Lexi's In A New City

Chapter 10

Early Friday morning, Lexi sat cross-legged on her bed with her phone to her ear. She patiently waited for her mother to pick up, passing the time by playing with her wavy chestnut blonde hair. She twirled her long locks until she heard someone pick up on the other end.

"Hello!"

"Hi, Mom! Do you have a minute?"

"Of course I do, dear. Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Lexi said. "I just got word of when Reading Week is, and I wanted to let you know. I was hoping to see you and Dad then."

"Oh, okay. When is it?"

Lexi let her know of the early October date. There was a pause as Lexi heard her mother shift through some papers. She then heard her mother sigh over the phone.

"Honey, I have some bad news: your father and I will be in Aruba that week. I forgot to get you a ticket...I can't believe I let it slip my mind. And last time I checked, the flight is fully booked. I'm sorry."

Lexi bit her lip to stop herself from cursing. Of course her parents would book a trip to some tropical destination during Reading Week. Maybe it was because she was now so far away from home now, but her parents had clearly forgotten to invite their own daughter along this year. It hurt that she'd somehow been forgotten by her parents. But she managed to compose herself so she could continue speaking normally. Lexi wanted to come off as though it didn't bother her whatsoever.

"That's okay," she said, "I figured you'd guys would be going away that week. I just wanted to double check, that's all. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure, sweetie?" her mother questioned. "I feel awful now."

"No, don't feel awful!" Lexi exclaimed. "You guys have fun. Besides, I'll be able to pick up more hours at work that week. It's all good, I swear."

"Well...alright. Shoot, I have a client calling me. I gotta go now, okay?"

"Alright. Bye, Mom."

Once the phone call disconnected, Lexi then called up her boss at Barne's & Noble's. She quickly explained that she would be available anytime for just that week, much to her boss' delight. That call ended rather fast, much to Lexi's relief. She proceeded to set her phone aside and lie on her bed. A heavy sigh left her lips, followed by a soft curse.

So much for seeing my family during Reading Week, she thought. I'm gonna be stuck here all alone. What a great way to spend my week off from school.

Lexi decided to crawl out of her sinking disappointment before it enveloped her completely. She chose to focus on her book outline and character development for her novel. But the nagging thought of being alone during Reading Week stuck around in her head, refusing to go away for even a moment. This left Lexi a bit of an emotional mess, and it only distracted her from her work.

Her phone suddenly went off, distracting her from her work even more. Finally frustrated beyond her limit, Lexi shut off her phone without even seeing why exactly her phone had gone off. It didn't matter what the notification was— she needed to stay on task. But even with that distraction nipped in the bud, she was still unable to keep her mind on her novel. She made little progress on character development, and none on the book outline. She couldn't think of any decent ideas for her crime thriller novel. Anything that came to mind was either too dull, too gory, or too stupid. It wasn't long until she found herself at the end of her rope.

"I need to get the hell out of here."

Lexi stood up, grabbed her keys, and stormed out of her room in a rush. Once she made it outside her dormitory, she studied her surroundings to see where to go from here. A cool breeze swirled around, blowing her hair in various directions and making her a little cold. Still, she began walking towards the heart of campus. She didn't care where her legs would take her, so long as she was able to find her way back to her dormitory at some point. What was more important now was walking around so she could perhaps finally clear her head from all her unpleasant thoughts.