Just as I watched the sun go down last night, I watch it slowly rise now, filling my room with rays of gold. Although I haven't slept since yesterday, I am wide awake. My laptop is charging on my desk, but I continue scrolling through my phone. My alarm goes off beside me, suddenly snapping me out of my trance. I set my phone down and turn off the alarm, stunned by the numbers that read 7:00. No way I've been scouring the internet for ten hours.
I force myself to get out of bed and into the shower. Slowly, I wash my hair, brush my teeth, and get dressed for the day. Surely I should feel overwhelmingly tired, but somehow I'm more energized than I've been in a long time. I need to do something-- anything.
Quickly, I dial Samantha's number on my phone. She picks up on the second ring. "Good morning!" she says immediately.
"Hey, wanna grab coffee today? I need something to do."
"Sure. We can go right now if you want. Church doesn't start until eleven."
"Okay perfect. I'll meet you there." Within 10 minutes, I've arrived at Barnie's Coffee & Tea where we always go to hang out. Samantha is already there, sitting at a table in the back corner, sipping on a mug of steamy liquid.
She waves me over as soon as I walk in. The barista smiles at me, already starting my drink. "Hey! Good morning again," Samantha says as I sit down across from her. "You look like shit."
"Thanks. You're too kind," I say in a monotone voice. She laughs and leans back in her seat.
"No, seriously, what's up? You look like you haven't slept in days."
"Not days, but I have been up since yesterday morning. That's kinda why I wanted to meet."
"Oh no. What happened. Are you okay?" She sits up in her chair again, suddenly alert.
"I'm okay. I just- I know something I'm not supposed to know." She starts to say something, but is interrupted by the barista, Riley, bringing me a drink.
"Oh jeez, y/n. You look dead. You good?" I roll my eyes at her and she laughs. "Fine, fine. Don't tell me. Hopefully that expresso will wake you up."
"Thank you, Riley. I'll let you know when it kicks in." She smiles and returns to the coffee bar. Samantha gives me an expecting look as I take a sip if the burning coffee. "Okay, so you know Clay."
"I know what you've told me of Clay."
"Right. That's what I mean. Well, I told you about the mystery of what he does for work?" She nods. "I think I found out last night. And now I understand why I wasn't supposed to know."
"What is he like a Russian spy or something?" she whispers, leaning forward on the table. I shake my head and lean forward too.
"He's a youtuber." Samantha's face drops in disappointment.
"Seriously? That's it? He's just embarrassed that he doesn't have a real job?"
"No, dude. You don't understand. He almost has 30 million subscribers. He's like one of the most well know gaming youtubers in the world."
"Gaming? You don't ever play videogames, babe. Or watch YouTube. Besides, if he's so popular, why couldn't you know what he did? And why is it so bad that you know it know."
I sigh, frustrated that she isn't understanding the gravity of the situation. "He's faceless online. No one knows who he really is and only his closest friends have even seen his face. And now I know. And I'm pretty sure the guy he lives with is one of his YouTube friends too."
"Okay, okay I guess I understand a little bit more now. What are you gonna do?"
"I have no clue. I guess it just depends if we hang out again or not."
"You mean if you go on another date."
"It wasn't a date!"
"Deny it all you want. That was a date. Rosa told me all about your handholding business." She winks at me and I feel my face grow pink.
"He was nervous! It wasn't like that, Sam."
"Right, right." We go on like this or a while, her arguing that it was a first date and me denying it profusely. But maybe she's right. I didn't have the intentions of it being a date, but the way it turned out... Maybe it became one anyway.
At ten thirty, Sam has to go, so I head out to the bakery. I may as well get some work done while I'm out. I work there for nearly four hours in silence, pondering all of the new information I have. Although I'm not quite sure what to do now that I know what about everything, I don't regret looking it up. Isabella had to know that I would be able to figure it out from what she told me. And she knows me, so she knew that I would do the research. It can't be that bad then.
Eventually, I get hungry and head back home for a late lunch. Isabella is out front adjusting a christmas decoration and stops to wave to me. I pretend I don't notice her and busy myself opening the garage and pulling in. Only moments after I get into my house, I hear a knock. My stomach curls up in a knot of anxiety and I unlock the front door.
"Isabella! Hi!" I say, moving out of the way to welcome her in. She smiles and steps inside as I close the door behind her. "How are you?" She doesn't answer and instead beckons for me to follow her through my own house. I do, of course, and she leads me to the living room where we finally sit down facing each other.
