My Lovely Life - The Story of Ethan Bennett

Chapter nineteen - Video Games

It's the thunder that sets me off. After laying in bed for hours, listening to May breathe slowly, I give up. I hate it when it's storming. With a heavy sigh, I sit up and let the cold air onto my skin. My psychologist said that it's the stress that sometimes makes it hard to fall asleep. Or in this case, impossible. But as long as it doesn't happen too often, I accept the fact that I'll get to sleep some other time. I would've woken up May, but she's meeting her long-lost brother tomorrow. I don't want to mess that up for her by being restless. Instead, I pick up my phone, getting majorly blinded in the process, and text Diana to see if she's up.

E - Awake?

D - Kinda

She called me a few seconds after that, and we decided to meet up. Maybe it sounds weird, leaving May alone to go see Diana. But it's not. Diana is my best friend and I can't remember all the countless nights we've spent together. We would usually end up driving around in her car. Sometimes the trip would end at Happy Cat, other times we'd just end up back home. After we hang up I text May, telling her where I'm at, in case she wakes up without me. Then I sneak downstairs, careful not to wake anybody. I sit down in the kitchen as I wait to hear the sound of tires on the gravel outside. The image of my mother and Hanneli and everybody else running around in the kitchen becomes so apparent that I almost think it's real. I miss Hanneli. We spoke on the phone a couple of days ago and she seemed to have a really nice time. Laura has gone back to school as well. Just as I hear Diana's car, I get a reply from May.

M - U ok?

Then I smile at my phone like another dork.

E - Yeah

M - Okay <3

Opening the front door, I run over to the car, hoping not to get too soaked but failing somewhat miserably.

"Hi," Diana says and gives me a hug. "You're wet."

"Haha," I say sarcastically as I fasten my seatbelt. "Where to?"

"Up and away!" She laughs and I roll my eyes at her. That was something my mother used to say when we were kids.

A little while later we find ourselves sitting in the trunk of her car in a parking lot in the middle of town. The rain has eased up a bit and the damp summer air just kind of makes anything seem possible. It's just one of those incredible moments that makes you lift your eyes from your own everyday problems and see that there's more to life than school, work, and anxiety. I think Diana feels the exact same way because all of a sudden she starts crying.

"Hey," I say worriedly and wrap my arms tightly around her, somewhat scared of what's happening.

"It's okay" She sniffles after a little while and dries her nose with the arm of her jacket.

"Matt and I had a fight last night." She says and breathes heavily while trying to dry her tears.

"What did he do?" I ask with a fake-disappointed voice, as I let go of her. She laughs a little before she goes back to sniffling.

"We were talking about college and different options and so on... You know I've been thinking about ones, all across the country?" She says and I nod. "He got really upset about it, almost as if I am abandoning him."

"Okay," I say, knowing precisely how he feels. I felt the same way when Hanneli told me she didn't want to go to the college closest to home. Although, I imagine this might be a little different. The potential of going long distances breaks up a lot of couples. I don't even know where May wants to go...

"It's as if he's waiting for me to realize 'I'm too good for him or something'" She exclaims, this time quite angrily.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" I ask, thinking maybe he needs to hear it from someone else.