Getting out of bed has always been one of my least favorite activities but today it was especially a pain in my ass. Even after my alarm sounded for what seemed to be the tenth time in the past five minutes, I was still nowhere close, to wanting to get out of bed. I hit the old Mickey Mouse alarm ringing violently on my bed side table twice, before it finally turns off. I groan and roll over in my tiny twin bed knowing that my stupid alarm clock has one this battle. On today of all days in would have been nice if I would have won. It’s as if my alarm clock had finally grown a brain and picked out specific days it’d know I wasn’t looking forward to, to wake me up without giving me a fighting chance.
“Skylar” a voice yells from behind my bedroom door, the same voice that’s yelled from behind my door since I was little kid.
“Yes mom?” I yell as best as I can at this ungodly hour.
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready? You told me you’d be leaving by five o’clock. It’s now five fifteen” she continued to pester me.
“I’m aware what time it is” I say but leave out my now broken childhood clock.
“Well honey if you don’t want to go, you can just tell me” she says trying to persuade me into making the decision she’s wanted all along.
My mother is really over protective. My mother is extremely over protective. She has to know what I’m doing, where I’m doing it, who I’m doing it with and when I’m returning home to the safety of her nest. It took me months, for her to even listen to me when I told her I wanted to go to my first sleepover. I ended up missing it and instead, spent the night watching cheesy 80’s movies with our dog. Imagine my surprise when I asked her to go on a road trip and it took me less than 24 hours for her to agree to it, with a few minor conditions.
1) No boys other then David, who I’m going on this fantastic road trip with
2) No alcohol or drugs
3) No weapons, just in case I have the sudden urge to buy a gun
Only three conditions but they generally prevent me of having any fun whatsoever. It’s not like I don’t want to go on this road trip with David, but the more I think about it, the more and more I come to think that it’s a bad idea.
I sit up gradually in my bed and sigh. I know I can’t back out now. My mom would never let me live it down and David, oh David would be pissed as all hell and I really can’t afford to lose another friend this year. A tear began to slowly trickle down my cheek; god how I missed Emily.
“Skylar did you hear me?” she says opening my door slightly.
“Yes I did and I do want to go mom. I’m just a little late” I sigh rubbing my forehead in frustration.
She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a challenging look.
“I do want to go! I promise” I proclaim.
“Skylar” She says coming to sit beside me on my bed. “Skylar” she says again moving a strand of my hair away from my face and tucking it behind my ear. “My beautiful sky, is this whole road trip some big scheme to try to get over Gavin? Or is it because you miss Emily?”
“What no!” I cry. I crawl away from her and flip off the end of my bed, unintentionally. I shake my head of the pain and begin to stand up straight. “How could you even think that? What even lead you to believe that?”
“Well honey you’ve been so depressed since you and Gavin split up and well when you and Emily got in that fight, I just. I assumed”
“Well don’t assume” I shout in aggravation. My mother flashes me a hurt and confused expression. I know she’s right but I’d never admit that to my mother.
“I know honey but even Bill”
“Oh not Bill again” I throw my hands up. It’s bad enough having one overprotected parent but my step dad, now he’s something unearthly. He’s the reason why she’s so paranoid. Every time I think about that, I cringe a bit. I hate the way Bill treats my mother. Even thinking about it makes my blood boil.
“Sometimes I just don’t get why you don’t like him” she continues not noticing I wasn’t listening.
“Do we have to get so philosophical right now? I have to get dressed and load my bags into the car and I just can’t deal with this” I say motioning to the door.
She nods and stands up brushing her pants out. “I know you don’t want to talk about it now but we will be talking about this when you get back. I just can’t see how this could possibly go on any longer” she says as she leaves my room. I close the door behind her and slid down onto the floor. I want to tell her so much and ask her so many things, but I’m afraid. Afraid she’ll judge me, afraid she’ll think differently of me, like I wouldn’t be her little girl anymore. Kind of like I judged Emily. I stand up and run into my cloest. The friendship braclet that Emily and I made each other in sixth grade hung on a little hook towards the back. I grab it quickly before I run downstairs.
***
“Do you have everything?” she asks when I finally get downstairs and load my stuff into the car.
“Yep” I lie. Okay so I don’t have my car keys, my sun tan lotion and a bit of my sanity but other than that I’m good to go.
“I’m going to miss you so much” she says wrapping me in a suffocating hug that’s almost comforting.
“I’ll only be gone for two weeks mom” I try to reply but it’s hard because most o the oxygen in my body is escaping from my lungs.
“I know but that’s too long of a time”
“Maybe for you but for me, it’s not nearly long enough” I can see myself saying and laughing. I can just imagine my mother on the other hand, not finding it as amusing. The cold look she would flash me would cause my laughter to stop dead in its tracks. “I’ll call you every night if that helps?” I say instead.
“That’s already part of our agreement” she smiles finally letting me go. I smile back at her warm and try not to make it seem as if I was up to anything, which was a complete lie. I walk down the driveway, too my beaten up, old convertible. I walk around the car to the driver’s side and suddenly stop. I look up back to where my mom was standing; now holding a bottle of sun tan lotion and my car keys, with a worried look plastered over her face. I quickly run back up to where she is and pluck the two items from her hands and plant a quick kiss on her cheek to reassure her I’ll be fine.
Getting in that car and driving down my street was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Getting David to agree to change our road trip plans now that, was going to be even harder, but if it meant getting my best friend back, I was all for it.
