my teenage years suck.
“So, Josh’s girlfriend was a peach,” Sydney said, casually as she played with the label on her bottle. Her nonchalant attitude didn’t fool me; I knew she had been bursting to talk about what had happened in the restaurant.
“Wait, who? When did you see Josh?” Amanda lifted her legs so they were settled in Sydney’s lap.
“At the restaurant with some over-dressed tart,” Sydney replied, giving me a sideways look. “It took all I had not to throw my plate at her when she started talking about Paris. She’s not the kind of girl you’d picture Josh with at all.” Sydney gave Amanda the play-by-play, and I excused myself to go shower, not wanting to talk about Josh or his date anymore.
I was taking my time washing my hair when Amanda appeared on the other side of the shower curtain and started brushing her teeth. When she was finished she sat on the counter, and cleared her throat.
“Melissa called while you guys were at dinner. They need waitresses for parties on both Friday and Saturday nights this upcoming weekend and the weekend after.”
“Okay, did you tell her yes?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know if you had any parties you wanted to actually attend, but I sort of assumed you didn’t…” She trailed off, sounding unsure.
I turned off the shower and Amanda handed me my robe. Wrapping myself up, I stepped out and grabbed a towel to dry my hair.
“Yeah, no partying for me. But thank you, I need the hours. I’ve barely worked this month and my savings account from all the hours we worked over the summer is taking the hit.”
She nodded in understanding, said goodnight, and headed off towards her bedroom.
I stood in the bathroom, trying to look at my bare back. The wounds were healing nicely, and although they still looked pretty disgusting, there was definite improvement. I rubbed some ointment on best I could, and decided to leave it uncovered for now. I put on my nightshirt, and brushed my hair before sitting in bed with my phone.
I opened up my text messages and sat frozen with my finger over the ‘Reply’ button on the message Josh had sent me a week ago. I had no idea what I wanted to say, or why I even wanted to text him, but about five minutes later I locked my phone without ever working up the courage. I set it on the nightstand by my bed, and laid down on my stomach against my pillows. I let out a huge sigh, pulled the blanket up, and closed my eyes.
–––
For what felt like the hundredth time, I woke up suddenly, and tried to will away the smell of stale beer and cigarettes. I could tell without looking at the clock that it was still early, and the clock confirmed it was barely past three.
I hugged the pillow to my chest until my heart rate returned to normal, and then I tiptoed into the kitchen for some water.
I sat on the kitchen counter sipping on my third glass as I stared at the pictures we had stuck to the fridge. There were pictures of Amanda, Sydney, and me all in different aspects- 13-years-old in our bathing suits in a backyard, 18-years-old in our gowns and caps, smiling with our diplomas, Sydney holding a friend’s newborn baby, Amanda with her ex-boyfriend, me with my brother the day he deployed the second time, and there in the corner was one of Josh and me, laughing about something.
We were both looking at the camera with giant smiles on our faces. His arm was around me, tucking me into him, and I had both of my arms around his waist, my head against his chest. That picture had been taken in my mom’s back yard during his graduation party, and the Josh in the picture looked so much happier and carefree than the Josh I had seen recently. Physically, he still looked the same- with dark brown curls on top of his head, light brown eyes that seemed to see through you, his body just as fit as it had been in college, and although he hadn’t gotten any taller, he still had about five inches on me. There was something missing from him now,
“So, Josh’s girlfriend was a peach,” Sydney said, casually as she played with the label on her bottle. Her nonchalant attitude didn’t fool me; I knew she had been bursting to talk about what had happened in the restaurant.
“Wait, who? When did you see Josh?” Amanda lifted her legs so they were settled in Sydney’s lap.
“At the restaurant with some over-dressed tart,” Sydney replied, giving me a sideways look. “It took all I had not to throw my plate at her when she started talking about Paris. She’s not the kind of girl you’d picture Josh with at all.” Sydney gave Amanda the play-by-play, and I excused myself to go shower, not wanting to talk about Josh or his date anymore.
I was taking my time washing my hair when Amanda appeared on the other side of the shower curtain and started brushing her teeth. When she was finished she sat on the counter, and cleared her throat.
“Melissa called while you guys were at dinner. They need waitresses for parties on both Friday and Saturday nights this upcoming weekend and the weekend after.”
“Okay, did you tell her yes?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know if you had any parties you wanted to actually attend, but I sort of assumed you didn’t…” She trailed off, sounding unsure.
I turned off the shower and Amanda handed me my robe. Wrapping myself up, I stepped out and grabbed a towel to dry my hair.
“Yeah, no partying for me. But thank you, I need the hours. I’ve barely worked this month and my savings account from all the hours we worked over the summer is taking the hit.”
She nodded in understanding, said goodnight, and headed off towards her bedroom.
I stood in the bathroom, trying to look at my bare back. The wounds were healing nicely, and although they still looked pretty disgusting, there was definite improvement. I rubbed some ointment on best I could, and decided to leave it uncovered for now. I put on my nightshirt, and brushed my hair before sitting in bed with my phone.
I opened up my text messages and sat frozen with my finger over the ‘Reply’ button on the message Josh had sent me a week ago. I had no idea what I wanted to say, or why I even wanted to text him, but about five minutes later I locked my phone without ever working up the courage. I set it on the nightstand by my bed, and laid down on my stomach against my pillows. I let out a huge sigh, pulled the blanket up, and closed my eyes.
–––
For what felt like the hundredth time, I woke up suddenly, and tried to will away the smell of stale beer and cigarettes. I could tell without looking at the clock that it was still early, and the clock confirmed it was barely past three.
I hugged the pillow to my chest until my heart rate returned to normal, and then I tiptoed into the kitchen for some water.
I sat on the kitchen counter sipping on my third glass as I stared at the pictures we had stuck to the fridge. There were pictures of Amanda, Sydney, and me all in different aspects- 13-years-old in our bathing suits in a backyard, 18-years-old in our gowns and caps, smiling with our diplomas, Sydney holding a friend’s newborn baby, Amanda with her ex-boyfriend, me with my brother the day he deployed the second time, and there in the corner was one of Josh and me, laughing about something.
We were both looking at the camera with giant smiles on our faces. His arm was around me, tucking me into him, and I had both of my arms around his waist, my head against his chest. That picture had been taken in my mom’s back yard during his graduation party, and the Josh in the picture looked so much happier and carefree than the Josh I had seen recently. Physically, he still looked the same- with dark brown curls on top of his head, light brown eyes that seemed to see through you, his body just as fit as it had been in college, and although he hadn’t gotten any taller, he still had about five inches on me. There was something missing from him now,
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