Audrey
The smellof bacon pulls me out of my sleep and I stretch my body. My leg hits something solid and I sit up, scanning the space around me. This isn’t my bed and Tiffany is curled up in a ball on the other side of the sofa. It takes me a few moments, but I recall falling asleep before the movie even started last night. Ugh, my body is going to be sore all day. This isn’t the best place to sleep. It’s comfortable enough to lounge on while watching TV, but it sucks to sleep on. It’s even worse when there’s another person taking up space.
Moving my head from left to right, I try to work out the tightness in my neck. I stretch my legs again, out of habit, and end up kicking Tiffany. “Stop Audrey,” she mumbles in her sleep. The fact that she’s still asleep is baffling. She usually jumps right up at the smell of food. It doesn’t matter what kind it is, either. She is almost always hungry and usually beats everyone to the table.
I swing my legs over the edge of the sofa and there’s a loud crunch when my feet touch the floor. God, I hope it’s not a junebug that found its way in when my parents came in last night. It may be ridiculous, but I have an irrational fear of those things. I swear they dive bomb my hair and it takes forever to get them out because of their stupid, sticky little legs. I don’t even know why they exist. They serve absolute zero purpose except to creep me out. Luckily, when I look down, there is popcorn littering the floor. The bowl is upside down on the floor in front of Tiffany. If I had to guess, she fell asleep with it in her lap and knocked it off when she fell asleep. Leave it to her to make such a huge mess when she’s not even awake.
Bending down I scoop as much of it as I can into a bowl, but there are still kernels stuck in the carpet. I could be a jerk and pull out the vacuum. I can imagine the shock on Tiff’s face when she wakes up with the loud noise right next to her head. It would serve her right for not going home or at least going to my bed. I know for a fact that she woke up at some point because the blanket that sits at the end of my bed is wrapped around her body. I’m almost certain she also ignored the mess she made knowing I would clean it up this morning. Yep, I’m doing it. Nothing can stop me and she’ll get over it after she pouts for a bit about her sleep being interrupted.
My steps are quiet as I make my way from the living room to the kitchen. The laundry room is just on the other side and maybe I can sneak the vacuum without my mom noticing anything. I’m feet away from the laundry room when Mom’s voice stops me in my tracks. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” It comes out high pitched and squeaky. There’s no way in hell she’s going to believe me. She can tell when I’m lying a mile away.
“Don’t you dare pester your cousin.” It’s like she’s in my brain, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
“Mom, I freaking stepped on popcorn.” I cross my arms over my chest. “She didn’t bother cleaning it up when she stole my blanket from my room. It would serve her right.”
She points the tongs she’s using to cook the bacon toward the table. “Sit. She can clean it up when she wakes up.”
A part of me wants to defy her and do it anyway. The worst she would do is ground me, or lecture me to death about my cousins and I being forever bonded. How we shouldn’t pick on each other. Blah, blah, blah, I’ve heard it all before and I don’t really want to listen to it today after the night I had last night. “Fine.” But I don’t go straight to the table. I rush to the counter and swipe a couple of pieces of bacon faster than she attempt to swat at my hand. “But I’m eating these before I do.”
She rolls her eyes and turns to flip the bacon. “Why didn’t you come play games last night? We missed you. Maybe you could have kept that one,” she points toward the living room, “under control.”
“Please, Mom,” it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “You know there’s no controlling her. She does whatever she feels like.” I take a bite of the bacon and it’s seriously the best way to wake up in the morning. “As for not playing games, Justin and I had to cut our date short last night.”
“The usual reason?” I hate that she knows without me even saying a word. She has listened to me complain about Justin’s dad on more than one occasion. She’s given me advice when she can, but it doesn’t always help. I can’t force the man to like me.
“Yep.” I take another bite. “Crap. He said he was going to call me last night but I fell asleep. I need to check my phone.” I shove the rest of the bacon in my mouth and run to the living room. My phone is sitting on the coffee table, and I grab it looking for any sign that he called. There are two missed calls and a message. I listen to the message and my heart falls. Last night didn’t go well for him at all.
My mom is still cooking bacon when I walk into the kitchen, but she must hear my footsteps. “Did he call?”
“Yeah, it went about as good as expected.” Which means horrible if I know his dad as well as I think I do. He has to be at work in like thirty minutes. I wonder if I can beat him there with breakfast. It might at least make his day better. “Hey, Mom, can I steal some of the bacon?”
“You already did,” she points at the crumbs on the table.
“I mean to take to Justin,” I huff. She knows what I meant; she’s just being difficult. “I’m also going to grab some donuts for him.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” She’s already heading toward the pantry to pull out a plastic baggie to hold the bacon. “Go get ready, and I’ll have something ready for you.”
It takes me less than ten minutes to brush my teeth and change my clothes. There’s no time for a shower. It will have to wait until I get back. When I come back to the kitchen, my mom has a couple of bags on the counter. One holds more bacon than he has time to eat and three sausage biscuits. “Thanks, Mom. You’re seriously the best.”
“You’re welcome,” she shoos me away, “now hurry before he has to go into work. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”
I wasn’t lying when I said she’s the best. Some of the girls at school gripe about how much they hate their mothers. I can’t imagine feeling that way about mine. Even when she thinks I’m making a mistake; she lets me make it and learn from it. I always know she has my back no matter what happens in my life. Grabbing the keys, I rush out the door making sure to slam it as hard as I can. With any luck, Tiffany is now awake and Mom can deal with her.