Just for a Moment

I sit in my room feet dangling over the edge of my bed as I worry about this stomach flu I can’t seem to shake. I mean it’s nothing that serious. It’s just that really I do not want to eat anything because I swear that I seriously am, constantly nauseous. I clutch my stomach in discomfort happy that Kellin is currently at a small gig with the band two hours away. I don’t need any more weird looks from him, or to be pestered to go to the doctor every five seconds. I wish I could be there with him though; I hate not being able to support him today. I know what a big deal this is to him, it being Sleeping with Sirens first paying gig and all. This stomach thing has been putting a bit of a hindrance on my life lately. Plus it’s been pretty much ongoing since the Disney Trip last month; maybe I should be more concerned. It’s just that there is so much else is on my plate, finals, the play, projects, I don’t need something else to be stressed out over. It’s all probably just stress pains. That’s completely likely, considering that fact that it started the day Ally vanished.

Roxy, of course having to put her two cents in, seems to think that I am pregnant but I shrug her off. There is no way I am pregnant, I got my period last month. I bite my lip considering what could be causing this pain. Of course I end up thinking about what she implied and I feel a bit of panic build up in my chest. I can’t have a baby now, I have a career I want, just because I married Kellin doesn’t mean I signed off on that. Besides we would have to leave campus, end our dreams and get average Joe jobs. I shudder at the thought. Kids are in our distant future just not now. I need to call the doctor right away, it is better to be safe than to be sorry. I pick up the phone and make myself a doctor’s appointment at the office on campus. I mean it’s free to me, and close by, you can’t beat that. The next available slot is next month during the first week. I happily accept since classes will be over by then, ending early this year due to a film that will be made on campus.

A real Hollywood film, with Michael Jackson Alumni, Emma Stone. I am so excited to watch them make it. As one of the top five drama students, I have exclusive rights to be on set and we might get to be extras again. Oh, I can’t wait, I grin a big grin as I remember how Roxy and I first reacted to the news. Thinking of Roxy, I text her and my hubby about the appointment to satisfy them both. I know they will be happy, and Roxy has being dying to get her curiosity quenched. I throw my phone down with a smile, drifting easily back into a deep sleep.

The first thing I do when I wake up is I glance at the clock. I should be at work right now but since marrying Kellin I cut my hours back big time. I guess I will probably pick them back up in the summer. Just because I married into money doesn’t mean I need to become a lazy nonworking spouse. Life is so much easier when I am not working though; it gives me so much more time to focus on my grades and my husband. I am a whole ten points above the second person on the top five, who happens to be Roxy that is. I have to work hard to keep that lead. She is a smart cookie, who works hard and has no job. My phone buzzes, breaking my chain of thought. I know who is calling right away because Ally’s Roar ringtone starts playing at full volume. I sigh, not sure if I really want to talk to her right now. I have way too much on my mind and to be honest ever since Disney World she has been acting a little bit odd, even for her standards. I can’t seem to put my finger on why though. I decide at the last minute to answer anyway, it might be important. Plus, it’s not like I am doing anything else to occupy my time.

“Hey Als,” I examine my cuticles to keep pain that I am feeling out of my voice.

“Hey Liz, I am just calling to let you know I won’t be living on campus next year.” She says it so calmly, as if she was simply telling me the weather and not telling me that she was moving.

“WHAAAT?!?” I shout into her ear.

“Yeah, JT let me know last week and I needed some time before telling you. So, I am sorry for the late notice. Anyway, he said the incident earlier this year can’t go unnoticed.”

I gasp, “You knew a week ago.” I pout and give a stern look into my empty room. Then what she said dawns on me. “They gave you a third strike for. . . for that? That seems like a pretty unfair thing to do.”

She chuckles a little, like this is all funny.

“No Elizabeth.” She laughs more from using my full name. “I just need to stay off campus until Tally graduates. Since she has one year left and I went cuckoo and cut myself, I am the one who gets asked to leave. I will just be attending a regular high school until she is gone. Then I will return for my third year, which will be your fourth year by the way, in case you wondering." Which she knows I wasn't. "I will be back once everything here is all cleared up.”

