Cheerio

The sunlight spilled through my window next to my bed early Saturday morning. Groaning loudly, I flopped over on my stomach and burrowed my face into my pillow. I squeezed my eyes shut forcefully, begging sleep to overtake me again.

But then the vacuum started up in the hallway outside my door. Just to make things worse, my door sounded like it was going to cave in as the vacuum banged against the other side.

Flipping my head to face the clock and opening one eye, I saw the numbers 7:21 staring back at me. The mere sight of such an early time on a Saturday made my stomach churn. In my grumpy state, I didn’t think before screaming, “GOD, DO YOU MIND?!”

The whirring sound cut off immediately, and my door was thrust open. “I’m sorry, honey,” Mom rushed. She sounded frazzled. “I didn’t realize how early it is.”

“You own a clock,” I mumbled, propping myself up on one elbow to look at her. “It might be nice to use it once in a while.”

Instead of giving an excuse, she just said, “Sorry” again before going back out into the hallway. I closed my eyes again and could hear her hurrying to roll up the cord.

With the newfound silence, I almost drifted off back into sleep, but right when I was losing the last bit of consciousness, my phone went off, just a loud vibrate in place of the old Madonna tune. I had changed it right after I got booted from the team, for obvious reasons.

I tried to ignore it, to go back to sleep, but the curiosity of who would text me so early in the morning nagged at me until I finally reached over and picked it up.

I turned onto my back and held my phone over my face as I slid it up, opening the message. “I should have known,” I muttered to myself, seeing Kurt’s name in the top left corner.

Want to go out for coffee? I have MAJOR news.

Staring at my phone and looking back at the clock, I saw that it wasn’t even seven thirty.

I don’t know what makes you think that I’ll be awake at 7:30.

It only took him a second to respond. You just answered me, didn’t you?

I wouldn’t have if my mom hadn’t…you know what? Never mind. Meet you at the Lima Bean at 8.

There was no turning back now. I climbed out of bed, feeling the heaviness and slight chill under my eyes, alerting me that I had bags the size of Texas. Nothing, I hoped, a little makeup couldn’t fix.

I rushed to get ready, throwing a flowy dress over my head, although it was still freezing outside. Once my hair and face were presentable, my breath minty fresh, I bounded down the stairs.

“I’m really sorry, honey,” Mom called out when she saw me. She turned from what she was doing, blowing a stray hair out of her face. God, she looked so…domestic. “I really didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s fine,” I replied, waving the thought away. “Kurt’s to blame, too. He texted me when I was about to fall back to sleep.”

I was almost out the door when I realized something: I didn’t have a ride. Although I was a junior, I didn’t even have my permit. Normally, I’d jump at the opportunity, but with Garrett being my willing chauffer and everything…it just wasn’t necessary.

I guess I could have gone and woken Garrett up, but I wasn’t sure that was the greatest idea. Depending on how late he’d gone to sleep the night before, it was quite possible that he would wake up and bite my head off.

Cringing a little at the thought, I reached for my phone. Change of plans: pick me up at my place? I’m ready whenever.

Ugh…I JUST got to Lima Bean…but fine. I’ll be there in ten.

I snickered a little at the inconvenience before throwing myself onto the couch. Mom was in front of the fireplace, dusting all the knickknacks that rested on top of the wood overhang at the top. She had to go up on her tiptoes in order to see that she got every single thing.

“You know,” I commented, my voice smooth and my eyes narrowed, “they have cleaning people for that.”

She scoffed. “I would never do that. God, do you realize how little we clean this place? It’s filthy.”

“Since when does it matter…?” I trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

She ignored my question, instead turning to cough into her arm and focusing on the chore as if her life depended on it.

A few minutes later, there was a beep outside. Mom startled, almost falling backwards. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “I’m going out with Kurt. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Who’s Kurt?” she questioned.

God, was it possible she didn’t know who Kurt was? I guess… “He’s one of my friends from school.”

She turned, smiling mischievously, and I noticed a smear of dust or something across her forehead. “A friend or a…friend?”

“Oh my God, Mom!” I squealed, trying not to laugh in her face. “Just a friend. He’s, like, capital G Gay.”

“That’s too bad. Alright, go ahead. Have fun.”

I bounded out the door and settled myself into the passenger’s seat of Kurt’s SUV. “This is nice,” I told him, smoothing my hand over the leather seat.

“Thanks. God, I can’t wait to tell you my news!”

“Then why don’t you just tell me?” I offered like it was obvious. Because, you know, it kind of was.

“No. We need to get coffee first. It’s too early for me, too.”

“Then what the hell were you doing texting me?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night because of the news! God, you’re going to freak.”

I sat back, crossing my arms over my chest, and gritted my teeth. I just wanted to know the fucking news before my head exploded. If there was one thing I was horrible at, it was secrets. And Spanish. And math, mostly.

Okay, so there were a lot of things that I wasn’t so great at.

Once we got to the Lima Bean, we headed inside. The place was mostly deserted, due to the early hour. There was a woman in the corner, multitasking talking on her cell phone with going through something on her computer. Her eyebrows were drawn over her eyes, and every so often, she’d snap something in what sounded like French.

“Evie!” Kurt nudged me in the side.

I looked up to find a boy a couple years older than the two of us waiting patiently for my order.

“Sorry,” I laughed. “I totally wouldn’t want to piss that chick off.” I pointed a thumb over my shoulder in her general direction. “Okay, um, I’ll have a small non-fat caramel latte, please.”

He smiled at me. “Sure. That’ll be six fifty,” he told Kurt.

I shot him a look, not expecting him to pay for the both of us, but he forked over the money without another comment.

Once we both had our beverages, we found a table on the opposite side from the angry French woman. “Okay, so news!” I urged, crossing my legs under the table.

Kurt took his sweet time taking a sip of his non-fat mocha. “Well, I just want to be the first one to tell you that…”

“Oh my God, just SPIT IT OUT!” I snapped at him. Once I realized how loudly I’d spoken, a blush filled my face, and I made a point not to look at the French woman, who was probably giving me a death glare.

“God, you’re impatient. Anyway, I just want to say that…” He took another sip of his mocha. “Finn’s mom and my dad are ENGAGED.”

“No way! That’s totally fantastic!”

“Isn’t it?” He let out an ecstatic squeal. “I can’t wait to start planning the wedding. Right after they told me, I tried to help Carole pick out some color pallets, but she said that we had some time. But don’t they know I just don’t want to wait.”

“Is it going to be weird?” I blurted. “It’s like you’re going to have a replacement mom. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Not really, considering Dad and I have already been living with the Hudsons for a few months now. I really like Carole. She usually listens to my fashion advice. That dress is great on you, by the way, even if it is a little early for summer dresses.”

“Thanks,” I replied with a grin. “And that’s good that you can be so open.”

I wasn’t sure if I would react the same.