When It Rains In Ocala

28- Remember When I Packed

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.
- William W. Purkey

Exhaustion. That’s all I could feel, it was rattling every bone inside of me as I finally plopped down on my bed after a sleepless night at six in the morning.

You see, Hanna had her not-a-date date with Jason last night and after staying with her all day to quell her nerves (that she refused were existent) I helped her choose her outfit, which was a simple summer dress and girly heals. When she tried to convince me that it was all too much, I wasn’t having any of it and she went on her way by eight.

I spent the next few hours cooped up in my room, texting Evan and Marissa while I watched TV and waited out the next few hours for Hanna to get back. When she did, she had so much to say, we stayed up for hours while she gushed about her night and finally admitted to having a “slight” crush on Jason.

Although, since I hadn’t gotten home until four in the morning because of her talking my head of, I’d say it’s a little bit more than a slight crush.

And apparently, something was wrong with my brain because I couldn’t sleep for more than a few hours and I woke up, exhausted yet unable to go back to sleep for some stupid reason, at ten.

As I finished my breakfast of bread- I was too tired to toast it- I went back up to my room just before receiving a call from Evan. Since we had that small argument last weekend, we’d went back to normal two seconds after we made up, thankfully. And thankfully, nothing has changed between us, not like I thought they would.

“What’s wrong?” He asked once I answered the phone in my groggy, not-in-the-mood voice.

“I’m tired.” I whined.

“Then sleep.” He laughed.

“I tried that.” I snapped groggily before letting out a weird whining sound. “Cuddling with you would be perfect right now.”

“Then come over. My bed is all toasty warm and perfect for cuddling right now.”

I giggled lazily. “Can you come pick me up? I’m not going to try to drive, I’m like half dead right now.”

“I’ll be over.” He sighed as if I just asked him to jump to the moon, causing me to roll my eyes at him playfully.

“Okay, I love you.”

“Love you too, Princess, I’ll see you soon.” He said softly before hanging up the phone.

I put my phone in my pocket and forced myself through a three-minute shower before getting dressed in sweat pants and a tank top and putting my hair in a braid down my back. I was being way too lazy to wear anything even slightly decent.

“I’m going over to Evan’s.” I called to Brendon who was probably still in his room. I didn’t hear a response, so I assumed that he was either still asleep or not home so I shook it off and went outside where Evan was waiting in the truck. He hurriedly got out and opened the passenger side door for me, causing me to giggle.

We shared a short kiss and a casual greeting before I climbed inside and Evan got in the driver’s side and we were driving down the street.

I curled into a tired ball in the passenger side as Evan drove.

“So why are you so tired?” He asked me with raised eyebrows as his thumb rubbed over the back of my hand as our hands were interlocked over the center console.

“Hanna.” I mumbled.

“Wasn’t she on a date last night with my brother?” Evan asked in confusion.