From the Window

chapter 3

The rest of the week passed by and I hardly saw him. By 'hardly saw', I mean at school. Every once in a while I would see him in the halls. He would smile or wave and I gave him a small smile back. I couldn't bring myself to actually go up and talk to him like we normally did in our rooms. It was different at school. He had joined the soccer team and became friends with all of them. I knew they weren't all bad and they probably wouldn't do anything if I just went up to Brad to say 'hi', but they were friends with Charlie. Once Charlie was involved I needed to remove myself.

There was no point in putting myself out there if she was around.

Although I didn't talk to him at school, at home, we were always talking. If we were home in our rooms, we were sat together at our respective windows chatting away. I learned that he wanted to be a musician and once he was done with school he was moving back to London. Also, he sucks at math and I have to constantly help him with his homework. He loves strawberry ice cream but hates strawberry yogurt. He likes to write in cursive because he has the worst handwriting I have ever seen. And he really likes New Girl now. He says that he wants to be Schmidt, but knows he's a Nick deep down.

Before I could even blink, Bradley was becoming my best friend. It was so easy to talk to him. We had things in common, he was so witty, and he never judged me for anything. I could say that I loved dipping Doritos in peanut butter and he would laugh and say "I won't knock it 'til I try it".

Saturday morning meant that I could sleep in for the first time in five days. Mom was actually home for once. She had arrived home last night with bags of Chinese take-out and her suitcases behind her. It was the only night where I didn't hang out at my window for hours. Instead, the four of us watched Mean Girls together in the family room.

I woke up to the smell of bacon.

My eyes flickered open and I grabbed my glasses from my night stand. I sat up in bed before rolling out of my covers. My feet padded down the stairs as I headed towards the kitchen. There my mom stood with her graying brown hair tied back in a ponytail. An apron was tied around her waist as she flipped a pancake. I looked away from her towards the table. Brighton was sat there with a plate full of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Unlike my sister, Rowan was stuffing forkfuls of chocolate chip pancakes into his mouth.

"Morning, Ana." Brighton smiled at me as she sipped the black coffee from her mug. I never understood how she could be a morning person and a black coffee person.

"Morning," I mumbled as I sat next to her across from Row.

As soon as I was sat down, my mom was bringing me a plate with the works. She kissed my forehead. "Morning, honey. How'd you sleep?"

I shrugged, reaching for the syrup from across the table. "Okay, I guess. You?"

"Better than I have been. Must be because I'm home."

Swallowing his bite of bacon, Rowan asked, "How long are you home for this time?"

Mom finally sat down with her own plate of food. She shrugged. It truly was a habit I picked up from her. "I don't know, honestly. Peterson might drop out of his trip next week because his family might be flying in. He asked if I would replace him because I know the account. When I asked him about it, he said that they have the plane tickets, but someone is starting to feel ill or something like that. I should hopefully know by Monday."

We all somewhat nodded.

She continued, "It pays really well, so I'm surprised that he is willing to give it up. But I'm not complaining. More money in our pockets." She laughed a little at that.

I looked away from Mom and at my brother. "Don't you work today?"

He shook his head. "I traded shifts with Tara. I work closing tonight instead."