I jumped when I heard the front door unlock, as I had been drifting off to sleep on the kitchen floor.
“Tori!” Laura smiled and I got up to hug her. She held me close and I did to. “Are you ever going to get out of the house? You know you don’t need me anymore. You’re nineteen,”
“Nana, I will soon. I promise. I just need a car, and then maybe I’ll go out,”
“You could always use mine honey,” She told me and my face turned to a frown.
“I um…feel sick. I couldn’t go out today,” I lied and she knew it to.
“You feel sick? I’ll go get you medicine Tori. Go to your room and rest.” She told me and I sighed
, ignoring her, “Tori why are you acting this way? You just can’t stay in the house alone for the rest of your life. What’s wrong Tori? Is something bothering you?”
“Nana, I’m always like this –“
“Like what? You need to go out to parties and have a good time Tori. Being cooped up, not socializing is not good for you. The only person in this whole town that you know is me,”
“No, I know other people,”
“Like who?” She demanded and set her purse on the ground.
“Like…Sean.” I told her, proud that I actually remembered his name.
“Sean Way? That little boy? He probably doesn’t even live here anymore.”
“Yes he does Nana. I have his phone number.”
“Then call him.” She crossed her arms and I rolled my eyes.
“Fine. I will.” I took big steps to my room and took the small, crumpled up piece of paper out of my dresser drawer and dialed his number.
“H-hello?” I asked as the other person answered.
“Hello? Who is this?” A women asked on the other line.
“This is Tori. Tori Mae. Who is this?”
“Tori Lou?” The woman laughed into the phone and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Is Sean there?” I asked politely.
“Yes he’s here. Sean guess what? It’s Tori!” His mother said happily and then I heard it…his voice.
“Hi Sean,”
“Hi Tori. I’ve missed you for these past years. Why are you calling all of the sudden?”
“I just…do you want to hang out later today?” I asked and I saw as Laura stood in the doorway.
“Of course I would. What time?”
“How about—“
“Can you old on Tori?” He asked, “Yeah babe, it’s over in the kitchen. Sorry Tori, what?” My mouth dropped opened. Babe? He has a girlfriend? No way.
“Does five o’clock sound good?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Five o’clock sounds great. Sorry about that. I’m visiting my parents and my girlfriend couldn’t find the napkins,”
“Oh. You’re visiting?” I didn’t want to sound to shocked or to…sad.
“Well actually we just live a few blocks away from my parents,” Oh what a relief, “but they wanted us to come for dinner.”
“You and your…girlfriend.”
“Yep. She’s gorgeous, Tor. Her name is Becka and she used to be my friend when we were kids,”
“Oh.” Was all I could say? I couldn’t remember the name Becka at all.
“Were do you wanna go?”
“The beach. I haven’t been there in some time.”
“I haven’t either. I’ll see you at five. I’ve really missed you Tor.”
“I have to Sean.” I said and then hung up. My body fell against the wall, and I noticed that Nana left.
We met on the beach – the same beach we had a huge fight on and then became ex-best friends. I don’t know why, but I was surprised how tall and handsome Sean had gotten. He was once of the skinniest kids in our school – but now he has muscles.
“Tori!” Sean yelled and he ran up and hugged me.
“Sean, oh my, I can’t actually believe I’m seeing you,” I said, not letting go.
“You look so different Tor. What happened to the girl with blond hair and nerd glasses?” He chuckled.
“What happened to you small fry?” I laughed and let go of him.
“I worked out, got a scholarship.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. A football scholarship, but I’m probably not going to stay in it, I’m not that good in football.”
“Aw, you have to be, they gave you a scholarship.” I said and punched his hard shoulder playfully as we walked on the beach. The cold breeze hit us and I was glad that I had pulled over my purple kitted sweater.
“Nah. Anyway, are you going to college?” He asked and I stopped, looking down at the sand, “Tor?”
“No I’m not going to college,” I was embarrassed.
“Why not?”
“We just…we have the money I just don’t really want to go. Um, did I tell you, my dad died,” We then started to walk against the cold waters again.
“Your dad? Oh I’m so sorry Tori.” He stopped to give me a hug and I hugged him.
“It’s okay. I’ve seen many people die…this isn’t any different.” I said as tears welled up in my eyes. I’ve seen my mother, my aunt, and now my dad die. When I was little I kept asking myself if I was the next one to go, thank god I wasn’t.
“No, It shouldn’t be like that Tor. Wow. Your dad was an awesome guy.”
“He was.” I whispered and he took my hand, warming it up.
“I’m very sorry. I would never be able to go through what you’re going through Tor. You’re really strong.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, “Bet you can’t catch me.” I laughed and started to run.
He ran after me, we both slipped on the wet sand, but helped each other back up. Weird he was never able to catch me. Until I stopped, he finally caught me and twirled me around, my feet sinking into the wet sand. We both laughed hysterically, our stomachs hurting as we got up off of the sand but we kept laughing.
“So, I heard you have a girlfriend,” I told him and he blushed.
“Yes I do. We got in a fight a few hours ago so I don’t know if we’ll last,”
“Oh, so she’s new?”
“Just this week I found her at the collage. She’s like my first girlfriend in a year so…I don’t really feel anything special between us,”
“What was the fight about – if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Well she keeps trying to control me, telling me what to do…ugh.”
“Well that’s not good,”
“It isn’t, no.”
