they could without drawing the attention of my parents. If they knew these two were here they would send them packing. "It is five in the morning!"

"I am sorry, I didn't know I missed an episode of no shit Sherlock." Zeke rolled his blue eyes. His hair was relaxed, falling over his forehead as if he woke up like that. "But c'mon, we are going to play some right now. Bring an extra pair of clothes though because we're gonna hang after."

My English wasn't the best, but I knew every word he said. Yet I kept waiting for a question. The question asking me if I could even venture out at such a time. "Um, okay." I eventually answered their impatient gazes, that question never coming up. "One second."

Before the guys ended up barging into my house and demanding me to move faster I swiftly put clean clothes in my baseball bag, threw on sweats, then replaced my glasses for contacts. If I had taken a few seconds longer they would have stepped inside but when they saw me coming they stayed put.

"I'm gonna go in my car," I told them. "You guys head out so I can write a note for my parents."

Zeke breathed in, catching himself before he said something he shouldn't. He was a very organized person, and I guessed us driving in different vehicles wasn't apart of his original plan. He might have said extremely impulsive things, but his actions definitely weren't. So when he took India Logan to Homecoming and ended up sleeping with her, that wasn't a surprise to him - which was exactly why he had reserved a hotel room for that night. If she wasn't interested though, he wouldn't have forced her into anything, but he would have became disoriented. Upset. Confused, even.

Mateo, on the other hand, was far more simple to pin down. With Zeke's matching blue eyes and brown, typically styled hair; he was a follower.

"Alright," Zeke eventually said. He ran a hand through his hair. "See you there." I watched as the two hopped back in Zeke's car. "Better not slack in getting there like you do with running the bases!" Zeke yelled as he rolled down all of his windows so his loud music could be shared with the entire world.

I smiled in return. If I had said something it would have been in Norwegian and not very kind.

After the sleek ride pulled out of my driveway and zoomed out of sight I rushed back into the house. My instincts were telling me to wake up my parents and tell them I was going out, but instead I resorted to the note idea. I scribbled down I was heading out with my teammates to practice then hang out. I had no clue when we would come back but I felt like twelve was a good estimate time. Not too early, not too late.

But Zeke apparently had other plans.

Most of the day consisted of working out and baseball, but once we called it quits after eight hours out on the field Zeke insisted we go and walk the mall strip after hitting the showers. Before I would have taken that as an opportunity to buy something, but I knew these boys good enough to know that the only reason to go was to see the opposite gender shopping.

"Hey, doesn't that girl go to our school?" Zeke's question lead all of our gazes wandering around the music shop. There were a good amount of people inside, but none I recognized from school. "The girl right there, the one with the head phones on. She is kinda cute, yeah?" When neither Mateo and I spotted the girl Zeke huffed. He pointed her out. "That one."

My eyes focused in on the girl. She had turned her back towards us before I could catch a glimpse of her face, so I was quick to ask, "What's her name?"

Zeke snapped his fingers. "Ah, I got this." More snaps. "I think it starts with an 'L'."

I found my lips puckering out. The mystery was enticing.

"I'll go see." The boys whistled at me, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the shop besides the girl. She must have been enjoying what ever song she was listening to because her head was starting to sway back and forth. "Hold kjeft (shut it)." When I received blank expressions I just rolled my eyes and chuckled. "Be back in a few."

Sometimes Zeke and Mateo made no sense to me. I never said I was going to ask her out or anything. All I wanted to do was go and see who she was, possibly put a name to the face. Maybe that was the difference between the American boys and I. Not everything involving a girl included flirting to me - though if I was interested in this one, then possibly. Possibly.

The old records felt smooth under my touch as I slowly waltzed over to the blonde's ail. I watched with a faint smile as she picked out Enslaved's album. That was one of my favorite rock bands and they just so happened to originate from Norway. I had no idea anyone from the states listened to them; especially such a petite girl. The thought of seeing her rock out to their songs stretched my lips even further.

"Great band," I commented while grabbing a capsule of record cleaner. My thumbs fiddled with it as I waited for a response, but when she didn't even glance my way I realized she had not heard me. The boys were already laughing at my failed attempt behind me. "Great band," I repeated once more, this time much louder.

The girl visibly shook, the album falling out of her grip. Wide green eyes caught me off guard as our gazes connected. Even when clear recognition passed through her face she still looked frozen; frightened to the point of no movement. Under her gaze I felt like a scary monster, not a guy she would ever be interested in.

It was a shame, too, because Zeke had hit the nail on the head. This girl was most definitely cute. I had always thought that since we had chemistry class together. Her hair was wavy and messy yet it looked put together in a way. Unlike during school she was wearing a dress; one that forced me to give her a glance up and down. It was sweet, a perfect match to her shy nature. When I met those doe eyes and noticed she stiffened even more I instantly regretted my actions. Zeke and Mateo were becoming bad influences on me.

Before I crashed and burned I willed myself to send her a slight smile before turning on my heels and bolting back to my friends. Evidently to them I had crashed and burn.

"So she does go to our school?" Zeke asked, still chuckling. They lead me out the door so I could recover.

I rubbed at my forehead. My face felt hot at the touch. "Yeah. . . It was Lucy. Lucy Walker."

"Well, well, well. Look at you knowing her name by heart." Mateo poked my cheek. "She is pretty hot though, so I don't blame you." My nose wrinkled at this. "What? I can't think she is attractive?"

Of course he could have thought that, but applying the term hot to a girl was not cutting it for me. It didn't taste right on the tongue. "Well, yeah." I ran my hands through my hair. "But she would never go for guys like us."

