Count On Me

Winter Storm

It's been way too long since my last update. I'm so sorry about the unexpected hiatus! When there's too much real life crap filling my head, I run out of room for other stuff. I don't expect it to be such a long wait for the next one. So if you have put up with my inconsistent updating and are still reading this, thank you!

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016 | 8:30 AM | TRIS

I am awakened by a blast of cold air on my bare skin. This apartment is always so damn cold, with its inadequate insulation in the walls and the cheap, ill-fitting windows leaking air from the outside. I immediately register a slight feeling of vertigo and pounding head: sure signs that I drank too much last night when Uriah, Lynn, Marlene and I celebrated having finished our final exams. Eyes still closed, I blindly reach to fumble with the blanket. A hand stills my movement and the blanket falls back over me.

"Sorry," Uriah says, and despite his efforts to speak softly, his deep voice increases the in my head. "Zeke is picking me up in half an hour."

I groan and open one eye. "Close the blinds," I whine. .

The blinds fall with a zip of the cord. I hear the rustling of fabric as Uriah pulls on some clothes, then the soft padding of bare feet moving away from me until there is silence in the room. I press my face into the pillow and cover my exposed left eye with my hand to block the light. Still cold, I shiver and burrow further into the blanket. Just as I am finally satisfied the footsteps return, then the bed dips with Uriah's weight.

I should get up and see him before he leaves, I know I should, but I don't really feel like it. I drank a lot last night, but not enough to forget why I drank myself stupid.

"Tris," Uriah says. He gently shakes my shoulder. A grunt is my only response. "Tris, come on, sit up for a minute. I have pain killers and water."

That does sound like a good enough reason to get up. Not to mention, it's a sweet gesture that leaves me feeling a bit guilty for being upset with him in the first place. Especially since he didn't really do anything wrong. It was my own choice to take a waitressing job where I had to work nights; of course he has found other friends to hang out with. I just wish that all his inside jokes with Marlene didn't make me feel so left out. And it doesn't make sense for me to be angry now when I clearly didn't care by the end of the night; the fact that we both fell asleep completely naked is enough evidence of that.

Now that I am upright, my head is spinning, but I can endure it for these few minutes until he leaves. He hands me a few ibuprofen tablets and I throw them back with several gulps of water. I pull the blanket up around me as I begin to shiver and when I look up again, Uriah his holding a t-shirt out to me. "Thanks," I say, quickly pulling it over my head.

Uriah nods. "You sure you can't play hooky from work, come with us instead?"

"I wish," I sigh. "Maybe if it was only one night, but if I call off three days in a row, they might fire me. Besides... I think this might be better just family, don't you?"

Uriah shakes his head. "You know we consider you family, Tris. All of us do."

"Even so. I never celebrated a birthday with your dad when he was alive, doesn't seem right that I should be there now." Zeke and Uriah are going up to Seattle for a long weekend to spend some time with Hana, in honor of Jacob's birthday. I could have asked for the time off, but I opted for a lighter schedule during finals week instead. We have savings, but that's for getting our own apartment later. "It's a moot point anyway. You know I have to work."