Buzz buzz. My eyes shoot open. My phone is glowing beside me and I realize I have been added to another group chat by the basketball boys from my school. They keep adding me, I keep leaving.. It's an endless cycle. My phone reads that it is 3:11 AM and I sit up, pulling my phone from the charger cord. At least it's charged. I stumble over to the sink and wet a bath cloth, soaping it up and washing my makeup off, eyelashes apart from everything else so I don't burn my eyes off. I then make my way to my suitcase and unzip it as quietly as I can, pulling my toothbrush from the ziplock. I unwrap it from its mummification and wet it, squirt some Crest 3D white on it, and cleanse my mouth so that my whole being feels more refreshed. I walk over and squat back down to my suitcase and go through until I find a large t-shirt and pair of booty shorts. I slide out of my travel clothes, free my boobs of my sports bra(RELEASE THE KRAKENS), and pull the overly large Panama City t-shirt over my head, then step into the shorts. I dig through my shoulder bag until I find my earbuds, and pull them out and untangle them, then pick up my pillow and blanket and Maxie and settle them into the bed, right next to Winnie. She doesn't even squirm as I slide in next to her. I get comfy fast and set my phone on my chest, glancing at it with that whole "I have 59 chins" stare that people do at this angle. The time is now 3:45 so I just plug in my earbuds, scroll through my apps until I find Binaural Brain Waves and select my every-night ritual. This is quite helpful for people with sleeping issues like myself. I imagine some melatonin would go nice with it too, but for now, this will have to do. My brain is wandering as I say a small prayer in my head before dozing off into my most comfortable slumber in a long while.
*•*•*•*
I wake up 7 hours later feeling almost as good as new. I sit up and slowly step out of the bed, making my way towards the balcony. I unhook the locks and pull the door back, letting in the warm air and peeking out at the waterpark near the outside. I may as well get in the shower now and shave my legs. After all, I'm wasting quality tanning time. My mother slouches over on the other bed, attempting to wake Rhett from his hibernation as I step in and close the bathroom door behind me. I strip myself of every bit of clothing I have on and then crack the door a bit, tossing out the clothes. My head is violently flipped as I gather my long mass of blonde mop into a loop and tie it there. Leaning back up, I fumble with the temperature adjuster, trying to get used to the foreign shower until I've reached a warm drizzle and I slide into the water. I take the bar of soap and slip it around in my hands until they're soapy and sudsy. The soap slips out of my hand and shoots across the shower floor, nearly tripping me when it rockets over towards me. I dodge it and then massage my soapy hands onto my face. I then proceed to bend down and pick up the soap. I press it to a shower wall and then step into the rainfall, rinsing myself as I grab for my mothers razor. I take full advantage of any chance I get to use hers because mine is always duller than anyone's ever. I slide it across my legs until all I feel is smoothness, no stubble whatsoever. I use the washcloth for any other necessary washing and then step out, fogged up mirror to hide the newly shaved woman that I would be looking at. I grab for a towel and wrap myself up, drying off and then pull the Cureal lotion towards me, squirting a large, creamy drop into my hand and rubbing it into my leg, I give the same treatment to the other leg and then any other freshly shaved part of me. Leaning up onto the counter, my finger glides across the mirror and spells out my name. My towel falls to the floor and I kneel town, recovering myself and then opening the door only to find Rhett still dead asleep and my mother still half-heartedly attempting to wake him. I walk over and drop down beside my suitcase, pulling out a neon green Victoria's Secret bikini and turning away, I tie the strings and click the hooks together, then pull the bottom part up over my bottom. I hang my towel up in the closet and then make my way to the fridge, which I raid for food. Finding a leftover Krystal from last night, I toss it into the microwave and set the timer for a minute. The hotel has a few water bottles, which I'm grateful for. I pop one open and take a swig. I glance down at the microwave when I hear popping and press the open button quickly, because see 30 seconds really flies when you're not paying attention. I reach in and yank out the burger and drop it onto the stovetop like a hot potato so I don't burn my hands off. I see the cheese bubbling and it looks rather delicious. Rhett must've smelt it and felt threatened and protective over his own adolescent burger because he finally sits up and moves like a turtle out from under the sheets and over towards the fridge I'm standing in front of. I slide my stuff to the side as he digs through it faster than he's done anything else today. I pick up my water bottle and cautiously do the same to my Krystal and make my way to the balcony. The light shoots right into my face, setting my grey eyes ablaze, making me frantically reach for my sunglasses and push them up onto my face. I get a better look at how the waterpark may be now. I see a sharp, narrow curvy blue slide, accompanied by multicolored slides pressed together for races, a giant spiral with people going down tubes in doubles it looks like. There's also this massive pool that wraps around, extremely close to the hotel I'm staying at, so just an overly large lazy river. There also looks to be some smaller attractions, but I can't really see the details from my perch.
