On A Mission

Text Messages

          It was the second day of summer vacation. It was about 6:45 AM and Lana was lying awake in bed. She had just woken up. She thought about what had happened yesterday. She thought about how that girl made her feel. She thought about what she had said before running off to go back to work. "Text me. I wanna know more about you." Those words lingered in her head. Just then, she remembered that the girl wrote down her number for Lana. Lana got up and looked for the pants that she had worn yesterday. She found them, but when she searched the pockets, she couldn't find the piece of paper. She looked for the hoodie that she wore yesterday and, thankfully, she had found the folded up paper. She unfolded it and looked at it. She searched for her phone in her bed. After a few seconds she remembered that it was charging on the floor. She was on the floor of her dark room searching for her phone when she had finally found it with the charger plugged into the outlet by her bed. There were no notifications on her Lock Screen. She unlocked her phone and opened the "Contacts" app. She tapped the "+" in the top right corner of the screen to add a new contact. She put "Casey" in to the "First Name" space and added her number to the "add phone" space. After she was presented with the new contact, she opened the "iMessage" app. She stopped.

          "What if she's not up yet," she questioned herself quietly. "What should I even say?" Lana thought for a second. She started typing. "Hey. It's Lana... from yesterday." Lana reluctantly sent the text message. Lana sat her phone back on the floor. She got back into bed to try to go back to sleep. After thirty minutes of just lying restlessly in her bed, she decided to get up and start her day. After taking a shower, brushing her teeth, running a pick through her hair, and putting on a pair of pajama pants and a hoodie, Lana went downstairs to make herself a bowl of cereal. When she got down there, she found her parents at the kitchen table drinking their morning coffee, getting ready to head to work. "Good morning, beautiful," her dad greeted her. "Hey dad." "Got any plans today?" Lana thought for a second. "No, just stayin' in today." Lana's father looked at her over his glasses. "Are you sure? You finished all of your "exploring" yesterday? That was pretty fast," Lana's father said with a chuckle. Lana gave him a small smile and went over to the refrigerator to get the box of Lucky Charms from the top of it. She sat the box of cereal on the counter while she got a bowl from the drying rack by the sink. She sat it next to the box on the counter. She grabbed the milk from out of the fridge. After throwing the cereal and the milk into the bowl, Lana grabbed a spoon from a drawer and went upstairs, back into her room.

          When Lana got back to her room, it was about 8:20 AM. Lana sat down on her bed and took the first bite out of her cereal. After a few more bites, she got out of bed to unplug her phone from the wall. After getting back into bed to finish her cereal, she began to unlock her phone. But, Lana noticed something on her screen that surprised her. A text message. One that wasn't from her parents. It was from Casey. "Wassup 😎" Lana chuckled at Casey's response. Lana holds the screen and slides to the left to see what time Casey had sent the text. She had sent it about 20 minutes ago. Lana frowned. Lana quickly typed a response. "Sorry, I was busy... but I'm not now." Lana sent the text, thinking that it would be a long time before Casey responds. Lana began to finish her cereal. Five minutes later, Lana hears a bing come from her phone. It was Casey. She didn't expect for her to text back this fast. She thought that Casey would probably be at work at this time.

"Don't worry, I'm the worst texter. So, r u doing anything today ???"

"No... probably just staying at home."

"Cool... well I'm at work right now... but I get off at 3. Maybe we could do something today."

          Lana thought for a second. She had just met this girl yesterday. Why would she go anywhere with her? She barely knew this girl. But, she remembered that she made a promise to herself that she would start experiencing more this summer. And to do that, she would have to get out more. Meet new people. Do new things. See new places. She took the offer.

"Sure. What time ??? and where to ???"

          Lana waited for Casey to respond. It was a few minutes before she got a text back.

"Is D&Bs cool ??? At like 5:30 ???"

"Yeah that's fine. I'll be there."

"Cool. I gotta get back to work... but I'll see u there."

          Lana smiled widely. She was so excited for today. She had something to look forward to. Now, she had so much to think about. Like what to wear. And what to say. And how to not get nervous around this girl. Lana couldn't wait for the clock to hit 5:30. She needed something to kill the time before she could start getting ready. All she could think to do was maybe do some chores and watch some TV until about 2:00 PM. She thought that would be a good time to start getting ready. So, she went downstairs to the kitchen to start washing dishes. Her parents were already gone. She started filling up the sink with warm water and dish detergent. Then, she plugged her headphones into her phone, opened Spotify, and started the song "Know Myself" by Justine Skye.