Pocrescophobia

=Two weeks later fyi=

My alarm blares at about 4 in the morning and I emit a long, tortured groan at the sound. Well, at least I’m getting up for something that’s worth the pain, unlike school. As I lift myself from my bed, I can’t help but be nervous. I’m going to be meeting my best friend’s boyfriend and going to be spending a while with the person I like in a car. Well, Cyan’s gonna be there, but still. Ugh, I’m such a wimp. It’s been two weeks and I still haven’t found the courage in me to tell Shae how I feel. I’m still waiting for the ‘right time.’ Honestly, I don’t know when that time will come. Yeah, I’m usually outgoing and straight-forward, but I just feel so shy around him. Oh lawd, give me some strength.

Oh, time to pick out an outfit. Ugh, I need to choose something just right to make a good impression on Arden. Hmm… Dress, skirt, jeans, shorts? Maybe a skirt. Hmm, nah. I’ll just wear something and my combat boots. Oh yes. Perfect. I know exactly what to wear. Ugh, and then I just have to take a quick shower and figure out what to do with my hair and then do my makeup. It always takes a while, but hey, I brought it on myself. I like to make sure I look good, so I guess I can’t really get mad that it takes some time. In the end, it all pays off.

About forty-five minutes later, time finds me standing outside of Shae’s house, noticing Cy’s car already in the driveway. Not wanting to wake anyone up in the house, I send Cyan and Shae a quick text saying that I’m here to see who’ll get here quicker. Soon enough, the door opens to reveal none other than Shae looking more like Cheyenne than I’ve seen the past few weeks. But that doesn’t faze me at all as I pull the startled Shae into a hug.

“Hey,” I greet him cheerily. “Uh, hey,” he answers shakily. “I just need to… get dressed and then we’ll leave. Um, you can just hang out with Cyan until I’m ready I guess.” My head immediately bounces up and down, shaking my head of loose curls slightly. As we walk inside, I notice Cyan sitting on the couch in the living room, paying more attention to his phone than us. Well, that’ll soon change.

“Hey, Cy!” I greet as I fall into his lap, causing the dazed boy to jump and stare at me in shock as I giggle. Even I’m surprised how happy I am this early in the morning. “Oh, Lauren… I don’t even question it anymore…” he sighs dramatically. I pat him on the head. “As it should be, dear Cyan. As it should be.”

Mere minutes later, Shae comes back down looking more like his usual fine self. Oh, he finally got new clothes and stopped needing Cyan to lend him any. I mean, not like Cyan really cared or anything. So we grab the printed out directions (because none of us have a GPS and don’t feel like relying on a phone because that’s stupid) and head out to Shae’s car. I can already feel my excitement growing as we finally pull out of the driveway. Hopefully this will be a good trip, seeing as half of the time, Cyan will be asleep in the backseat while Shae and I hang out in the front.

Soon after Cyan passes out in the backseat (which isn’t long after we depart), Shae and I start up a conversation.

“Okay, so let’s play a game,” I propose. “What kind of game?” Shae replies. “A board game,” I say facetiously. With an eye roll, Shae merely looks at me quickly and shakes his head.

“Right, just like 20 questions or whatever. I don’t know. Just ask each other questions, no matter what they are. And answer truthfully,” I explain, to which Shae responds with a quick nod. “Okay. Who goes first?” I shrug. “I don’t know, I’ll go, I guess. Okay… what was… your first pet?” I ask.

“Hmm… that would have to be… a dog probably. We’ve had dogs all my life. Um, the earliest one was probably a dog named Molly. She died a few years ago though.” My face takes adopts an expression of sympathy. “Aww, sorry, that sucks. I hate it when pets die. So sad.”

And we go back and forth with random questions until we get to one that sparks up more. “Okay, okay,” Shae starts, still recovering from laughing at our last story swap. “First relationship?” I shrug. “I’ve never been in one actually,” I begin, but Shae’s questioning gaze prods me to continue. “Well, I’ve never really… liked anyone… until now,” I explain, whispering the last part. Shae cocks an eyebrow at me.

“Oh, really? Who do you like then?” he asks. My cheeks tint to a rosy pink as I look away. “Nuh uh, you’ve already had your turn for questions. And I’m not answering it anyway,” I say defensively. The slightly hurt expression on Shae’s face causes a guilty feeling to bubble up inside of me. “No, don’t take it personally or anything, I wish I could tell you, I just… can’t…” I trail off, looking away. “It’s not Cyan, is it?” he asks. I shake my head furiously. “Oh, no, no, he’s like my brother.” Trying to alleviate the awkward atmosphere, I decide to change the subject.

“Okay, um, favorite movie?” And the conversation picks back up from its awkward end.