Five Days In October

October 10th

     I just entered my house from walking for about ten minutes from the bus stop. My tired body drags itself up the stairs and turns into my bedroom. I drop my backpack on the ground next to my dresser and peel the red flats from my aching feet to place them on the left side of the high rack of my closet. Moving over to my bed, I flop on the mattress next to my pink teddy bear and make a phone call to my boyfriend.
     "Hello?" He answers.
     "Hey Ian, I made it home safe from the bus stop," I inform him. He always wants me to call him when I get home from anywhere so he knows that I am alright.
     "Oh, that's really good. I'm glad you're okay."
     "What could even happen to me anyways?"
     "People are crazy out there, baby."
     I laugh at his remark. My fingers fondle with the teddy bear's ear as I continue the conversation up until dinner time.
     "Alright, sweetie pie," I joke and he chuckles at the nickname. "I'm gonna go eat. I smell food being cooked."
     "Alright, baby. I might go make a sandwich."
     A giggle releases from my mouth. "You're always making or eating a sandwich."
     "I love sandwiches so much," he says that sentence that causes me to laugh.
     We state our goodbyes and hang up the phone.
     He leaves me in a good mood when I go downstairs to check out the food; white rice, black beans, and baked chicken. My second favorite! With spaghetti stealing first place.
     I make a plate and sit down at the table where my mom and dad are already seated.
     Half way done with my meal, my mom asks what I was doing upstairs. Answering truthfully, I say I was talking to Ian. Now, there's a problem.
     "I'm still trying to figure out this whole 'Ian' situation," my mom tells me and throws a look that I can't figure out.
     So, that leaves two confused people at the table. I wonder what my dad is thinking.
     "What situation?" I ask.
     "It's just ridiculous, Alyssa," my mom shakes her head.
     "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"
     My dad adds in his piece. "There's so many nice guys in the world. I don't understand why Ian has to be the one you go for."
     "Ian is a nice guy," I tell him, now getting an attitude.
     "I know, but not nice for you."
     "What does that even mean? He treats me with respect and that's not enough for you?"
     My mom continues eating when my dad let's out a sigh. "I'm just saying, there's other boys."
     I calm down a bit, so I won't get in trouble. "Maybe I don't want those other boys."
     My dad let's out another sigh when he cuts into his chicken with a knife. I have lost my appetite get up from the table.
     "You're done, Alyssa?" My mom asks, noticing I still have quite a bit of food left.
     "Yep."
     "No you're not." She put down her fork. Why are they so angry this evening?
     "Yes I am." I make my way to the trash can.
     "Sit down and finish eating, Alyssa!" My mom yells at me.
     "I don't want anymore," I fuss and dump the rest of my dinner in the garbage bag.
     "Just ridiculous," my mom mumbles when she picks up her fork to finish eating.
     I rush upstairs and lock my door, wanting to just be left alone. Now, I'm upset.
     Ian and I have been together for seven months and they can't just accept him. Ian isn't the most attractive boy on earth, I get that. But, why is that the only thing my parents see? He treats me like a literal princess and has changed so much to be better for me. He treats my parents with so much respect that I never even knew he was capable of doing! But it seems like my parents can't do the same. They only focus on his physical attributes and not the precious soul that lies beneath all of that. It stresses me out.

