Just Checking

"Hi Lindsey." A shy voice said to me. Here it was, Saturday morning again, with me in Driver's Ed. class. Unlike last week, it had taken a considerable amount of strength for me to get myself up that last time. But now I no longer had the enthusiastic naivete as before the first class, for I knew what I was in for.

"I'm sorry.." I mumbled in response, frowning at the brown colored eyes that looked up at me. "I don't remember your name."

"David." He extended his hand out to me. I smiled and shook it. He was definitely more attractive up close than on the other side of our semicircular group.

Speaking of which, I glanced around and saw everyone except the Mohawk Boy, as I'd nicknamed him, were present again.

Wonder if he couldn't get off parole this time, I thought with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, David. I'm Lindsey."

"Williams. I know." He gave me a grin. I frowned, a little confused.

"The first day.. Your hockey coach." David clarified.

"Oh geez." I rolled my eyes, remembering how Coach had been so nice to single me out. Lucky me.

"He's definitely an.. interesting guy." David paused, choosing his words carefully.

"You could say that." I replied with a laugh at his choice of words. "He's definitely an interesting character."

"Can't be more interesting than my Driving Instructor. I'm afraid of her." He admitted with a sheepish laugh.

"Wait.. Who do you have?" I asked, my eyes wide open.

"I don't actually know her name. She's tiny but incredibly mean. I just get so nervous and messed up big time on the driving part last week." He confessed.

"Kind of like a Nazi?" I asked with a grin. "Hair tight in a bun, wears all gray, and never smiles?"

"Yeah! That's her all right." As he grinned again, I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

At least now I'm not the only one worried about this class, let along afraid of that witch.

"Mind if I sit here?" I pointed to the empty seat next on his right side.

"Actually, I saved it for you."

"Thanks, David." With a shy smile, I slid into the seat next to him. When he wasn't looking, I turned and got a closer inspection of him. He was incredibly thin with a slight muscular build, I could tell that much underneath the white T-shirt and jean shorts he was wearing. His brown hair fell right above his ears, recently cut I guessed by the even ends.

What a nice guy. I could instantly tell that Driver's Ed was going to be lots more fun.

Good, I thought. I need that so I can stay awake. I rubbed the corners of my eyes and shook my head a little to shake the drowsiness out of it.

"Tired?" David noticed my actions.

"Story of my life." I laughed softly. "Rough hockey practice last night, that's all."

"You play hockey?" He asked with surprise in his voice.

"Yup." I grinned widely. "I'm the goalie for the girl's community league."

Damn it felt good to say that.

"Wow. That's impressive. I love hockey, but I don't play it."

"Really?" Now it was my turn to sound surprised. "Who do you think will make it to the Cup play-offs this year?"

"St. Louis and New Jersey." He replied firmly. I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"I agree with New Jersey, but St. Louis? They suck!"

"They.. have potential." He defended his opinion.

"They have a kickass goalie, that's about it."

"Fine, who do you think?"

"New Jersey and Detroit." I said with a grin.

"Oh, not another Wings fan." He rolled his eyes. "Everybody and their mother is a fan of Detroit."

"Hey, hey, hey." I was now the defensive one. "I was a Wings fan way before anyone had even heard of Sergei Federov, thank you."

"Uh-huh." He grinned again. "I'm sure."

"Yeah-" I started to say when a familiar loud voice interrupted our conversation.

"All right, you low-life slackers, let's get started all ready." I threw Coach a smile. Somehow, the sense of dreading this class in me was now gone. I figured out why when I glanced at my new friend.

Don't get too excited Linds, I reminded myself. As soon as he gets to know you, he'll bolt like like the last set of friends.

"Hello!" I called out cheerfully, slamming the front door behind me. Despite my busy afternoon, I was incredibly happy at the moment.

"Hey kiddo," Mom called from the kitchen. I found her sitting at the table, shuffling through papers. "How was Driver's Ed?"

