Lying there and looking up at the dark sky made me think of all the possibilities that came to be our existence. There could be another being out there staring back and thinking the same thing. Interesting, right? I often thought about how another world could be out there. One better than ours. How could there not be other inhabited planets out there looking up at the sky? There’s so much out there.
The moon was still visible through the tree branches to my right. “I wonder what it’d be like to go there,”I said to myself, caressing Frankie’s long back.
A thought popped into my mind. Not so much a thought, but a name. His name.
I pulled my phone from the back-right pocket of my jeans and flipped it open. Looked through my contacts and there it was. His name. Exactly where he put it the day before. And as I sat there thinking about him and everything he said to me, Dana’s voice popped into my mind.“Just talk to people. Reach out.”What harm could it do? I only wanted to make a friend.
Hey. It’s Étienne, I texted.
And after almost an hour of staring at my phone, there was no response.
It’s the middle of the night, Étienne. Go to bed, you idiot.“Come on Frankie. Let’s go to bed.”
THURSDAY 05 JUNE 2008
4
REALLY, RILEY?
Boom!
Niall kicked open the door and Callum ran in and jumped on top of me.
“What the—”
My twin brothers pulled the blanket off me and shouted in unison, “Where were you last night, Étienne?”
“Argh, what time is it?” I shrieked as Niall joined Callum in squishing me on my bed. “Watch out, you goons. Frankie’s under the covers with me.” I frantically felt for the long sausage body, but he wasn’t there.Whew.I reached out and grabbed my phone from the nightstand.7:45it read.
“Ugh, aren’t you idiots supposed to be on the way to school?”
“Callum. Niall. Go get changed now! We’re leaving in ten minutes whether you’re dressed or not,” my mom yelled from the kitchen.
Thankfully that was their cue to leave the room, but not before yelling out in unison, “Étienne’s got a girlfriend. Étienne’s got a girlfriend.”
They really have no idea, do they?
I slammed the door shut after they ran out. Then I lay back in bed with a pillow over my face to try to get some more sleep.
Wait.Did he text me back?
I tore the pillow off my face and leaned over to check my phone again.Hmm.No response. Was it too early in the morning? Or was he avoiding me after our strange encounter the day before? Maybe he was thinking the same thing I was:Why am I so eager to talk to this guy?Or worse. He could be asking himself why I texted him so late at night.
My hand involuntarily reached for the pillow and threw it back on my face as the thoughts began to deepen and my anxiety from the previous day spiked. Again.
“Hey,” Riley yelled from the bathroom across the hall. “Étienne.”
“Ergh, do you not see what time it is, Riley? Why are you up so early?”
“Good morning to you too. Sheesh,” she replied. “Do you work tonight? I might need you to drive me to Nate’s when Mom gets off work. She told me to walk. What kind of mom tells her daughter to walk?”
“No. I requested the day off weeks ago so I could sleep. You know it’s summer break now? We can sleep in!” I shook my head before adding, “Just walk. He lives like less than a half mile from here.”
“Come on. Please. Just drop me off when Mom gets home from work.”
“Riley! You know Mom literally uses her car for work. She can’t just waste her gas money on you needing a ride to Nate’s.”
My mom was a visiting nurse. It was a hard job, but she liked that she could set her own hours and take days off when she needed to. She had suggested I look into it since I did so well taking care of my dad. And I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I gave it a shot, shadowing one of my mom’s nurse friends during spring break. But it wasn’t for me.