One whole week.
Of torture.
Why?
Because he'll be gone the ENTIRE WEEK, that's why.
How are you supposed to survive that long?
The two of you can't even go a day without seeing each other anymore!
Why do those stupid people want to interview him anyway?
"I've got my trousers, shirts, shoes, socks....I think have everything...." He mutters into the phone.
At six in the morning.
He called you at six in the morning.
If you weren't sure you were going to miss him so much you'd be angry at him.
"Good. Don't want to forget anything important." You say sleepily.
"I feel like I've forgotten something...." He mutters with worry.
"Got face wash?" You ask.
"Yeah." He says.
"Toothbrush?"
He pauses, "Nope! Goodness! You're an life saver."
You smile and close your eyes, snuggling down in the covers, "I think you're being a tad dramatic."
"Nope. I would not have been able to survive without my toothbrush." He says matter of factly.
"Mm-hmmmm. Because you couldn't have gone to Walmart and bought one for eighty nine cents."
"Nope." He says popping the P, "I'm very loyal to my toothbrush. It's name is Blue. You know why?"
"Let me guess," you say with sarcasm, "Is it because it's blue?"
"Yeh! How'd you know that?" He says childishly.
"I have super cool mind powers." You say wiggling your eyebrows, even though he can't see you.
He laughs, "I bet you do."
You sigh and you roll over in bed.
"Hey, Iris?" He says quietly.
"Hmmmm?" You mumble.
"I'm going to miss you."
You smile a bit, "I'm going to miss you too, Tom."
"I'm not going to see you got a whole week!" He says disbelievingly.
"Do you have Skype?" You ask.
"No. Do you?"
"Yeah."
"I'll get one." He says.
"Okay." You say.
"Well, I should let you go back to sleep...." He says quietly.
"I'm not even going to argue with you on that one." You say nodding.
He chuckles, "Okay, well, I'll see you later."
"Bye." You say quietly.
"Bye." He responds.
The line goes silent and there's just darkness and quiet.
Perfect time to go back to sleep.
- - - -
You jump into your new car, a shiney, white Toyota Prius and buckle your seat belt. Another successful day of volunteering. You sigh and turn on the radio as you pull out of the drive.
Your phone rings and you quickly check it.
Juliette.
You pull over to the side of the road. Don't want to do the whole coma thing again.
"Hey, what's up?" You answer.
"Hey, Iris. Nothing, just calling to check in. How are you?"
"I'm fine." You say with a shrug.
You can tell that she's smiling smugly, "You missing Thomas?"
You clear your throat uncomfortably, "Yeah. A bit."
"I bet you are. I bet you miss him a lot. I bet as soon as he gets home you're going to give him smooches."
"Okay, changing the topic now." You say quickly.
You hear her chuckle on the other end, "So how's filiming going?"
"Pretty good. I'm not really needed too often so...."
"Yeah. Don't worry. One of these days you'll get a super good job. Just got to keep chasing that dream."
You sigh, "Yeah. What about you? How's the collage search going?"
"Great! I'm still leaning towards BYU Provo but California sounds pretty good too...."
"Just go somewhere you think you'll enjoy learning. You can choose a dental school later. But when you do, keep in mind that both Tennessee and North Carolina have excellent dental programs AND that they're close to ME." You say rasing your eyebrows.
She laughs, "Okay, will do. Hopefully I'll get married before I get into dental school."
"Whoa, honey, don't you be thinking about marriage yet! You're eighteen! You've still got years! Got to graduate collage!"
"By the time I graduate collage I'll be twenty three!" She groans.
"Twenty three is a good age to get married. Twenty four too! Both good ages. Good milestones. You know what, twenty five is a even better age." You say trying to sound convincing.
"You just don't want me to get married." She says grudgingly.
"No, I don't. I will not deny it. You're still that little six year old that sleeps on the bottom bunk and is scared of monsters under the bed." You say matter of factly.
"I'm pretty big for a six year old," Juliette mumbles, "How are you going to treat my future boyfriends and husband, hmmmm? How are you going to feel about him?"
"I will mindlessly hate him."
"You'd better not! I want him to feel like he's welcomed and liked by our family."
"I'm suspecting." You say suspiciously, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Juliette pauses, "Not yet."
