I Do Until I Don't

Chapter 41

 "Wake up, wake up, wake up." Someone is shaking me. Julia. Julia is shaking me awake.

I groan and wave her away.

"Moooovveee!" I say in a breath.

"Wake up, wake up." A pillow slaps my face. "WAKE. THE. HELL. UP."

"Nooooooo..."

I don't want to get up, I don't want to wake up. I want to stay here and sleep and pretend I'm still fake-dating Fannar. I don't want to move, I want to watch movies and eat and... I look like an ogre. Oh my god! Alex ruined me!

"Ella-Mae! Get up."

I want to make a shoo move with my hand, but I slap my sister instead.

"ELLA-MAE!!!" She jumps on my bed and wiggles me. I don't move. She gets up and opens the curtains. I don't get up. She leaves the room. I fall as─.

My face is wet.

Julia poured a glass of cold, freezing water on my face.

"JULIA, WHAT THE HELL?"

Julia grabs my hand. "WE FORGOT TO ORGANIZE A BACHELORETTE PARTY. AND WE HAVE TO DO TWO!"

I get up.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO!?"

Julia throws me a shirt and some shorts. My eyes are half-closed and the colours are still blurry, but I still can make up Julia's outfit: a yellow, flowy, maxi dress. There's a sunflower tucked behind her loose, wavy hair.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She claps her hands. "Go! Go! Go! Move! Move! Move!"

I moan and grab my clothes. My eyes still half-closed, I change in front of my sister. I'm too tired to even be self-conscious.

"Where are we going?" I ask as I tie my curly hair into a messy bun. Horrible. I untie my hair and try again. Disgusting. I untie it again. Ponytail. Not even close. "Ugh!" I make an ugly blob of a bun on the top of my head. "I don't care right now." Julia hesitates, I know she wants to redo my hair, but doesn't. "Where are we going?" I ask again.

"We are going to go meet mom and dad on the boardwalk and figure out a way to organize the best bachelorette party ever. No need for Nia's, 'cause her parents are going to organize hers."

"That sucks."

"Nah, they're cool. And, you know, we won't have to organize it, so, like... yey!"

Julia checks her phone to see what time is it and relaxes a little. She passes me a banana and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Let's go."

*****

Mom and Dad are wearing matching clothes. Palm trees leaves printed on Dad shirts and Mom's dress. They are both drinking a martini ─ at ten a.m. ─ and are laughing about something I don't understand.

"Girls!" Mom greets us when she sees Julia and I rush to her side. "What are you─"

"We haven't organized a bachelorette for Melanie.

She lets herself fall on the golden sand, and makes a fan with her hand. The sun is burning up, and we forgot to put sunscreen on.

"Okay, so here's what I was thinking," Dad starts. "Mini putt."

Mom, Julia and I all wait for him to say he's kidding. Julia is the one who says it out loud, "You gotta be joking me." She looks at me, and I nod in approval.

"It's a bachelorette, Dad," I say. "It has to be wild."

"Like paintball?" Dad tries.

Julia hits her forehead with her palm. "You're useless. Mom?'' Mom looks up, but her mouth is still glued to her martini drink. "What do you propose."

Mom is so shocked that Julia asked for her opinion that she nearly chokes on her drink. She coughs many times before proposing that we do an intense clubbing night with strippers. I widen my eyes and Mom winks. Oh, she's joking. Julia must have not understood that part ─ or maybe she ignores it ─ because her eyes light up.

"That's cool," Julia acknowledges. "But I don't want to traumatize Ella-Mae." She hugs my head and I shoo her off.

"I'm eighteen!'' I remind her. "People get pregnant at sixteen.''

Julia rests her hands on her hips. " So you want to go to a club and see naked people dance all over you and your sisters?''

I hide my face with my hands as a reflex and shake my head.

"That's what I thought,'' Julia says.

"But you guys could go,'' I propose. "I don't mind you all going. I can stay and hang out with Nia.'' I don't want to be the cause of a lame bachelorette.

Julia shakes her head. "No way. You're coming with us. You're the sister of the bride! Mel wants you there."

"And we're back to mini putt," Dad says.

Julia ignores him.

"We could go jet skiing," I propose.

"Too expensive," Mom says. "How about rock climbing to see the sunset?"

"Too cliché," Julia says.

We stay in silence. We're out of ideas. Maybe we could... Nope. Oh! Melanie would love... Nope. Ugh! It's in moments like these that I realize that I don't know my sister. I mean, I know her, her inner soul and what she thinks and all, but her preferences? Forget about it.

"Maybe─" Dad tries, but Julia shows him her hand.

"Don't even bother," she says.

"But I think..."

"Nope." She chews on her pencil, squinting at the sun. "Jeez! I have no idea."

Dad leans in towards Mom and whispers something in her ear.

"Maybe we could─" Mom starts once Dad finishes his sentence, but Julia shakes her head.

"Oh!" I say. "We could go, like, swim with the dolphins."

Julia shrugs. "That's cool. Maybe as a second option."

That's better than nothing.

"Karaoke." That was Dad. Julia's eyes widen and light up.

"Dad! Wow! That's really good!"

She gets up from the sand. "And we have an idea!" She walks back to the beach house, struggling to as her feet sink into the sand.

"I still prefer the dolphin idea," I start. "But whatever."

My parents are looking at me like they are waiting for me to do something. I turn around. Oh right! I inhale and run to meet Julia. Knowing her and her over-the-top ideas, I need to be with her every step of the way to make sure she doesn't waste 5000$ on one night.

"Em!" someone shouts when I'm almost at Julia's level, a few meters away from the front porch of our house. "Em!"

I stop and spin to see who called me even though there is only one person who calls me Em.

Alex.

"Can we talk?"