Life in Color ✔️

23~Ho Ho Ho

I wake up completely disoriented.

"Finally, you're awake." I jump, finding Ella propped up in bed beside me. I'm at home.

"How... how long have you been here?" I ask, trying to find my phone.

"Well, it's currently three in the afternoon so 14, maybe 15 hours. You snore by the way." I finally notice she's wearing one of Sage's shirts and her hair's still somehow decent looking. Lucky brat.

I yawn and try to rearrange myself on the bed but instead scream at the pain I'm met with. Ella gets up, handing me a glass of water and a few more pills, pausing before I throw them in my mouth I notice a pink pill.

A daunting thought appears in my mind. Oh, she didn't. "Did you give me pain medication last night?" Ella drops her phone, giving me my answer. "Oh my God, Ella! You know I have a zero tolerance for that stuff."

I always act drunk, or so everyone says. I tend not to remember much after I wake back up.

She shrugs. "Don't worry, whatever you said it wasn't too bad, Ashton still came back with us."

Setting the pink pill aside, I take the others before realizing something. "Ashton's here?"

My best friend smiles wickedly. "No, I'm afraid not. You scared him away with all of your snoring." I pick up my pillow and hit her repeatedly. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding. He had to go home around noon but he was here."

For some reason, I smile at that information. He didn't have to do that. I hold back from doing a poor excuse of a happy dance when I remember the state of my room. There's clothes and trash everywhere.

Oh my God. I look around to assess how bad it was but there's no mess.

"I already took care of it." Ella says, scrolling back through her phone.

"How?" I wonder. It was bad and by bad I mean bad. I was thinking of just paying Stella to clean the mess up for me.

"It didn't take me that long to change you, besides the fact that even while sleeping you were intent on keeping that jacket on," she teases me, pointing at the jacket now folded over my chair. "So I took some time to tidy up."

I don't say it enough but I really love Ella. She's my opposite in almost every way but she's wonderful. I honestly don't know what I would do without her. My love is cut short by the fact she is still on her phone. So rude. I reach over and snatch it from her hands. She's looking at my Instagram page.

I arch a brow at her, what about my feed is so interesting?

She raises her arms up in defeat. "Ok, so I've been thinking, you should become a blogger."

I stare at her dumbly. "What?"

"You know... post about your life. Possibly make vlogs. Partner with brands to promote products. I mean your insta aesthetic is amazing and your life is definitely something people would want to follow."

I can see the gears twisting in her head. The thought of what could be if I made my instagram public. My life public. For a moment I dream with her, entranced by the idea. I could have thousands of followers and influence so many people who go through problems just like us.

I could actually impact someone's life.

And just like that, all the gears crash. I'm not an adult yet so how could I, a minor, talk about raising kids without child services getting involved. We could be separated or even sent to live with Karen or Earl and Edna. I can't let that happen.

"Maybe." I tell her softly but she knows as well as I do that it will never happen.

We start to watch That 70's Show but there's a discomfort in the air.