I have to ask, “Why are you so calm about this?”

“I don’t know I have had some time to think about this whole thing, which is why I waited before telling you. I have been thinking that maybe I need this. I have had more drama then I need since I got here and well, I know that I have a lot of growing up to do. I can’t really always have you protecting me, so maybe this is a good thing. Maybe I will come back here a new and improved Ally. Maybe it will even help us be better sisters, the normal kind that have fun together like we did when I first came back in the fall. You can try and be less mom like and I can be a lot less of a baby.” She laughs once again. “Besides, you can always visit on the weekends if you want, right?”

“Right,” I say in a small voice wondering if I will.

“Well, I gotta go sis. See ya later.”

I smile, now that’s my Ally. Not this well structured sentences, proper speaking girl who I was talking to a few moments ago.

“I will see you at Menus, maybe.” I end our call.

I throw myself back on the bed, the rest of my ‘me’ day lying ahead of me. Roxy and Brendon are on a romantic trip to Vermont for the weekend. Ally had some plans booked in advance for today, not that I wanted to hang out with her. I feel a bit guilty at the thought, I mean she is making an effort to change. Anyway, I don’t really feel like leaving me room to see the others. So the game plan is, I will just watch some movies and stay curled in my cozy bed. I take some medication for the pain and nausea and curl up into my sheets. I skim through Netflix trying to find something good to watch. I am not sure if I am in the mood for romance, comedy or action. By the time I finally decide and I am feeling well enough to be a bit hungry. So I munch on some Nature’s Valley bars while watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I get so into the movie that I barely hear that someone is knocking on my door. I pause the movie and that’s when I catch on, I walk slowly to the door since my stomach is still tender. I look through the peep hole and see Vic standing there grinning ear to ear.

I open the door and smile, “Hey loser, shouldn’t you be at work?”

“The store was closed today, not sure why but I didn’t question a good thing. Your hubby sent me to make sure you were doing all right.” He steps into the doorway.

I roll my eyes, “I am fine.” I lie a bit; I mean with medication the pain is livable. “Do you want to stay a bit and watch movies with me?”

He gives me a duh look and I close the door behind him. He sits on the love seat that is close to the TV while I climb right back into bed. We finish off Mission Impossible and start watching Safe Haven before Vic actually speaks again.

“Ally kissed me again at Disney World before she pulled her drama magic trick.” He sighs and leans further back into the chair.

I pause the movie, this I must hear. I mean, this has to be why she has been acting weird right?

“Uh huh. . . “I coax him to continue.

“Umm that’s it, just thought you should know. Press play chick.”

I throw my pillow at his head and laugh, “No way tell me more, tell me more.”

“Like does he have a car?” He puts on a high pitch girl's voice and quotes Grease.

“Come on,” I whine, grateful for the distraction because it is keeping my pain at bay.

“Okay, okay lady!” He huffs, “Ally kissed me all passionately and said she may have feelings for me. It was no big deal, but she was upset when I asked her to chill out and think about things.” He shrugs and faces me, “Can we go back to watching the movie now?”

“Do you like her?” I raise my eyebrows at him.

My question clearly throws him off guard. It gets him all flustered and nervous. I smile as I watch him struggle for the right words.

“This is so weird. Here you are, my ex girlfriend and best friend’s wife, asking me if I have feelings for my best friend who is your sister.”

“Sounds like something that would happen in Doctor Who.” I whisper to myself, knowing that he wouldn’t get it.

“Huh?” He gives me an odd look.

“Nothing.” I smile coyly. “You never answered my question.”

“I didn’t know you liked Doctor Who.” He said slyly, he knows no Whovian can deny discussing the Doctor.

I launch into my Doctor Who discussion mode, forgetting the whole Ally thing all together. I even got him to marathon with me until Kellin got home and joined us. Until the wee hours of the night it was just the three us. We simply stayed glued to the screen watching my favorite British show. Me and my very favorite guys.