Page 10 of Sneaking Around with the Player
Beau: Too late. I’m screaming it down the hall of my dorm.
I laugh softly and Holly looks over with a grin. “I’m going to sleep. Do you need the light on?”
“No, I’m good.”
“That looks like the beginning of more than a little flirty texting,” she says as she turns off the TV and then all the lights, except the ones casting the room in a festive vibe.
The next afternoon, I text Beau as I’m grabbing lunch.
Me: How was your test?
Beau: I passed, I think. Did you sleep past your first class?
Me: No, but I wanted to. I still can’t believe we texted until 3!
Beau: Me neither. I’m on my second energy drink of the day. How many do you think is too many?
Me: 1 is too many. Those things are awful for you.
Beau: Awful, but currently keeping my eyes open.
Me: I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun texting.
Beau: Same. I’m getting ready for work. Text ya later?
Me: Looking forward to it.
And the next day, we’re still texting.
Beau: Favorite food?
Me: Cheeseburger. You?
Beau: Cheeseburger is pretty hard to beat. Add bacon and some jalapenos... *drool face*
Me: Do you need a moment alone with your spicy, bacon cheeseburger to show her a good time?
Beau: I need a whole afternoon. Maybe part of the evening, too.
I’m grinning like a fool as Holly and I walk to our afternoon English class.
“You two have been texting nonstop.” She elbows me and gives me a look as if to say, ‘I told you so.’
“He’s funny.” I hand over my phone to let her read the last few texts.
She huffs a small laugh. “Sounds like he’s an early finisher or maybe he’s suffering from performance anxiety.”
“That’s hilarious,” I say as she passes it back. I quickly tap out my sister’s response and send it to him as we enter the classroom. Holly loves English and insists on sitting in the front row, so I slide my phone into my backpack, grab a notebook and pen, and lean back in my chair as the professor begins.
Reading and writing are Holly’s thing. When we were younger, she would pick out books from the library, devourthem, and then pass them on to me. I would slog through, some of them I even really enjoyed, so we could talk about the characters and story lines. We shared everything. If one of us liked something, the other did too. Holly wanted to read every single book in the school library, so I flipped through all of them too. I wanted to do softball, so Holly signed up and stood way out in right field, praying for the ball not to come to her.
Sometime around middle school, we stopped trying to be the same person and found our own interests. I joined more sports, and she signed up for student council. Through it all, we’ve remained each other’s biggest cheerleader and best friend.
And sometimes best friends have to sit in the front row of the class they’d like to sleep through.
Except today, I am wide awake. Sleepy, yes, but even if I laid my head down on my pillow, I know sleep wouldn’t come.
My skin buzzes and my mind reels. I have the ridiculous urge to doodle hearts on my paper and I find myself smiling as the professor talks about “The Yellow Wallpaper” (and that is not a happy, smiley story).
