Go Around

Kennedy was alone at her house and it was the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday. Alex had spent the night, but his mom had called him at eight o’clock in the morning asking him to come home because she needed to go grocery shopping and she wanted him to help. Alex, being the loving son he is, went to her aid and left shortly after the call.
Truth be told, Kennedy didn’t remember much of the process while he was leaving. She briefly remembered the call and him kissing her on the forehead, but that was it. She had been dozing in and out of consciousness.
Kennedy was standing in her mid-thigh length silk robe in the middle of her kitchen, clutching her coffee mug that was easily the size of three regular coffee mugs. She let out a sigh, waiting for the coffee to finish.
She thought of Jack and Lisa and what an odd pair it was. Kennedy loved Jack but she would be the first to admit that he wasn’t traditionally handsome, but he was extremely attractive in a unique, kind of alternative way, but he wasn’t what she would consider the sexy jock. Lisa on the other hand was one of the ‘hot’ girls at the school. That was the only reason she was popular, because she was hot and for no other reason. In Lisa’s case there was an exception because Lisa was exceptionally bright, almost as good at school as Kennedy was, but that was also giving her a lot of credit. Kennedy doubted that Lisa had a 4.2 GPA like she did. But, Lisa being one of the ‘hot’ girls explained why she liked to party and drink as often as she did.
When the coffee got done, she picked up the pot that was filled to the rim and poured her mug full of it and put in two spoonfuls of sugar and a little bit of cream. Before she had moved to New York for the second time she had said she would only drink coffee if it was a latte and usually only a frappaccino from Starbucks, but when she met her friend Audrey, Audrey had just found that completely unacceptable. She thought that if Kennedy was going to call herself a coffee drinker than she really needed to know what coffee was and be able to drink it so for four months the only coffee Kennedy drank was the coffee she made in a pot at her house. At first she couldn’t stand how bitter it was, but eventually she couldn’t stand how sweet it was with sugar and milk in it so she drank it just black, but eventually she found that she could drink pretty much anything; black coffee, caramel latte, mocha breve, cappuccino, Medici, frappaccino, Turkish coffee, amongst other things.
She walked over to her table and watched the sunlight through the window pane as she let out a sigh. She couldn’t help but let her mind wander off to colleges and what she wanted to major in when she got there. Some part of her was trepadacious about going to college because she didn’t want to leave Alex but another part of her was excited that this was the first step in her claiming her independence away from her mother and from everybody else she’d been co-dependent on in the past. She was excited.
Her front door opened and Kennedy’s heart started to quicken. She first thought that it was Alex coming back to surprise her like he had the previous night but she saw her mom’s brown hair bob into view and she was immediately let down by her assumption. “Good to see you, roommate,” Kennedy said to her mom, taking another long sip of her coffee. The only way to deal with her mother was with caffeine in her system.
“That’s not nice,” her mother told her and pointed a finger at her as she carried grocery bags into the kitchen and set them down on the counter.
“Wow, my mommy’s all grown up – she actually went grocery shopping by herself,” Kennedy said in a baby voice that she knew irritated the shit out of her mother. Kennedy heard her mother let out a deep sigh, but Kennedy knew that her mother wouldn’t say anything because all it would do would end up in them arguing over the fact that she hasn’t been home for god-know-how-long. “Where’ve you been, anyway?” Kennedy asked because she was in the mood for a fight and she thought that she had a right to know who her mother was seeing since she was never home to take care of her daughter.
“Um, I kind of met this guy…” her mom trailed off, setting the groceries on the counter and putting them in their designated areas.
“What a shocker,” Kennedy said with sarcasm oozing through her voice.
“Hey, just because I haven’t been here doesn’t mean that I’m not still your mother. You will respect me,” Lorelei snapped at her, pointing her finger at her again.
“You can’t just come in here and demand respect when I haven’t even seen your face for two months and haven’t gotten a call from you in three weeks, mom,” Kennedy snapped at her, rolling her eyes, but remaining seated.
Lorelei let out a sigh then walked into the dining room and sat in the chair across from Kennedy and looked like she was getting ready to lecture. “Look, I know that I haven’t been here a whole lot, but I have a new boyfriend, Kenne. He’s great and I really think I love him. I wish that I could make you understand what it’s like to be in love, but it makes you do crazy things – things you wouldn’t normally do, like leaving your daughter to fend for herself for two months,” her mom said, trying to justify her actions, but all it did was make Kennedy even more disgusted with her.
“Well, mom, maybe if you’d have been here you would have known that I’m in love with somebody then you could have just saved me your ‘love makes you do crazy things’ speech which you’ve told me since I was thirteen, I might add. I always thought you were right, but I am in love with somebody and it doesn’t make me do crazy things the way you do them,” Kennedy said and she was so disappointed her mother that she didn’t even try to make the venom in her voice.
Her mom let out a pity sigh and leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest and look of smugness crossed her face and Kennedy wondered why that would be there. “You’re dating Alex, right?” her mom asked.
Kennedy sucked in a breath, “Yeah, how’d you know?”
