3657

Wait, People Actually Dunk Their Donuts? - Zach

Allie doesn't like the mornings, as exemplified the next morning.

“Allie, you have to wake up.” I shake her a little.

“Ughehhhhhnooooooooo.” She mumble, swatting me. I grin.

“Alls.” I put my forehead on hers. Her eyes open slightly, and, seeing my giant brown eyes directly in front of her face.

“Ahhh!” She screams, pushing her pillow into my head. I fall back slightly, but don't lose my balance. Allie isn't strong enough to push down me, no matter how often she tries.

“You're up.” I say through the pillow, smiling to myself.

“You're an asshole!” she shouts.

“We're getting Dunkin' Donuts. Come on.”

“Vanilla with sprinkles and a vanilla chai.” And she rolls back into bed again.

“Alls. You have to come. We're leaving in half an hour and we're hitting the road right after.”

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

“Come on.”

“Noooooooo. Tiiiiiiirrrrreddddd.”

“Deal with it, Alls.” I grin, and offer her a hand. She rolls over, and grabs it. I pull her up out of the hotel bed.

“I hate you.” She grumbles, running a hand through her messy, long blonde hair. She's wearing  plaid boxer shorts and a black tank top. If I didn't have a girlfriend, I'd think she was looking particularly nice despite her bed head.

I go back to the living room - of course, the girls get the actual beds. Danny and I play intense games of Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who wins the cot and who gets exiled to the pullout couch. I keep getting the couch.

In twenty-seven minutes, everyone's ready. We check out of the hotel, then go out to the car. Meg and I lodge in the backseat, and Danny reenters his nest of atlases. Allie, now fully awake and slightly less grumpy, drives us to Dunkin.

“Why are you pulling in?” Danny asks as Allie parks in a spot in the parking lot. “We should do the drive through. Drive through takes less time.”

“We're going inside, bitches.” Allie hops out of the car, followed by Meg and I. Danny reluctantly tags along.

Inside, I'm elected to take the orders to the lady at the counter. “Ah, a vanilla frosted donut with sprinkles, a vanilla chai, two bacon-egg-and-cheese breakfast things, a dozen chocolate glazed Munchkins, a water, and two medium coffees.”

“That'll be $21.37.” Says the woman behind the counter. I hand her the money and wait for our order. When I bring it back to the table, Meg and Danny pounce on the munchkins and coffee, Allie gently takes her donut and chai, and I'm left with my breakfast things and water.

We have a rather enjoyable meal, with our typical jokes and stuff. At one point, an older woman comes in, orders a coffee and plain donut, and sits down alone. She uncovers her coffee shakily, and dips her donut in.

“Hey.” I say to the group. “People actually dunk their donuts?”

“Dude.” Meg says, and points to the DUNKIN' DONUTS sign. “Look. At. The. Name.”

“People have been dunking their donuts in their drinks for as long as people have had donuts.” Danny says knowledgeably. “It's just fallen out of habit.”

“Oh...”  I feel kind of stupid, not knowing that. I never questioned the name of Dunkin' Donuts.

Allie leans over and whispers in my ear, “I didn't know either.”

Good ol' Alls.

We hit the road a couple minutes after that. We're somewhere in Indiana, so we still have a ways to go. But we're on our way, and on schedule.

I read Dracula for a while. It's way better than Twilight, scarier and a better plot. Of course, anything is scarier and a better plot than Shitlight.

But I'm lost in thought and can't focus. I'll read a paragraph and forget in ten seconds. I finally give up and pull out my laptop. I have an email from Reed.

From: riverreed@tictalk.com

To: ZachAttack@tictalk.com

Subject: missing u.

hey babe. u havin fun?  i miss u... take tons of pics for me to see. wish i couldve come, but i hate that band... c u when u get back.

luv,

reed

I respond:

From: ZachAttack@tictalk.com

To: riverreed@tictalk.com

Subject: Re: missing you.

Hey Hun. Yeah, it's super fun. I miss you two. Taking lots of pictures... I wish you had come too. See you soon, babe.

Love you too,

Zach

Actually, most of that were lies. I wasn't really missing Reed. I wasn't taking pictures. I wasn't particularly sad that she wasn't here. But I had an obligation to my girlfriend to be nice, so I figured I should act like it.

I pull out my headphones, sighing silently. I try to forget about Reed by watching some videos, but her face keeps popping up.

Go away, I think. Another picture of Reed enters my head - us at prom. “Stop.” I whisper. It's no use. She's still there in her bubblegum pink ballgown. “Go away.”

“Zach,” Allie says, “You okay?”

“Yeah.” No.

I close my laptop. Reed's not gonna let me do anything but think of her, even when she's not with me. I can never stop thinking about her, and not in an I-love-you-so-much-I-can't-think-about-anything-else kind of way. That would be good - in fact, I actually used to think like that. That was when I first met her. Now, it's more like, she's so clingy she can telepathically make herself the center of all my thoughts all the time. It's really annoying.

Reed used to be really nice - always smiling, laughing, was fine with hanging out with Meg, Danny, and Allie. she was sweet and funny and kind and tolerant. Now, she's none of those. She watches me like a hawk, distrusts my friends, and when we're in the same room, she's glued to my side. I can't stand it. I have no freedom.