Tears of our Ruins

Never Friends

CORA

My phone sounds early, right after my alarm. My dad is texting me. Of course he's up early and probably already at the bakery.

DAD:
- Hey cupcake. Just doing the dad thing and checking in.

ME:
- Hi dad. You've only been gone a week.

DAD:
- One week. One year. It all makes my daddy heart sad.

ME:
- Literal eye roll, father.

DAD:
- You know you love me. Your mom and I will video chat tonight. Love ya a chocoLOT!

ME:
- Dad! Lol! Love you a chocoLOT too.

I smile at him as I walk to the shower and allow the hot water to wake me up. I use to be a morning person. Now I wish I could just sleep in. Sleep, most of the time anyway, is an escape.

I take my frustration out on my hair and body as I try to scrub away thoughts of Trevor. Good thoughts. Bad thoughts. It's impossible though. The memories are too fresh. Everything is too fresh. It's still hard to comprehend how he went from being my best friend to my enemy in the blink of an eye.

**** Flashback.

Trevor flops down on my bed and flips through his social on his phone. "What're we doing this weekend, McKenzie?"

"What happened to Livy?" I ask with a giggle.

"Ugh. Don't even mention her."

"Why? Because she loves you?" Trevor went on one date with the girl and she instantly became clingy. If she would have relaxed, she probably could have ended up as his girlfriend. She went all psycho though and scared him off.

"Gross." He throws a pillow at me. "You can't fall in love at 18 after one date."

The door to my room is thrown open and Trevor and I both jump with the loud sound. My dad is staring us down, pissed. "Door stays open. You know the rules." He points at me with that stern look of his.

"Yes dad. He's one of the girls anyway."

"Right." He glances at Trevor like he's a bomb and he's expecting it to explode. "Door stays open or I'll remove it." He walks away and then quickly peeks in one last time before disappearing down the hall.

Trevor cracks up. "God I love your dad. I want to be just like him when I have kids."

"Yeah," I smile. "He's a pain but I know I'm lucky."

Trevor jumps up and peeks down the hall. "Roman's having a party tonight. Go with me. I need help keeping Livy away."

"I don't know," I fret with worry. "You know how my dad gets."

"Yeah. I do. We're gonna sneak you out though."

"Trevor, if I get caught you are gonna owe me big time."

"Deal. Anything you want. It's about time I get to see Ms Smartypants have a little fun. We're gonna party hard tonight."

I roll my eyes at him. "Right. Maybe at first until you find some girl to bed then you'll ditch me."

"For tonight, I swear that I will not ditch you. This is the night for the BFF's." I giggle at him and agree. I really can't say no to Trevor. I hate sneaking behind my parents back but Trevor has made my life fun again. He has chipped away at the layers that I built up these past few years. It's fun to have a best friend again. I can't help but wonder though, why am I always friendzoned? What's wrong with me?