Give Me Love | 2 | ✓

Chapter 11: Why Would You Think That I'm Sad?

Chapter 11: Why Would You Think That I'm Sad?

“Sydney, I miss you,” Josh whines to me a few days later through the phone.

“Well, I miss you too, buddy,” I truthfully inform my baby brother.

“When are you coming back home?” He wonders.

“I’ll be home in August, I promise,” I say, mostly to just remind myself that I only have to endure this pure hell for a few more days and then I can go back home to Michigan and be a little less sad. Well, not exactly a few more days because we’re not leaving until like, the last week in August and it’s just the last week of June right now, but still. I just have to think happy thoughts and this stupid month called July will just fly on by.

I’m not sure how much going home is going to help me though when the time does get here. I mean, Bradley’s house is literally right next door to mine— I’ll probably still have to see him every day, anyway. I won’t be forced to eat really long and really large meals with him though, so that’ll be nice, I guess. Not to mention we’ll only have to see each other for the remainder of the time from when we get there to when we go to college.

Besides, he got into the London school, so I bet he’ll go there, and I’ll go wherever I go and we’ll never have to see nor hear from each other again. He claims that he doesn’t want to go there, but the way I see it is, if he didn’t want to go there, he wouldn’t have applied. Not to mention the fact that the only reason he said he wouldn’t go is because we were dating and since now we’re…not, I’m sure he’ll choose to go there.

“But that’s two months from now, Sydney!” Josh complains.

“Josh, tomorrow is the first day of July— it’s not that long,” I remind him.

“Yeah, Sydney, it actually really, really, really is!” Josh corrects with a huff. 

“Well, I’m sorry,” I reply with a shrug, though he can’t see me. “How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Josh notes. “I stay with dad a lot more now though,” He explains.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?” I query, wrinkling my nose in confusion.

“Cause Arianna and Jared and Charlie moved to that beach house thing and mommy works a whole lot so I have to stay with dad.”

“How’s that going? Do you like staying with dad?” I ask my brother, desperately hoping that he says no.

Not that I don’t want Josh to like spending time with our dad, because he obviously should. I mean, our dad is an important part of Josh’s life. Not so much mine now that I’m about to leave home and go to college and all of that good stuff, but definitely to Josh. I’m just thinking that if Josh says he doesn’t like having to stay with dad maybe I’ll be able to use that as my defense to my mother to persuade her to let me come home early. I mean, I’ve only been here for ten days now and it’s stupid and I hate it.

I don’t mean that I actually hate Rome or Italy or anything like that because Rome, what I’ve been of it anyway, is a beautiful city. The only thing that I don’t quite understand is why we’re here anyway. In Rome, I mean, when we’re supposed to have gone to Naples. Not that I have a preference or anything, because I just don’t, but still. I guess that when Francesca confirmed to my mom that the guys, Jaime and I could all stay with her and Elena for the summer here in Rome for free, the trip just shifted courses a little bit. That’s stupid, anyway.

“It’s really cool; he lets me ride on the jet skis a lot and he always gives me ice cream, unlike you!” Josh exclaims.

“Josh, I give you ice cream,” I retort with a snort. “You can’t just sit up and eat ice cream all day every day.”