Pocket Full of Posies

Chapter Twenty-Three

Packing was both the best thing and the worst thing. I loved being able to finally go through my things and weed through the stuff I knew I wouldn't need versus the things I could keep. I found out I'd held onto things that no one would ever need. I tended to be a hoarder and sentimental, so there were a lot of old papers—even school ones. I ended up having more things thrown away than I was taking with me. The boxes Shoney's let me have—against Carl's knowledge and, I'm sure, wishes—were pretty small so I ended up having maybe ten, and that included shoes.

I thought packing was the hardest part. I was wrong. Coming back with all my boxes and having to unpack them into the room I never thought I'd live in again was one of the hardest things about the breakup.

It had felt so amazing, the thought of not depending on my aunt and uncle for everything; the thought of being flat-out broke with barely enough money to pay the bills. My bills.

Our bills.

With our combined income, though, we could make it. We didn't need much; just eachother.

Or so I'd been so foolish to think.

I was still moving out, though. I had to save up enough money to do it on my own or get a roommate. Getting a roommate was a little hard. I didn't want some random stranger shacking up with me, and I didn't exactly have friends.

Well, that wasn't so true anymore. I did kind of have friends now. It felt nice to have friends again. It felt nice to hang out with them on my weekends and my days off. Landon and I didn't really hang out alone anymore, I kind of got the sense that was our ice-breaker. Now that it was over with, the four of us could chill together.

It's funny, before we started really hanging out I'd kind of assumed the three of them went on these crazy adventures together. By the way they talked, you would think they did. But all they really did was pick a place and shoot the shit. They weren't that complicated, in reality.

Evan was content as long as he had some form of food—the dude would literally eat anything put in front of him.

Alice was content as long as everyone was happy and Evan was near. Really, it was amazing the guy hadn't noticed how in love with him she was. He was an idiot. I didn't say that to her, though, because she thought he walked on the moon.

And Landon was content just being around them. His face absolutely lit up when they were all together. He became so animated around them, it was amazing.

I loved watching them. Of course, they wouldn't just have my silent observations. I had to be involved in their conversations.

By the way, they're absolute nerds—all three of them. I thought for a minute at least Alice would be normal, but she was just as bad as the boys. Literally, we were in Pizza Hut one Saturday afternoon, and out of nowhere Evan brings up the Thing. The Topic of All Topics; the War of All Wars; The End All, Be All.

DC vs. Marvel.

"You idiot," Evan cried, waving his hands maniacally. "Everything in DC is all aliens and robots, when it all boils down to it."

"And everything in Marvel is a direct ripoff of DC," Landon threw back quickly.

"Better though! DC can't handle the awesome potential their superheroes have, so Marvel has to take over and show them whose boss!"

"Ha! That's a load of crap and you know it! The Avengers can't even keep their members straight! Clearly, Marvel isn't successful in their blatant ripoffs!"

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Alice's face flat lined and before anyone could stop her, she loudly chipped in with, "One word: Deadpool! Deathstroke is cool and everything, Landy, but Deadpool is a million—no, a trillion—times better. Even you hafta concede to that!"