Airel - Aaron Patterson [5]
I lay in bed, processing, trying to wriggle out from the remains of yesterday. It had wrapped me up in a cocoon of thoughts and a tangle of blankets. I finally realized that I had swapped ends in the night; my head was at the foot of my bed and my feet were on my pillow. Whoa, I must have slept rough—rougher than usual, anyway. After a few minutes, I pulled myself up on my elbows and looked at the clock. Wonder of all wonders, I had time before school. I rolled my eyes and struggled out of bed—backwards—and trudged to the bathroom. Guess bad dreams have good points to them. At least I have time for a decent start to my day. Maybe today will be better.
Inevitably, I thought about him. Michael Alexander fluttered into and around my thoughts and I started to blush. It was really weird, because I could see his face just as clear as if he was standing right in front of me. Normally I couldn’t do that with guys I liked. Come on Airel. Get a hold of yourself. What a moron!
I turned on the shower to super hot and waited for it to kick in. I looked in the mirror and noticed that the dark circles under my eyes were surprisingly faint. Man, I would think after a night like that I would look like the corpse bride.
I flashed a fake smile into the mirror and that made me smile for real. I didn’t really think that I was all that, but I knew I had a few good things going for me. In this case, I was going to use everything I had. Jeez, Airel, what are you thinking? What, now you’re going to ask him out? What if he didn’t even really notice you? You’re going to look like such an idiot when he turns you down, or worse…
After a long hot shower I pulled on my blue jeans and my favorite t-shirt; the one with Bob Marley on it. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail. I always had to do that after a shower, otherwise it would get frizzy and curl like no one’s business. It would turn into a puffball or a fro.
My house was like most houses. There were several bedrooms, a family room, and a kitchen. My dad liked to go overkill on everything though, so we had stone arches in between the living room and kitchen and the best, plushest, carpet money could buy. Upstairs was my room, my parents’ room, and two spare rooms: one for guests and one for Kim.
Kim stayed the night at least three times a week. Mom had set up a room just for her, but most of the time she slept in my room. We would end up talking all night about boys, clothes, or whatever we happened to be thinking about at the time. So the spare room collected all her junk and turned out to be more of a storage room than anything else.
I put two strawberry pop tarts in the toaster and noticed that it was raining outside. Great! One day of sunshine and I was sick all through it. I made a mental note to grab a light jacket before I left the house. I felt fine today, I noticed. Other than the bad dream, I felt good. I wanted to get out and do something after school, but that wouldn’t be happening, not with this weather.
Boise, Idaho was like any other mid-sized town in the west. We thought we were a bigger city, but we still had that small, hometown feel. I liked that we got all four seasons; a good wet spring, a nice summer that would hit the dry hundreds for a few weeks, and a long fall with cool mornings, mild days, and changing leaves on some of the nicer drives, such as Warm Springs or Harrison Boulevard.
The winter wasn’t ever unbearable. Snow in town would usually melt after a day or two, but would stick around on Shafer Butte from October to April. Up there, in the foothills, was Bogus Basin, named after an infamous gang of outlaws from the old West times. Bogus was also the closest ski resort to town, and it got a lot of use from the locals.
I wasn’t much of a skier, though talking about it makes a girl look cool in the right crowd. I never really got into it. I liked it warmer, so summer and fall were my favorite times of the year. Stick me out by a pool with a good book and the warm sun rays and I would be a happy