The Bucket List ; LRH

2. Watch the Sunrise

After finishing my coffee, I folded our bucket list, put it in the back pocket of my jean shorts, and grabbed my purse before leaving a tip and exiting the diner. It was already five in the morning and I was sure that the sun would be rising soon, so I made my way back to my house. Well, it wasn't my real house, but my beach house. I normally live with my parents and older brother in New York, during the school year, but when the summer comes around we pack all of our summer essentials and head down to Myrtle Beach, where we stay until August rolls around. My family and I have been coming here ever since I can remember and it's the same with Caroline's family. Our families are best friends, our mothers grew up together, and our father's work together. My older brother, Kevin, and Caroline's older sister, Cate, have been dating since they were freshman in high school. They are now almost graduated from college, so they've been together for almost seven years. Crazy, right? They'll for sure get married. Caroline and I always have dreamed of our siblings getting married because then we would have been sister-in-laws. Now, I don't care if Kevin and Cate get married, since I won't have Caroline there to be my sister-in-law.

I opened the side door of our house and silently slipped inside. I've been sneaking out in the middle of the night for the past week, since I found out about Caroline, and I'm pretty sure my parents have caught on by now, but they haven't said anything about it... Yet. I walk up the stairs, taking two at a time, and reach my bedroom. I prefer my bedroom here more than at my actual house. The bathroom that's attached to my room, my walk-in closet, and the balcony are just some things I love about this place. I throw my purse on the floor by my bed and walk outside to the balcony. I plop down in one of the chairs and kick my feet up on the ledge, reaching over to the small table and pulling a cigarette out of my almost empty pack. I made a mental note to myself to get more later on in the day. I light the cancer stick and take a long drag of it, slowly exhaling as I watch the smoke stick in the humid air. I unlocked my iPhone 6 and pulled up the weather app to check the exact time of the sunrise; 6:26. That leaves almost thirty minutes for me to wait. The thirty minutes were spent with me finishing the rest of my cigarettes and quietly humming my favorite One Direction song, Right Now. I normally don't listen to One Direction, but whenever I was with Caroline, she would put that song on repeat and it grew on me. And at this moment, I wished that Caroline was right there with me, smoking a cigarette, and watching the sunrise so we could cross number four off our of bucket list. I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't help but feel my eyes sting from the fresh set of tears that were bound to fall down my cheeks soon. I inhaled a sharp breath as I watched the sunrise, by myself, with tears dripping down my cheeks. The sunrise was a beautiful thing, probably the most beautiful sight I have ever seen and I wished so much that Caroline was here, sitting right next to me, witnessing it with me.

Once the clock hit seven AM, I figured that it would be a good time to go to sleep. I came in from the balcony, shut the curtains, and pulled the bucket list out of my back pocket, grabbing a pen and crossing off watch the sunrise. I put the list on my cluttered desk, took my jean shorts off, and climbed into bed. As soon as I shut my eyes, I was out like a light. But that sleep didn't seem to last long, when my mom came into my room, loudly and happily shouting my name, for me to wake up. I groaned and opened one eye, keeping the other shut so I wouldn't have to completely be blinded by the sun shining into my bedroom. "Erin! It's time to wake up! I have great news."

"Mom it's too early," I mumbled incoherently into my pillow.

"It's nearly two in the afternoon, E. You need to stop staying up all night and sleeping all day. I know that you miss Caroline, we all do, but you need to get out of bed and enjoy the sun for once," My mom sat at the edge of my bed and rubbed my arm. "And we have new neighbors! You know that house that has been for sale across the street from us? Well, it's sold and the people are all moved in and I have invited them for dinner tonight! They are quite nice people. I already met the parents a few days ago, we've been going out and getting drinks and getting to know them better quite frequently. But they have a son, who is about your age. I believe he just graduated from a school in Sydney, Australia and he just got here last night."