Her mom let out a half smile while looking down at her lap, “I saw him leaving here really early this morning and it kind of tipped me off. But do you want to know what the funny thing is?” her mom asked and at first Kennedy remained silent because to her it sounded like a rhetorical question, but apparently her mom was waiting for an answer.
“What’s funny mom?” she asked.
“The funny thing is, is that I saw him with another girl while I was at the grocery store – she was really pretty, long curly brown hair and she was tall. When I went up to say hi to him he got a look of panic in his eye and introduced the other girl as his girlfriend, and her name is Lisa,” her mom told her and the smugness was written all over her face. “Do you know her?”
Kennedy swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah, I know her – we’re really good friends,” Kennedy told her.
“Wow. Isn’t Alex and stand up guy? He’s cheating on his girlfriend, whose apparently your friend, with you, my daughter,” Lorelei finished and Kennedy’s eyelids felt heavy that the only thing she could do was look at the ground. “Now, my dear,” her mom started while standing up from the table and coming up behind Kennedy and clasping her hand on her shoulder, “you say that you don’t do crazy things for love, well, that seems a little crazy to me.”
Kennedy felt tears swell in her eyes and the only thing she wanted was for her mother to leave and never come back. She didn’t act like a mother and she never had. She wished that her mom would just go and move in with her new boyfriend and leave the house to Kennedy.
Lorelei walked away and grabbed her purse from the kitchen, “Now, I’m going to leave and go back to my boyfriend’s house because he doesn’t have a girlfriend,” her mother told her pointedly and then walked out the door. The minute the door shut Kennedy put her hands over her eyes and let the tears flow freely. She was gasping and had the hiccups. She brought her knees up to her chest and let her head fall into her knees and her hair was covering her entire face.
Her phone started ringing and she looked up and sniffed and grabbed across the table and the caller ID said that it was a blocked number so of course she opened it. “Hello?”
“Hey sexy,” said a sultry voice from the other line and Kennedy could tell that whoever was talking had a smile in their voice.
“Who is this?” she asked even though she knew she’d heard the voice before.
“Ugh,” the person gasped on the other end of the line, “I am appalled that you haven’t memorized my voice by now.”
“I’m sorry?” Kennedy asked, not sure what to do.
“If you’re really sorry then go open your front door,” the person said.
“Excuse me?” Kennedy asked, shocked.
“You heard me, if you’re sorry then go open your front door,”
“Isn’t that the first thing they teach you in school, don’t open your door to strangers?” Kennedy asked, laughing.
“No, I’m pretty sure the first thing they teach you is colors and numbers, now go open your goddamn front door,” the person demanded, getting impatient.
Kennedy let out a sigh and wiped the tears away that were on her cheeks and got off the chair. She walked over to her front door and placed her hand on the door knob. She let out another deep sigh, mentally getting prepared to be raped, but she opened her door and saw a girl with waist long blonde hair in loose curls, the way Kennedy used to wear it, and standing with her back toward the door, holding a Starbucks frappaccino, a Louis Vuitton purse, and black jeans with a black blazer. “Oh my fucking god!” Kennedy screamed and the girl turned around with a smile plastered on her face.
“Happy to see me?” the girl asked and held her arms up, welcoming her friend into a hug.
“Audrey! How long have you been here for?” Kennedy asked, embracing her best friend. Audrey let out a laugh.
“Um, a few hours. I spent half the time looking for a vegan restaurant around here, but there’s nothing but good old southern cooking like fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Do they realize how fattening that stuff is?” Audrey said as she pulled away.
“I wouldn’t exactly call Maryland ‘down south’,” Kennedy laughed as she ushered her friend into her house and shut her door behind them.
“Um, it’s definitely south to me. I’ve never been further south than New Jersey and after that trip I intended to keep it that way,” Audrey said and Kennedy’s heart immediately warmed. Even though her friend was an upper east sider from New York and didn’t wear anything that wasn’t designer (except vintage) and wasn’t friends with anybody who wasn’t the same, Audrey would always be Kennedy’s best friend.
Kennedy laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming down?” Kennedy asked as she walked into the living room and sat down on their black couch, which Audrey sat across from her on.
“Um, you mean on one of the phone conversations that we totally have all the time?” Audrey asked sarcastically and Kennedy rolled her eyes playfully.
“Okay, so we don’t talk that often, but how did you even know I was home? Maybe I was out and about,” Kennedy pointed out.
“You don’t get rides from anybody and your car was in the front. The only reason you didn’t drive in New York was because it took longer to drive than it did to walk sixty blocks, but it’s not that way so much here,” Audrey said, taking her Chanel sunglasses and moving them up to the top of her head.
“Like you’re one to talk, little Ms. I’ve-got-to-take-my-limo-everywhere-or-else-I’ll-get-raped,” Kennedy mocked her and Audrey faux-scowled and it sent them both into a fit of laughed. “I’m so glad you’re here,” Kennedy said and leaned forward again and pulled her into a hug.
“Me, too. I’ve missed you so much,” Audrey said.
“How long are you staying for?” Kennedy asked, pulling away and sinking deeper into her couch.
“A couple of weeks if you’ll let me,” Audrey said, giving Kennedy her puppy dog face.
“Of course you can stay here – I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kennedy said and placed her hand on Audrey’s arm.