Chapter 24: Good Morning!

Good Morning!


“Storm!” My mother called, but I couldn’t see her face. I wasn’t even sure if it was her. I cuddled into my blankets, shutting out the sunlight flooding through my window.

“Storm! The phone’s for you, and you’ve slept long enough! Its noon! Tom’s flight comes in at five! Get your ass out of bed!” Mom yelled and I realized that the world was no longer perfect.

“Hang on!” I tried to yell, my voice breaking because my throat was dry. I lifted the pillow on my face slowly off, and glanced around my room, chaotic disarray meeting my senses. I had to clean it after I ate breakfast. Lunch?

I stood up and shook off the sense of dizziness that accompanied my motion. Apparently, I had slept through the night. I didn’t remember waking up at all.

“You got it yet?” She yelled up, less dramatically. She actually seemed to be in a good mood.

“Hang on!” I swallowed the horrible taste of morning breath and stumbled around for the phone. I found it under a pile of papers, and I turned it on triumphantly.

“Got it!” I yelled, covering the receiver with my hand so I wouldn’t break the eardrums of whoever was on the phone.

“Hello?” I asked the phone, waiting for the answer.

“Good morning, beautiful!” Angela’s cheery voice greeted my sleepy one. “I have a question for you.”

“Huh?” I asked her, wiping my eyes with my free hand. I was covered in sweat from the night before. Those covers on my bed were apparently very toasty.

“Do you think you could take me to the airport with you? I know I originally wanted nothing to do with Tom…but now I kind of want to meet him.”

“Am I taking your boyfriend as well? Because Christy is riding along with me, and Kaley and Steve and quite a few other people are coming along to the airport in a different vehicle. My mom probably won’t like more than one person coming to the airport to meet Tom with us.” My mind immediately turned to business.

“No, just me. Jack’s off doing something today.”

“Does he even know that Tom’s coming over to America today?”

“Nope. How’d your boyfriend take the news that you were going to have another guy at your house?”

“Not very well. Remind me why I’m doing this?”

“I’m not really sure.” Angela admitted. I actually missed her. She had gotten into several sports in high school, and I had pretty much lost contact with her. We were still friends, but we barely got to hang out together. And her boyfriend took up most of her other free time. “Didn’t you promise him or something?”

“Yeah. So what are the rules between you and him? So I can explain to him?” I had, of course, adopted the role of mediator in between those two. I didn’t want him trying to rape her, and I didn’t want her trying to fall in love with him. Both of them had cheated on each other, and long distance was too difficult for either of them to handle at that point.

“We’re just friends. He knows that. Or at least, he agreed to it.”

“Right.” Somehow, I doubted that he actually felt that way. “When did you talk to him last?”

“It’s been a while. He doesn’t know I’m coming. It’d be like a surprise. I’m kind of curious though, you know?”

“Yeah. I’d give anything to meet my current boyfriend. Or even any of my ex’s. They all were pretty cool before they turned into ass holes.”

“So when are you going to come get me? Or do I need to get a ride to your house?”

“Either or. You should be here by four. But you can come over anytime in between two and four. You know?”

“Yeah. I can get a ride, so you don’t have to bother.”

“Okay. Can I go wake up and get something to eat?” I asked her, looking at the time. I only had the span of a few hours to get dressed, eat, clean my room, and clean up the room where Tom would be staying. Two hours, in fact, since Angela was coming by 2 and Christy also. Today was going to be as hectic as the previous day.

“Sure. I’ll see you around two thirty.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and set it on its hook in the corner of my room. That’s where it really belonged. I looked at my floor, covered in clothes, and decided that now would be a good time to at least pile them into the hamper to get them out of my way. I picked a relatively clean pair of shorts and threw them onto my bed to wear later.

“What’d Angela want?” Mom called up the stairs as I bent over to pick up the five T-shirts in one corner and move them to the hamper.

“She’s going to come with us to pick up Tom. Is that okay?” I called back downstairs.

“I thought she didn’t want anything to do with him?” I threw my dirty clothes in the hamper, and that task done, realized that I really, really needed to pee.

“I don’t know. She wants to come with us to meet him. She has a boyfriend now, so its not like her and Tom are going to magically fall in love, get married and have babies together. You know?”

“When’s she coming?” Mom looked up the stairs at me as I crossed the hallways into the bathroom.

“Around two thirty. I have to clean my room and eat something, and I’ll be all set. Tom’s going to be in the extra room out back, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” I rushed into the bathroom to finish that particular task as quickly as possible.


“What do you want for breakfast?” Mom stood in the doorway of the bathroom, looking at me as I finished washing my hands.

“Um, I don’t know. Toast would be lovely. Why, are you feeling generous?”

“You start cleaning your room up a little bit, and I’ll get your breakfast ready for you. You have quite a mess in there.”

“Its not my fault. Its been so hectic for me between the end of school and work and everything else.” I tried to defend myself, and failed miserably.

“Uh huh.” Mom made her way down the stairs to begin my breakfast. I made my descent into the land of chaos.

Books, homework that served no purpose any longer, binders, papers lay all over my floor. Guitar accessories. I heard a creak of a door open, and then the pitter patter of not quite so small feet racing across our hardwood floor downstairs.

“Hey, Mom!” I yelled to her as Sam and Jack bounded up the stairs to see if I was awake yet. “Can you keep the dogs –Ah!” I was knocked onto my floor. Apparently, they were excited to see me. I let the dogs lick me for a moment before shooing them out my door.

“Go! Get! I got stuff to do that doesn’t involve you! Go on!” I shut the door in Sam’s face, observing his forlorn and downcast expression as he realized I didn’t really want to play with him. I looked across my floor and bent over to pick up the papers nearest to me face.

“Shit…” I muttered. I had at least a half an hour of things to do just in my room. Maybe if I worked fast, I could get a load of my laundry done before Christy and Angela got to my house. Maybe.