"Carly, hey, wait up." I turn to see Hannah running down the campus stairs toward me, leaving her last final for the semester. I noticed that she is wearing my top that I have been begging her to give me back.
"Hey, how did your finals go today?" I ask her, giggling as she looks a little out of breath.
"Oh you know, I just hate my life. I'm still considering dropping out and being one of those high end escorts that, like Senators go for. I know not to ask you, miss smarty pants as we all know that you passed them. Bitch." She hip bumps me and gives me a wink. She knows how I hate when she does that. She usually does fine in her classes, but she is the queen of dramatic. I can't help that I study more than she does.
"Well, for you to be an escort, you would usually be dating men that are your dad's age. Is that really what you want?"
She stops and looks at me. "Seriously, a wrinkly dick isn't as bad as sitting in Professor Richard's class. Can you tell me why I took Organic Chemistry again?" The thought of an old man naked makes me want to vomit.
"Considering you need the credits to be the doctor you so desperately want to be, I think it is required." Even though she doubts herself, I know she would be a wonderful doctor.
"Wellllll fuck." She rolls her eyes and stops at my car. We both get in my beautiful 2004 Chevy Impala. I've had this thing forever and I thank God that she still works. I've had her through some good memories. Late night Taco Bell runs, blaring Backstreet Boys on the way to the last day of high school, and after school activities. She is definitely meaningful to me and I couldn’t afford another car if this one broke down. She’s my ride or die, literally.
"Get in you fucking drama queen." I roll my eyes and slide into the driving seat. Not refusing, she gets into the passenger seat and has the audacity to turn on MY radio. Thankfully, we have a similar taste in music as the windows are rolled down and we drive to our apartment, listening to the beautiful sound of Sam Smith.
The ride from college to our apartment is less than 15 minutes which has been such a blessing. Hannah’s parents know the owner and give us an unbelievable deal which was something I couldn’t pass up. My grandparents always told me that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. As we head into our apartment, I go to my room and drop off my college books. I am thankful for my sophomore year of college to be finally over with. I decide to take off my dark blue jeans, my favorite purple short sleeve Panic! At The Disco shirt, and my bra. I go to my closet to find sweat pants, a tank top, and head back toward the living room. Hopping on the couch to skim through Hulu, I hear Hannah in the kitchen. That girl is always hungry.
I can hear her grunt and come to the living room. "We need to go grocery shopping! I need my Cheetos and I need them now!" Her all time favorite snack has been Cheetos Puffs and this has not changed since middle school.
"Yeah, we can go later this evening when I go see my grandparents." We do not live far from them and I haven't seen them for over 2 weeks.
"Yes, that seems like a great idea. Your grandma always has the best cookies ever!" I know this to be 100% true. My grandparents are my rock and I love them more than anything. We live about 30 miles from my family. My grandparents lived in their home for over 50 years and my father lived in the house across the street from them with my little brother. My little brother, Teddy, is just about to start high school next year, and he is the total opposite of me.
In high school, I was not the most outgoing, coordinated, popular girl. I was the girl that lacked total confidence in herself, was gifted curly dark brown hair that never seemed to cooperate, and definitely the curvy girl. Hannah was my friend even through my embarrassing years. Hannah on the other hand, had beautiful, wavy, dirty blonde hair that could do any style she wants. She still rocks the perfect hourglass shape with a little bit of an athletic build as she did softball for 7 years. She could wear a trash bag and have all the guys drool. She wouldn't have trouble with picking a different guy every weekend. She was just blessed with God's love, but she never really saw how amazing she truly was. She was always so bashful and has only dated 2 guys her entire life. All the guys wanted her, even Logan Newman.
As for me, well, I'll tell you that there were not many guys lining up at my door asking for dates, but I didn't want all those guys. All I wanted was Logan.
