My Life After the Disaster

Chapter Fiveteen

-Tuesday, August 8th, 2023-

I get up out of bed and start my day, thinking about Annabelle. I haven’t talked to her at all since I got together with Alexia. I’ve been so busy. And today is her birthday. I should give her a call. But I’ll get some breakfast first. I change out of my pajamas and head out of my room, going straight to the kitchen.

“Good morning Rose, how’d you sleep last night?” Guinevere asks me as she flips some sausage patties in the frying pan.

“Excellent, as always,” I tell her, walking towards the fridge. I grab the orange juice carton and take it out of the fridge, walking over to the cupboard to grab a glass. “Did you want some?”

“No thanks, I got my coffee right here,” she says, holding up her mug, putting it right back down again.

“Okay, just for me then,” I tell her, pouring the juice into my glass. I close up the carton and put it back into the fridge, grab my glass of juice and head over to the table, sitting down in my usually seat.

“You came just in time, breakfast is just about ready. I made sausage burgers for breakfast this morning. Two for each of us,” She says as she turns the stove off and grabs a couple of plates. She grabs the buns, puts some ketchup on them, places the patties onto them and closes them up. She picks up the plates and comes over to the table, putting one in front of me and the other where she sits.

“Thanks, it’s been awhile since I had sausage patties,” I tell her, picking up my patty burger to take a bite.

“What’s on your mind this morning,” she asks me as she sits down, placing her coffee next to her food.

“Annabelle, actually. Today is her 18th birthday. I’m going to call her after breakfast to wish her a happy birthday. We haven’t talked or texted at all since I met Alexia. I’ve been so busy with her and life that I didn’t think to talk to her,” I tell her, eating some more of my patty.

“It can’t be helped with new love. You just get so caught up in it that you forget about everyone else around you. It’s good you remembered her birthday though. I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear from you,” she tells me, taking a bite of her patty.

“It certainly seems that way,” I tell her, placing my patty down to drink my juice.

We finish up our breakfast together, talking back and forth about different things. I get up with my empty plate and glass, placing them in the sink, then turn around and leave the kitchen, heading back to my room where I left my phone.

I grab my phone off my nightstand and sit in my hammock, dialing Annabelle’s number. It rings a bunch of times them goes to voicemail. I hang up and try again. Same thing. “She must be busy. I’ll try again later.” I get up off my hammock, taking my phone with me and decide to go for a walk.

“Where are you heading?” Guinevere asks me, stepping out of the kitchen as I walk towards the door.

“I just thought I’d go for a walk. It’s nice out, not too hot. Would you like to join me?” I ask her, stepping into my shoes.

“I thought you were calling Annabelle to wish her a happy birthday,” she states.

“I tried, I got the answering machine twice. I figured she’s busy. I’m going to try again later. So, what do you say? Care to join me for a walk?” I ask her again.

“I guess I can do that. Just let me get changed. I’m not dressed for outside right now,” she tells me, heading up the stairs.

I stand by the door, leaning against it as I wait for her. I wonder what Annabelle could be up to right now. Whatever it is, I hope she’s enjoying herself.

My aunt comes running down the stairs, breaking me out of my thoughts and says, “I’ll set to go, let’s get going.” She walks over to me and puts her sneakers on.

I move off the door and open it up, letting my aunt go through then, I go through after her, locking the door behind us. “What kind of walk do you think we’re going on? It looks like you’re ready to run a marathon,” I tell her, looking over her workout clothes. She has a tank style top and shorts, both purple with white strips on them.

“This is just my workout clothes. And walking is a form of working out,” she tells me as she starts down the driveway.

I quickly follow after her and we start walking towards the trail by her house. “Do you work out a lot?” I ask, curiously.

“I used to. Not so much now. But I probably should at least go for walks regularly, just to keep in shape. I don’t want to grow old and tired. I want to be able to keep up to my future grand kids,” she tells me while smiling.

“Who says you’ll have grand kids? You don’t have any children. Just me, your niece,” I tell her, keeping in pace beside her.

“Exactly. To me, you are my daughter. Since your parents are gone we have each other. Any kids you have will be my grand children,” she states proudly.

