7. Noted
2089 Words
An alarm goes off at 5:30. I sit up and can't figure out how to shut it off. Why would anyone get up this early?
Holly runs in. "I forgot to show you your bathroom. It's right here. Take a shower and meet in my room."
"Ok. Thank you."
I hear the door shut and rub my face. This day is going to suck. I think I'll skip and take a nap. I have to get out of here regardless though.
The shower is amazing. Their guest soap is better than the school soap. And there is so much more of it. I get clean and put the nightie back on. I did not think this through. I have no other clothes here. I'll have to go home.
The dress I love is hanging in Holly's room.
"You?"
"It's for you."
Alice smiles. "We knew you would need something to wear today. We each got a new outfit."
"Thank you. This is so much though."
"Nope." Holly points at me. "You're not doing that again. This is not the time. Get dressed so we can do hair and makeup."
I put the dress on and admire myself. I feel so pretty. Then I sit at the vanity. I can't even pretend to know what I'm doing. The girls must sense this because they are all over me.
Half an hour later, I step out of a cloud of powder with a full face of makeup. My hair has big curls in it and not one piece of frizz. This is a miracle for my hair. It's always 90% frizz.
I put on a pair of heels and wonder how this is going to go.
Then the girls drag me to the dining room.
"Good morning, girls. How did shopping go?"
"Perfect, daddy. We got new stuff." Holly spins.
He glances at us over the paper. "The three of you look beautiful. Congratulations, Aurora."
"Thank you, sir." I pull on the dress jacket. This isn't right.
He must sense this because he smirks. "Instead of sending you a generic congratulatory gift, I told Holly she could take you shopping. This way you could pick out your gift."
"Thank you. I..."
He puts his hand up to stop me. "You're welcome. You girls better grab something quickly, or you'll end up late."
Her mom hands us some kind of wraps as we walk out.
We get to the school and Everett is sitting on the steps with a group of his friends.
Brock is standing with his arms crossed. "We had to see this. It's worth it. How in the hell can you walk in those shoes?"
I grab the rail. "Very carefully."
He nods. "You heard her. Be ready to catch."
Everett stands up. "It's like football practice but with girls instead of balls."
"She's speaking for herself. We do good in these. She's still learning." Alice walks by us and flips her hair towards Brock.
By the end of fourth period, my feet are dead. I am dead. I am exhausted. My feet are killing me. I walk down the steps towards lunch and trip. Brock and Everett grab me between them without even looking. I didn't even notice they were in front of me.
Brock turns to me. "Maybe you should try other shoes."
"I don't have anymore here." I nearly cry.
Then some girl trips on something and faceplants the floor. Everyone cracks up laughing.
I roll my eyes at them and help her pick up papers.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. I may end up on the floor too. These shoes are hell."
"Those are tall. You're brave."
"It's amazing how close the line between bravery and stupidity is."
She laughs and takes her stuff from me. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
I make it through lunch somehow. The girls give me food again. I kind of miss peanut butter.
Then I go to study hall.
Everett kneels beside me and unhooks the shoe straps around my ankles. "Tired girl."
As my shoes slide off, my eyes go closed on their own.
"Sweetie." Mrs. Young touches my shoulder.
I sit straight up.
"What do you need?" Everett looks at her from the desk beside me.
"Mr. Nelson has a few packages for her. He doesn't know what to do with them."
"I'll take them to my car."
"That'll work. Sweetie, this is study hall. Not nap time."
"Sorry."
"It's ok but there's only five minutes left. You better get ready to change classes."
I stretch and look around. My shoes are gone. He didn't just take them off my feet, he stole them.
"Is Everett in here?" Mr. Nelson is standing in the doorway. "His dad is here."
"He stole my shoes."
Mrs. Young smiles. "That's different. But I sent him to your office for the packages."
"Oh. Thank you. I'll ask him about your shoes."
I barely sit down, and Everett comes in laughing. He hands me some sandals. "Save them and pack them for the beach."
"Thank you."
I slide them on, and my feet are so happy.
Somehow, I make it through my last two classes. Then I get into Everett's car without asking him anything. I don't care what he has to say at this point.
We go directly to his house. I have no strength to complain. I sit in a living room chair and stare off into space.
"I'll bring you kids some snacks."
"Thanks, mom."
I let my eyes close.
"Aurora,..."
I sit straight up. "Sorry."
His dad nods. "You're sleeping like that."
"She's exhausted."
"Figure something out, Everett. This is not appropriate."
Tears fill my eyes. "I'm going home. Good night."
"No." Everett puts his arm around me and takes me to his room. I try to sit on his recliner, and he pushes me to the bed. "Just lay down."
"I can't."
"You already are. Sleep."
I was going to say I can't be in his bed, but yea, I guess I already am. Sleep takes me before I can complain anymore.
He wakes me up by kissing my cheeks and nose. "It's time for dinner. Do you feel better?"
I stretch my whole body. "I think so. I was tired."
