365 Days

73

73

- Dakota's POV -

I'm seeing Alex again tomorrow morning and I am freaking out. What's worse is that I've been awake for approximately four minutes.

I'm not going to get through the day without a distraction.

I reach for my phone on my bedside table and send a text to Olive.

Hey Olive. Seeing Alex tomorrow but need distraction for today. Am freaking out. Can u organize something with t group? Thanks x

Her response is an instant yes, telling me she will be at my place in an hour at the latest.

Great.

I climb out of bed and have a shower, washing all the sweat off me that I had accumulated during the night. I have no air conditioner in my room and it was 39 degrees yesterday, cooling only slightly overnight.

I think we're in for another warm day today so I jump into a pretty white dress and tie my hair in a messy bun to keep it off my neck.

Olive is here within half an hour and I can't thank her enough. In the few minutes between my shower and her arrival I have already started to overthink things and get caught up in my head.

"Koda! Get your butt down here for some food!" She calls and I smile, the first real smile in a long time.

"Coming!" I laugh, and walk down the stairs. Olive is wearing a green and white dress which makes her look even more tanned than she already is.

"Pancakes?" I ask, inhaling as I take the last step into the kitchen. Mum is blasting 80s music and flipping pancakes onto a plate, while Quentin sits in his bouncy chair. He's almost three now and I would have thought he'd bee too old for the chair, but he still loves it.

"Yep and a lot of them! Courtesy of the supermarket selling their pre-made mixture for a dollar ninety-nine." Mum's wearing one of her hippy skirts today, a tie-dyed blue and purple one that flows to her ankles.

"Great 'cause I'm starving," I say, making myself a coffee. It's already muggy in the kitchen but I can't go without a coffee. I make Olive one too.

"Mum?" I offer, holding up a mug in gesture.

"No thanks, honey. Quen and I are sticking with juice today."

"Trying to break the addiction, Allison?" Olive asks, sitting beside me on the counter and sipping at the coffee I made.

"I've already tried that and it didn't work out too well." Ah yes, I remember. She was cranky for a week straight until Dad and I had had enough and made her coffee. "I'm just taking a break for today. It's too hot for hot drinks."

I let the bitter warmth rest in my stomach and smile. "It's never too hot for coffee."

Throughout breakfast Mum keeps giving me weird looks, trying to figure out why I'm so happy today compared to the past two months. Maybe it's because I'm seeing Alex tomorrow and that I think we will be okay, or maybe it's because I'm seeing Alex tomorrow and I'm jittery as anything. I'm thinking it's the latter.

At 11:30am Olive and I leave. To go where I'm not sure, but Olive's driving and I'm distracted so I don't mind.

We cross the town line and I frown, wondering where we could be going.

"Uh, Olive? What are we doing?"

"It's nearing thirty degrees, I have a bag full of towels in the back and we're headed out of town."