[Mellisond] Short Stories

Hopeless Love

{Song - Hopeless Love by Park Jimin}

     A spirited tune rung loudly pulling me from a dream that turned into air the second my eyes struggled to open. I didn't fully realize the sound was my phone's ringtone until I saw it buzzing on the nightstand. Without clearly looking at the screen, I answered the call and settled in bed as if to go back to sleep.

     "Wake up." The baritone in Kev's voice made my eyes open, and I tried to clear my head.

     "You're annoying," I said with grogginess in my voice making Kev chuckle.

     "Are you coming out of your cave, or are you just gonna sleep all day?"

     "I don't know; the cave is pretty cozy," I said sitting up in my bed and looking around at my cramped messy room.

     "I have fireworks."

     "Is that supposed to be a bribe?" I asked laughing.

     "Yes."

     "Are you lying?"

     "About the fireworks? No."

     "Fine, I'm up," I said sliding my feet off of the bed and onto the floor, stepping on stray articles of clothing.

     "I'm at the park."

     "I'll be there in a minute."

     "One. . .Two. . .Three. . ." My lips formed into a small smile before I hung up in the middle of Kev's counting.

     It didn't usually take long for me to get ready, but I still tried to rush myself. I took a quick shower and threw on whatever was clean, but I accidently took too much time putting on some foundation that I had taken from my aunt's house when I visited her a couple months back.

     I was all alone in the apartment since my father was working. He was a trucker so there were times when he was away for days. Every time he was gone there was a strange unsettling peace to the empty apartment. At times it was nice, but sometimes I hated it.

     When I walked out the apartment there were two guys carrying a large box into the residence next to mine. A couple months ago, the woman that had lived there moved away. I hadn't really known her all that well, but she had an adorable dog named 'Bunny' that she let me take on walks sometimes.

     I got to the stairs on the side of the building and saw a girl that looked around my age standing in the middle of the steps with a small table in front of her gripped tightly in her hands. She looked completely exhausted.

     "Here, I'll help," I said rushing over and placing my hands on the edge of the table.

     "Oh, thanks," she said quickly looking up at me. I helped her up the stairs, and we carried the table to the open door that was next to mine. "Thank you for helping me," she said brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

     "No problem. You're my new neighbor, after all," I said grinning.

     "Really?"

     "Yeah. This is me," I said pointing to my apartment. She smiled a small gentle smile and brushed a non-existent strand behind her ear. "I'm Eunji, but I often go by Jiji."

     "Caroline," she said quietly.

     "Are you going to go to Florence High School?"

     "I believe so."

     "Cool, that's where I go." She smiled. "Uhm, do you need help carrying anything else up the stairs?" I asked, looking down at the table.

     "No, no. You don't have to. We're pretty much done."