I hear the front door slam shut, and I get up from my chair. I walk back to my room to look for my phone. I always lose that piece of electronics. I decide to call my best friend Emilia. After a few seconds, she picks up.
"How's the hangover, sunshine?"
I scowl at her for laughing at my health, but I can't say she's wrong. I've been better. I hear the ever-so-happy Spanish girl rattling on about last night and everything I did.
"I don't need to be reminded of my embarrassing personality, you know?"
"How can you be reminded of something when you don't remember it?" she answers me. The woman has a point. I only remember the first hour of the evening and a few moments off the rest of it. She wasn't any better, but she never gets hangovers. Because of that, I'm miserable right now, and she is perfectly fine.
"You want some soup?" I ask Mills.
"Who made it?" she asks me with a hint of suspicion in her voice. I understand her, though. Penny is a better cook than I am. There's a reason she's in culinary school. She's learning to become a chef. She might not have the skills of Gordon Ramsay yet, but she has the attitude. It's a start.
I answer my friend, "Penelope."
"Of course! I love her soup!" Emilia screams.
"I have to tell you something too," I tell her with a smirk on my face.
That always does it for her. She has more curiosity than the average person, so naturally, she's jumping up and down from excitement.
"I'm on my way!" she squeals before hanging up the phone.
Ten minutes later, I hear someone knocking on the front door. I might say 'knocking,' but I'm scared she will just knock through the door. She might be small, but she has a lot of power.
I open the door to see the smiling face of the small girl. Her dark brown hair is in a messy bun, and it makes her look even cuter. She pushes me away and runs to the kitchen.
"Where's the soup, Lily?"
"A good morning to you too," I sigh.
"Oh yeah, right, hey! How are you?"
"I'm not great bu-"
"Great, now where's the liquid gold?" she cuts me off.
"The soup's on the counter," I answer, "but don't you want to hear the tea?"
"Is that even a question?" She says with a smirk on her face.
"I knew I could talk to you! So,you know how Penny has been extremely happy these days? Happier than she usually is?"
"Yes... What about it?"
"I found the reason," I say with a grin.
Mills suddenly starts scowling and screaming at me.
"Is it a bad thing that I found the reason?" I ask her.
"Oh, no, no, I just burned my tongue, and it hurts."
"Well, that's random. Anyways, she's seeing someone."
The moment those words leave my lips, I see Emilia's soup flying through the kitchen and a screaming girl.
"Stop yelling! I have a hangover!"
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, but not really. What the fuck!? Penelope is seeing someone? Who?"
"Olivia, she's one year older."
"Wait a second, Olivia who?"
"Olivia I don't know, I didn't ask for her last name. I do know she studies fashion."
"Oh my god, Olivia Moore? She is THE fashion student at our school. She has already gotten offers from all the big designer companies, but she refused all of them because she wants to finish school."
Emilia studies art at The New York School of Fashion and Art. She's a promising painter, and she is one of the most creative people I know. Apparently, Olivia is even more promising in the fashion industry. I make a mental note to discuss that with Penny.
"Wow, I did not know that. Go Penny, I guess," I say with disbelief in my voice.
Mills starts eating her soup again, and I decide to go get dressed. I have to be in class in 45 minutes, so I better hurry. I put on a pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt, just a comfortable fit. I start packing my bag while Emilia rattles on about some girl in her class, who's, I quote, 'a real fucking bitch'. Happy to know that piece of important information.
"Mills, when do you have to leave for class?" I yell with toothpaste in my mouth.
"In half an hour, you wanna walk together?"
"Of course, I'm leaving in ten. Is that okay for you?"
"Sure!"
After searching for all my stuff for class, I look for my phone. I always lose the damn thing. It's also a wonder how it hasn't destroyed itself yet because I drop it at least seven times a day.
"Hey, you know where my phone is?"
"It's in your back pocket, idiota."
I start to laugh hysterically. That's so typical for me. Emilia starts to laugh, too. After nearly peeing our pants, we calm down and leave for school.
I haven't closed the door yet, and Emilia is already at the end of our street. She might be small, but she walks fast as hell. I think it's her Spanish blood. Although we all live in America, there is no one in our friend group who is an American citizen. Emilia is from Spain, but she lives here to study art. Penny and I are from Belgium, but we came to America too for our studies. Alexis, our other friend, is from India. She came here to study to become a teacher. I already feel bad for the poor children who will have to follow her classes. If you know her, she's really sweet. If you don't, she's a bad bitch. I'll be honest, I like bad bitch Alexis, but I know quite a few people who don't. That's their problem.
Because of our different roots, we have quite a variated kitchen. Alexis and Emilia live together in an apartment down the street, but most of the time, they eat at our place. They even sleep here most of the time. Food isn't the only thing we differ in. We all have different mother languages: Mills speaks Spanish, Alex speaks Indian and Penny and I speak Dutch at home. Penny and I also speak French, because we had to learn that in elementary school in Belgium.
After a short walk, Mills leaves and goes to her school, while I still have to walk a few more minutes. I'm in such a hurry to be on time, that I don't notive the guy walking in front of me. I'm looking for my phone again when I suddenly bump into someone. It's complete chaos. Papers flying everywhere, my head hits the ground and this person's coffee spills all over my clothes. Before I can open my eyes, I feel someone helping me up while constantly apologising, "I am so sorry! Do I have to buy you new clothes? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, my head just hurts a little. Are you okay?"
"Yes, thank you. I just dropped all my papers."
"Oh my god, wait, let me help you."
