Coffee Shop

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

In the morning, I wake up with a smile on my face. Last night was amazing.

With Casey asleep, we decided to leave her alone and went into my bedroom. We stayed up forever just talking, and he asked a lot of questions about the various paintings and sketches hung up all over my room.

I eventually caved and fell asleep.

Now I'm waking up with his arm draped over my stomach as he still sleeps next to me.

I decide to take a chance and before backing out; I gently kiss him.

I've read in books and seen in movies that the guy kisses the girl awake or vice versa and I've honestly always wanted to do it, and I believe I just did.

He smiles and moves closer to me, wrapping his arm even tighter around me. Next thing I know, he's kissing me and I feel like I'm melting.

Movies really don't show just how great this actually is.

After, we just lay there and I eventually look over at him. He smiles at me and I return one, truly happy in this moment and oblivious to anything else except for the two of us.

I wish I could wake up like this everyday.

Sadly, the moment is ruined when my phone starts vibrating on my nightstand. Since Brendan is closer to it, he grabs it and hands it to me without even glancing at the screen.

I look at it to see my sister's face and name and inwardly groan. Why couldn't she call later?

"Hello?" I answered with a tired voice.

"Oh, did I just wake you? I'm sorry," she said back.

"You're good, what's up?"

"I wanted to call and let you know that Mom and Dad want to do something for our birthday this year. They called me last night asking if I had any ideas and to ask you what you thought," she explained, sounding a little worried. Probably about what I'm going to say.

"Seriously?" Is all I respond with.

"Yeah, and I told them it's a little too soon to be planning since it's not for another couple of months, but they insisted we figure it out now so we can get flights set up," she continued.

"Did you tell them it's during my spring break?" I asked after.

"Yeah, but I also told them there's no guarantee because I know you don't really get along with them. But would you be fine with it if we were to do something?"

"I don't know." I really don't know. Christmas went better than I thought, but it was still rocky on some days. My dad never even spoke a word to me, and Mom and I just didn't get along very well. The only person I actually spoke to was Alex.

"Okay, well, you have time to think it over, I have to go now, but I'll talk to you later," she said right before hanging up.

I let out a deep sigh and then Brendan rubs his hand up my back.

"Everything okay?"

With that, I tell him pretty much everything about my family. How, once junior year of high school came around, my art was suddenly meaningless to them and they constantly grilled into me that I needed to do something meaningful with my life and not waste it with an unsure career. They started favoring Alex, even when there shouldn't have been any favoritism. We literally started at the same level, being identical twins, but then they drove us apart with the constant praise for her and criticism for me.

How they didn't bother sending me off to college. I drove to Washington D.C. myself. Then during breaks they acted like I didn't exist because I was there to pursue a visual arts degree instead of 'something meaningful'. Then after my junior year of dealing with that, I stopped. I stopped going home and they didn't even bother to call or text.

They didn't even come to my graduation. I told him about their trip to Germany and all I got was a congratulations card from my dad's assistant.

And then I tell him about Christmas. How, even after all those years, Mom still managed to grill me about my choice in degrees. She told me I'm not going to go anywhere in life with a visual arts degree and an art history degree.

Apparently Alex's Florida State Bachelor's in Psychology means a lot more to them than two degrees from Georgetown and Columbia.

I was the one who got into the ivy league schools in high school, just like they wanted. But I got nothing out of it from them.

They basically disowned me when I told them I was going to college for art. They didn't even help with the costs.

It still hurts, a lot.