Off Limits

             I am so bored! I absentmindedly scribbled down the words on a piece of paper lying in front of me.  I followed those words with intense mindless scribbling.  It was already 2 weeks into summer vacation and I had successfully done nothing.  Not that it was really my fault at all.  I wasn’t the one who shipped me to my grandma’s in Arizona as soon as school got out!  How could my parents have the time of their lives on a cruise around the world and abandon me in this dusty old house?     

             Sighing angrily I ripped up the paper I had written the words on and threw the shreds on the floor.  I shouldn’t be this upset she is my grandma after all, I told myself disappointed in my own thoughts.  I should be happy to spend time someone I love, not hate every moment.  Plus she loves having me here. Grandma was so lonely after grandpa died,  any company she welcomed with open arms.

              Sadly no matter how many times I ordered myself to, I just couldn’t bring myself be happy about the situation.  Especially when I knew how much fun my friends were likely having right now. They were spending every day at the poolside no doubt.  Even my best friend, Jade, had likely forgotten about me at this point. She had probably gotten a new summer crush to replace me in my absence.  No amount of “I miss you” texts could prove otherwise.

              Then there was my boyfriend, Kent.  We had been together for, well, forever.  Or at least since freshman year, which is forever in high school years.  It was one of those relationships that had gone on long enough we weren’t known anymore as separates.  It was always just Kent and Lilly.  We were a unit in the public’s eye and for the most part we preformed as one.  Always together.   In fact this was going to be the longest we’ve been apart since we had got together.  A full 2 months.  Just thinking about it made me shudder.

              A knocking at my door broke me out of my internal complaining and I shifted my gaze off my now empty desk and turned it towards my door.

             “Can I come in, Lillypad?” a raspy voice asked from the other side of the door asked.  I flinched at the pet name I was called when I was younger.  While everybody else had stopped using it about 10 years before, my grandmother still held on to the old name.

              For a second I considered feigning sleep, not quite ready to go out and do whatever new errand my grandma needed done, but I decided it was better to get it done now.  “Yeah, come in grams.”  As soon as the words left my mouth the door instantly flew open, my grandma standing on the other side, a huge grin on her face.

              She moved her small frame passed the threshold of my room and sat down on my bed with a plop.  I couldn’t help but notice how un-grandma like she looked today, dressed up in a floral dress even I would say was cute. It also helped that unlike most grandmas, her hair still hadn’t grayed too much.  Most of it had stayed the raven brown which I had inherited from her.  With only a lightly lined face, a person who hadn’t known her at all would assume her to be late 40’s, not 65.  What can I say, my family ages well.

            “What do you need, Grams?” I asked playing with the pencil in my hands.

            “Would you mind running to the store for me, hon?  I know you just went yesterday but I left out a few things on the list.  I would go but I have to finish the cookies for the bake sell the church is having tonight.”  As I thought, errands.

             “Of course I can grams,” I found myself saying even though inside a whole new flow of complaints were building up.  Don’t be such a baby Lily, I once again scolded myself.