"I know. You girls were up most of the night."
"They get up at 5:30."
"No wonder you were falling asleep everywhere."
"Thank you for the sandals. I thought my feet were going to quit working."
"Me too." He helps me up and gives me a real kiss. "Having you here and in my bed does something to me."
"You're the one who brought me here. You could have taken me home."
"It doesn't do anything bad. I like it and I know you're safe."
His mom yells from somewhere in the house, "DINNER. LET'S GO."
He walks me to the dining room and takes the seat beside me.
"This is nice. No other..."
His mom clears her throat and his dad shuts up.
"GOOD EVENING LOVELY PEOPLE."
His dad picks up a paper. "I knew it was too good to be true."
His mom rolls her eyes. "IN HERE, BROCK. YOU'RE JUST IN TIME."
Brock sits across from me. "I'm surprised you're still moving around. I thought you were dead in study hall."
"I thought I was too. It was close."
Jerry nods. "How was your day, Aurora?"
"Terrible. Yours?"
He seems confused for a second. "Mine wasn't that bad. I put you in drivers' ed classes through school. They start in January."
"What?"
"Drivers ed. You need to get your license."
"I don't have a car."
"You get your license first. Then save up money for a car. This is how it works. You need to take the classes."
Everett rubs my knee under the table. "The school has a car. You'll practice with that one. Once you get your license, you can decide if you want to save for a car or not. That's future talk. You need a license regardless."
I drink some water. I guess that makes sense. "Wait... How did you?"
"The papers your dad signed allow me to make decisions for you until January. I figured I might as well get you signed up for drivers' ed. Everyone needs a driver's license."
"He would have never done it. Thank you. That is something I wanted to do."
"Good."
Brock sits up. "Why did her dad sign anything?"
"That's not..."
Andy cuts his dad off. "She's going to the islands with us."
Brocks eyes pop open wider. Then he stares at Everett.
Everett keeps rubbing my knee under the table.
I think these two are having a silent conversation.
His mom stands up. "I forgot the bread again. I'll be right back."
That breaks everyone out of the trance. There's bread on the table though. I think she made that up.
"Yes. My brother is a BlackRock alumnus. He's excited to speak with her."
"Oh. Yea, that makes sense." Brock goes back to eating.
After dinner, Everett finally takes me home. We use the door and walk by the drunk assholes in the living room. Nobody says anything.
My bedroom has at least 10 boxes in it. I move them off my bed and lay down. "Christmas boxes."
Everett lies beside me. "You want to open them?"
"Yes."
I wake up half lying on him. I stretch and it wakes him up.
"Oops. I didn't mean to spend the night." He grabs his phone. "It's 5 in the morning. I guess that's what we get when we go to bed at 8."
I roll off him. "I feel so much better."
"Yea, you were exhausted. Let's open some boxes since we're so early."
Most of the boxes are from brands. They want me to support their products or clothes. Then I get a few gift boxes. Alice's parents sent me a whole gift box of bath products. I hug them and run to the shower.
By the time I get back, Everett has a bunch of bags on the bed. He holds up a nightie and smirks. "What all did you girls shop for?"
I pull it away from him. "Pajamas."
He wraps me in his arms. "I feel robbed. I didn't get to cuddle with you in that last night."
I giggle and give him a kiss. "Maybe next time. Are you gonna take a shower here?"
"I'm torn between unbagging this and not stinking today."
I laugh and push him. "Shower. I'll figure something out. I didn't realize she was buying and sending this stuff to my house."
He gives me another kiss and goes for the bathroom.
I unpack a bunch of the nightgowns. I laugh at every piece of lingerie. She bought everything I tried on. Then I get a bag of bras and matching underwear. The matching black lace set, that I absolutely loved, is in it. I move the new clothes to my table.
It used to have two stacks of clothes near the edge. Now, it's overflowing in every direction and the stacks are huge.
I hold the bra and underwear set and look in the bag. There are at least 15 sets there.
"Damn." Everett winks. "Nice pajamas."
"I have nowhere to put them." I can't help it. I burst out laughing. "I never thought I would have a problem like this. I have too many clothes."
"I got a clothes rack this weekend. I'll put it together tonight. You'll be able to hang a lot of it up. Let's go over to my house. I need different clothes."
I get a bunch of berries out of the garden, and we go to his house.
His dad looks at us over the paper. "I won't say anything to your mother. Dinner here tonight at 6. I'm going over the trip stuff. Don't invite Brock."
"I never do, dad."
I laugh and follow him with my bowl of berries.
By the time we get to the living room, everyone is in it.
Andy smiles. Always so innocent. "Did you spend the night?"
His mom nearly falls over.
"No. I went home and went to bed before 8. I got up stupid early and was bored. You want some berries? They're out of my garden."
He stands there eating berries with me. "You were gardening this morning?"
"Yea. I was outside gardening before 6. I was really bored. But these make for a good breakfast."
"They do. Don't go to bed so early."
"Noted."
- Writer