“Yep….” Then suddenly we ran out of things to talk about.
“You know, I was actually thinking about you a few days ago. I was asking myself what ever happened to you. You lived such a hard childhood I just couldn’t imagine. But your fine, right?”
“Healthy as a horse!”
“Yep.” He smiled and held one of my hands, “So, do you like living here?”
“Yeah. I don’t go out much, so I don’t mind.”
“Who do you live with now? Nobody?”
“I live with my Nana Laura. She came to live with me when my father died,”
“Do you like her?”
“Yeah, I do. She’s always encouraging me and telling me that I should go out more.”
“You don’t go out a lot?”
“Well…not a lot.” I blushed; not going out a lot was probably not good.
“Hold on. Sorry.” He took his phone out and then he started yelling into it. I swore I heard yelling on the other end, but I wasn’t sure. “God.” He put his phone in his pocket and rubbed his temple.”
“Is something wrong?”
“My girlfriend. My ex-girlfriend. She was demanding to know where I was. It’s over though. Sorry about that.”He apologized and took my hand again. “Would you like me to walk you home?”
“I’d love that.” I smiled at him, showing my teeth. I felt weird though – happy. I haven’t laughed in months or actually had a good time. I should thank Laura for making me call somebody. It’s just a weird feeling – I haven’t felt it in years though. I forgot how much he made me laugh, how good it was to feel happy, and to finally reunite with my best friend.
When we got to my house, it was raining heavily and it was dark outside. We stopped by my front door and for same reason I couldn’t stop laughing.
“What are you laughing at?” He smiled and held both of my hands.
“I don’t know,” I murmured through laughs and he couldn’t help but laugh either.
“You’re so weird Tor.” He smiled. I hugged him and then it happened – he kissed me! I was so surprised I almost screamed. This was my first kiss….ever, and It was amazing.
“I like being weird.” I smiled at him and kissed him and then he kissed me back again. I held onto him from behind as he called his mom to come pick him up, as he didn’t detect rain when he walked out to the beach.
“Bye Tori.” He said as I looked out the window from the kitchen. My heart just melted crazily as I watched as his mother drove off. He just kissed me, oh my god.
It was getting late, and I’d thought I’d be smart to go to sleep at ten instead of midnight like usual. I said goodnight to Laura and then went to change. I got into my bed, my hands smoothing out the covers as I looked up at the ceiling.
“Good night Sean. Thank you for the kiss.” I whispered quietly and then pulled the covers over my body. I quickly drifted off to sleep, wondering what tomorrow could bring.
Morning came quickly and I awoke to the sound of ringing phones throughout the house. My phone rang and I immediately got up and answered it.
“Hey Tor,” I heard Sean on the other end and I rolled my eyes.
“What the fuck Sean? I was sleeping.” I rubbed my eyes groggily and I heard him chuckle.
“It’s nine o’clock you sleepy head! I just wanted to know what you were up to,”
“Sleeping!” I yelled and he screams into the phone, almost busting my eardrums.
“Calm down you little—“
“You calm down!”
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” I heard Sean mutter and I rolled my eyes once again.
“Sorry Sean. I was just thinking and you broke my thoughts.” I sighed, “Did you mean it?”
“Did I mean what?”
“When you kissed me last night? Was it just the moment or did you mean it? Do you like me?”
“Of course I meant it Tor. Maybe part of it was because I’ve missed you so much, but I just wonder why you’re so nice, sweet, and caring. You haven’t had a good life so far, I just don’t understand,”
“I don’t know. When my mom died I just…had to be strong and I couldn’t let myself just – go. I was still a rebel back then I’m still a rebel now.”
“We all can see that.” He chuckled into the phone and I felt a smile tug at my mouth, “Do you want to go back to sleep?” He asked sarcastically.
“No.” I smiled.
“Well then, do you want to go swimming today? It only gets chilly in the evenings.”
“I know. I’d love to.”
“Great. Bye Tori.”
“Bye Sean.” We both hung up and I smiled at myself, how good I was doing with him. I’ve never actually liked someone, and now suddenly I know how to like someone.
Right when I got to the beach I saw Sean, smiling at me and I ran into the water. I swam until I got tired and Sean jumped into the water after.
“Wait up!” He yelled and I laughed as I lay on my back.
“Waiting…” I Murmured as the sun beat down on my body.
“Hi Tor,” He said, holding my hand in the water and I dunked his head beneath it.
“Hi Sean,” I smiled at him evilly when he came up, gasping for air and then
raced to shore.
Hours later we both lay on our towels, the sun hitting us with all its rays. It felt really good to have my best friend back. He’s just the same old Sean, but of course, mature. He had rubbed sun screen all over my pale back, while I just rubbed a little on his. He gets tans and I get sunburns. This is why I envy him.
“Did you have fun?” He asked, and then laughed when he heard my stomach growl.
“I had a great time. Can we go get food now?” I asked, getting up and he smiled at me.
“Of course.” He got up to put his towel under his arm.
We sat at a small little restaurant nestled close to the beach.
“I had a lot of fun,” I told Sean and he took a sip of his water. I drank my lemonade quietly as we waited for our sandwiches.
“It was a lot of fun,” He said.
“Yeah. Finally someone brings me back to life. If you didn’t come along I would be sitting at home right now, or sleeping,”
“But it’s like two o’clock,”
“Yeah I sleep a lot. Well, not anymore. I’ve never had this much fun actually.”
-
