Change of Plans

Chapter 4

As the days wore on, I saw more of Tori and less of my friends, a fact that annoyed me to no end. With April’s disappearance the prodigal mother had taken it upon herself to temporarily take up residence in the guest room.

I stalked past it with a scoff and made my way to the kitchen to prepare a snack for myself. Tori walked in as I was taking the final bite of my chicken sandwich and I ignored her in favor of sipping my juice.

“When you’re done we need to finish packing, alright?” she said with her signature smile and turned her back to me although I hadn’t given her an answer.

I finished my juice and stuck my tongue out at her back before depositing my cup into the sink and leaving the kitchen. It was my last day to say goodbye to all of things that I wouldn’t be able to take with me and as much as it pained me to do so, I had to get a move on.

“Maybe I’m just a kid in love, maybe I’m just a kid in love, oh baby,” I sang softly as I folded my shirts and stuffed them into the open suitcase on the bed. “If this is what it's like falling in love, then I don't ever wanna grow up.”

I hadn’t felt even a bit of happiness since my dad died but I was determined to try. Still singing, I did a little twirl and threw my head back laughing before reaching for another shirt. I had a smile on my face as I hummed the rest of the song.

“I’m so embarrassed for you.” I stopped smiling when April stepped into view and held up her hands in surrender. “You’re an awful singer and an even worse dancer.”

“And you’re an average friend,” I said a bit more harshly than I’d intended but it was already out there so I turned my back on her and tossed the shirt into the suitcase without folding it.

There were a lot of things that I would excuse of my friends, like going to school dances without me because I was dateless and refused to go alone or not inviting me to the movies because no one liked a third wheel, but deserting me in my time of need was nowhere on that list.

I easily forgave Jason for keeping his distance because he had lost his sister a few years back and I knew that being around the aftermath of death was not a pleasant thing for him, but April had no such excuse. She was simply being her usual self where either everything revolved around her feelings or it didn’t matter to her.

She came around to my side of the bed and folded the shirt that I’d just tossed in. “Even if I said that I was sorry, you’d still lash out at me, so what now?” she asked.

I shrugged and continued taking clothes out of my drawers and stuffing them into suitcases only to have April take them out and fold them. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her as she folded a pair of beige jeans. “Your storming out was ridiculously dramatic,” I muttered.

She gave me a lazy smile. “I’m a theatre kid. I’m always dramatic.”

I rolled my eyes and offered her a smile that felt as fake as any joy I’d feel after today. “I suppose I could stop being mad.”

I know that you probably think I’m weak for letting her off so easily but it was the last day that we had together before it was time to say our goodbyes and I didn’t want to spend it fighting. I know that she must’ve had the same thought because in her own way, she apologized first. If I wasn’t moving the next day I would’ve been the one to make things right between us, so the fact that she had come over, meant that she was swallowing her huge ego and that meant a lot.