As Kai walks me to my dorm, he sighs. I swiftly turn, surprised by his upset demeanor. Ever since I've met him, which honestly hasn't been long, but whatever, he's always been cheery.
"Everything okay?" I shoot him a concerned glance.
He cocks his head toward me. "Yeah, everything's fine," he says in such a deep but dry tone.
"Doesn't sound like it," I reply, bothered by the fact he's lying.
"Don't worry about it," he says. I'm about to say something, but he cuts me off and continues, "Hey, we should do this again!"
"Well, yes, I agree, but—" He cuts me off again.
"Okay, well, we're at your room, so I'll see you on Monday." I stare at him, puzzled, but give him a forced smile.
"See ya," I say dryly, only because he was being dry and almost non-responsive. I watch him walk down the hall before I open the door to my empty apartment.
Somehow the room is more of a mess than when I left. 'I just cleaned it yesterday,' I think to myself as I start picking up bikinis from the ground. Sighing, I pick up a few cups when I hear my phone go off. It's my mom. I smile, assuming there would be a loving message asking about my day. I've never been so wrong about something. The text reads, 'Aurea, you need to respond to Kendra. You can't just not respond; it's super rude. Imagine what her family will think of you if you don't respond.' By thinking badly of me, it's obvious my mom's only concerned about herself, not me.
'I shouldn't care what they think! She was the one who hurt me! She just left me and never said anything,' is what I'd say if I wanted my mom to disown me. 'Wow, good night and sleep tight to you too. I'm working on a response, so please relax. My image won't be ruined. Love you, bye.' I feel bitter saying I love you when love is the last thing I want to think about right now. Love is so weird. I'm mad at my mom, but I still want to love her. I'm annoyed with Kai for being so dry, but the feeling I have thinking about him is unexplainable. I'm pissed about Kendra for ignoring me for years, but I feel forced to still like her.
I start to get ready for bed, putting earbuds in to help me not cry. I'm so hurt from Kai, even though he really didn't do anything. My mom hurt me too; she didn't even ask how I felt, how my day was, or what I had planned for tomorrow. Sometimes I'm glad I moved across America. I'm so far from the people who have hurt me the most—the people I told secrets to and trusted. I turn my shower on and put my music on speaker. My music is on shuffle; it's all happy stuff, but then the song that breaks me comes on: "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry. Immediately, I start crying and get into the shower. I didn't want to feel like some TikTok edit of a girl crying in her shower listening to some cheesy overused audio, but that's pretty much what was happening. I mean, the chorus is literally 'in another life, I would be your girl.' The feelings I've been having for Kai hit me like a train. I want this lifetime to be his girl.
I try to quickly finish the shower, partly motivated to be his girl. I try to distract myself from negative thoughts like 'what if he already has a girl?' Those types of thoughts I wouldn't allow myself to have. I head to my room after brushing my teeth and hop under the covers. I figure since tomorrow is Sunday, I'll put on a movie. My childhood friend Patricia's favorite movie was "Cars," so naturally, I've seen it a million times. At sleepovers, it was always a must-watch, and it was a necessity to get snacks. My favorite snack was sour gummy worms, and still is. Her favorite was salt and vinegar chips. My six-year-old taste palette couldn't handle the flavors, so I spat them out. I smile to myself, remembering those beautiful memories. I decide to text Patricia.
'Hey! Remember when we'd watch "Cars" and eat snacks? Then we'd tell each other who we had a crush on? Well, truth be told, I have a crush now!' I smile, figuring she won't notice the text till later, but she responds almost right away. I forget that I'm three hours ahead, so she's almost always still awake. Unless I text in the morning; she hates when I text her at seven am and it's four for her. I laugh and open my messages. 'Of course I do! You absolutely hated my chips; you hurt my feelings so much.' I roll my eyes and continue reading. 'So who's the lucky man?' She sends a smirking emoji, which is perfect in context.
'His name is Kai. He is Hawaiian and Greek. He's around 6'0" tall and has tan skin. Super muscular and beautiful green eyes you could get lost in. They're like a forest. And his smile is contagious. He has pretty freckles that one day I'd love to count. And his hair is dark brown with natural blondish highlights. It looks so soft; I haven't touched it yet, but maybe one day. AND he took me to the beach, but then his tire was flat... BUT to make it up, he took me to dinner.' I send the text smiling ear to ear, my eyes probably the size of a big button.
'You sound obsessed,' she responds so dryly.
'You sound dry like that one kid who used to like you,' I say to her, mockingly. She could never tell if she liked him or not; she was deeply in love with another boy.
'We don't talk about him!!!!!!!!' I laugh at her message.
'It's just the truth! Plus, Kai is someone anyone with a sane mind would be obsessed with. I could write a whole book about how perfect he is. Well, maybe not perfect. He was all sad and dramatic when he dropped me off at the dorm.'
'He dropped you off?' She sounds urgent.
'Well, yeah? He was my ride soooo...'
'He must be equally in love with you. Hot guys don't just drop you off at your dorm!'
'Ugh, whatever! I'm going to bed. Goodnight,' I add a message onto that: 'pookie.'
I grin and turn my phone off. Whenever I text her, I feel like a dork and a little kid again.
YOU ARE READING
the return
Short StoryA little story I'm making up. Some of it is true to me and others are made up. The story goes back and forth between Aurea and Kendra. They were the closest friends until one day they weren't. Now in a desperate turn of events, Kendra invited Aurea...
