Chapter 2: Secret Life of Storm

Secret Life of Storm

I signed on mostly to check my email. I did have homework to at least start before I went to pick up Kaley so we could hang out. The Yahell! Message popped up before I even got around to opening a window to check my mail.

Roger says: Hey cutie, you around? I should be until three thirty, just get back to me. We gots us some things to discuss.

I shook my head. Roger could be so…liberal with his nicknames. I looked at the time…three twenty. I double clicked to open the window and typed my reply, even though the messenger warned me that “Roger may not be available and s/he appears to be offline.”

Storm says: I’m here, you around? I missed you today!

I minimized the window and went to check my email. If he was around, he was a slow typist and it would take him a minute to respond. Moments later…

Roger says: Hey Girl! How was your day at school?
Storm says: eh…boring as all hell. Yours at work?
Roger says: same old, same old. you checked out the site recently?
Storm says: I just got home! Relax old man!!!!!!!
Roger says: damn, you’re bitchy today. Callin me all old n stuf…
Storm says: lol, I was only joking. Where do you have to be at three thiry?
Roger says: *thirty . I have to take the cat to the vet for her annual check pup.
Storm says: *up . Like you should be correcting me on my spelling errors.
Storm says: You spoil that cat, btw. Its not like she ever wants for anything.
Roger says: I know, but I love her so much. She’s all I got.

I know, I said I was going to check my email. But talking to Roger is so much fun. I only knew him for a few months by then, he had a girlfriend and everything. But he was hot, and he kept me on my toes. We ran a chat forum together.. Fun stuff, right?

Storm says: Anything interesting happen today?
Roger says: Nope. Hey babe; I gotta go. I’ll buzz ya tonight when I get in.
Storm says: Don’t promise anything you can’t keep.
Roger says: Love ya munchkin
Storm says: I’m not little!
Roger says: Uh huh…
Roger has now signed off of Yahell!

A small note here…Yahell! is my translation for Yahoo! Messenger. Mostly because its inaccurate, unreliable, and has the worst color scheme of any of the messengers. However, I would choose it over AOL any day. Who wouldn’t?

I checked my email. Nothing. Then I sat back to rot my brain with news clippets and message boards. I had homework, yes, but I could relax. Everyone had that right, right?

Sighing, I got off of the computer and looked longingly at my bed. It was almost too much to ask; being able to nap for an hour. I looked at the clock, and realized my parents would be home in maybe thirty minutes. I could try to sleep.

I stood up from the computer and stretched upwards, feeling the tension loosen in my back and my abs. If I slept, there was a good chance I would wake up sore and grumpy for the rest of the evening.

I reached under my shirt, behind me, and struggled with the clip of my bra. I got the bottom half unclipped, then growled in frustration as the second part came unclipped. I slipped the straps through my T-shirt and over my arms and slid it off underneath my shirt. My pants were next – all of my pants just kind of slipped off. Leaving my underwear, socks, and shirt on, I climbed into my messed up bed.

It was getting close to the time when I could sleep with a thinner blanket, but right then I still had my heavy fleece blanket covering my bed like a huge canopy. Even on the coldest nights, I’d wake up sweating. It was so comfy.

I snuggled under the covers, feeling empty. The one thing I hated about going to bed was that hole that I felt in my stomach, always. What I would give, even with no boyfriend, just to have someone hold me. Its that feeling that you’ve always searched for, and you know what it is, but its not like you’re going to go up to some random stranger and say, “Hey, stranger, will you sleep with me so I don’t feel like I have a hole ripped through me by an ax?” You know?

I closed my eyes and drifted off to the night’s oblivion.