     My brain is fried from the negativity that I cannot manage to escape. I slip my black charger that's plugged in by my bed through the hole at the bottom of my phone, considering it's on 12 percent. After that, I lie down and call Ian to ease my head. It goes to voicemail after a bit, which causes me to frown. Just a second later, the ring plays through the speaker.
     Ian speaks. "Sorry. I just walked into my room when my phone stopped ringing."
     "It's okay," I accept his apology.
     "What's up, baby?"
     "Nothing," I respond solemnly, still upset from earlier.
     He asks if everything is okay and I lie and say it is, but he can tell something is wrong. I wasn't sure what to tell him, since I didn't want him to know the mean comments my parents said. I just state that my parents were being annoying and move on.
     A few hours go by of talking and laughter. He tells me a funny story that happened between him and his mom. His mom is a total sweetheart and completely accepts me. If only my mother could accept him.
     As midnight creeps around the corner, Ian informs me that Tara sent him a text on Snapchat. Again. She just won't leave him alone, huh?
     Tara is this girl that claims she was such great friends with Ian. I talked to him about it. He told me that a couple years ago, they had science class together and got in a group with two other students whenever the teacher assigned group assignments. Then the school year after that, they only communicated periodically using social media. That's the whole history of them! No feelings or romantic relations at all. From him to her, anyways.
     When we began our relationship in late March, apparently that's when they fell off a bit. Ian was spending more time talking to and being focused on me. Not to be cocky, but I did become his girlfriend, not an acquaintance, like she was. So, of course he was going to devote more of his free time on me! She got upset about that. I guess they were friends, so I didn't really get mad.
     Months go by and Ian isn't really speaking to her. She would occasionally send him texts asking why aren't we friends anymore? or why don't we talk as much as we used to? She put the blame on me, but it's not like I cared.
     I let her do her own little thing until tonight; where it really bugs me on a whole new level.
     I ask Ian to read what she said to him. He starts reading, but he reads it all mumbled and slurred, like a blurry photograph. I get annoyed.
     "If you didn't want me to know what it said, then why'd you tell me she texted?" I snap.
     "No, I'm not trying to do that I'm just," he stops mid sentence because he has no idea what he's trying to say.
     "Never mind, Ian," I sigh.
     "No, baby!" He panics.
     "I'm gonna go. Vanessa wants me to call her anyways."
     "Oh, okay." I can tell he gets upset.
     "Want me to call you afterwords?"
     "Please do."
     "Alright, I will."
     "I love you, Alyssa."
     "I love you too. I'll call you later, okay? Bye."
     "Okay, bye," he says, then hangs up the phone before me.
     His lack of clarity makes me question his thoughts. Irritated, I let it go.
     Vanessa and I had been messaging each other on Facebook during Ian and I's conversation, so I give her a call.
     I hear Vanessa's Puerto Rican accent vibrate through my phone's speaker as she picks up. Knowing i can be totally comfortable with her, I start ranting about Tara not leaving my boyfriend alone. I explain the history between them and his weird mumble when he read the message to me. I let out a long sigh.
     "I just don't know what to do," I say while rubbing my forehead in frustration.
     "I would just straight up block her," she advises.
     "Straight up?"
     "Yeah, why not? As your boyfriend, he shouldn't care."
     A slight grin gets smeared on my face. "You're so right! I should totally do that!"
     "Yeah, just block her."
     "Oh my gosh, okay.  Let me call you some other time so I can get his password."
     We hang up the phone and I immediately call Ian.
     "Hello?"
     "Give me your snapchat password."
     "What? Why?"
     "Can I not have it? Is there something you don't want me to see?"
     "No, just... Why do you want it? What are you gonna do?"
     "Give me your snapchat password."
     He chuckles, then tells me what it is as I type it into the log in after logging out of my account. I don't say a word as the app takes its time logging in.
     "You're jealous," he states happily.
     This isn't the first time he's stuck that label on me. I totally snap. "Ian, if you call me jealous just because I care about you and our relationship one more time, I'm going to flip the hell out."
     "Okay," he takes it seriously.
     The app lets me in and I see her username on the left page.
     My finger swipes it to the right. Tara has saved her message, which is quite a paragraph. I read the whole group of words and become completely mortified. I can tell she was sloppily angry and put all her fury into this text. Her use of vulgar language toward Ian pisses me off. She wrote about her being extremely upset with him for not talking to her in times of need (basically when she has personal problems and wants to complain) and that he needs to grow up and stand up to me.  I don't know what that's all about, but if attention is what she's looking for, then I'll be overjoyed to give it to her.
     I start typing, first introducing myself so she knows it's me. My knuckles rattle and my hands shake from madness; I just stop. I want to see her in person. As soon as my eyes discover her presence, it's going down.