I Never Dreamt Because I'm Just Too Busy

I sighed, rolling over in my cove of covers. Another day, and the pressure to be perfect was on again.

When your parents are as strict as mine, school, no matter how stressful, is the only escape to freedom you ever really get.

It sucks, to have parents like mine. Don't get me wrong, I love them to death, but they just. They want me to be perfect. Like unbelievably perfect. And I've actually complied so far. Since about the sixth grade I've held a four point oh grade point average. It wasn't easy, let me tell you. And because of that, I've never had time for much fun.

“Oh, dear! You’re going to be late if you don’t get up!” My mother called from downstairs in that same cheery voice that was all too uncommon for someone who wakes up at the hour she does.

And I wouldn’t want that, I thought sarcastically.
Glancing at the clock as I pulled on some clothes, I noted it was seven fifty.

I had forty minutes to get to school. I hardly thought that I’d be late. I probably even had time to stop for coffee.

Looking in the mirror, I almost forgot my dream catcher necklace.

I looked over my outfit once again. I was wearing some black jeans, a black tank top with a white and black plaid shirt over that, and my black vans. I didn’t really feel like doing anything with my hair, so I just left it there, straight and simple.

I threw my bag over my shoulder and ran out the door without a word to my parents.



As I pulled into the Starbuck’s parking lot, a smile immediately overcame my face.

I noticed that Ariana’s car was parked out front. I hadn’t seen her since last year, as she attended a private school because of her parents. I rarely got to see her, as I assumed she was as busy as me, if not even more so.

Walking up to the doors, I spotted her mass of sleek black hair and tall slender self. When she looked up at the cashier, I assumed she’d spotted me, because she grinned hugely.

After paying for her things she rushed over to me and we both laughed at our little reunion.

“How have you been?! Oh my god, it’s been so long!” She exclaimed. As I mentioned before, her parents had her attending the private school across town, so we hardly got the chance to meet.

“Same as ever.” I laughed. “Not much changes for me. What about you though?”

“For the most part the same. Though, I’m actually having a better time than usual.” She smiled and looked down.

“And why might that be? Has little Ariana gone and got herself a boyfriend?” I teased.

“It’s possible.” She blushed.

“Aw! Tell me, when did this happen? And what’s his name? How’d you meet, and―”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” She laughed at how fast I fired off the questions. “Calm down, woman! His name is Abraham. You remember him, right? He’s the one we went to elementary school with, you know? The one who all the girls thought was the shit back in third grade?”

My mouth went into the little o shape and I immediately laughed. She’s not kidding when she says all of them thought he was the shit. When he’d walk by most of the third graders would giggle and proceed to talk about him and his cute little smile with those cute little dimples. We used to be the exceptions though. He was no doubt a little cutie, but we never really got into the whole, giggle about him when he’s not around thing.

“Since when?”

“It’s been about,” Ariana paused and smiled, “five months.”

“Oh my god.” I smiled myself, “That’s great. Now, here’s what I want to know; how did this end up happening?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” She laughed.

“So? We’ve got time. I don’t start for another thirty minutes, and I assume you have just as much time.”

“Actually, I do have about fifty minutes...”

“See? Now c’mon.” I said as I began to drag her to one of the tables.



“Dude, we really need to start talking more!” I said. As we began to part ways, the light rumble of another conversation filling my ears.

“Agreed!” She laughed, “You know what? We haven’t spent time together in a while, we should do something this weekend.”

I grinned, and began to walk backward to my car down the sidewalk. “That sounds like a good idea. Call me, okay?”

“Will do.” Ariana smiled, then her eyes widened, “Anabelle, watch out!”

Behind me, I heard someone say at almost the exact same time, “Dude, look out!”

I turned and my body brushed into another, causing my now lukewarm coffee to spill all over myself.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry!” The boy began to apologize profusely. “I should have payed more attention to where I was walking.”

“It’s alright,” I laughed lightly, examining my now stained flannel shirt as I took it off. “I was the one walking backwards, instead of looking at where I was going.” When I finally looked up, I found myself looking into a pair of warm brown eyes.

“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyebrows knitting together. Then his eyes widened, “That coffee wasn’t hot was it?”

I actually laughed, “Thankfully, no.”

“Are you sure it’s okay? I mean, I kind of ruined your shirt…” The boy said, scratching the back of his neck.
I shook my head, “No, it’s totally fine. It’s mostly my fault anyway.”

For some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from staring into his chocolate brown eyes as I awaited an answer.

“If you say so,” He laughed a little. “I was part of the problem, and as I made you spill it all over yourself, the least I can do I get you another coffee.”

“Oh, no. You really don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to,” He shot me a dazzling smile. “Come on. If I can’t get you a coffee, at least let me get you a cinnamon roll or something.”

“No really, it’s―” I was cut off by the sound of my stomach rumbling.

He laughed. “See? Come on.” He nodded towards the doors.

A cinnamon roll sounded really good to be honest. “Alright, fine.” I laughed lightly. “If you insist…”

The boy shot me a grin and began to walk back inside. I followed in suit, and was a little bit surprised to find he even held the door open for me.

Well isn’t he cute.