"MY GOSH. SOMEONE ASKED YOU OUT ON A DATE DIDN'T THEY?" You say your voice rising.
"Yeah." She says laughing.
"NO." You say refusing to believe that your little sister has a date.
"Yeah. I actually said yes for the fist time in my life."
"NO. WHO IS HE? I'LL KILL HIM." You say jokingly.
"Whoa, there. It's not worth the jail time, Iris."
You purse your lips, "You're right....but I am happy-ish for you."
"Yeah." Juli says, "I figured it was time to start practicing for my degree in MRS."
You laugh, "Well, I'm going to go. I've got things to do, people to see...."
"Okay. I'll talk to you later." Juliette says.
"Bye." You hang up.
Crap.
You're sister is going on a date.
You shake your head and pull back onto the road.
- - - -
You dump your grocery bags on the floor in the kitchen and start to empty them, "Milk, eggs, vinigar, crab meat...." You mumble the items as you put them away. It's about four in the afternoon. You went to your part time job today. You get paid to do certain plays sometimes and others you photograph people for graduation photos and weddings. Just to help you get by. Halfway through the process of putting away the grocery's your phone rings.
Thomas.
You dash over to your phone and answer breathlessly, "Hey, Tommy."
"Hey, flower." He's smiling. You know it. "How are you doing?"
"I'm bored." You groan, "I don't have you guys coming over at random times and bothering me! I don't know what to do with myself."
"You could hang out with Kelsie." Thomas suggests.
You laugh, "Yeah, because Kelsie has loads of free time on her hands. She only manages the animal shelter."
"You don't have any other friends?" He asks disbelievingly.
"I do! They're in California. They're famous. Those are the kinds of people I'm around all the time. Famous ones."
"You do other things besides volunteer at the animal shelter though. Who else do you know?"
"Just people from plays and stuff...." You drone.
"Hang out with one of them!"
"I don't want to."
"So you're just going to complain about it?" Thomas chuckles.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do." You say with dignity.
"Well, when we get back we'll be especially annoying and bothersome."
"I'm holding you to that." You say honestly.
Thomas laughs, "You're funny."
"I know." You say grinning.
" I miss you."
You smile a bit, "I miss you too."
He sighs, "I need to go...."
"You HAVE to?"
"I HAVE to." He says.
You pout, "Okay."
"I'll be back in a few days."
"M'kay."
"Bye."
"Bye Thomas."
- - - -
It's a warm night. You wear skinny jeans, a gray tee and punk rock boots. He should be here any second now. You see a car come turn onto the street. A big white travel van. That must be him.
Excitement bubbles in your stomach. Here he comes, here he comes! You feel kind of like jumping up and down but let's not freak them out and make them turn back around.
The van pulls into the driveway and doesn't even come to a complete stop when Dylan throws open the door and jumps out, followed by Ki, Thomas and Will.
"OH, IRIS HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!" Dylan says with much drama as he runs forward and throws his arms around you, scooping you off the ground and starts spinning you around.
"My center of gravity! I can't find it!" You squeal with laughter.
Finally after he puts you down Thomas forces his way forward to greet you. He gently puts his arms around you, smiling, "Hey flower."
"Hi, Tom." You say hugging him back.
"Awwww. Such a sweet reruinion!" Dylan mocks.
"Shut up, bro. That's love right there." Will says jostling Dylan with his elbow.
The three boys snigger as Thomas shoots them a death glare. Finally he let's you go and gestures for Ki and Will to have at it.
Ki leaps forward, "Iris! Did you miss me?"
"Of course, I did!" You say embracing him.
Then it's Will's turn. He takes the whole hugging thing a little more awkwardly but he says, "Maybe you can get some control over these three. They've been crazy."
"I can certainly try." You smile.
"Come on! Let's go upstairs to my room." Ki offers, "We can catch up. Tell tales. Exaturate the tales our wonderful journey, of course. There may be dragons involved. Most certainly wild bears will be involved. It'll be fun."
You smile, "Lead the way."
As your walk forward Thomas walks beside you and whispers, "Ki really did get chased by a bear. The bloody idiot got too close. I told him not to."
You look at Thomas in surprise, "No kidding! He's crazy! We really do have a lot to catch up on."
Thomas smirks, "Yeah. We do."
Author:
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