“And who says I’m going to have any children. I am a lesbian after all. I have a female partner. Unless I adopt or get a sperm donor, that’s not a possibility. Besides, I’m only 17, it’s going to be a long time before any grand kids come in the pictures if they do at all,” I tell her, walking a little faster.

Guinevere quickly matches my speed and says, “Alright, I gets ya, we won’t talk about kids no more. You’re much too young for them anyway. How about we talk about Alexia.”

“What about Alexia?” I ask her, glancing over at her.

“Have you guys talked about kids at all? Is that something you might want?” she asks me.

“We haven’t, no. It’s kind of too early in our relationship to talk about that stuff. And I thought we weren’t talking about kids anymore,” I tell her, feeling a bit disappointed.

“Alright, I’ll stop. I was just curious if you had the talk is all,” she tells me, putting her hands up in defense.

We walk along the trail a bit further talking about various different things and don’t come back around to children again, what a strange thing to even talk about at my age. We turn back around and head back home.

Once in the house I head back to my room, take out my phone and call Annabelle again. It rings over and over again, then I get her voicemail again. I try once more and the same thing happens. “I guess she’s having a busy day.”

I set my phone back down and stand up to leave my room again only to turn back around when my phone starts ringing. I pick it up and say, “Hello.” Thinking it might be Annabelle calling me back.

“Hey Gorgeous, I got out of class early today. Did you want to hangout?” Alexia asks me, on the other end of the phone.

“Sure. I’m in my room right now. I just got finished going for a walk with my aunt. What were you thinking of doing?”

“I thought I could come get you and take you out somewhere. Or bring you back to my place,” she tells me, teasingly.

“Where would we go?” I ask her, curious what she was thinking about, aside from s*x.

“I though we could go for a drive and find a nice spot to be alone together. Maybe in the woods under the cool shaded trees,” she tells me, laughing slightly.

“That sounds nice. We can do that. Come on over. I’ll see you soon,” I tell her, hanging up the phone. I try calling Annabelle again it rings over and over again, then voicemail comes on, “Hey, this is Annabelle, if you’re hearing this message then I’m away from my phone right now or busy doing something. So, leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for calling. Have a great day.” I hang up my phone without leaving a message. I’d rather talk to her personally than leave a message. I’ll try again later.

After a few minutes in my room I head out to the front door with my phone in my back pocket and my keys in my front pocket.

“Going somewhere else?” Guinevere asks, eyeing me from the sofa.

I turn to look at her and say, “Yeah, Alexia is picking me up. We’re going for a drive somewhere. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, but why do you own a van if you never use it.”

“Oh, I bought that years ago. It was just in case I ever needed to drive a bunch of people around. I have used it a couple times. But it mostly just sits in the garage collecting dust. Have fun with Alexia,” she tells me, looking back at her book.

I nod my head, okay. I guess that makes sense. I stick my shoes back on and head out the front door. Alexa is parked out in front of the house, waiting for me.

“Hey,” she shouts at me, waving her hand frantically. “Come on. Let’s get going.”

I run over to her, kissing her lightly on the lips right as I get into the car.

She deepens the kiss, smiling as she does so. When we break apart she says, “I missed you too.”

I smile at her, buckle up and off we go. “Today is my best friends birthday and I’ve been trying to call her on and off today but it just goes to voicemail.

“She’s probably just really busy, it is her birthday after all. Just keep trying. Eventually you’re bound to get though,” she tells me, driving up the road.

We drive for a bit before we finally find a wooded area to stop and get out at.

I jump out of the car, taking my phone out of my pocket and try calling Annabelle again. It rings over and over again, going to voicemail. I hang up and try again. Same thing.

“Still no answer?” Alexia asks me as she makes her way around the car to me.

I look at her and say, “Nope. Not at all. Maybe I’ll try again tonight before I go to bed. If not I’ll just call her tomorrow.” I stick my phone back into my pocket and grab Alexia’s hand, walking with her into the woods.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Alexia tells me, smiling cheerfully as we disappear in the trees.

We spend the next few hours frolicking and tumbling around in he wooded area, laughing and having a good time. Eventually getting naked and making love under the trees in the soft grass. Before we know it, we’ve missed lunch and it’s just about supper time. We put our clothes back on, laughing about all the time we spend mindlessly wandering around the woods and head back to her car.