Iron & Wine

Iron & Wine-Chapter Two: Hurricane Tess

Chapter Two-Hurricane Tess

Six hours and too much money later, I found myself ready to collapse as we made our way from store to store. I'd lost all feeling in my fingers from the heavy bags in my hands. I was tired and bored after the first store. I seriously hated shopping. "Tess, could we sit down or something?" I begged.

After one look at my exhausted face, she gave in. "Sure, I need a coffee break anyway." We headed off toward the food court, where I got a gigantic chocolate chip muffin and a large coffee.

We sat quietly across from one another at a small table near the edge of the food court. I stared out over the balcony looking down onto the shoppers below. So many people and this wasn't even a city mall. It made me a little more than nervous to remind myself of how I'll be living in the huge unfamiliar city, far away from home, in just days. I'd debated a thousand times this past week whether or not I was making the right decision. Obviously getting an education should be high on my list of priorities, and it really was, but I couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was wrong or perhaps I was rushing into it. I mean, it's not uncommon to take a year off after high school. I let out a sigh and slouched down into my chair.

"Oh, come on, is it really that bad?" Tess asked. She clearly took my exasperated sigh as a sign of my feeling toward shopping with her.

I forced a smile. "No, sorry, I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"School, the city, how soon it is."

Tess gave me a reassuring smile and reached across the table to hold my hand. "Avery, you are so ready for this. Trust me, if there were any way that I could convince you to stay, without making myself feel terrible for holding you back, I totally would." She let go of my hand and sat back with a sigh. "But, you're a teenage girl, with a gift for art and a thirst for knowledge. I have to let you go. Please don't feel like you have to stay for me."

I just forced another smile and nodded as I took a big sip of my coffee. She drank her decaf and scowled at me for having the real thing.

"Stop looking at me like that. Let me enjoy my coffee," I told her. Tess had an ulcer and couldn't stomach caffeine. "Besides, I don't think someone like you should have access to caffeine." I grinned and looked at her over the rim of my cup.

"What do you mean 'someone like me'?!" she shrieked as a piece of her muffin flew toward my face.

"Oh, you know, crazy people? People who can shop this much and not even break a sweat! I'm ready for a nap!" I joked.

"Okay, fine. We'll stop," she surrendered. "I just like buying things for you. It makes me happy to give you everything that you deserve. You're a good kid, Avery, you deserve it." She was so good at the guilt tripping. It also doesn't help that she looks like a little girl who's had her heart broken.