Brute.

Seventeen

"I'm sorry," Hannah giggled through the phone, "but I got caught up in something."

"No, you got caught up in Tom. We made a deal," I reminded.

"I know, I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you?"

"You can make it up to me with taco bell and chicken nuggets," I answered honestly.

"Deal," Hannah laughed, "I will have Chandler pick some up on his way home, if you can be here in twenty."

I ended my call with Hannah and grabbed a hoodie from my closet. I snuck out to my car and drove over to the Hallow's. I just felt happy. And I haven't felt genuinely happy, in a long time.

"Hi Myra," Mr. Hallow smiled at me as I walked in the front door, "how are you?"

"Hello sir, I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm good. There's something different about you today."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You look happy," Mr. Hallow smiled at me.

"I had a good night last night," I responded simply.

I excused myself up to Hannah's room, where I found her watching a YouTube video on her bed.

"Hey!" Hannah cheered, "so you have lots of explaining to do."

"Excuse me," I laughed," I think you are the one who has explaining to do."

"I overheard Chris talk about seeing you yesterday when he was talking to Chandler earlier before they left. When did you see Chris? Did you see anyone else?" Hannah smirked at me.

"I saw Chris and Jake before we left yesterday," I laughed, "but I also saw Chris and Jimmy after I left the party. They brought me home because you abandoned me."

"Did you tell them what we were doing? How did they see you? Was it weird? What happened?" Hannah interrogated.

"They don't even know you were there. I was walking around campus to try to find something that would tell me where I was so I could call someone for a ride, and I was going to have to call Chandler. It was a little weird, Jimmy was upset when he saw me, but in a protective way which made it even weirder. It would have been worse if Chandler would have picked me up," I laughed.

"So what, they just drove you home?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I shrugged, "apparently ECU is the college Jimmy's brother CJ goes to."

I'll tell Hannah about the kiss when I understand it, but right now I don't. I won't until I can see Jimmy again and I can try to figure it out. But for now, I will keep it to myself before I tell Hannah.

"You don't look as dark and stormy as normal," Hannah laughed, "and dark and stormy is your thing."

"And what if I want to be happy?" I asked.

"Depends on where the happy is coming from. If it's real happy, then that's all I have ever wanted for you," Hannah smiled, "so, where is the happy coming from?"

"It's your turn to explain to me what the hell happened to you last night," I laughed, changing the subject.

Hannah went on in a long, drawn-out version of a story that she could have told me in two sentences. But basically, she was with Tom and then he wanted to leave the party and she didn't want to go back to his apartment, so she took my car home instead. She just somehow forgot about me in the process.

"So, forgive me?" Hannah pleaded.

"Always," I laughed, "as long as I get taco bell."

"And chicken nuggets," Hannah laughed.

"Exactly."

Hannah and I did what Hannah and I do. We hung around her room, listening to music, scrolling through Instagram, talking and making jokes, getting photos and videos of each other that could potentially be used for blackmail later. You know, best friend stuff. Hannah is my best friend, she's my family, and she always will be.

There was a knock on Hannah's door and before we responded to it, Chandler opened the door himself.

"A Myra apology special," Chandler laughed as he placed large bags of chicken nuggets and taco bell on Hannah's bed.

"Thank you," I cheered before shoving a chicken nugget into my mouth.

Hannah and I went back to our shenanigans as we ate all of the food that made up my apology.

"Next year is going to be so weird," Hannah sighed, "you're going to end up at Duke doing amazing things, and I will probably end up traveling with my church group. I don't want to think about not seeing you almost every day."

"Hannah, you'll always see me. You are going to do amazing things, I can see you in Hawaii or anywhere you want to go, spreading a message and making a difference. And I'll be by your side the entire time, metaphorically that is," I laughed.

"And you best believe that I will be at every one of your volleyball games in college," Hannah laughed.

"If I end up playing volleyball, then I will hold you to it."

Not being with Hannah will be so strange and foreign, but that's life. You graduate and move on and hold on to the people that mean the most. Hannah and I kept talking about life and the future, the heavy stuff that you only talk about with your best friend, as my phone went off in my pocket.

Jimmy: The boys and I are going to California in the morning, but when I get back I want to talk to you, about everything, face to face

Me: I'd like that. What are you going to California for?

Jimmy: There's a convention this weekend and I was asked to host a panel, and we're filming a video with some LA YouTubers before we come back

Me: Sounds fun, have a good trip.

Jimmy: I'll try, can I call you while I'm gone?

Me: Of course you can

"Texting Jimmy?" Hannah asked as she smirked at me.

"No," I answered in an obvious lie.

"What are you talking about? I want details, because I thought you were done," Hannah laughed.

"Well actually, when Jimmy was driving me home last night we got in an argument," I laughed, "Jimmy was mad because I made such a dumb decision walking alone at night dressed as I was, and I don't know, we've been talking."

"What have you been talking about?"

"We talked a lot last night about college. I don't know what I'm going to do without a scholarship, and today he told me he's going on a trip to California and he wants to talk when he gets back," I explained.

"Talk about what?"

"I have no idea," I laughed, "but I figure that I can give him a chance to talk and we'll see what happens."

"Myra Marx, ruler of the dark and stormy realm is being optimistic about a possibility. Has the earth started rotating in the opposite direction?" Hannah joked.

"No, but hell might have frozen over," I laughed.

I tossed a pillow and hit Hannah in the head with it. Our day pretty much went like this. It will suck not having days like this once we both move on to do other things, if I even get the chance to move on and do something else. I guess even if I don't make it to college, Chandler is still here and so are some other people that I could maybe spend some more time with. Maybe it wouldn't be the complete end of the world.