Living a Million Miles an Hour

"James, you better have a good reason to have call me one in the god damn morning." I say answering my phone.

"I'm sorry did I wake you?" James apologized quickly.

"No, not really." I sigh. It was the truth, I hadn't been sleeping. I was wide awake reading in bed, listening to music.

"What are you doing?" He asks with slight eagerness in his voice.

"I've reading some stuff. You?" I answer nonchalantly trying to figure why the man was calling me at such an obscure time.

"Just took a step outside. Everyone still is awake partying. Can you come over?"

"Its one am, James!"

"So? Sneak out. Live a little."

"No." I regrected the invitation.

"Fine, if you can't come over I'm coming over to you"

"Don't, you'll wake up my family!"

"Not if I sneak through your window."

"You're crazy. My bedroom is on the second floor."

"Is there a tree by your window?" He asked, I glance over to my window. I knew the tree was there alright but I didn't like the direction our conversion was going.

"....Yeah?" I answer slowly

"That's all I need to know."

With that he hung up. Great. Huffing got up from the comfort of my bed to open my window before I knew it James had stepped on to my cushioned window sill and was in my bedroom one in the morning.

"Hey." he spoke casually

"What do you want?" I asked

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not stupid. A guy isn't going to just climb up a tree to a girls bedroom one in the morning just to say what's up."

"You're right, your right. I came over to apologize." Why? James didn't own me an apology. "The way I've been acting around you has been inappropriate."

Inappropriate would be correct. The way he kept making advenaces towards me when we both knew he had a girlfriend was very wrong.

"Don't forget you have a girlfriend." I reminded with a scoff.

"But I really like you, Reneé. You're so awesome and different. You understand me even though nobody else does."

I thought I did but James behavior started to contradict what I believed.

"I like you too, James but you said you're committed to your girlfriend so this can't happen."

"I broke up with her."

"Yesterday you told me you loved her."

And then confusion flooded my thoughts.

"I just found out she cheated on me again. I finally said enough is enough is we're done."

"Damn, I'm sorry." I give my condolences.

"What about us?" James said stepping forward. I took a step back.

"James, we are just friends." I say wearily, he detects the uncertainty in my voice.

"But you just said you liked me?" He said with a frown.

"I do. Let's just take things slow. I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"Alright, whatever makes you happy." James smiles at me. I sigh in relief. "hang on what's this?" He says abruptly. He leans over and takes my iPad off my bed and I know I'm caught in the act. "Checking us out I see?" James chuckles as he sees pictures of him and his bandmates on google images. It was true. I had finally decided to check them out after hanging out with them for weeks.

"Only 'cause I've never heard of your band before." I say snatching the tablet away from his grasp.

"Okay, okay" he chuckles raising his hands in defense.

"Shh!" I shush him for brief moment.

"Why you-"

"Be quite," I whisper its completely silent in my room.

"I don't hear anything...." James whispers

"I think my mom is coming you have to hide!"

"Shit!" James cursed under his breath, he looked around for a moment and dashed towards my closet shutting the door behind him in before my mom opens my room door.

"Alpa?" She says my name questionably entering my room.

"Yes?" I answer trying to get my voice from shaking.

"What's going on? I heard voices."

"Nothing." I say "Where did you hear voices?" I questioned playing oblivious.

"I heard them in here! Why is your window open? Is there a boy in here?" My mother asks and accuses.

"No!" I deny shaking my head. My mom looks at me disbelievingly and proceeds to my window to look out of it. "There isn't anyone in here!"

"So you don't mind me checking?" She says looking under my bed.

"Yes!"

"If you have nothing to hide then why do care?" My mother asks stepping in to my bathroom and pulls back the curtains of my shower.

"This is an invasion of privacy!" I declared following her out my bathroom back in to my room.

"Sit down, Alpa!" She points to my bed. Iike a dog with its tail between their legs I sit down on my bed. My mom walks over to my closet and my heart is slamming against my rib cage.

"Mom, I told you there isn't anyone in here but us!" I make one final plea to my mother but its to late she opens my closet door and enters it. I brace myself for what I knew was coming next. I hear the coat hangers scraping across the metal bars.
My mother steps outside my closet with her arms crossed.

"I know heard you talking to someone!" She exclaims and I can finally exhale.

"I told you! You should trust me sometimes."

My mother’s normal harden expression softens but only for a brief moment. For a second I thought she was going to apologize. Instead I was scolded.

“Why do you have the ipad? You know you are not allowed to have it at night.” She takes the tablet from my bed and leaves with out so much as a apology or goodnight. Before, I probably would have cried. My mother and I never got along, never saw eye to eye or agreed on anything. So, I guess I just got used to not feeling loved by her. I didn’t see how my father stayed married with her for so long. Hell, she was probably the reason the led him to be an addict.

I shake of my mothers cold feeling and walk to my closet wondering how the hell James hid from her. My closet is a decent sized walk-in but still not big enough to hide a 6 foot grown man.

“James?” I say looking around “Where are you?”

A moment of silence ghosts through my closet until faint rustling from the ceiling interrupts it. A ladder falls down in front of me and James sticks his head out. I gasp, not expecting it at all.

“Good thing you guys have and attic!” he exclaims with a grin.

I had no idea that an entry to attic was in my closet, thank goodness neither did my mom “Whoa, me too. Grams never mentioned this.”

“You should come up here. It’s quite interesting.” James says then disappears. I stood there at the bottom of the retractable ladder leading up to the attic pondering what my next actions consequences be. I should’ve yelled at James to get down from there and leave. Despite my best intuitions, I exhale and start my ascend to my grandmothers attic.