“Yea, he told me. Are you okay? You’ve been acting funny all day.”
“I’m fine. I just thought it’d be fun to have an old-fashioned slumber party.” I hoped to conceal any worry lingering in my voice. “We haven’t done that in a while,” I giggled.
“Hey, yeah, that’s awesome. Since we have a couple of days, do you wanna go on a road trip?”
“And leave my sister and her boyfriend unlimited access to my house? No thanks.” I rolled my eyes at the thought.
“Oh, well. Your bed is better than a five-star hotel. We can make popcorn and talk about boys. I have a lot to tell you.” One thing I loved about Myra was her ability to make everything easy.
“I bet you do,” I stated under my breath, annoyed. I knew exactly which boy she wanted to talk about.
“Hey, have you seen that mysterious guy come back in?”
Here we go, I thought. “What guy?” I feigned ignorance. ”What do you want to watch tonight?”
“Don’t you dare act like you don’t know who I’m walking about.”
“I was actually hoping he left town.” That was a lie. I was secretly upset that he hadn’t been back in. I yearned for him. I needed him. I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. The need to have him was stupid. I didn’t even know his name and had only seen him that one time. I was being obsessive and irrational.
“Oh, well, maybe he’ll come back in soon. He’s gorgeous. I wouldn’t mind gawking at him for a few hours if the handsome stranger stays for a while next time,” Myra said.
I was glad she didn’t seem to pick up on my thoughts. “Maybe he left town,” I replied. I had a feeling that wasn’t an accurate assumption because I felt his presence.
When we arrived at my house, I was relieved to see that Shannon and Jake weren’t home. Myra and I got ready for bed, washing the residue of the bar away. Then we went straight to sleep. It had been a long, exhausting day for both of us.
Eight
A girl stood alone in the middle of a field of lilacs, soaking wet. Rain poured from the ominous clouds above, but the girl didn’t seem to notice. Her face was buried in her hands as she cried. I felt her sadness as deeply as I feel my own.
Waking up with tears in my eyes, the gloom of loss was still strong in my heart. My energy was zapped. I tried to stay motionless to keep from waking up Myra. I stared at the ceiling, my mind racing from one thought to another. I wondered what she was crying over. I ran through possibilities in my mind. I mostly assumed her tears were shed over him. The idea saddened me even more.
Myra began to stir as she awoke.
“Morning, Myra,” I said.
“Good Morning,” she yawned, looking at me. Her eyebrows creased. “Did you not sleep last night?”
“Yeah, I slept, but it was a stressful dream.”
“Your eyes are puffy, and you have dark circles under them. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you look like the living dead. Do you want to talk about it?”
I rolled my eyes. Since she was my best friend, I ignored that comment. I imagined that I looked terrible. “No, it’s fine. It was just a dream. Wanna go to the gym?” I asked.
“Ugh… Not really.”
“You can gape at all the hot boys while I work my ass off.”
“Fine, but don’t expect me to, like, run beside you or anything.” She rolled off the bed, hitting the floor with a loud thump. “Ugh,” she groaned.
“I know you are a stick, but really, it’ll do you good to get some exercise too,” I said, eyeing her.
“So, you like to remind me.” She threw a pillow at me. “Besides, we get plenty of exercise playing waitress at the bar every damn day and night. Those doubles we pull all the time must burn like five thousand calories or something.” She laughed.
I busted out a laugh. “True, but get dressed. We’re going.”
“Fine, but you owe me lunch at the greasiest place I can think of.”
I laughed. Of course, that was the deal, as always.
Nine
Sunday morning, we woke up before the sun graced us with its presence. Whether the sun had come up or not didn't matter since Stan the Weatherman forecasted a cold and rainy day. Gloomy and cold just happened to be my favorite kind of weather. There had always been something comforting about the dark gray clouds as far as the eye could see looming over our little town. I loved the roar and crackles of the thunder. As rain began to trickle down upon us, I felt heaviness lift off my chest, leaving me feeling weightless and care free. Not to say that buckets of rain didn’t get old after a while, especially if I had to get out in it, but for the most part, a gloomy forecast was my friend.
“Ugh,” Myra whined as she came from the bathroom, towel-drying her hair. “Why did you have to suggest this?” she continued whining. “I don’t want to have to get out today. It’s going to rain, and we are supposed to be on vacation.”
“Stop crying like a baby, and finish getting ready,” I advised.
As I put on my shoes, I glanced at my cell phone. “Oh! It's almost seven-thirty. Hurry up. I'm running downstairs, so hurry up.” After flying down the stairs to the living room, I gathered our purses and keys. “Come on,” I yelled up to her.
“I'm comin’, I'm comin’. Calm down.” Myra flew down the stairs. “Relax, Vessi. Joe won’t mind if we’re a couple of minutes late. After all, we are technically
