THE ONE

17. WAKING UP

A bucket of cold water wakes me up and a second after I hear an evil laugh. It's Sophie, who else could it be.

"AAAAA, I'M GONNA KILL YOUUUU!"

"Jason, you're my best friend and I know you wouldn't do a damn thing to me. But it's still funny seeing you pissed.", she laughs.

I stand up and run after her by jellying: "OOOH, YOU'RE GONNA BE SO WET WHEN I COME THERE."

I hear her laugh and she stops running: "Oh my God, that sounded dirty!"

"Didn't even notice.", I laugh. "Now come here for a huuuuug.", I squeeze her into a hug, her being all wet just like me.

"Oh, you made me so wet, Jason.", she says, forming a pedo face and lifting her eyebrows up.

Of course I laugh and say that I'm going to lend her my clothes so she doesn't freeze on the way home.

"Or I can just take a shower if you don't mind."

Well that's surprising. "Yeah, you do that; I can just wipe myself in a towel."

I show her where the extra towels are and which soups to use as she says thanks and closes the bathroom door.

Well, there's a naked girl in my house and I can't do anything about it. For fucks sake.

Damn, she takes long to get ready; I didn't even get a chance to wash my teeth yet. I guess I'm going to make us breakfast. Not to brag, but my little sister loves my cooking. I wonder if she's still sleeping in her princess bed, cuddled up by her stuffed animal Teddy. I should go wake her up.

I am walking upstairs as I hear her phone ring. It's Saturday so I wonder who wakes up at 9 A.M. to make a phone call.

"Oh, Kevin, hi!"

It's Kevin. He's 10, the same age as Sally and her best friend since kindergarten. I know him because he spends a lot of time in our house. Tally and Kevin mostly play in a treehouse I build with my dad when I was 13 years old.

It was my favourite place in the world to think or look down on our fake neighbourhood. The tree house is also connected to the roof by my window. You can sit on the rooftop, looking at the stars and don't think of coming down ever again. You just leave the problems on the floor and look up, staring at infinity of galaxies. I took Lorelay to the roof as well, so the place lost its meaning. It was my happy place, just as she was. But she took my happiness with her and the rooftop became a place I cried till 3 A.M. on most nights. One time, I was even thinking of suicide. To be honest I thought of it a lot of times. But who jumps off a roof without even writing a suicide note? That's why I just cried my eyes out and went sleeping on the couch downstairs, because the bed felt lonely without her. But yet again, so did my life.

"JAAASOOON!"

Oh no, it's Sophie. I wonder what's wrong.

I run down the stairs and see Sophie stand by the kitchen cabinet.

"Well, I really don't know how to use this thing. I'm sorry, you should cook it."

Oh God, I got to teach Sophie to cook. She always takes the easy way out, ordering pizza or McDonald's. She'd be dead without my cooking skills. But she makes up for it by being cute.

"Thank you for the drive, Jase. You're really a good friend", she says when I park in front of her house.

I hug her and she kisses my cheek, saying that she'll see me on Monday.

That reminds me; I have a presentation in Chemistry class. I should go home and start working on it, I will visit Jaclyn after the class in two days.