Awake at Last

Three

When I wake up at eleven, my first instinct is to call Avi, though I restrain myself as I don't want to sound groggy over the phone. Instead, I stand up and head over to my dresser. As I begin pulling out clothes, I hear a noise in the bathroom. Piper is throwing up again. With a small sigh, I toss aside my pajamas and put on my new clothes. A dark green tank top, black hoodie, and blue jeans that are distressed from years off going through the wash cycle. I then sit on my bed and pull on some socks before putting on my comfortable old black Converse. I stand, go over to my mirror, and take my hair our of its braid, running a comb through it before tying it back in a ponytail.

Dressed and ready, I walk out of my room and across the hall to the bathroom. The door is still closed, so I figure Piper is still in there. Knocking quietly, I call through the door, "Piper, you okay?" My best friend and roommate groans, so I guess she's not. Her fault for drinking so much. The thought tugs at the back of my mind, but I chase it away since I know she wasn't thinking about the consequences when she got drunk. Although she should have been... I think, and feel the sudden need to yell at myself to stop.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I look down at it, unlocking it so I can read the message. It's from Avi. I smile as an image of him instantly comes to mind. Reading the message excitedly, I have to tell myself to calm down before continuing.

Hey. So I was thinking we need to spend a little more time together. Maybe a picnic, over at Lake Balboa?

I reply quickly with:

Sure, that's pretty close to my house actually. Meet you there in a half hour?

The message can't come fast enough, and I find myself pacing nervously up and down the hallway as five minutes passes without a message. What if he changed his mind? He wouldn't, would he, at least not this sudden? I'm over thinking it. I know I am. But a part of me, the part of a hopeful fifteen year old girl, feels like this is her first romance. Fragile as glass, ready to shatter at any given moment. He's famous, has girls flinging themselves at him, kissing his feet and calling him king, and most of them are a lot prettier than me.

My worries are chased away like they were shadows in the corners of my brain and someone switched on a light. Heart fluttering yet again, I unlock the phone anxiously, smiling as I see:

Sounds good. I'll bring food and a couple movies we can watch on my laptop. See you there :)

I squeal and tuck my phone into my pocket again, calling hastily to Piper and telling her I'd be back in a few hours. When I hear a groan from her, I take it as an 'okay, have fun' and run back into my room, throwing myself onto my bed and squealing excitedly into my sheets. "God Alyss! Get yourself together!" I order myself, standing and smoothing my hoodie down as if I was in a crowded room and trying to make up for being ridiculous.

I go to the shelf on my wall where all my jackets, bags, and scarves hang. Searching through a sea of fabric and leather for a while, I finally decide on a black messenger bag with a plaid, dark purple opening flap. I then throw my wallet- which holds my ID, driver's license, and credit card -into the bag, along with a container of orange Tic Tacs and some other random candies.

With my bag packed, I yell bye to Piper and walk out the door. I have fifteen minutes left to get to the park, and I hope I won't be late; I don't want Avi to think I'm ditching and have him leave. I quickly climb into my used, 2003 Toyota Corolla.

After about ten minutes I pull up to the lake, park my car in the closest spot I can find, and grab my bag. I climb out of my car, step onto the sidewalk, and pull out my phone. My text to Avi is simple:

Hey, at the park. You almost here?

He texts back a second later, and I smile slightly as he doesn't make me worry and wait again.