My Name Is Carrie

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I wake up with an unusual craving for my afternoon 'snack', even though it was only 9 o'clock in the morning. Puberty sucks. I take a shower, dress up, waltz out of my room. I walk down the stairs and what I see makes me want to run back up the stairs, dive under my covers and wish I had never even woken up.

Mom. And a dude. On the sofa. Kissing. Passionately.

There are just some things I can never unsee.

Though, what I've just seen would scar my life forever, I was kind of happy for Mom. She hasn't dated in forever. I don't even think she's ever dated since this creepy guy called Wendell, she dated when I was ten, and the guy she was kissing wasn't some extremely young guy. He looked around her age. I cough lightly to make her (and him) know that they're not alone. They stop and Mom turns to look at me. She looks peeved. Well, maybe if you didn't conduct your relationship activities on the sofa, you wouldn't be interrupted by your hungry teenage daughter.

"Hello" mystery man says, holding his hand out for me shake it. Uh, no thanks. He pulls his hand back, realising that I was NOT going to shake it.

"Carrie" Mom says, "This is Robert."

"Okay", I say. Awkward pause. "Well, bye"

I think about unicorns, puppies, pencils, rainbows, beaches, orangutans, anything to get my mind off of that mind shattering event that is my Mom passionately kissing some guy named Robert. Ugh.

I walk into the kitchen, and prepare my snack and arrange it all on a tray. I have to find somewhere to eat all this because Mom's at home (she can't see me eating all this 'unhealthy' food), and she may get thirsty, because well, you know. I could just eat inmy room, but, Riley's home, so no.

Getting to the door of his room, I balance it on one hand, and knock on the door. "Come in" he answers.

"You didn't even ask who it was." I say twisting the door knob, with my free hand, and walking in.

"Carrie" he says."Hey"

"Hi" I smile.

He smiles back, his full-wattage, warm, beautiful smile.

"Well, my Mom's currently making out with some guy name Robert, on the sofa. Want some?" I ask, offering him a bag of Doritos.

"Thanks." He says, taking it. "I saw them too. They've been at it for a while now. Pretty gross"

"Super gross" I reply, looking around. I notice a new sofa at the side of the room. "When did you get this?" I ask.

"It was in my room at Aunt Angie's house" he answers, popping a chip into his mouth.

"I'm just realising that my Dad's getting divorced for the second time. And he's only thirty-nine." Riley doesn't say anything, so I look up from the bag of Cheetos I was devouring, and see that he's trying to decide if he should say something or not.

"It's not a touchy subject. You can talk about my Dad."

"Okay." he breathes. "I've been trying to make her come to her senses, but she won't listen. She says it's 'for the best' and they'll 'still be friends'. It was so sudden. I didn't even see it coming. They never even fought"

"This bothers you more than it bothers me" I state.

"Maybe, it's because I lived with them." He exhales. " I don't know"

"Music?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Yeah, music" he replies. "Dylan Rhodes?"

"Something happy" I say.