"Wonderful!" I replied, my eyes gleaming brightly for the first time in weeks. After my inspirational talk with David this morning, I'd managed to nail that Driver's Ed Nazi Instructor in the ass during my practice. It was amazing: I turned, I drove backward, I even sleeked the Suburban into mainstream traffic, all avoiding bouncing over curbs with a grace I didn't know existed in my fingertips. Beyond that, driving had suddenly turned fun, particularly at my teacher's mentioning of highway ventures for me next weekend. I'd even received a tight-lipped smile and nod of approval at the end of the whole thing.

"Sounds great. How about work?"

"Even better." I grinned, taking the seat next to her and examining the papers she'd strewn around the table. "I finally got the oven temps right this time. People actually got somewhat editable food."

"What a concept," Mom gave me a wry smile.

"Yeah.. I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat pizza anymore." After the sight of it raw, the touch of the cold ingredients against my fingers, particularly the meat products, and that weird smell that never seemed to leave the kitchen, anyone would have their stomach turned away from pizza.

"Well, it's not under your list of food anyway." She replied.

"List of foods?" I echoed the words, walking over to the refrigerator for something to drink. Although I had a break from hockey practice because of the weekend, I felt tired. Mom had insisted on me riding my bike to school then work again.

At least it's still early out and I don't have to do any more exercise, I thought with a half-grin as I examined the fridge's contents. Needless to say, there wasn't anything that looked appealing to me, so I shut the door.

"Yes, Ma'am." Mom held out a piece of paper to me.

"Thirteen hundred calories?" I read the number off the upper left corner. Glancing it over, I saw a list of foods and their corresponding nutritional information.

"That's the amount you should be eating in order to loose weight successfully." She handed me another sheet, one blank except for many lines grouped in paragraph form running across it. It looked a little like an outline, with the words "breakfast," "lunch," and "dinner" typed in italics at the top of each paragraph.

"What's this?" I asked, waving the second sheet at her.

"Your meal plan. All you have to do is write down what foods you eat every day, making sure you eat only foods on that first sheet. The serving sizes are also listed." With her smile, it was like Mom thought she was doing me an incredibly large favor.

Thirteen hundred calories doesn't sound like very much.. I thought to myself, scanning over my new meal plan. Glancing at the second sheet, my eyes widened at the serving sizes.

They're so small! Three ounces of chicken? That's like a pile the size of a deck of cards.. With a frown, I lifted my eyes to my mother's. Before I could answer her though, she came toward me and grabbed my right wrist in her hand.

"Oh, Honey, this is something else."

"What are you doing?" I gave her a strange look. Well, she was right about one thing.. that is something else.

"Checking your wrist width." She flipped my arm over, showing her thumb circled below my palm, a space between it and the tip of her middle finger.

"Umm.. ok." I said slowly, not understanding what the point of this was.

"When you loose weight, you'll notice in your wrists getting slimmer. You can use your middle finger to check your progress."

I can think of something else I'd like to do with my middle finger and this whole mess. I replied in my head as she dropped my wrist and padded my shoulder.

"Mom.. I need to tell you something." I started, unsure of how to explain this. Not that I didn't appreciate her help, this was getting too complicated. I wasn't sure if I was ready to completely rearrange my lifestyle only a few days after deciding to loose weight.

"I know this may seem hard right now, but it's not. I've been researching a lot at work about dieting and I'll help you." She smiled widely at me and continued with a wave of her hand:

"Now.. what were you saying?" As I opened my mouth to interject, my eyes caught a tiny gleam in hers. She looked at me like never before, with pride. Which only made it harder, feeling as incredibly nice as it did.

Shit.. I sighed inwardly. There wasn't any way I could tell her no, after all her efforts.

Maybe she'll relax after I loose a little weight. Going along with it for now isn't the worst thing I could do anyway.

"Just... Thanks, Mom." I forced a smile as I took a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water. Taking a seat a the table next to her, I took a sip of water and laid the papers in front of us.

"No problem, kiddo. Now, let's get started."