Present Drifter

Chapter 3

Sweats aren't usually someone's choice of outfit in the middle of summer when it's freakishly hot outside, but when your boyfriend breaks up with you, it's a different story.

I lay curled up on my couch under two layers of blankets with tissues stranded on the floor and my favorite show playing on the T.V. in front of me. The captions are turned on just in case I can't hear the sound over my own sniffles. As soon as I woke up, I turned the temp down in the house to aid in my snuggly pity party. My mom had already left for work and I don't expect my younger brother will care.

So far I've only told one person about the breakup. My closest friend Victoria. She responded with very long texts hating on Dax and attempting to make me feel less pathetic. She's the kinda friend that will just feel whatever you need her to. You want her to be angry for you, she'll be pissed. You want her to praise you instead, she'll do that too.

Usually it works too, but today it doesn't. Daxon and I have been dating for eight months. It's the longest relationship either of us had been in, and honestly I thought everything was going perfectly. I guess he didn't think the same thing.

Daxon and I have been going to school together since freshman year but we didn't start talking until this school year started. I think we had a history class together sophomore year but we never really interacted. This year we had chemistry class together and got placed in the same lab group. He sat in the desk behind me next to his friend Chase. I sat next to Taylor.

Honestly, at first I found Dax annoying. He joked around with Chase most of the time in class and never seemed to be paying attention to anything going on. For our first lab though, Chase wasn't at school. He had a sports trip or something. It was just Ashley, Dax, and I.

Dax was quiet for the first few minutes of the period. It annoyed me at the time because I thought he didn't know what to do and that Ashley and I would end up doing all the work. A little bit in though, he ended up taking the lead on the lab. It became apparent that out of the three of us, he understood what we were doing the most.

I remember being a little awestruck as I watched him perform the experiment. I don't even remember what experiment we were doing. Daxon was that distracting. He kept smiling at me when he caught me staring at him. At the time I was beginning to notice every perfect detail about him. His unique gray eyes, his dark thick brown hair, and his perfect jawline. Even Ashley noticed me staring a couple of times and would nudge me to get me to stop.

After that, I just saw him differently. After a couple more science projects, Dax asked for my number, and after a couple weeks of talking he asked me out. By December, we were an official couple.

He was the perfect boyfriend. The kind who would go out with me any time I had a certain food craving and who would bring me random gifts for no reason. Dax took me on the perfect dates, childish ones. We went painting, and to arcades, and for walks in the park. It was perfect bliss with him.

I begin to notice that I'm balling again. My shirt has become soaked from my tears, but I make no effort to stop. I feel my phone buzz near me, but I have no idea where it is nor do I feel like moving to answer it.

Faint footsteps make their way down the stairs as I attempt to dry my face and add another tissue to my pile on the floor next to the couch. My seven year old brother, Kenneth, walks around the couch and stares blankly at me for a moment before moving to sit down next to my feet. He gently pats my feet obviously in an attempt to comfort me. The awkward action makes me laugh a little.

"Thanks buddy," I say. He gives a small nod but doesn't really say much. His gaze wanders until it finds the T.V. My show seems to have intrigued him.