wish i were ⇾ p.c

26- looking out for you

"I guess I should start... looking out for you. like I always do!"
-joy again

"So you play guitar? Never knew that."

"Oh, yeah," I shrugged at Connor, "guess it never came up."

He was spending the night here because his school has a long weekend. I guess mine did, too, but I wasn't going to school. Not yet anyway. I would go back on Monday.

The end of the school year in June was coming close though. It's now the middle of May. This has been the longest school year ever, to say the least.

We have a pool in our backyard and it just opened yesterday, as it's finally warm enough o swim.

"Good morning, Kaylee." Josh has said to me early yesterday, Thursday.

"Good morning," I mumbled. It was only us in the house. My mom was at work and Randy was at school. Josh had off that day.

"So, the pools gonna be open tonight." He said casually. They had been working on it the past week.

I nodded as I went in the fridge and grabbed the carton of orange juice. I slowly began to pour myself a glass.

"Randy's having some friends over tomorrow night. Nothing big, but you know, it'll be fun."

I sighed inwardly so he couldn't hear. I knew where this was going.

"So," he continued, "if you want to invite some friends to come, feel free."

So naturally, I called Connor. Him and I have gotten close over the past two weeks. And since I haven't really talked to anyone much, mom doesn't care that I've been spending so much time on the phone with him. Plus, it's not like I can see him everyday either. He lives two hours away in the next town over.

Moms really sad that I haven't been hanging out with the Curtis', but I really don't care. I can't be around them right now, not Ponyboy. I mean, I've talked to them a little but not much and we haven't exactly went out of our way to see each other.

So here we are now, Friday afternoon. Earlier this morning my mom and I drove to Connors and picked him up, while Randy was helping his dad set up for tonight and get snacks and whatever.

Connor would be sleeping over but staying in one of the guest rooms, because obviously my mom wouldn't let him stay with me at night. Although she always let Ponyboy.

Now, Randy's friends were going to start showing up in an hour or so, so Connor and I were just hanging out in my room while we waited.

He wore a pair of plain grey swimming trunks and a white t shirt.

"I'm gonna put on my swimsuit really quick," I told him. He nodded but was preoccupied with looking through literally every book on my shelf.

I grabbed my swimsuit from my closet and went inside the bathroom.

I hadn't worn it in a while because it's been winter, plus I never used to swim much anyway. It was a baby blue triangle bikini top and a pair of plain black bottoms.

I stared at myself in the mirror. I've been looking a lot better lately. My ribs don't show through my skin so much anymore. The medication I take helps a lot with sleep, and I looked a lot better well rested.

The medicine didn't really help with the anxiety side of my PTSD, which was very apparent now. Screw my mothers request for "non addictive pills only." I hadn't smoked or drank in a while. Did she know about it? Did she know I stole her alcohol and smoked like 12 thousand cigarettes a day? If she did, she never told me about it.