I start picking up all the papers from the floor. When I get back up to give the guy his papers back, I see his face. Wow, I am too stunned to speak. I don't think I've ever seen someone that gorgeous. He starts talking again and I quickly go back to the real world.
"Can I maybe have your number? I'll call you to pay you for your clothes."
"Oh, okay, but you really don't have to pay for them. They're already pretty old. I should buy you a coffee instead."
That was a lie. I bought these clothes last week, but he doesn't have to know that.
"Sure, it's a date. Will you send me the address and the time?"
"Of course, I'll see you then! Bye!"
"See you later!"
I start jogging to school, otherwise I'll be late. Two minutes before class starts, I walk into the auditorium. I am completely out of breath. I get into a seat and take out my laptop and my notes. When the professor starts talking, I finally relax a bit.
***
At five pm, I stumble out of my last class. I am so tired, I could fall asleep on the street. I call Penny to pick me up, her school isn't far away and she has a car. She studies photography at NYU, while I study medicine there. I start dialing, but before I can call her, she calls me. Telepathy, ladies and gentlemen. I pick up.
"Hey, I was just about to call you. Can you come pick me up?"
"Why do you think I called you? I already thought you wanted me to pick you up. Just one thing, Olivia is with me, so please behave."
"When did I ever not behave?"
"You want me to make a list?"
"Okay, no, I'll behave, I promise."
"Thanks, I'll be there in a minute."
"Okay! Bye!"
She already hung up the phone before I even got to say bye. She's probably talking to Olivia, so I can't blame her.
A few minutes later, a small car stops in front of me and I get in in the back seat.
"Hey! Thank you for picking me up. I was already dead this morning, imagine me this evening, and I really didn't want to walk."
"No problem. By the way, Olivia, this is Lilith." Penelope answers me. I look at Olivia and I smile at her. She is so beautiful. She has gorgeous blonde hair and little dimples. She has her hair in a long ponytail and it suits her.
"You can call me Lily, I like that more."
"You can call me Liv too, it's easier," she answers me, "So you're Penny's twin sister, right?"
"Yep, that's me. I know we don't look very alike, but our face is quite the same."
I'm a proud redhead, but Penny didn't like her red hair, so she dyed it brown. That way, it's also easier for people to keep us apart. We used to be the same like two drops of water, but our hair is different now.
The rest of the drive we talk about our day and Olivia and I make fun of Penny. I already like her a lot. When we get home, Olivia gets out too and walks with us to our apartment. They're already going to each other's apartments?! Penny really hid this from me for a long time.
"How long have you guys been dating?" I ask without thinking. I could hit myself right now, and Penny looks like she could too, but Olivia answers me sweetly.
"It's been four months now."
"Four months?!" I scream, "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend for four months?! I know I'm embarrassing sometimes, but I didn't know you were that ashamed of me."
"Oh Lily, I'm not ashamed of you. We just wanted to take it easy, without too much attention," Penny answers me.
I get her point, but it still hurts my pride.
When I open the door, I hear two voices scream '22'. Alexis and Emilia. They have a key to our apartment, because they practically live here, but they're not making a great first impression.
"Alex! Mills! We have a guest!" I yell to the kitchen. They don't hear me, so we just walk to the kitchen. I walk in first, Penny and Olivia follow me. When they see us standing in the doorway they suddenly freeze. I start laughing at their behaviour and Penny introduces them to Olivia.
After the short introduction, we open a bottle of wine and start cooking. I say we, but it's just Penny who cooks. Alex, Mills, Olivia and I just scream Taylor Swift-songs and drink wine. After an hour, Penny is done and we are tipsy. It's fine though, because it's Friday. No one has classes tomorrow, so we can get as drunk as we want to. We eat our spaghetti and play truth or dare afterwards. Olivia starts and she asks Emilia her bodycount.
"One, my baby Hudson."
Emilia and Hudson are the typical high school sweethearts. They have only been with each other and they're still going strong after seven years. Everyone knows that they're going to get married, the only question is when.
After that, Emilia asks me if I'm seeing someone. I suddenly remember the guy I bumped into today.
"I bumped into a guy today and he was really hot. I promised him I'd text him to have a date at a coffeebar, because I spilled all his coffee."
"Oh my god, that is so cliché."
"I know, but I don't care. I think I'm gonna meet him tomorrow afternoon."
They all nod at me and I ask Alexis truth or dare. Of course she says dare, she wouldn't be Alexis if she didn't.
"I dare you to call the last person you kissed and tell them you love them."
She dials a number in her phone and a guy picks up.
"Hey Derek, I just called you to tell you I love you," Alexis says with an enormous amount of sarcasm in her voice.
"Oh my god, you do?" he responds. He has too much hope. We all know Alexis doesn't date. She is a free butterfly when it comes to dating. Even though guys line up to date her, she's not interested.
"No." she answers and hangs up the phone. We all crack up at the conversation as we open another bottle of wine. We decide to watch a movie and soon enough, we all fall asleep in the living room.
_________________________________
Heyyyyy
I'm Marie and this is the first story I've ever written.
If I make mistakes or I write things wrong, please tell me. English isn't my mother language, so it's possible that I make a few mistakes.
Aside from that, do you like the story? Do you have ideas for it or just things you want to say?
I accept criticism, but no hate. Not for me, nor my characters. This is a hate-free space and if you don't lik that, leave.
Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed the story so far and have fun reading the rest!
Also, I will try to update regularly, but I can't promise anything. I'll try my best!
Love you all,
Marie xxx