Chapter seven.
The vibration of my phone on the nightstand wakes me up from my sleep. I reach for it, almost knocking off the night lamp, and look at the blinding screen that shines in the dark. I unlock it and press the thing to my ear.
"Hi?" Who has the nerve to call at two in the fucking morning?
"Hey Sam" I hear Nathan's voice on the other line and the fact that he is the one calling is the only thing that keeps me from cussing him out and hanging the fuck up. I don't know why he has that habit of calling me at night. Sometimes I think he does it to annoy me.
"What's up?" I rub my eyes with the palm of my hand and sit up. Or attempt to.
"Guess what" he says and I can picture his smile by the tone of his voice. I try to open my eyes but they feel as heavy as a ton of bricks. "Sam, you there?"
"Yes, yes. Fuck," I hurry to say. "I'm sorry, I was quite asleep. What happened?"
"Would you like it better if I called you tomorrow?" he asks, understanding that my brain doesn't work at this time of the night.
"Yes, I'd love that. Thank you." I lay back on the mattress.
"Okay, goodnight Sam" he says and the faint sound of his voice is what puts me back to sleep.
...
My phone wakes me up once again, but this time it's not on my night stand when I reach for it, it's lying across the carpet on the floor. I glance at my alarm clock through swollen eyes: 6:45 a.m. glows in green numbers. Well, at least i'm not gonna be late for school.
I grab my phone from the floor, which has already stopped ringing and shows a missed call from Michelle. What is it with people calling at inappropriate times today? I tap the screen and call her back, now that I'm able to speak coherently. Kind of. It rings three times before she picks up.
"I'm so, so, so, so, sooooo sorry" she squeaks. I pull the phone away from my ear, her high-pitched voice causing me a momentary headache. For a second, I am puzzled about what she's saying but then I realize what she's referring to. She must think I should be angry and feel ignored, however, a small smile creeps up to my face after remembering last night and I think she couldn't be more wrong.
"Yeah, about that..."
"Don't be mad at me, please. Us. Don't be mad at us. You see, when we were heading to the cinema in Hayley's car, she took this pathway and I told her not to, but she did anyways and..." she rambles on about how they got lost and how their phones didn't work because there was no signal and how they couldn't tell me and how they got wet and blah, blah, blah. I listen to her long speech, nodding with understanding as if she could see me and trying to tell her that I had a good time anyway, but she doesn't seem to stop talking and apologizing. "...and we're so sorry, but it won't happen again."
"Okay, I understand. I'm not angry."
"Oh, thank goodness. I thought you'd want to kill us both. But to make up for it we'll pick you up and spend a lot of time with you today," Oh no, that can only mean one thing, "we'll go shopping after school!"
Yup, there it is.
-
Not that I don't like shopping, but when I knock on Nathan's door after three long hours of walking the mall, my head is pounding and my feet are numb from standing for such a long time. I'm not complaining though, because I got a stunning dress for Drew's party, however, I can't help thinking of the big meal and amazing nap I want to have as I wait impatiently, bags and backpack in hand, at my best friend's porch.
