Because of a Girl Like Me

Chapter 3.

I woke up the next morning feeling more rested than I had expected after the late night. Despite whatever new feelings I was having about my relationship with Sean, he never failed to make me feel safe, and I'd slept soundly in his arms.

I looked over at him, deep asleep. He'd seemed pretty inebriated last night, so it will probably still be a few hours before he ventures out of bed. I had to stifle a laugh. He was wearing nothing but his boxers, and one of his long legs was hanging off of my small full sized bed. He looked so cute, like a little kid when he's sleeping. His short blonde hair was sticking out in all crazy directions, and he was snoring lightly with his thin lips parted.

I was startled by the sound of my phone, and I jumped to answer it quickly before my The Walking Dead ringtone woke him up. I answer the call on the way out of my bedroom, closing the door behind me.

"Hey, hun," I heard my dad's warm voice on the other end of the line. "How's it going?"

I went into the living room, standing in front of the sliding glass door and stared out at the trees. "Hi, dad." I replied. "I'm good here, how about you?" I asked, knowing if he was calling to 'check in' that something was up.

He paused before speaking, only further justifying my suspicions. "Alright, so, I know I am supposed to be back home on Saturday, but there's a car I need to go see about in Cullman on Monday, so I was just thinking it's make more sense for me to stay up here rather than driving all the way home, just to come back up this way again." He took a breath. "Would you mind too much, hun? I'd be back home on Wednesday at the latest."

This was pretty typical of my father. I love him to death, but after my mom killed herself a few years back, he tries to spend as little time at home as possible. I know he loves me, and he always makes sure I have everything I could want or need. I know how bad mom's dying hurt him, especially the way she went about doing it. No note, no explanation. It had come completely from left field for us. The police didn't find any signs of foul play, and when you find a woman hanging in her closet with a belly full of pills, it's pretty easy to determine it was a suicide. Daddy hasn't even slept in their bedroom again since it happened. Whenever he is home, he sleeps on the couch.

"Yeah, dad, that's fine." I told him. "You know I'm good here, and I hope you have a good trip." I tried to sound cheerful and not let my disappointment show. I'm usually pretty content on my own, but with all the craziness going on in this town right now, I was actually looking forward to him coming home.

"It was like he could read my mind though. "I know you know how to take care of yourself, darling, but do feel awful bad about leaving you alone so much. I'm sure that stuff about them missing girls has got to be scary to you."

I sighed. "Daddy, I promise, I'm fine." I insisted. "I just ignore the news, anyway." I lied.

His grunt meant he wasn't convinced. "I know you're tough and all, but maybe you should go stay with a friend or something, just so you aren't all by yourself. Also, you don't need to be ignoring the news, sometimes they aren't just trying to scare you, sometimes you may need to know the information." He lectured me. "Do you have someone to stay with you? And Sienna, I do not mean Sean." He was using his deep 'dad voice' now.

Leave it to dear old dad to remind me that I don't currently have any friends. "Dad, honestly, I'm fine." I muttered quickly. "I've got to go, but I love you, be safe!" I told him then hung up before he could say anything else. I glanced up at the tree line in front of my building and for a split second I thought I saw someone standing out in the woods, but as quickly as I saw them, they were gone. More of my mind playing tricks on me I assured myself.

I was a little miffed that he reminded me of my friends situation. In high school I had had lots of friends, or at least, people I thought were my friends. Sean of course was super popular, and so I was too just by association, but after graduation it all changed. Once school was over I felt like none of those people I had been spending my time with actually knew me. Once you took away the school part, which made us be around each other every single day, there really wasn't all that much that we had in common and I pretty much fell out of touch with everyone over the summer.

Really, the only person I'm close with anymore is Sean. Now that I thought of it, maybe that's what our issue is. It's possible that all the stress on our relationship is coming from the fact that he is literally my only friend. I needed for Sean to just be my boyfriend again.

I decided right then and there that I was going to go and make a friend. A real friend. And I was going to do it today.