Dizzy

Chapter 4

~Ziah~

My jaw is like, on the floor. My sister Lora, sophomore in college, is getting married. Married to someone we've never met. Because they haven't been dating all that long. I mean, she stayed in Boulder for summer school and for Thanksgiving, and I guessed it had something to do with the boyfriend. But he was just a boyfriend. Now he's a fiancé!

What happened to all her lectures? School first, career second, boys third. Always. I've looked up to her because of this for years. And I know that seems crazy because I'm dating James, but he and I have the same goals. We're both going to med school, and we both get how much pressure is on people in our position.

Mom's smiling in the kitchen, putting dishes away before work. Since she's a chef, she's completely meticulous about how things are done, and our kitchen is the biggest and only up-to-date room in the house. Mom's light brown hair is cut short, and her tiny figure moves through the room with lightning speed. I can't believe things are still so normal after Lora's ridiculous decision.

"Mom! How can you be so calm about this?"

"Your sister's a smart girl." She shrugs. Shrugs! "Her fiancé Derrick and I talked on the phone, and we had so much to say, we talked for over an hour. He really has his head on straight. And he's from Portland, too! Isn't that fun?"

I narrow my eyes. I'm totally suspicious for a million reasons right now. The first one being that Mom's way too calm about this.

Wait. "Does Dad know?"

She lets out a long sigh. "Of course your father knows."

I cross my arms and slump down in my stool. I hate being the last to know stuff.

Dad's an ER doctor at Providence St. Vincent. He loves every second of it, and his job makes me even more determined to go to med school. The problem is that he's home almost as little as Mom is, so I never know who knows what about whom. I really want Dad on Team Ziah for this one.

"Your sister will be home in a few days for Christmas Break. That'll give us all a chance to meet him." She pats my back and walks out of the room. "I'll be late tonight."

Isn't she always?

Maybe I can talk some sense into my sister while she's here. Christmas break in college is a whole month, so I'll have a while to talk her out of it. Who gets married in college?

***

Alyssa and I are both on our stomachs in my room over our calculus texts. It seemed like a good idea to take this class at the beginning of the year but not so much anymore. She's totally absorbed, which is cool, but she's usually the one turning the music up too loud and teasing me about being so serious.

"Alyssa?"

"Yeah?" She doesn't look up.

"We're okay, right?" She's been so... studious. And that's a little weird. I mean, she's in hard classes. She just usually floats through them. And here we are a day away from Christmas break, and plowing through another assignment.

"Yeah. I'm just... You know how spacey I can be, and I haven't always made the best decisions. I'm just trying to get myself on track before college." She sounds rehearsed and is still working her way through the problem I just finished.

"I still can't believe we're in senior year, and I can't believe my sister thinks she's getting married." I blow out to get the loose strands of hair off my face.

Alyssa chuckles. "So, what else is going on tonight?"

"James is coming over in a bit."

After the party, I was desperate to feel that tingling in my gut I felt with a total stranger, and I started something I didn't mean to with James. When I met up with him the next day, I kissed him like I hadn't in a long time and even slid my hands up the back of his shirt. He took that as a sign I wanted to go further, when that wasn't completely my intention. Ever since he's been pushing me for more, and it's not like him. Or like us. I'm starting to miss our comfortable relationship.