landslide

i.

「one」

ELIZA HAD TOO MANY clothes. There was simply no other way to put it. 

Many times over she had asked her parents about a yard sale to give away at least half of her closet. She had to install another shelf just to hold her pants and shoes. It wasn't that she loved shopping, but the clothes accumulated themselves over the years. Seventeen years of Christmas presents from distant relatives who refuse to give money, hand-me-downs. Eliza had so many clothes. But she had no outfits. 

Now she stood at the side of her bed, six possible outfit combinations spread out in front. Standing in only her underthings, Eliza stood in front of the clothes for ten minutes. 

There was so much to take into consideration. She wanted to dress in pride of the basketball championship and the pep assembly. But the obvious outfit for that was unflattering. She wanted to support her boyfriend with the school colors, but that would involve a skirt in the chilly March weather of Hawkins. Granted, one of the shirts was from last year's drama club performance of Oklahoma. But would anyone really notice? 

Of course, another option would be her casual dress; something to wear on a lazy Sunday afternoon with no priorities. She could go half and half. But she had no shoes to go with the color scheme presented. 

The girl hadn't realized how much time she was wasting until someone had to remind her. 

"Liza, he's here!" Her brother shouted down the hall. 

Eliza swore and yanked the nearest skirt off her mattress. She could hear her brother - Steve - walking up to her door. She nearly tripped over the corner of the bed when she raced to meet the door first. Steve cracked the door open an inch before Eliza slammed it back. 

"Shit, sorry!" Steve shouted again. 

"Tell him I'll be out in five minutes." Eliza banged her head against the door before jogging back around to the side of her bed. She slid the skirt up to her waist and adjusted it in the mirror. She opted for the light green blouse, in respect of the pep assembly, and slid the nearest pair of shoes on. 

Eliza was disorganized, to say the least. It crossed her mind multiple times to spend an entire afternoon setting everything in her room right, but she never had the time nor the motivation. It was times like these when she regretted her inaction in the face of a brutally messy room. 

Anything that wasn't already in the book bag from the previous night's homework was thrown in haphazardly with no regard to what was folded or crumpled. She scrambled to find her brush and make her hair presentable, at the very least. It was still damp from the shower and refused to look halfway decent either way. A quick roll of lip gloss, and she was out the door. 

Her dog was at her heels down the stairs. She almost tripped over him when jumping the last step. 

Steve was leaning against the island counter when Eliza came into the kitchen for breakfast. Her bag was halfway falling off her shoulder. Her damp hair was flinging everywhere. Innocent objects and one innocent bystander were hit with droplets every time she would whip around on her heels. 

The bowl wasn't on the counter... Why wasn't the bowl on the counter? She just wanted one apple. Or a banana. Something! Why did their mother have to move everything around?

Her dog ran around her legs like a toddler begging for a snack. Eliza pointed a finger at him and dodged his enthusiastic tail. "Down, Bowie!"

"He's waiting," her brother told her, watching her run around the kitchen like a mad bird on sugar.