By Chance (Accidentally In Luck #1)

5. At Least the Roof is Warm - Cora

*Cora*

After a brief discussion that lasted well over 15 minutes about Famous Boy and his strange signature, Elle and I decided I shouldn't reply. Her arguments were that I couldn't text her without sounding like an idiot so my chances of texting a hot dude and coming off casual were slim to none. My argument was that he was being creepy, and I shouldn't risk my personal safety.

I tossed my phone aside after deleting the messages and settled back down to finish our movie marathon despite the fact that I couldn't concentrate on what we were watching.

Two movies later, it was closing in on three a.m. and I hadn't stopped thinking about picking up my phone again, just to see if he'd texted me again. I shook my head and looked at Elle who seemed seconds away from falling asleep.

She had decided she wasn't going home an hour into our last movie which meant that now I had to pull her up the stairs to my room, where she proceeded to raid my closet for suitable pajamas. After a few minutes of searching she reappeared out of my closet looking disgruntled.

"So are you like allergic to cute pjs or what?" She asked sleepily, resting a hand on her hip.

"No," I said slowly. Every time she borrowed pajamas from me, she gave me this talk. "I'm not allergic, I just don't like them. Big difference."

"What happens when you get a boyfriend and he wants to come over at night. Are you really gonna wear this?" With over exaggerated actions, and suddenly wide awake, she whipped a giant t-shirt out from behind her. It was a 3XL black t-shirt I'd had for years with some random logo of a business that I'm pretty sure went out of business. I'd won it in a raffle some time back and started wearing it as a pajama dress instead of donating it. When I first started wearing it, it had come down past my knees but now rest just above them. I could wear the thing to school without breaking dress code. Almost did once too.

I cringed at the sight of it. At this point it was ratty and the logo was wearing off. "You and I both know that a boyfriend is not in my immediate future, Elle. Chill." I grabbed the shirt from her and threw it on my bed. No need to go through the deed of picking out my pajamas now, Elle had done it for me.

She rolled her eyes at me and went back to digging, eventually resurfacing with an old pair of shorts and a tank top I'd long forgotten about.

I laid in my bed, staring at my ceiling and listening to Elle root around in my bathroom. School was due to start in a few weeks and I was, in no way, prepared for college. It always amazed me how Elle was handling it so calmly. Come fall, we were both starting at Los Angeles Southwest College. Neither of us had a clue what we were studying, but we got enough scholarships both to be able to attend without too much debt.

I gave a huge sigh and put the thoughts out of my head. Like Mom used to tell me when I was young, when the time came, I'd be ready for whatever I was about to do. There's no need to stress.

***

Two weeks passed and, with every day that went by, I got more excited.

Here I was lying in bed with Elle (again) and thinking about the next day as my excitement bubbling to the surface. Elle and I, for years, had wanted to take a beach trip for an entire day. It seemed odd to everyone that we'd never done that because we lived in LA. A city that was almost on top of the Pacific Ocean and we'd never spent a day on the beach. I hadn't grown up in LA like Elle had and I sunburn really easily thanks to my vampire like skin tone, so those were always my excuse. Elle always said that she was more of an indoor kind of person. The first time she said that, someone pointed out that she was golden tan and had sun bleached hair. She'd amended her statement from then on, saying that she was an indoor tanning kind of person.