"So you stayed up all night."
"What?" I ask, resituating myself on the chair.
"I saw your light on all night long."
"I- Yeah I did." No point in denying it.
"And you've done your research now, I presume?"
"I suppose so." She smiles to herself which only makes me feel more nervous.
"It's okay, y/n. I knew you'd figure it out. You just can't tell Clay I'm the one who tipped you off."
"Do I just pretend I don't know then?"
She smiles and starts to stand up. "For the time being, perhaps that would be best. But I imagine he'd be willing to tell you soon. You just have to prompt him to do so." I start to respond when my phone dings on the coffee table. She glances at it and a sly grin briefly crosses her face before she covers it with a cough. "It seems you may not have to do so much prompting after all."
She brushes past me as I pick up my phone and see a message from Clay. She couldn't have read it without unlocking my phone first, but just the timing of his text is still impeccable. "Goodbye Isabella!" I call when I hear the door unlatch.
"Goodbye dear! I'll talk to you later tonight. Maisie has a surprise for you. Spoiler alert, she made more cookies. I'm starting to run out of ingredients." I laugh and hear the door close gently. Finally, I turn back to my phone.
Clay
heyo.. wanna get ice cream later?
as a thank you for shopping with me?
sounds yummy
what time?
idk
before dark
you're awful at making plans, you
know that?
i am not!
i just prefer to let you decide
sure, that's what it is
fine
like 6:30 and we can sit with it
sit where?
i don't know
depends where we go
oh, great
actually, i have a plan
a good one
do tell
i'll pick you up at 5 instead
why is that a better plan?
because
you'll see
you're insufferable
sure i am
but ice cream is worth it
maybe
I look up from my phone and at the clock. It's 3:45 already. I figured it would be 3 at the latest, but apparently I've been home for a while. I guess I'll just have to get ready quickly.
I decide on a white top, light tan pants, and my chunky white tennis shoes. Depending how late we stay out, it might get a little chilly, so I want to at least have long pants on. I try my best to cover the bags under my eyes, but in the end, little can be done.
Clay pulls into my driveway at 4:55 and I immediately feel nervous. What if I'm no good at lying? How am I going to explain how I know to him without snitching on Isabella? This is no good. He knocks on my door at exactly 5:00 and I open it to find him grinning nervously.
"Hey," he says, moving out of my way so that I can follow him to the car.
"Hi." He walks around to my side and opens the door, dramatically ushering me in. "Thank you very much, kind sir." He smiles and slides into the drivers seat, starting the car instantly. "So, when are you gonna tell me what your marvelous plans are?"
"Well..." he starts. "All I can say is buckle up because we have a while drive ahead of us." I raise my eyebrow at him, but he just passes me the aux cord and says, "Choose something good."
Because I'm petty, the first song I play is Heatwaves. Clay glares at me but doesn't say anything. From then on I just let relaxing music play in the background. Not surprisingly, it takes me less than 10 minutes to pass out against the window. Maybe a random long drive is the perfect opportunity for a much-needed nap.
When Clay wakes me up, we're parked in front of a cute little ice cream shop and the sun is further down in the sky than it was when he picked me up. "We're here sleepyhead. I'm starting to think it's just me who puts you to sleep." I laugh and stretch out my arms. He helps me out of the car then leads me into the shop. "Well, they have like 400 different flavors to choose from, so what will it be for you?" he asks, pointing to a sign posted on a sea green wall.
"You're gonna hate me," I say, looking away from the board immediately.
"Oh don't tell me you're gonna choose a boring flavor."
"It's only considered boring because so many people like it!" He rolls his eyes. "If you really want, I can try something new."
"No, no. Get whatever you want. Even if it's boring." I smile at him and take one more look at the board of flavors. Nope. Vanilla it is.
"What are you getting?"
He shrugs. "Whatever you get I guess. See if your boringness is actually good."
"You're sure about that? I'm getting vanilla."
"Oh my god. All the flavors in the world and you literally chose the most basic one. You're the insufferable one." He pretends not to be amused when I laugh, but goes to order vanilla ice cream anyway.
A moment later, he hands me a waffle cone with a swirl of white ice cream on top. "Perfect," I say, beaming up at him. "So, master plan maker, what now?"
He leads me outside and I finally see where we are. Behind a thin line of trees is a stretch of water so long I can't see the end. "Let's walk the beach." I guess we did drive a while.
To be continued...
word count: 1864