This Girl

Chapter 51: What's The Tea, Sis?

"Nat, my honey boo boo," Bubbles slams open the door to my room the next day with two buckets of ice cream and a packet of crisp chips. 

"Hey Bubbles," I say, getting up glumly and walking over to give her a hug. She embraces me warmly and strokes my hair. 

"It's ok," she says when I start crying. "It's alright."

I hear a yap and pull away from Bubbles, wiping my tears off my face. I smile and pick up the miniature cavoodle. 

"Hey, boy," I say, scratching behind his ears. "I've missed you. You're so big now."

He yaps happily and nuzzles his noggin into my hand. I smile. Bubbles takes my hand and pulls me over to my bed. We sit down. She opens both tubs of ice cream and hands one to me with a metal spoon. 

She lets me eat the salted caramel and chocolate goodness for a few minutes before cracking open the chips. 

"Ok, now what's the tea, sis?" she asks.

***

Talking with Bubbles did ease the pain. Instead of keeping everything bottled up inside of me, I was able to let it all out. 

"Well, my lil' nugget," Bubbles says as she eats her ice cream, my head on her shoulder with a full stomach. "I think you've ruined your whole life. Now there will be no Natalex babies. No wedding where I could be a bridesmaid at. No time for me to watch you two bicker and then say 'I love you's.' Anyway, if you do ask me to be a bridesmaid at your wedding to someone else, I will downright refuse," she says, I take my head off her shoulder and slap her arm. 

"You're supposed to be making me feel better!" I say to her. 

"Hey," she gestures around us. "I bought you food. But seriously, just go with the flow Nat, its the only thing you can do."

I nod slowly, biting into a chip like a depressed chipmunk. Bubbles gives me one last hug before getting off the bed. 

"See you at school in a few days, alright, Nat?" she asks. I nod again, crunching on the chip. She gives me a small smile before walking out the door, shutting it quietly behind her. 

I lie back on my bed, Wombat snuggles up beside me and I thread my fingers through his fur. I close my eyes and he whimpers at me to keep patting him. I do. 

Eventually, I get to sleep. My dreams are haunted with his handsome face and the feeling of his lips on mine.

***

I wake up on Monday morning to the sound of my alarm buzzing. I fumble around for a few seconds before I find the clock and hit the snooze button. 

I close my eyes but feel my blanket being dragged off me when I try to pull it up. I open one eye and look at the end of the bed. Wombat's pulling the blanket off the bed with his teeth. I sigh and hop up, walking to my closet. Wombat trails after me. 

I bend down and force the blanket out of his mouth to stop it falling off the bed behind us. I yawn as I enter the closet. 

I'm too tired to notice what I pick out, and even what I put on. I don't notice I'm straightening my hair or putting on a swipe of glossy, pink lipgloss. 

Its only when Mum calls me down for breakfast that I look at myself in the mirror. What the actual heck did I just do?

My hair straightened reaches down to my bum. I've got my sunnies perched on top of my head. I'm wearing a stretchy white top that reaches just above my belly button and tight, ripped, black high waisted shorts. Then I've got my ankle boots on my feet. The only thing that's missing is my necklace.