"Now you think that I, Will be somethin' on the side, But you got to understand that I need a man who can take my hand..." -- Duffy 'Mercy'
19
School had finally started again, and she was glad for the excuses she could finally come up with to get out of work when she didn't want to go. Her first class of the day had started at eight in the morning, and now she had three hours between that and her second and last class of the day, which she decided to take advantage of.
"Hey, whatcha doing?" Ty whispered as he sat across from her at a table in the library.
She looked up at him through her glasses. "Washing dishes, what's it look like I'm doing?"
"You wore your glasses today."
"Yeah, my eyes were bothering me this morning," she nodded nervously as she spoke.
Why am I nervous?"I'm sorry. Oh, Marshall told me you figured out your major," he changed the subject.
She nodded again, despite herself, "Yeah, I'm going to major in English. I want to be a high school English teacher."
"And you'll have kids like me in the back of the room falling asleep," he laughed. She rolled her eyes as he handed out his own English paper and asked her to look over it for him before he turned it in.
"Now be quiet so I can finish my own work," she laughed as she handed it back to him with fake dramatics.
- - - -
"So Teddy comes home tomorrow," Hailey stated as the three girls laid around Lauren's bedroom the next day.
"Yep," Tessa sighed as she hung her head over the edge of Lauren's large bed.
"You seem a little stressed," Hailey laughed. "He's been gone for a month and all you say is 'Yep'."
"I am not stressed. I'm tired."
"OK," Lauren rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're stressed because you've been wearing that same hoodie everywhere for the past few days. Who does that belong to anyway?"
"Me."
"Its not your size," Hailey told her as she pointed at the maroon hoodie from their former high school.
"OK, so its not mine, but I don't really know who it belongs to, but its comfortable," she said as she wrapped her arms around her body and stuck her tongue out at her friends.
"You're definitely not wearing that in Hawaii," Hailey told her.
"I'm going to Hawaii?" She laughed. "When did this happen?"
"We're all going." Lauren told her. "On Fall Break. Its going to be fun."
"Yeah right," she snorted. And it was true; On every trip their group had taken together, something bad had happened to her. Junior year when they went skiing in Colorado she broke her arm, later that year when they went to Miami, she got food poisoning the second night and was stuck in the room the rest of the trip, and then her Senior year after graduation, they went to Florida again and she was stung by a sting ray and a jellyfish at the same time and had to be rushed to the hospital.
"So you've had a little bad luck," Hailey tried to rationalize.
"At least it makes for an interesting conversation when you show your scars," Lauren added.
"OK, when I'm laying up in the room because of food poisoning or a broke leg or a ridiculous sunburn, I'll say 'I told you so'," she laughed as she stood to leave.
"Where are you going?" Hailey asked curiously.
"Teddy gets home tonight... Not tomorrow," she told her and smirked as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
- - - -
At eleven o'clock that night, while her mom and sisters argued loudly downstairs, Teddy called her.
"Hey you," he said as she greeted him as well. She could almost see him sitting on his bed and taking his shoes off as he talked.
"So how was your family?"
"They're good. I finally convinced them I actually have friends." He laughed. "Not that they ever
really doubted me."
She laughed, "How did you do that?"
"I had a picture of you on my phone and then I had a couple of the guys when Ty tied the firecrackers to his skateboard," he laughed. "After I showed them that one they thought I was joining some sort of terrorist cult."
She snorted as she laughed at his attempt at poking fun at Ty's obsession with the noisy fireworks. She heard him yawn and she wondered exactly how long he had been awake. "Do you need to go to bed?"
He shook his head. "No, I want to talk to you."
He wants to talk to me... "OK," she was trying to hide her smile, but she couldn't quite keep it at bay. "So are you coming to The Shop with us tomorrow night?"
"Yes."
"Good. Because I'm playing my song."
"You wrote a song?"
"Yes I did. But it doesn't have words," she laughed as she covered her face in embarrassment even though no one was there to see her.
"Its still a song," he told her and she nodded. "You'll figure it out eventually."
"Yeah." She sighed as their conversation hit a quiet spot. She was sure he could hear her family arguing below her.
"I'm sorry."
"What?" She asked obliviously.
"That they're arguing." He told her. "What are they fighting about?"
"My mom caught Ellie stealing money out of her secret hiding spot and she's been trying to get them to give up their keys for, like, four hours and its not doing any good."
"Why does she want their keys?"
"So she can kick them out. They're almost thirty, and its time for them to move out anyway," she told him. She realized how indifferent she felt towards her sisters now. There had once been a day when she looked up to them and respected them, but that had all changed.
"Sounds like you'll be up all night."
"Yeah, it does," she laughed. "I just wish they'd stop yelling so I can sleep."
She heard his bed squeak as he moved onto his side. He let out a deep breath and she assumed he was starting to fall asleep. "Teddy?"
"Mmm?"
"Don't go to sleep," she laughed.
"Mmhmm," he grunted and she chuckled. "More chicken."
"Ted, there's no chickens in your house."
"Yesss. Chickens."
"Teddy?"
"Huh?" He grunted loudly and coughed.
"Go to bed, OK?"
"NO, I'm talking to you." He said slowly and she laughed.
"About chickens." She reminded him playfully as she giggled slightly.
"There's not any chickens in here," he told her in a serious tone, which made her giggles turn into heavy laughter.
"Yes, I know. Now go to sleep."
"OK," he sighed, and she could just picture him laying there on his side, eyes already closed with the phone jammed between his ear and the pillow so he wouldn't have to use him hands to hold it up. "Goodnight Calli."
"Tessa." She corrected him, feeling a little hurt.
"Goodnight Tessa," he sing-songed in the same tired voice, as if he didn't even know he had called her Calli.
"Bye Ted," she hung up the phone and couldn't help but feel a little bad for Calli. Sure, she liked Teddy and didn't really care much for his girlfriend, but she didn't want to be
that girl. The girl who gets dirty looks as she walks down the street because she's a "home-wrecker"; She didn't want to be something on the side either... No matter how much she liked him.
What am I going to do?