I had a crush on Logan since 6th grade when he sat beside me in history class. He had the boyish charm that everyone fell for. He had light brown hair just long enough for him to have some show when he put on a baseball cap on. He had dark brown eyes that could make you melt. He was on the football, baseball, and basketball teams. He was everything at that school. Everything to me.
Of course, I never had the guts to talk to him. He was level 10 on the hottie list while I was lucky to be a level 4. There was no way in hell he would go for me.
After high school ended, I decided that I was not a fan of how I was health wise so the summer before freshman year of college, I buckled down and lost weight. I have lost about 40 pounds and haven't felt this good in a long time. I did not want to be hung up on a dude from high school, so I was determined to find my soulmate and start a new chapter.
I did not know that my new chapter would end the way it did
***
After almost 2 hours of Hannah’s complaining about not having food in the place, we are heading over to my grandparents. I take over the radio and turn up the sound to one of my absolute favorite songs, 'Complicated' by Avril Lavigne. Hannah sings the song like a pro while I sound like 2 cats fighting. With the day starting to end, I pull up our windows and think about this summer. I should go work at the local pet shelter again and earn some more cash. I am very lucky and have earned scholarships to pay for the majority of my schooling which allows me to not work as much. The apartment wasn't as much since we did not go to a crazy expensive college. We went to one of the branches of the main University. We get the same classes, stay closer to home, while paying less than half at the main campus. Hannah and I have planned on coming here since our freshman year in high school. It just fit us so much better because we are super close to our families and moving to the main campus would have put us over 3 hours away from everyone we knew. I’m not one of those people that want to be in my hometown forever, but I want to stay close until I can manage things completely on my own. Why leave the nest when I’m not fully prepared to fly?
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"Why is it when you drive you get into such deep thoughts?" Hannah nudges me trying to bring back to reality.
"I don't know. There's something about driving the open road I guess." I say as we pull into the driveway.
We pull into the circle driveway of my grandparent's 10 acre home. It is the typical American home with the front porch, white picket fence, and open around fields. They used to farm and had over 80 acres, but with their age, they decided to sell the farm over 8 years ago.
We get out of the car and head straight to the front door and I know that is where my grandma is waiting to greet us. She loved when we visited and she has viewed Hannah like her granddaughter since we started hanging out. Sometimes I wonder who she really likes more.
"Hello, Wanda! I can smell your famous chocolate chip cookies from here." Hannah reaches for my grandma to give her a hug. She was always focused on the food.
"Now you know I can't have my 2 favorite girls come over without making sure you got your treats." My grandma says looking at Hannah was such happiness. She gives Hannah a kiss on the cheek.
"As long as we know who your absolute favorite girl is, I'm good." I say while getting ready for my turn for the hug.
"Of course Carly, we all know Hannah is number one." That cheeky woman. She shines her smile at me and gives me the biggest squeeze.
"Well thanks, grandma." I say to her patting her light curly hair knowing damn well that she is the one who cursed me with them. We walk into the house, go straight to her kitchen, and grab the cookies. I can tell she just took them out of the oven because they were still soft.
"Now save some for me, you pigs." I turn around and see Teddy coming in from the living room. Teddy has grown so much this year and was just taller than me by like 2 inches. He never lets it down.
"Teddy, you get these cookies practically every day so back off." Hannah says with half a cookie in her mouth. Teddy goes up to her, looks her in the eyes, and takes 2 cookies from her hand.
"Hey, give them back, you fungus!" She starts chasing after him to try and get Teddy to cough them up. Teddy dodges her and licks them both.
"Eww. Who is the pig now?" Hannah says rolling her eyes.
"Here, you can have one of mine." I give her my other one.
"This is why I love you." She already has the cookie halfway gone. She is something else.
"Now what is all that ruckus?" I hear my grandpa from the living room.
"Noooothhiinnng." We three say in unison.
We all head to the living room where my grandpa is sitting in his favorite chair, 2 feet from the TV. He’s trying to watch Gunsmoke for the millionth time.
