19: I OFFER ADVICE AND ORGASMS WITH EQUAL FERVOUR
« count to ten, man! mama says just count to ten. »
ALLISON IS bored.
Very, very bored. And alone. And it's grim.
"Ugh," she lies so she's hanging upside down on the couch and letting her arms swing down beside her, colliding with the carpet. Lydia is meeting up with Emmett, apparently concerning their project, but Allison isn't quite sure she buys the story, because ever since the two decided to actually treat each other decently, they're abnormally in tune, to the point where they're capable of finishing each other's sentences and having entire conversations without even opening their mouths.
Allison isn't sure whether she finds it amusing, endearing, or infuriating. Probably a mix of all three.
Toby is hanging out with Daniel, rendering both of them busy, too. Even her mom is at work, called in on a special case at the courthouse.
Allison is very, very alone. She does not like it.
You left me, she texts to Lydia. This is betrayal.
It's only a few minutes before she gets a reply, but it feels like an eternity.
16.21, Lydia Huntington: Oh, please, you have literally seen no one but me for the past five days. We both needed a break, honey.
16.21, Allison Reed: Betrayal.
16.23, Lydia Huntington: What are you going to do, execute me?
16.23, Allison Reed: I hate you. I didn't want to hang out with you, anyway.
16.23, Lydia Huntington: Yeah, okay.
Allison scowls and is considering flinging the phone away from her in irritation, when it buzzes again with another text from Lydia.
Stop moping home alone and go out. Hook up with someone (notice how I am not being gender specific), try and temporarily erase your burgeoning crush on Toby from your mind (yes, it's a thing, no, nothing you say will convince me otherwise). Explore. Have sex. Make the most of the dying days of 2013.
"Fuck you," Allison says aloud to the phone, scowl deepening, because she does not take orders from Lydia Huntington, especially when she's not even present to give them in person.
Half an hour later, Allison ends up going out, but it's totally of her own accord. And maybe she slams the door a little too hard as she leaves. Whatever.
✦
Allison ends up wandering around downtown New York City like a very lonely tourist, trying not to think about how sad the whole situation is. Even her surroundings seem utterly deflated, as though they're just managing to pull through the few cold, grey days left until New Years'. She thinks about how ridiculous it is that Lydia expects her to just hook up with someone, as though there's a plethora of someones just hanging around waiting to be hooked up with.
It is this stream of thought, interspersed liberally with various expletives, that occupies Allison as she takes a shortcut though a back alley to Time Square, and results in her walking straight into someone moving in the opposite direction.
"Oh, sor - Allison?"
Allison looks up to dark eyes bright with recognition and hair that just falls into them.
YOU ARE READING
Eleven O'Clock Number
Teen FictionA DAY IN THE LIFE OF ALLISON REED: THE MUSICAL - release date, SEPT 2013. STARRING: Allison Reed, Lydia Huntington II, and the renowned Toby Martin. LOGLINE: A bitter, intelligent teenage girl (Reed) is paired with a musical aficionado (Martin) to...
