Lost in the Shadows

15

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Wes snoring. It was annoyingly relaxing. He looks so sweet when he's sleeping, maybe because he doesn't have to worry about playing different roles or have to hide his emotions, he can just relax. In the moment though, I didn't care. After last night I just wanted to leave.

I slowly and carefully got out of the bed and then checked to make sure he was still out cold before tiptoeing out into the hallway. Once I made it to the door I put on my shoes and walked out the house.

I didn't know exactly how to get back to my apartment, but I vaguely remember the streets on how to get out of this neighborhood. I noticed that no one was on their porch today, it was strange almost like a ghost town. Even with the silence, New York was never really quiet, I still heard car horns and shouting people in the distance. It wasn't relaxing at all, in fact it made me anxious most of the time.

As I walked I wondered how Georgia sounded this morning, are the crickets and birds chirping? Are the frogs croaking? Are the squirrels scrambling and playing around in the trees? Can they hear the water from the lake rippling with every bit of movement underneath the water? Are the school busses running this morning? If so, I would love to hear to it. That's what relaxes me; Sounds of nature, sounds of the work of Mother Nature.

I checked the time on my phone as I finally reached the end of the neighborhood, it read 8:27 am. I was shocked at myself for waking up this early, my classes are usually later so It wasn't like I was used to waking up This early.

The crisp air caused me to shiver as I made it across the sidewalk. The wind whipping through the tall buildings made it much colder than what it was, in Georgia it never gets this cold. I've never even seen snow before. I heard a rumor once stating that swimming weather in the north is 65 degrees, which amazes me since anything below 70 degrees I need a jacket.

I finally reached my apartment and let out a sigh of relieve. Once I made it into my apartment Jess was making waffles. "So the night must've gone well if you spent the night," she paused holding a knife in the air in thought, "but considering you left early without Wes accompanying you, that might not be be good."

I groaned pulling a stool out from the bar counter and throwing my head against my arms on the counter. "I don't want to talk about."

"That bad, huh," Jess huffed putting his black hair into a messy bun. "Well, luckily for you, party tonight. What do you say," she cheered as she did a little dance, I think it was the "raise the roof", but I couldn't be sure.

"I'm not sure," I told her truthfully. I wasn't in the mood for partying, but I was in the mood to get a little drunk. Everything with Wes last night made me really stressed, It felt like whiplash; one minute he likes me and he's kissing me, next minute there's a random girl shouting that when the other girls find out they're going to ruin him. What does that even mean? Am I on a soap opera? "Actually, you know what, I'm in," I told her and she clapped flipping a waffle onto a plate and passing it to me.

Jessica is such a good friend, I don't know what I would do without her. Yeah, she may be the hot friend with her olive skin tone, her dark thick locks, and her signature red lipstick, but at the end of the day, she's my best friend and I don't care that I'm the normal one. She's also the most sociable one out of us, she's always making new friends, because of how wild and carefree she is. I on the other hand wait for Jess to find me friends, or wait to be approached to.

Knock knock

I went to look through the peephole to see Wes standing outside the door. In a panic I ran up to Jess whispering, "It's Wes, I'm not here!" And hurried off into my bedroom.