The Bikini Syndrome | WATTYS2019

» two: welcome to the cafe by the sea

"Honey, if you don't get out now, you're going to be late," her mother shouted from the foot of the stairs.

Holly hopped out of her room, desperately trying to get her high-waisted shorts to button, but they seemed just a little...tight. She tried not to panic. It was probably just some bloating. Or something. She finally got the last button in it's little corresponding slot, and yelled, "I'm coming, Mom! Just give me a second!"

Her mom jingled her keys impatiently, reminding Holly that she just had the luck today of showing up at work with her mom in tow. At the driver's seat. Getting a job was supposed to be a sign of independence, and having her mom drive her there was pretty much the opposite.

She dashed into the bathroom, tried not to panic as she grabbed her mascara and eyeshadow out of the cabinet and stuffed them in her purse. On a last minute whim, she grabbed her perfume as well.

On the way down the stairs, she whipped her hair into a high ponytail and by the time she was standing in front of her impatient mom, she was ready to go to her first day at Cafe By The Sea.

"So, it's your first day at work," her dad said with a smile from the couch, where he was channel-surfing, but mostly it was switching between ESPN 1, 2, and 3. "I'm so proud of you, honey."

"Thanks, Dad," she mumbled, waving him goodbye as she followed her mom into the garage.

"It only goes downhill from here," he called after her, chuckling.

She rolled her eyes as the laundry room door slammed shut behind her, muffling the sound of an announcer who had just been crying, "And he scores!"

"Holly, Raven's got the passenger seat today, so you have the back with Ava," her mom said, hurriedly going around the car to make sure that everything was good and safe - that Ava was buckled into her seat, Raven would put her foot down on the floor where it belonged instead of on top of the dashboard, and that all the papers on the backseat were cleared off so Holly would have a place to sit.

She slid in complacently, but by no means happily. "Mom, why does Raven always get the front seat?" she huffed. "She's only older than me by a year. That doesn't give her some sort of special access to it."

Her mom sighed, then slammed the door again just to make sure it was shut.

"Raven gets the passenger seat because this car is going to be hers when she goes off to college, honey. It's only right, since you get Dad's car when you go off in two years." There was a silence, and Holly sighed as she prepared herself for the my-babies-are-going-away speech. It was coming up more and more often now.

"I can't believe you two are already going off to college!"

Here we go.

"I still have two more years, Mom."

"And you still have Ava," Raven added.

"Yes, but she's only six. I don't have worry about her for at least another four years. But you two - who knows what trouble you could get into?"

"Mom," Raven protested sullenly.

"We're responsible for our age. We're not pregnant, doing drugs, having sex, drinking and driving - we both have jobs, and Raven has a steady boyfriend."

"Well," her mom said as she backed out of the driveway and made a small turn in the cul-de-sac, "you say that to me, but I can't stop worrying. College is a whole different world, sweetie. It's the last bridge you cross before real life, and anything could happen. You might develop a drug habit, or become a sex addict or - "