Something About You

Chapter 3

I woke up the next morning hoping I would have slept in, but I rolled over to check the time on my phone and saw the displeasing time of 7:14. It's a usual reoccurrence for my body to wake up earlier than necessary or want to sleep more when it's time to get up. I lay in bed to check my phone. A few texts from my friends, and five texts and three missed calls from Sean. That's drunk Sean for you.

"Hellooooo"

"Parks why are you ignoring me this is ridiculous"

"Alright fuck this, you can talk to me when you grow up"

"Babe what are you doing???"

"Did I do something? Hellooo"

Surprisingly no voicemails. I text him back finally.

"Wanted to have some quality time with my family. Call me when you wake up."

He won't be awake for another few hours. Meanwhile, my friends and I make plans to grab drinks later tonight. Some new bar opened conveniently in the middle of the radius of all our houses. I haven't seen them in a few months and some girl time with them is much needed.

I try to roll over and go back to sleep but it's never any use. Once my body is awake, there's no going back. I brush my teeth and start a shower. My mind is so boggled with thoughts of Sean and this summer that I look to my pruned hands and realize that I've been standing in the hot water for twenty-five minutes.

I decide not to make any rash decisions about us until I talk to the girls later that night, but my mind is pretty set. He's moving and I still have one more school year. We're young, we fight too much, he gets drunk too often and it's always been such a roller coaster with him. But then my mind wanders to the sweeter thoughts; he's always there for me when I need him, even just to run errands, he leaves me cute notes at random, he knows when to scratch my back to make me feel better.

I turn on my TV to take my mind off things. I change into some shorts and a t-shirt knowing I have a few errands to run. My room is so bare and boring that I think of adding picture frames and wall décor. Unlike Megan's room of cluttered posters and stickers, I like to keep my room simple with some pictures and a few plants.

I walk downstairs to see the house is empty. Dad is at work and Megan is at her last week of school. I scan the kitchen for food, but it seems neither of them have done much grocery shopping. A gallon of milk, a few condiments and some fruit in the fridge. A few cans, boxes of pasta and two cereals in the pantry, and two bananas on the island. Cereal it is. Not the good, kiddy kind but the just-had-a-heart-attack bran cereal. I pour myself a bowl along with slicing a banana on top and watch TV in the living room.

As I'm rinsing my bowl, I faintly hear my phone ringing upstairs. I hustle up and see Sean calling me. It's early for him. I freeze for a second, unsure if I want to break up with him now or just reevaluate things through the day. I pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Sorry for blowing your phone up last night. You free to talk?" I can tell he's still in bed, his voice is groggy.

"Sure. I was a little irritated looking at your texts so I just ignored my phone and spent time with the fam."

"I was being an idiot, I'm sorry. How's the house? How's your dad and Megan?"

"The house is nice. My own room and bathroom so no complaints." My voice sounds as monotone as ever, "Brad is Brad and Megan is her usual, opinionated self. Nothing new."

"Well, tell them hi for me. Maybe I'll try to plan a trip down to visit before I head to Nashville," he's being the cute and nice Sean.

"We can see about that. I've got some errands to run today, I'll call you later?"

"Sounds good. Love you."

"I love you too." I shut my eyes in disgust with myself.

I do love him but it's apparent that his love for me is stronger than mine of his. As I sit on my bed a little longer, I realize I need to order pictures for the frames I plan on buying. I open my computer and scan memories for half an hour. Sean is in just about half of them. Nothing comes over me, I pick out the cliché travel and college pictures and order them for pick up. I go to the bathroom to blow my dry my hair for a few seconds, looking at pictures for so long made it nearly air dry on its own.

I pull my car out of the driveway and head out to the store. I'm not too crafty but I don't like bare walls, so a few picture frames will suffice. I pick two wood framed collages, a few fake plants, and check out. Enough time has passed where I pick up the pictures and head to the grocery store. I don't plan on eating bran cereal every day of the summer, so I stock up knowing dad and Megan will both be pleased.

Later that night, I start to get ready for drinks with the girls. I haven't done too much shopping in a while so I put on my usual jeans,t-shirt, and Converse. I know Kara will wear something similar but I swear Tayler and Jamie plan their outfits for any occasion a week in advance. It pays off though, compliments are thrown at them left and right.

My friends are the perfect mix of personalities in a way that keeps me grounded, adventurous, and up with all the latest gossip all at the same time, and they're the most beautiful humans inside and out.

Tayler and I used to make what we thought were hysterical videos in the sorority house; they were hysterical if I'm being honest. We laugh at the same, dumb things, we both eat an insane amount of food after a night of drinking, we like the same music and have the same taste in people. We agree on just about everything and have that intuition when the other is upset or bothered.

Jamie, our brilliant grad student, is home for the summer after another brutal semester in school. For how much time she spends in the library, she also finds time to know every detail about everyone's lives, and to be honest, we all love it. Countless stories of girls we went to college with and what they're doing with their lives now. She lives for that shit. She's fucking hysterical, and the best person to vent to.

And Kara is my adventure buddy. We've traveled the world and have had a lot of fun doing it. She has the type of family that loves to host parties and good times, and we've spent countless boozy nights by her moms pool smoking late night cigarettes.

"You know I have a closet full of clothes, right?" Megan peeks into my room as I'm doing my make-up.

"Yeah tonight's occasion isn't a rock concert, but I'll let you know when that time comes," I say jokingly with an eyelash curler up to my eye.

She laughs, "Or any pride parade. I got you."

We both laugh.

"So, this weekend, are we going suit shopping?"

"Yeah we'll go to that new mall that I heard opened up."