Something About Country Boys

4- Easy

By the time I woke up, for real this time, my parents and brothers were already up and cheerful as ever. Kyle loved our big yard out back, even though it looked like it hadn't been mowed in months. I shuddered to think of what kinds of bugs could be living in that jungle of grass, and I didn't want to find out. Luke seemed pretty bored, but otherwise not too unhappy with our living situation. And since we'd been invited to the picnic, my parents were extremely happy. They wouldn't shut up about it. My mom couldn't figure out what to make for it, and so she would ask me every five seconds. As if I knew any better what to make for such an occasion. How would I know what to make for a hillbilly pool party?

I made it out to seem like I was unpacking to stay away from them for as long as possible, although all I really managed to do was take one box off of my mountain and splay the contents onto the floor. Then I just sat there.

You ever have one of those days where you can do nothing but zone out if you're not physically doing something? Today was one of those days. I must've sat on the hard wood floor of my bedroom for a good 2 hours. My mom came in once again and was surprised to see that I wasn't getting ready to go to the picnic yet.

I couldn't think of how to get out of this except for the obvious: fake being sick.

Now, I was never very good at this. I'd tried it a few times to get out of school on a day where I had a big test or a presentation I wasn't ready for. She had always seen past it and ushered me out the door. I didn't have much hope that my trick would pay off.

I did my best to look unwell, praying, but knowing she'd probably see right through my act.

Surprisingly, she bought it. She just gave me a sympathetic look, brought up a glass of water and some ibuprofen, and told me to rest up. Just like that.

I lay curled up in my bed until I was absolutely certain that I heard the truck roar to life and pull out onto the road. Even then, I waited a few minutes, listening to the empty house for any minute signs of life. I was certain the coast was clear.

I scrambled out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants despite the fact that it was 80 degrees outside, along with a tanktop. Putting my hair into a messy bun, I made my way down the creaky wooden stairs to the kitchen, hoping my mom wouldn't notice if I ate a few chips and had a yogurt. I rooted around in the fridge for a while trying to find one.

"Gotcha," I said to my yogurt when I finally reached it all the way in the back of the fridge. But coming up, I hit my head pretty hard on the top of the doorframe. I yelped and walked slowly to the living room, where I ate, before going back up to my room and pulling a box from the corner and heaving it onto the bed.

I took a pair of scissors and slid them over the tape, making a clean cut through the cardboard flaps. I flipped open the box and peered inside, finding my photos that I'd had hung up on my wall in my bedroom back in Manhattan. There had been so many that they completely covered an entire side of my room. Pictures of my friends, my old pets, family vacations, all black and white, greeted me all the way to the bottom. I sighed at them before looking around my room. I immediately knew they wouldn't work. There was no wall big enough to fit them all. Frustrated, I slammed the box flaps back in place and kicked the photos to the other corner, where the box thudded against the wall.

I worked for another hour or so, sorting through my boxes and arranging things around my room in a similar way to how they'd been set up in my old room. When I finished and stepped back to survey my work, I realized that everything looked completely out of place. None of my wall art worked with the pale purple surrounding me. Nor did anything look right with those stupid floral curtains. I flopped onto the bed and stared at that dilapidated rug at my feet, wishing that I could simply burn it for all of the depression it was making me feel. It only seemed to add to the complete oddity and randomness of the room. Which somehow reminded me of how random and messed up my life was right now.