"Hey gramps!" I say while giving him a kiss on his head. He, like all the Stone men, is bald and has been bald since he was in his late 20s. Not like he had time to grow his hair out as he went into the Navy at 17.
"Hello, ginger bean. How was your last day of classes?” He pulls me in a side hug, giving me my little nickname since I can remember.
"They were fine. I'm just glad they are done now."
"I bet you are, ginger bean."
"Where is dad? I thought he would be over here?"
"He is in the garage trying to work on that stupid lawn mower again. The damn thing." He shakes his head and leaves it at that. Dad is always working on something.
I head to the garage that is attached to the house and see him under the mower.
"Hey dad, you gonna come say hello?" After he heard me, he tried to get up and ended up hitting his head. I hear him whisper under his breath.
"You better be careful, wouldn't want you to lose brain cells. The little bit you have." I am still laughing at his clumsiness. The trait I got from him.
"Hahaha. Very funny." He gets up from the ground and wipes off the dirt from his clothes. My father is not the most fashion forward person. I mean, how many fathers are? He takes off his hat from his bald head and rubs some of the sweat off his face. My father has the family curse of baldness and has been bald since high school. I also give Teddy a hard time because he knows his fate and it’s a family joke. He smiles at me and gives me a hug. Honestly, there is nothing like a hug from your father. My father isn't the type of father that always acted tough and never showed emotions. He’s the most considerate, loving, and caring person I know.
We come into the house and we go to the living room where everyone is sitting. I sit on the light green couch that every grandma seems to own. I think every grandma is given a rule book on how they should decorate their homes. They have such the weirdest pattern combinations and the craziest wallpaper. I still love coming here. Teddy and I would spend most of our time over here playing in the yard, cooking with grandma, and helping grandpa with the TV. They are practically my 2nd parents.
"So when does school start back up for you girls?" My dad asked, knowing that I really do not want to think about college right now.
"Not until the end of August. We just finished our classes today. A well deserved break." I raise my eyebrows at him and hope he gets the hint.
"I am so happy you're in college. I wish I would have gone after high school." He really does. He did not go because he let my mom go and he would go after she was finished. She was not able to finish.
"I know dad. I'm gonna make you proud." He pats my head and I give him a reassuring smile.
"Of course you will. You always make me proud."
My family have pushed and pushed for me to go to college since elementary school. Neither my grandparents, nor my dad went. Sometimes it scares me how badly they really wanted me to finish, but I know it's because they care and want me to have a better life than they did.
My dad and my mom were childhood sweethearts. They were voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in high school. They loved each other more than anyone I ever knew. They were the kind of parents who kissed each other every morning before leaving for work, danced in the kitchen while cleaning after dinner, and had date night every Wednesday. They were the perfect couple, but a few months after high school, mom was pregnant with me. They got married and had me. They decided when I was older, mom would go to college and follow her dreams of being an art professor. Mom loved to paint, draw, and take pictures of just about everything. Dad wanted to go to college for business, but he said he would wait for mom to get hers and then he would go. He wanted to own his own workshop, but when I was about 6, mom got pregnant with Teddy. She and my dad put their dreams on hold to raise us and when I was in middle school, mom started taking college classes. I can tell how happy she was going back to college, but those dreams were short lived.
On Valentine's day, my parents decided to take us all to dinner and go bowling afterwards. We ate at the best place in town and had a great time. While we were bowling, mom was starting to feel lightheaded, and being the stubborn woman she was, told us she was fine. In the middle of her turn, my mom just dropped to the floor and was passed out, scaring the shit out of all of us.
Cancer. Stage 4 Breast cancer. She promised that she would beat it for us, but she lost her fight after a couple of years finding out. One of the last things my mom told me before she died was that we were her dream and she wanted us to follow ours no matter what.
I miss her so much.
"We better get back. We had a long day." Hannah says with a big yawn. I look up and shake my head in agreement. We give everyone hugs as we tell them we will stop by soon and head for the car.