"Hey, Matthew, do you have a phone I could use?"
I lost my cell phone once I got to that institute, apparently they were not allowed because we could call somebody to break us out. Which, that was what I was gonna do, call somebody and run away forever; no looking back. I wish I would've known that they were taking our phones once we signed in, I would have said an actual goodbye to the two people I care about most.
"Yeah, here," he paused and grabbed a telephone from the kitchen counter. "Use our home phone." I took it and looked down to it.
"Thanks," I mumbled before walking into the library, closing the door behind me for some privacy.
I stared at the black home phone, debating on whether I should call or not. My fingers shakily dialed the seven numbers and I held the phone up to my ear, pacing around the room. I almost lost all of the tears waiting to come out as I waited for it to begin ringing. It rang four times before they picked up.
"Hello," that's when I lost all of my tears.
"Hey Natalie, it's me.." I paused and wiped my tear stained, freckled cheeks. "Ellie."
We talked. And I sobbed but it's alright, because she cried too. I couldn't really call them sad tears, but they weren't tears of joy either. They were mixed tears. Tears of joy because I finally get to talk to my best friend from kindergarten after three years, and tears of sadness because I hadn't talked to her in three years. We caught up a lot, she's dating a guy she met at her cousin's birthday party. Natalie had always been there for me, she was like my clone. We were the exact same, the only thing different about us were our looks. She was absolutely gorgeous, long ombré hair that went down to her hips, brown eyes, and flawless skin. I had always been jealous of her, mostly jealous of her hair. I hated to hang up, but we had been talking for three hours and I didn't want to keep her from doing things she needed to do.
"Hey, you alright? You've been on the phone for three hours." Matthew asked when I walked into the living room to put the home phone back.
"Yeah, I was just talking to a friend."
"Are you crying?" He asked, putting his phone in his sweatpants pocket.
"No," I snapped as I quickly wiped my eyes and face with the sleeve of my hoodie. "I'm gonna go take a nap, I'm really tired."
I walked out to the guest house, the rain was pouring at an unhealthy force. The air outside was hot and sticky. I shivered as I climbed into my bed and snuggled up under my covers. All I could remember before I fell asleep was thinking about somebody I shouldn't be thinking about;
Matthew.
I woke up to somebody shaking my shoulder. My eyes fluttered open and I sat up.
"Huh?"
"Hey, you slept through the night," it was Matthew. "Sleepy head." He said, chuckling.
"Oh, wow." I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "Did you need something?" I asked him, laying back down.
"I wanna take you out and show you around California." He said, running his fingers through his bed hair. "We're gonna leave in two hours, meet me in the garage by my car."
"But what if I don't wanna g-"
"I'll see you in two hours, Ellie." And with that, he closed the door of my guest house before I could protest.
I sighed deeply and ran to the bathroom. I showered in scorching hot water and after I got out, I walked to my closet and got out what I was gonna wear. A Lil Wayne tank top, a black bandeau to go underneath the tank top, shorts, and my black vans.
I got dressed and then did my hair. I did the usual, pulling my hair into a pony tail letting my side bangs hang out. I brushed my teeth and looked at the clock, I still had thirty minutes to meet Matthew. I walked over to my suitcase and fumbled through some things, I pulled out a photo and unfolded it, placing it on my wall right beside my bed. I stared at the picture. It had me and somebody else smiling, she was holding the camera and I was hugging her with a real grin on my face. Because I was with one of the two people I actually care about in that picture;
Natalie.