My Krystal is cooled off enough to eat, and I delight in doing so, eating the whole thing in a handful of bites, which goes well with how fast I can put away a water bottle. I guzzle the thing until it becomes light and I spin the top back onto the bottle, crumbling up the Krystal's box and sliding the balcony door back open, making my way to the trash can and trashing the wad of paper. Rhett is devouring the remaining Krystal's.
"Better hurry. We're about to leave or we're not gonna get any kind of tan" I tell him, making my way to the bathroom. There I apply some powder that matches my skin tone with some SPF 30 in it, knowing it will wash off the moment my face gets splashed. But contrary to that, I dig through my bag outside the bathroom door until I find my waterproof mascara. Now this bad boy is reliable! I could go through a hurricane and still have eyelashes. So, I graze my eyelashes with the black, just enough to make them a little visible, then shake my hair down, scooping it up into a messy ponytail. Rhett is just finishing scooping his trash to throw away when I come back through, raiding my suitcase for my Australian Gold sunscreen/tanning oil. I see the shining SPF 15 sticker and wrap my hand around the metal can, taking it out to the balcony. There I turn the cap so that the opening is cleared and spray clouds of the summer-smelling protection all over my body. I close the cap and go back into the room, tossing the can into my mother's beach bag.
My mother hoses Rhett down in SPF 30, and bathes Winnie in an even higher number than that. But once everyone is done putting on their stay-pale sprays, we make our way out the door finally. The smell of wood and hotel fills my senses as soon as I step out into the hallway. I imagine this place would be very homey in wintry weather.
"Atlanta, you're brown enough. I don't even see why you need all that tanning oil" my mother interrupts my thoughts as we make our way to the elevator.
"It's got sunscreen too, Mother" I retort. No one can ever be too tan !!!???
The elevator dings and we are on the bottom floor, on the way to a walk to the waterpark just yards away, practically in the backyard of our hotel.
"Oh yeah," Rhett says, reaching into our mother's beach bag and nearly pulling her over. He pulls out four neon green armbands.
"Dad said we need these to get into the waterpark."
I take one and wrap it around my wrist, clicking it shut. It now hangs there next to my Lokai bracelet. The moniker of the band reads "Amazon", which is the name of the park of water. My mother reaches into a ziplock in her bag and clips Winnie's extra band length, moves on to Rhett's, then cuts her own.
"Can I see them?" I ask, "please."
She passes them over to me and I clip a strip of green. The band is a cute addition to my Lokai. I just love bracelets, okay. Anklets, necklaces.. You name it, I probably wear it. Most of my bracelets are leather though, so my arms feel a bit bare at the moment, as leather and water aren't great friends.
YOU ARE READING
That Mountain You've been Climbing
RomanceAtlanta Brassfield is an adventurous, independent, young individual. She can conquer the world all by her goofy self. Or so she would have everyone to believe. Atlanta dreams up sappy realities and is smitten with the idea of a romantic affair, but...