I woke up to the morning sun shining through my window. I covered my head with my pillow, as I groaned, attempting to block out the light.
Just as I got comfortable, my alarm began to ring. Once again, I groaned. As I blinded tapped my fingers over the screen of my phone to turn it off.
My eyes flinched as they adjusted to light when I removed the pillow from my head.
I looked around my room, trying to figure out my plan for the day.
Work and then home.
"That's it?" I said to myself. "Whatever."
I sat up in my bed and stretched, then I went to get dressed.
I picked out my favorite puffer jacket, a black turtleneck, and jeans, with my favorite pair of Vans sneakers.
As I exited my front door, the cold air settled on my skin. My eyes wandered to the fluffy snow-covered trees in my yard. I recalled planting them with Dad 5 years ago, I always wanted Spruce trees in my yard. I exhaled breath condensation as I thought about Dad not being present for this Christmas.
"Glad I brought my jacket," I said to myself
just as I thought that my boss had emailed me; I'd been let go. Just what I needed right now.
UGH.
I got in my car anyway and drove to my brothers.
As I pulled into his driveway, I noticed a rental car parked at the edge.
Hmm.
I called him from outside.
"you busy?" I questioned. "you're not gonna believe this!" he exclaimed with no context.
"what? I'm outside your house right now." I replied.
*phone call dropped*
wow. I thought.
I sat there sulking.
Suddenly, I heard a bang on my car window.
I look up and see a familiar face. And immediately jump out of the car and give them both a hug.
My brother and his childhood best friend. "what are you doing here?!" I asked her. She started chuckling. Damn, her smile is just... Enchanting... for a moment, I felt my heart drop.
I remember being the dumb sister and bothering the two of them.
My mom would always joke about them getting married; before college, they were inseparable.
"a bit excited, are we?" she smiled. I rolled my eyes with the biggest smile.
"you didn't tell us you were coming," I questioned. Soren smiles like an idiot. "she surprised me last night."
"spending the night already, aye?" I chuckled. "WILLOW!" Soren rebutted. Olivia's face turned red, and she gave me a playful jab on my arm. "shut up." she exclaimed as she started laughing.
"I'm just kidding, obviously," I exclaimed, putting my hand on the arm for a comical effect.
They both chuckled and brushed the comment off.
"We were wondering if you wanted to come to the movies with us tonight," Soren asked.
I hesitate before answering. "sure, why not?"
"why the hesitation?" Olivia questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I-" Before I could even get a word out, Olivia continued. "if you don't want to hang, you can just say so," She teased.
"Oh, haha, I paused to figure out if I was being invited to third wheel your DATE." I mocked.
"It's not a date," Olivia deadpans.
![TWISTED EGO [GXG] by _womenl0ver](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/385072329-80-k532979.jpg)
"damn, okay, it was a joke, no need to get so serious," I said, chuckling it off.
"Sorry, I'm just tired of people assuming.." she sighs.
"Assuming what?" I question,
"Nothing, never mind." she shakes the question off.
With that, my brother and I looked at each other with wonder; after we shook it off, we finished our conversation, and then they had to run some errands before we went to the movies tonight, so I drove myself home.
At home, I called my boyfriend to tell him about Olivia being back and about the movie tonight.
"Hey Luke," I say after a long series of ringing. "what are you up to right now?" I ask.
"Nothing much, Willow, what's up?" He questions as if he has something else to do or something else on his mind.
"You know how I told you about my brother's friend Olivia?" I asked,
"Yeah, your brother's friend who left for college?"
"Yeah, well, she's back for a bit, and she and my brother wanted me to go to the movies with them tonight so that I won't be over to your house until late," I say.
"Alright, just make sure you don't forget your key in case I already passed out when you arrive."
"Okay-"
"Anything else? I'm actually kind of busy."
"no.. that's it-"
"Alright, bye-"
he hung up. Wow.
"Love you too, asshole."
Luke is usually pretty sweet, so that was odd. But maybe he was working or something. I don't know.
When I brushed off the irritation from being hung up on, I cleaned around the house and prepared to go out. After a while of cleaning, I stumbled upon Luke's laptop. I debated looking through it because the phone call earlier gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I decided against it because I trusted him, for the most part. Still, with an odd feeling in my stomach, I got a text from an unknown number.
"Hey, it's Olivia! Would you help me get your brother a gift for Christmas? It's been a while since we've hung out, and I'm unsure what to get him."
I pondered for a moment and then responded,
"Yeah, ofc! Just let me know when you're going."
after a moment of no response, a text came through.
"I was hoping you would say that; I'm outside now!"
as I finished reading that, a knock at my front door echoed through my home.
I almost sprinted to the front door to answer it.
Olivia's warm and endearing smile greeted me as I opened the door.
"Hey!" she said with a smile plastered all over her face.
"Hi!" I said as she invited herself in and hugged me. "uh, I guess just give me a minute to get my bag, and we can go," I exclaimed with a chuckle.
"Yay!" she said, still smiling.
I grabbed my bag, and we were on our way; we chatted a bit to catch up more on the way to her car. We headed into town and went to the local mall. I almost completely forgot about peculiarity earlier. It still sat at the back of my head, but hanging out with Olivia made me forget for the most part. "wanna hit Starbucks first?" Olivia questioned as we took our first steps into the mall, and she gestured to our left, where a Starbucks was located right next to the entrance. To entice young women such as ourselves to get something on the way in, out, or both? "Yeah, but only if you're paying, though. I don't have a job as of this morning." I replied.
