All I Ever Wanted

It’s currently 3:30 am and I’m in my kitchen looking for food. Preferably junk food, but I’ll take what I can get. My phone is sitting on the table and I glance over at it every few seconds as I browse the refrigerator. Alex never called. The only person who has called me is my mother. The one time that I do not want her to call, she does. Figures. And all she wanted was to remind me that she and dad are coming home next week. Yeah, right. They’ll probably be home in 2 weeks. They’re in Hawaii right now, ‘recovering their youth’. I’m sure they’re having a blast.
I close the fridge and head over to the pantry, where I see a package of Oreos. Excellent.
“Um, could you kindly step away from my Oreos? I don’t eat your crappy Kashi food.”
I turn to the door where my brother James is leaning against it.
“Sorry… can I have one?”
“Yeah, I came down here to eat them. I was in the mood for chocolate.”
“Thanks, and don’t make fun of my Kashi bars. They’re healthy.”
“But you’re eating Oreos. They aren’t anywhere near healthy.”
I smack the back of his head and he just shrugs. James is 14, the second youngest in our family. The youngest is Daniel, who’s 10. Anyway, all I really want is a few Oreos, and then I’m going back to my room. I’ll try to fall asleep, but I’ll probably end up staring at my phone. That’s how pathetic I am, yeah.
“So why are you awake?” James questions while chewing on a cookie.
“… Cause I can’t sleep. What about you? You’re usually sound asleep by now.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really try to fall asleep. And besides, Daniel’s talking in his sleep again.”
“It sucks that you have to share a room with him.”
“Yeah, you’re lucky you’re the only girl.”
I shrug. I kind of wish I had a sister. An older sister, not younger. It’d be easier to talk to her than Jacob, Steven, Max, James or Daniel. Just saying.
“I wouldn’t say I’m lucky, exactly. I mean you guys are cool and all, but a sister would be nice too. Just cause it’d be easier to talk to her than, say, you or Jacob about girl things.”
“Yeah. I’d prefer not to know about your girl things, thanks. And why do you keep looking at your phone? Are you expecting a call at 4 in the morning?”
“What? No, I just-”
“It’s a guy isn’t it? That’s why you can’t sleep?”
“No, I’m just kind of –”
“Okay, okay, tell me what you want. But I know it’s a guy. I thought it was weird that you were up this late… or early.”
I manage to glare at him on my way out of the kitchen. He’s such a jerk sometimes, I swear. Who knew 14 year olds could be so obnoxious.

5:45 A.M.
My eyes snap open when I hear my phone vibrating on my side table. Who the fuck calls someone at 5 in the morning? Normal people are sleeping, or at least should be. Unless of course they have to be awake this early to get to work. In that case I guess I would understand being awake but seriously, it’s Saturday and I would love it if I could sleep until about 11.
“Hello?” I answer with a sleepy/pissed off tone. And I yawn, just to get my point across.
“Um, Alexis? This is Alex… I met you at your school earlier-”
I sit up so fast you’d think I had some kind of problem. Okay, seriously, I know I’ve been waiting for this kid to call, but really! 5 A.M.?!
“Oh. Hi Alex.”
Wow could I sound anymore ridiculous?
“Hey… did I wake you up or something? You sounded like you were asleep…”
“Well, yeah. I mean, that’s what people do at 5 in the morning.”
“What? It’s 5 A.M.?!” Great, he’s retarded.
“Uh…. Yes?”
Okay, this isn’t going very well.
“Are you serious? Fuck my life, I am so, so sorry. I asked my friend,” He pauses and I hear someone yell out in the background. Then he continues, “What time it was, because I just woke up, and he told me it was 5 but he didn’t specify if it was day or night, and wow. I am so sorry about this. Damn, I’m making such an awful second impression.”
“Oh no really, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” I tell him, thinking ‘hey, everyone makes mistakes’.
“Are you sure? This is so embarrassing right now. This has never happened before, I promise.”
“It’s okay, Alex.”
I think I laughed, but I’m not sure. I’m slightly out of it.
“Um… I could call back later if you want to attempt to go back to sleep?”
“No, it’s fine…”
“Okay… I’m sorry, now this is awkward. I had everything that I was gonna say to you planned out and now none of it would make sense.”
“Why not?”
“I was gonna ask you to hang out tonight, but that was when I thought it was 5 P.M…. But maybe you’d want to hang out anyway? I mean I could take you to dinner and stuff…”
“Yeah, that’d be fun.”
“Wait, really? I didn’t just completely blow my chance with you?”
“No, I told you it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it happens to people all the time…”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Yeah, I am. Sorry.”
He laughs and there’s a pause. It’s not really awkward anymore. I feel like I know him already.
“So anyway. Dinner. I’ll pick you up at 6:30? Where do you live?”
I give him easy directions to my house. Apparently he knows a guy who knows a guy who lives on my block. Small world.
The second I hang up my head hits the pillow. I’m exhausted. But talking to him was completely worth the sleep depravation. And now I have a date with an adorable guy at 6:30, which really doesn’t give me much time to decide what to wear, how to do my hair, and get ready. Whatever, I guess I can deal with that later, when I wake up.