Wounded Like Me

~2~

It took us about three days to get everything placed into our house. The house had glass panes everywhere, letting plenty of sunlight inside. The walls were a creamy color and the beach was right in our backyard. I don't know how my mother was able to afford it, but it was truly amazing being able to hear the waves crash on the shore all the time. It was a lot hotter than I liked, my hair always stuck to my forehead. Back in my old home it was a lot colder. I loved snuggling up with my mom, Jonah or Jen by the fireplace. It was a secure place, one where I belonged in. This place was completely different.

I had headed towards the beach about an hour ago, I could tell winter would be a lot colder than how it was now. There were some guys surfing and some kids playing in the sand. I just watched the entire time, and thought about my dad, and Jonah.

I could tell there was a guy that kept looking back to where I was. He was surfing on a bright yellow surf board. I stared back, but eventually walked back to the house.

I could hear my mom in the kitchen, moving pots and pans I supposed. "So I was thinking, why don't we have a welcoming party?" She offered.

I was surprised at this. I didn't hate parties, in fact I loved them. I used to go to them all the time. Although I did hate grown up parties. Those where nobody knows anybody, and you are all just introducing yourselves. "Why?" I asked.

"Well I know some people from work that seem nice enough. Plus, we can invite some of our neighbors, get to know them. You can make some new friends." She said with a smile. Mother could make anything sound interesting. I sighed.

"Alright, but if there are little children I will not be in charge of taking care of them." I said.

Mom chuckled and said, "Okay it's a deal. I was thinking of having it tomorrow, you can help me put up some Christmas lights outside and some tables."

"Why Christmas lights? It's summer, well the end of it but still." I remarked.

"Because Christmas lights on a beach are so pretty," mom answered. Simple as that. They were pretty and so we had to put them up. No more questions asked. "Oh and Jen called, she was asking for your new number so I gave it to her. She said she would call at the usual time." I nodded and headed up to my room.

Jen and I decided on a calling time when we were in seventh grade. We decided six o'clock was perfect. We had many different reasons that I can't even remember now, but the time stuck. Before I used to call her home phone, knowing the number by heart. Usually the only reason we called was because we were notifying each other we were coming over for dinner. As the years went on we got phones and texted but always called at six o'clock. Jen had moved houses so I only went over on weekends or when Jonah was being nice and would drive me over.

The clock read three o'clock so I decided I would start decorating my room. I took my old Christmas lights and hung them around my huge window. I actually loved my new room. The window was huge and looked at the beach, and had a sitting board that connected to the wall. I really don't know what its called but I love it. Mom and I had gone shopping for some cushions and new sheets. I placed them all in their rightful areas. By the time I was done it was five. I passed the time by reading when I heard my phone ring. I answered, not checking the ID, knowing it was Jen.

"Hello, this is Jen Addington, sorry for calling but I fear this is a routine so suck it up, thank you very much." I laughed at that, and then said, "Oh damn I was hoping this would end when I moved away."

"Gasp!" She said, in mock surprise. "No, your stuck with me, ever since we met in seventh grade. Hey how long is the drive from here to there?"

"Too long, like fourteen hours. Why did we drive when we could have taken a plane? I have no idea." I said as I walked around my room.

"Well that's not so bad, at least we can get a pretty cool road trip when we go visit each other." She said eagerly.

"That's true." I agreed.

"So tell me, how is it? Are you far away from the beach? Is the place big? Have you seen any cute guys? Do they have a cliff like back here?" She rambled.

Used to the list of questions Jen dedicated half the time, I was able to answer all of them. "I've only been here for a few days so I don't really know how it is, its okay so far. And the beach is like right in our back yard which is super cool. We get sand instead of grass. It's super small, the population is probably around two thousand or three thousand. I have seen cute guys, since they are all shirtless at the beach and surfing all the time." I could her shriek in excitement at the shirtless guys surfing. "And lastly, I have no idea if they have a cliff, and even if they do, I won't go, not after what happened."

I could hear Jen sigh from the other line. "You're right, I don't think I will be going anymore either. But honestly, I wish I had hot, tan boys in my very backyard! I mean how cool is that? Very cool! Very cool I will have you know." I laughed and so did she. The rest of the call was as they all were, and I realized that I won't see Jen much anymore, which was incredibly depressing let me tell you.

About an hour later I was still talking to Jen. "Oh my Jesus shut the hell up Charlie!" Charlie was their dog, I was there when she got it from her parents. Everybody wanted different names so they let me name him since I was neutral or something like that. "Hey! Don't be rude to my baby!" I said.

"Umm, he's my baby Adira, get it right." She replied.

"Oh please, we have been over this before. Deep down, we all know he loves me the most."

"Child don't even get me started." She said as I laughed.

"I will have you kno-" I was then cut off by my mother calling from downstairs. "What!?" I screamed so she could hear me.

"Dinner is ready come down!" I sighed at that.

"Okay be there in a minute!" I yelled back. "Sorry I have to go, mom is really big on eating dinner together lately ever since... you know." I said.

"Yeah its ok I have to eat dinner too anyways. Bye!"

"Bye," I said as I hung up.

Mom and I ate dinner mainly in silence, having the occasional small talk. She talked about how moving here was a great opportunity for her and the raise was going to help with my college fund. I knew that after the events my college fund was of no concern but I let her talk about it anyways. After we finished we cleared the table and did the dishes, which were a lot less than what we used to do. Considering it was just us two now.

"Adira, do you want to watch a movie with me?" She asked.

Knowing I had nothing better to do I agreed. We looked through some old DVD's that made it through the move. "Oh lets watch Finding Nemo!" I suggested.

"What? Don't you want to watch something else?"

"No, no this is way better than any movie. Plus, I haven't watched it in years."

"Alright, but next time I choose." I grinned at her surrender. I shoved the CD into the box thing and walked toward the couch where my mom was. I made sure to make a mental note to remind mom to get a rug as the cold tiled floor gave me shivers. We huddled up together on the brown couch in a thin blanket as the sun set and the moon rose.