Between You and Me

Chapter 10

"I do not have anything to be embarrassed about!"

So what she kissed a boy she liked. Big deal. So what he did not kiss her back, and in fact was repulsed. That was a him problem, not hers.

After reading a few entries in her grandmother's journal, she was reinvigorated. It was as if she was talking to her grandmother in person. Learning about a part of her life when she was young, hopeful, and determined. Obviously her grandmother got her man because she was here, a product of that. She wondered what other stories she was in store for reading more entries later.

She knocked on her sister's door to tell Zee about their grandmother's journals. Maybe she would want to read them as well when she was done.

"Zee!" She opened her door and walked into the room but Zee was not in her bed.

Zee's room was such a mess, it looked like a hurricane ran through it. Her bed covers were bundled on the floor, and there were clothes, books, and trash on her bed like she ate in her bed. There were dirty clothes all over the floor you could barely see the floor. Discarded towels sat in the corner. There were boxes and boxes of tennis shoes in every brand lined against the wall. Her sister was a sneakerhead and before moving into their house, she kept them stacked up in their closet in the cramped apartment, or in the corners of the room or under her bed.

It was a hard task keeping their room clean, and their mother was not much of an enforcer.

She felt bad seeing her grandmother's room, the room she shared with Gregory once upon a time in shambles. She picked up the towels and some clothes to at least get rid of some clutter. She tossed them all in her closet in the laundry bin that was overstuffed. She stacked away a few pairs of shoes but she was not going to find the boxes they belonged. She lined them up on top of the boxes.

"There!"

The floor could at least be seen, but the room was still chaotic. How could Zee live in such disorder? She was not the neatest, but she was not a slob either.

She checked her phone to see if her sister left her any new messages on why she was gone. She had not. She decided to call her.

"Yo Zee."

"What's up, sis?"

"Where are you? It's Sunday morning and you're not here. I never get to see you here between school and work."

"My bad, sis. I stayed with my girlfriend last night."

She did not know her sister had a girlfriend. This was new, like since they moved. When they shared rooms they would stay up late at night talking about everything. She would talk about boys she liked, and Zee would talk about girls. Now that they had their own rooms, it was like they were on different planets.

"Okay, well-"

"I'll be home later, we can hang. Oh, I should take you out on the town. Hit the outlet mall. I need some new kicks."

She looked around her sister's room. No, she did not.

"Okay, shopping should be fun. Let me know when you'll be back and I'll be ready."

She was still on a budget so she could not tear the mall up. No job, no extra funds. All she had was the trust fund and she needed that to pay for the next three years of college. If she dipped too much in it, she would be short. She would not let her grandmother down, she would finish college and become a teacher like her.

When she made it into the kitchen, Tristan was there, sitting at the kitchen table instead of in the dining room, eating a bowl of cereal.

As always, head down to his phone as he ate and ignored her.