flipped // hood A.U

4 - hangover

I woke up the next morning after my phone call with Lia. Midway through the call I must have passed out. All I knew was that I was beyond exhausted. Last night took a number on me. Between the drinking and all the words of "encouragement" and lack of judgement towards my sisters rushed marriage.

My head was pounding. While on the phone with Lia I began drinking some more. I don't know why I'd been feeling the need to drink so much. Maybe it was Tempe, Arizona. That town brought back so many bad memories from my troubled child hood.

I walked out to the kitchen in my short shorts and an oversized t-shirt. To my delight, the boy who I'd met last morning at breakfast that caused me to spill milk all over myself wasn't there. Today was my free day. My free day away from all of this wedding planning.

I still wasn't even exactly sure as to who my sister had even managed to get as her bridesmaids. I knew that aside from me and awkward Sydney, there were 3 others. I knew that her old best friend Madison wasn't on speaking terms anymore because they'd gotten into it over how dumb it was for her to just up and get married at the age of twetny. I can't say that I blamed Madison to be fair.

Rummaging through my our fridge, I found a take out box. Curious as to what it was, I opened the lid. There was a note on the lid,

"Carsyn figured you'd sleep in. Brought you some pancakes. Love Ash,"

The one thoughtful thing my sister had managed to do while forcing me to come back to the place I swore I'd never return to. It was a nice gesture.

I took the pancakes out of the styrofoam box, and put them on a plate. Then placing them in the microwave. While I waited for them to heat up, I got myself a glass of orange juice. Once the microwave dinged, I poured some syrup on my pancakes and cut up a few bananas to put on top.

Taking a bite of my pancakes, I felt my phone vibrating. I looked at the phone to see it was a text from Calum.

From Calum:

"Hey is this Carsyn?" Was the genius text I'd received.

I replied,

To Calum:

"Nope. It's Obama. Of course it's Carsyn."

Calum probably got my number from Luke who had probably got it from Ashlee which made me somewhat uncomfortable since I hadn't seen them since summer 2009 even though I didn't mind Ashlee giving my number to Calum it made me mad she would go through Luke.

Her and Luke weren't even coupley. From what I saw at the party they didn't even hang around each other. Luke spent most of his time around his brother Jack, who'd flew in from Washington. It was understandable why he'd want to talk to Jack since Jack was always busy with his job in the big city and his girlfriend of years Bella. I was shocked to hear Jack and Bella were still going strong. They'd been dating before Luke and I were even together.

I wondered if Liz sat down and thought that her other son should be getting married, not the baby of the family. Not the boy that had only been in a relationship with his future wife for three weeks. After I finished my pancakes I went back to our living room. It had changed a lot. Now we had this giant TV that was at least the size of our living room. I didn't see the point in us having such a big televison. It took up space and it was tacky. But as my mom always told me, "everything's bigger in Texas," it was like that was her life motto.

I was flipping through the channels looking for something to keep me entertained while I waited for Calum to text me back. I'd started thinking Calum was a slow texter, most guys usually responded to my messages after fifteen minutes tops. It had now been thirty minutes since I sent my last text to Calum.

I was beginning to wonder what was taking Calum so hard to text back. Was he playing hard to get? If he was, it was totally working. After flipping through the channels for sometime I finally settled on Girl Code. It could make me laugh.

I heard a shrill bark coming my way. Great just great. Tallulah was coming. Just what I wanted. This wasn't even a dog. I considered Tallulah more like a rat. She was now barking at the foot of my chair.

"What do you want!" 

I screamed in frustration at the little dog. She just looked at me confused. Of course. The dog just kept staring at me.

"Do you want food Tallulah? Is that why you're so angry?" 

I went back to our kitchen and poured some food into the tiny dogs bowl. Ashlee probably forgot to feed the poor thing. She probably didn't realize that dogs do indeed need love as well as food to well survive. I started laughing about it. This was something I could tell Calum about and he'd get a kick out of it too.

Just like clockwork, I'd heard the ringer on my phone go off. I hoped that it wasn't Lia. That it was the boy I'd been wanting to text me all morning. I hoped it was Calum. 

I unlocked my phone, revealing that it was a message from Calum.

From Calum:

"Sorry I was working. haha. Hey what are you doing today Carsyn? Wanna make plans or something?"

I smiled,

To Calum:

Of course anything to get me out of these stupid bridesmaid duties that Ashlee is forcing upon me.

I set my phone down. Hoping Calum would actually respond fast this time. I could feel myself smiling like an idiot. Even though I had just gotten a simple text from Calum it was still better than nothing. I really missed Calum.

From Calum:

be ready by six, tonights a surprise.

To Calum:

okay loser ;)

I was smilng and I couldn't stop it. Thank god no one was here to see me in such a state. Especially Lia. We both agreed that boys weren't something to get excited about. That they were just something to be used for momentary happiness. Boys weren't something you wrapped yourself up in. Boys were something you avoided at all costs.

In fact, Lia and I made a pledge to stay single until our thirties. That your twenties were a time for exploration. Not for being tied down in some stupid relationship. You were supposed to be free. And I was beginning to fail that pledge that I'd made Lia and I didn't actually feel bad about it at all.

While caught up in this little trance I was in do to Calum, Luke and Ashlee walked in. Great. Just great. Exactly who I wanted to see. My favorite people in the entire world.

"Carsyn!"

Ashlee screeched. 

"Why do you look so happy?"

I just shrugged, "no reason Ashlee."

Luke smiled, "I think I know why?"

I furrowed my brows, "and why is that Luke?"

What the fuck did Luke Hemmings know? Who the fuck did Luke Hemmings think he was. Stupid.

"I think Carsyn's texting a boy,"

I picked up my stuff and walked out of the living room. 

"Oh come on Carsyn don't be so bitter!"

Luke laughed.

"Fuck off Hemmings," I said going back to my bedroom. I plopped myself down on the bed. I wanted to text Calum about this but I decided it would be better to wait until later when we hung out. I'd hoped it wasn't a date because it was entirely too soon for a date but whatever happened I guess was going to happen.

hello i hate this bc filler more action next time i promise