Thursday morning I woke up bright and early. My back was throbbing from spending the entire night on the couch. After a long argument last night, it’d been decided that Anthony and Julius would share Anthony’s king sized bed while I was banned to the couch. My face twisted into a scowl at the memory. The past two nights I’d been sleeping on the floor in Walmart. The least Julius could do was let me sleep on a comfortable bed.
A vibrating noise suddenly came from the glass side table beside me. Startled, I sat straight up, snatching the phone from the table. After a couple minutes of staring at it, I realized it was Julius’s. Deciding to be snoopy, I opened it, and found it was a text from my brother. On impulse, I hit the call button and pressed it to my ear.
“Julius?”
“No, Ellie.”
“Ellie!”
“Hi Mason,” I greeted, a silly smile spreading across my face. “How are you?”
“I should be asking you that. No one attacked you last night, right?”
I laughed. “Nah. They put me on the couch.”
“What jerks.”
“I know right? Have you checked out the marshes today?”
“Yeah, still flooded over,” he grumbled moodily. “I’m about to take our canoe and canoe over to get you.”
My smile grew wider. “Julius too?”
“He knows how to swim.”
“Haha, hey! That’s not nice.”
My brother chuckled throatily. “Kidding, Ellie. I was thinking though, about something pretty obvious.
“What’s that?”
“If your car is at Walmart and I pick you up, how will your car get back here?”
I blinked. “Ah. You’re right.”
“How about I call you to let you know when the marshes are clear so you can drive home? I’m hoping it’ll be soon. Tomorrow, hopefully. It’s supposed to be sunny. Finally. All rain today though, unfortunately.”
“Oh, sure,” I responded, throwing the blanket I was wearing to the ground. “Is Mom home? Can I talk to her?”
“She’s outside cleaning… I’m supposed to be helping her right now.”
“Oh,” I said glumly. “Okay. You should get back to that. Hopefully see you later.”
“Stay safe, El.”
After telling him goodbye, I tossed Julius’s phone back onto the side table. Standing up, I stretched widely, letting out a tired yawn. My stomach grumbled and I placed my hand onto it, frowning.
“I could hear that all the way from here.”
My heart leapt into my throat and I twisted on my heel to come face-to-face with Julius. He grinned at me, his messy bed-head hair falling into his face. I stared at him for a few minutes before something clicked in my head.
YOU ARE READING
Waist-Deep In Walmart
Humor"As I sat on the toilet, I realized how badass I was being. First of all, I (kind of) broke into Walmart; Second, I was (kind of) plotting to steal toilet paper; and third, I was doing all this while a hurricane was brewing outside." Ellie wanted a...
