Invisible String

Chapter 3

The birds woke me up this time, about an hour later. I got up, feeling refreshed, ready now to actually allow myself to wake up. I stretched, arched my back, and walked into Gigis room, down the hall from me. My room was the last room down the hallway. Gigi was awake, laying on her back, looking at her phone. "Hey," I said, as I walked in. Shre put her phone down. "good morning." I sat down on her bed and looked around the room. The walls were a periwinkle blue. Her bed was by the doorway, giving her room a spacious appearance. She also had a balcony, and her room was on the first one down the hallway. The fan was on too, and I would tell she had also been hot this morning, for she had also taken off her shirt, and laid in an oversized t-shirt on her light grey sheets. "Have you been up for a while?" I asked her - she shrugged. "About a half-hour. You?" I lied down beside her. "I just woke up," I faced the bed, my back facing up. "Will you scratch my back?" I asked, and pulled my shirt up. She laughed and put her phone down. She scratched my back for a few minutes. she knew I loved this, it had basically become second nature to her. When she was done, she pat my back and I pulled my shirt back down. I scratched her head. "you hungry?" she nodded. We walked downstairs, down two flights, and into the kitchen, where I put on Lover by Taylor Swift and began making gluten-free pancakes as Gigi turned on the coffee grinder. While the pancakes baked, I made a fruit smoothie, and we walked on to the front porch to eat. The stillness of the morning was calm and full of hopefulness, it felt. the warm air was already hot, at least 75 degrees. "So," She said, sipping her coffee. "what do you want to do today?" I drank some of my smoothie, and tried to say as sweetly as possible, "erm, I think I was kind of going to go hang out with, James." I said. She didn't look hurt, thankfully, quite the opposite, she was positively glowing. "You do?" I nodded. "I think so, though I'm not entirely sure, we didn't set an exact plan." I paused. looking out at the front yard and saw our neighbours walk by, and waved. "Do you mind?" I asked, without taking my eyes off the garden. She shook her head, and pulled her knees up, her feet on the chair. "Are you kidding? I have this book, don't I? I'll probably set up the hammock, and read, and do some writing." This may have come off as odd to hear a 21-year-old say, maybe unbelievable. But with Gigi, I knew she genuinely enjoyed these activities, I did too, so this was a comfort to me. I smiled, and put my hand on her knee. "Okay, good. and I won't be out too long, probably just the afternoon." she chuckled, and looked back towards the garden. "Don't worry, stay as long as you want. I do think I can manage without you for one day." I frowned, but her smile showed me she was only teasing. I took a deep breath, and said, "Okay. let me check my phone." I walked back upstairs, where my phone was charging on the bedside table. I picked it up, and saw that there were still no messages from him, just from some friends back home. I didn't bother opening them. I wasn't really all that interested in anyone else's texts, at the moment, however selfish that may be. I took my phone with me, back downstairs. As I walked back outside, Gigi said to me, "well?" I shook my head. "oh, don't worry, I'm sure he'll text you."  She checked her watch. "It's only 10." I put my phone beside me. "You're probably right." As we finished our breakfast and made our way inside, I listened to Taylor swift croon about how much she loves her boyfriend. I wondered if anyone had ever felt the same emotions that led her to write music about a person, for me.  It sounded cliche, but I felt like I could relate to her words, after knowing a boy for one day. I guess I was a hopeless romantic, and  I always believed in soul mates, but I never wanted to be tied down. I wanted someone to love, but I also loved my independence so. As a 20-year-old, love was this confusing thing that didn't make sense to me, and somehow I knew I was feeling it, for this boy who had already captivated me and my heart. 

As Gigi predicted, he texted me. About a half an hour later or so, I was journaling in the front yard after cleaning up the kitchen a bit, besides Gigi, who was in her hammock, and I sat on a cushion on the ground. "he texted me!" I told her, and she shrugged as though she had known all along, her sunglasses still on, rocking back and forth. "Of course he did." She said matter of factly, but she had a smile on her face. Her blonde hair was flowing down past her shoulders, and she was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a plain black tank top. I didn't want to answer right away, so I waited about five minutes, trying to write, although it was much more difficult to focus now. Finally, my five-minute timer went off, I opened the text excitedly. The message said, "Hey, are you busy?" I smiled and looked up at the ceiling, rolling my eyes at how crazy this was. He texted me am I busy? It was nothing short of a scene out of a dream. I shook my head in amazement, and then texted him back, No. Do you want to hang out? I sent it, my heart beating dramatically, and I thought to myself how incredible it was that I could get so incredibly happy over the simplest message. I scrambled upstairs and of course, as usual, told the speaker to play some Taylor Swift.  The Last Great American Dynasty came on, and I hopped in the shower, again just barely five minutes under the water, and I dried off and washed my face, then walking down the hall to my bedroom from the bathroom, and opened the wardrobe doors, looking for something to wear. I looked at myself in the mirror and appreciated my figure, then turned back to the hanging dresses of different colours, beside the skirts, sweaters, shorts, tank tops, shawls and scarves, tee shirts, and pants. I reached in and grabbed a gingham mini dress, that wasn't too fancy, and zipped myself up. I combed my hair, then put on a pair of earrings, studs, and put a bit of mascara on after curling my lashes. A dash of lipstick and a spray of perfume and I was good to go, and grabbed my phone. The message from him caught my attention and I opened it immediately. Yeah, where do you want to go? I replied I have an idea - if you don't mind a bit of walking. While waiting, I laid down on my bed, after making it, and journaled. It was nice and cold in my room and I enjoyed the stillness and the cool breeze from my fan, and I found myself taking a few deep breaths. I was caught in a whirlwind of feelings recently, and I fancied myself a break, for though I cherished these crazy emotions, I needed to breathe and ground myself, check in with reality. Recently, life felt far from it. It was a healthy habit for me to centre myself consciously for I wasn't the type with a natural knack for doing this normally. If I didn't, I would always be somewhat floating, away from earth, so involved deeply in my daydreams and feelings.