Glitter Glitches

Part 3 - Hamster in the Spotlight

I slowly walked across the courtyard towards my apartment, dragging my feet the entire way. I was relentlessly replaying the elevator scene, over and over in my head. Overthinking it.

Hindsight was such a fickle little thing, always late to the party. Like most people, whether they admit it or not, I fantasized about the scene. Only now, I perfected it in my mind. I cast myself in a new leading role, the charming vixen that sweeps the elevator guy off his feet.

Pff, dream on. Miss Priss rolled her eyes at me.

I sighed. At the very least I should have asked his name. Now, he will forever be known as the stranger I met in an elevator, Mr. Blue Eyes. I would just have to file him in the 'you blew it' folder and move on. The allure ought to fade soon enough because, honestly, I had already unfairly weighed him against Gabriel, and he couldn't compare. I hadn't decided if that was a good or a bad thing yet.

My phone buzzed and I hurried to fish it out of my handbag. "Hi, Mom," I said with a smile.

My mother was my best friend and I loved her more than cookie dough ice cream, which was saying a lot. She was the one constant thing in my life, the anchor to my ever-wandering hot-air balloon.

I finally reached my door, but the lights were off, meaning my roommate was out gallivanting and prowling the clubs. I mentally facepalmed upon realizing I now had to do the one thing I sucked at–multitasking. I had to listen to my mother while searching for my keys in my bag, without dropping either in the process.

"Yes, Mom." I breathed into the phone, holding it to my ear with one hand while rifling through my huge handbag for my apartment keys with the other.

Tissues, hairbrush, wet wipes, loose change, deodorant... Ugh, where were those keys? I was up to my elbow in the bottomless pit that was my handbag, pulling up long-lost treasures but nothing resembling keys. This is just so typical, I thought while cursing Murphy and his menacing law.

"Yes, I am listening, Mom," I said exasperatedly.

Liar, liar pants on fire, Miss Priss called my bluff.

Ha, got it! Success was sweet as I grasped the cold hard metal of my keys. I pulled them out and then dropped them, twice, but eventually, I managed and made it inside. I was still grunting out responses at set intervals as my mother rambled on in my ear.

I sighed, plopping down on my bed, and rubbing my temples. "Ugh, Mom, not this again." I groaned at the direction the conversation was heading. I kicked my shoes off and wiggled my toes in freedom as I lay on my back, staring up at my feet in the air.

"I just want you to be happy, honey. It's like your life took a 180 and you became a different person overnight. You don't seem to have found your way back to that bubbly, confident person you used to be," my mother whined in my ear. We have been having this conversation for the past four years and honestly, I love her for it, but I was just not in the mood for it. I was tired and hungry.

"I know, Mom, and I am happy. I just grew up. You can't expect me to be the same person I was in high school." I gave a deep audible sigh. Hopefully, if she knew me as well as she always said she did, she would pick up on the fact that I was over this conversation.

"All right, I get it. You are tired and you don't want to talk about it. Just know that I love you, honey bear," she said with a sigh.

"I love you too. Bye Mom," I said relieved. Guess she does know me pretty well. I shrugged, staring up at the cracks in the ceiling, crisscrossing in intricate patterns.

I was tired of defending myself because, in truth, all throughout high school, I had pretended to be something I was not. I was the type of girl who went out of her way to please others. The perfect student. The perfect cheerleader. The perfect girlfriend. The perfect daughter. That Girl. It was exhausting.