Zeke almost toppled over laughing then and there. "She would never go for us?" He sounded more disgusted than amused. "Sure she isn't ugly but she isn't anywhere near out of our league. If anything it is the other way around!"

The two laughed with each other while I held a serious expression. There wasn't anything funny to laugh at - well, other than the fact how pathetic they were. I could have laughed for hours thinking about how indestructible they thought they were.

Finally though, enough was enough. "Alright, alright. Come on guys, let's go back to your place." I cleared my throat, maneuvering around the conversation of Lucy. Zeke had no right belittling her into a corner, even if she was out of sight and ear shot. She deserved respect. "Shut up about Lucy and move it."

My far once told me something before I went into the exchange program. It was about romance. He told me it wasn't the flesh, but the heart that you fell in love with. He even backed up his theory by using the example of him and mor.

"How else could she have fell in love with me?" He would joke.

And while Lucy Walker definitely wasn't picture perfect, I was positive behind her shyness there laid a great human being. Yet Zeke was here laughing his rumpe (butt) off, acting as if she was some sort of beast.

"Wow, someone is testy." I could feel one of them trying to cave in the back of my knee to make me trip as I walked towards my car. "Does our little Norwegian have a crush or something?" The two snickered. "How adorable."

"Hvorfor er jeg venner med dere to (Why am I friends with you two)?" My whole face scrunched up. Oh, yeah - because they introduced me to my life: baseball. "Glem det (forget it)."

Silence followed and for a split second I thought they actually understood what I had said, but instead they were only taken for the woman walking across the street. She was battling to keep her dress skirt down and unlike me, they never once turned away. It was foolish of me to think Zeke or Mateo - yet alone both of them - actually backed up their words about learning the Norwegian language for the sake of their friend.

"Dude, can you stop speaking that gibberish?" Once the two landed back down to Earth Zeke sneered. "It sounds annoying."

Oh how many times I thought that back when I first met them. My far had always taught me the English language growing up, but not enough to be fluent. Yet I became an avid English speaker when I wanted to become closer friends with Zeke and Mateo. All I wanted was to connect with them more, but I couldn't say the same about them. That was the exact reason why I stopped reaching out to them unless they were the ones to approach me.

"Actually, I have to home right about now. Parents just texted me," I lied, my teeth grinding.

"Okay, see ya, bud." Mateo pushed at my shoulder hard while Zeke eyed me before waving me off. He wanted to intervene, I could tell. He most likely had going back to his place as a part of his plan.

But when we dispersed in different directions I couldn't help but let out a relieved breath.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I should have listened to my instincts.

"A note does not suffice when you are going to be gone the whole day, Clayton!" My far was livid when I entered the house at seven. He wore that face that clearly meant you-should-know-better-than-that. "You should know better than that!"

All I did was groan. Maybe if they had woken up when I kept calling them to answer the door my day would have been spent differently. "Well it wasn't like I was having a blast." I breathed out. "Plus Zeke and Mateo sort of dragged me out of the house," I said. Far did not look convinced one bit. "I am fine. Tired, though. They woke me up at five."

Thankfully far wasn't the parent to dig any deeper for information. Mor, on the other hand, would have questioned me on everything we did. That was mildly annoying, but the worst part was that she could tell when I was lying. I had a clear tell and yet I couldn't manage to change it. I had hoped old habits would die hard someday.

"Night," I said, grabbing a box of cereal from the counter for dinner.

Far still looked bothered by my nonchalant attitude. ".... Night."

That was why I loved mor working so late. I would have been in that kitchen for another hour or so being interrogated.

I took a mouthful of Fruit Loops and kicked my way into my room. I dropped my baseball bag on the ground, tore off my shirt and jeans, then leaped onto my bed. It was so welcoming. So friendly. That was the least I could have said about Mateo and Zeke, although they did have their occasional friend moments. Like when we played baseball for instance; our love for the game was like a glue that kept us together. Even if we were to fight when we went out on that field and threw back and forth it was like we were back in the ninth grade.

Putting more cereal into my mouth I took a glance at my nightstand, the joyous flavor on my tongue not enough to keep me from frowning. There sat my phone in its broken glory. The same phone Zeke and Mateo thought it would be funny to throw like a baseball to each other. Of course since Mateo wasn't the best catcher he missed and it went plummeting to the ground. Mor and far were infuriated when I brought it back to them. So much that they cut off my phone from their plan and said if I wanted another I would have to get a job and buy one myself.

Sometimes I regretted it all: going into the exchange program, persuading my parents into moving to the states, and most importantly leaving Norway. It was such a nice place - or I thought that at least, but I could have been biased since that was where I was raised.

I could tell my mor missed Norway too. A few times I walked in on her looking through old photos she took of the beautiful country. Even so when I questioned her she insisted she was happy. And I could tell she meant it.

"Missing one thing doesn't mean I am not happy with what I have now." She blessed me with those words often.

It had been almost four years of living in Ridgewood yet in that moment I was questioning whether or not I was truly happy. At the beginning it was great. I had the friends I thought I could count on, the attention of girls, and a sport I was decent at. But as the years went by the friends changed. Or maybe I changed. Those girls were still giving me their undivided attention, but I was not interested anymore. There were very few that peeked my interest, but most of the time they never even approached me. The only constant in my life there was baseball, and without it I probably would have moved back to Norway in a heartbeat.

And so as I laid there, preparing to sleep off the rough day, I tried to focus in on the positives. My parents were with me and extremely proud of the life I have created here - well, when I wasn't getting in trouble because of Mateo and Zeke. School was work but I managed well enough. Many colleges were interested in me playing ball for them. So it wasn't all bad.

I sighed into my pillow, then soon enough fell asleep.