"Belly…Bellllly. Belly. Belly. Bellybellybelly."
I opened my eyes and expected to see Toby's body curled up beside mine, but instead, he was standing up. His hair was wet, and he had different clothes on. He held Griffin on a leash and was using his other hand to shake me awake.
"I'm taking Griffin for a walk. Do you want to come or stay here by yourself?"
I felt really gross. I just came from the airport a few hours ago. I really wanted to go shower and change my clothes like Toby already had. But then again, I really wanted to walk with Toby. I knew that he was going to Starbucks because, well, he's Toby. And I really wanted a coffee. Hmm…shower or coffee, shower or coffee…
"I'll pass. I've got airport-ness on me, still. It needs to be scrubbed off."
"Don't blame you, airports are icky. I'll be around forty minutes, don't miss me too much. Have a nice shower and don't fall!" He yelled the last part so I heard it while he closed the door behind him. I didn't move until I heard his key turn the lock.
It took me a couple minutes to get on my feet. I'm getting used to this soreness, now. It doesn't feel too bad anymore, it's just kind of annoying. I managed to shower without killing myself, and I unpacked all my bags into the drawers of the spare room. I brought some picture frames with me, so I didn't have to worry about forgetting any faces. I wouldn't be seeing them for two months. I had one of my little sister, one of my mum and dad together, and one of my best friend and I. She gave me this picture for my 13th birthday. It was a large, sleek black frame with a white mat. It was one of those cheesy quad-photos that you can take in the Photobooth app that comes with all Macs. I hung that one up on the wall. That was the moment when I really made the spare room, my room. It was like I managed to sneak a piece of my home over the border and it made me feel warm and happy inside. Maybe I should call her and tell her I got here okay…
Suddenly, there was a noise from the front of the house. It scared me, but then griffin padded into the room and I knew it was just Toby.
"Belly? Where are you? I brought you an iced coffee!"
Later that day, Toby took me to Jack's. I love Jack, so I was pretty pumped. Convertibuscus had the roof down and we were blasting music like obnoxious bastards. Toby started giggling when I took his phone which was plugged into the speakers, and played Nugget in a Biscuit. We rolled up to Jack's house screaming that song as loud as we could, to see if we could get him to come outside. He did, and he was laughing, too. Toby turned off the car.
"Jack, meet Belly. Belly, meet Jack."
"Belly?" Jack asked, "I thought you said her name was Maddy."
"Yeah, but then I found out that her middle name is Isabella, so I screwed around with it until I got Belly. She likes it though, don't ya, hun?" He ruffled my hair and I ruffled his back.
"Of course I do," I beamed at him. "I'll love anything you call me."
On Sunday, Toby took me out to dinner. He told me that I needed to wear something nice, because the restaurant was "fancier than most." I have a brown and cream plaid sundress that I packed to take on this adventure that I wore. I used my black sandals with the roses on the toes to match. I put a little extra makeup on and put my hair up.
"Oh my…you look gorgeous…" Toby stood in the lobby on his phone, waiting for me.
"You look pretty damn gorgeous, yourself," he was wearing a blue dress shirt and a skinny black tie with black pants. I didn't know guys could dress like this without the help of their girlfriends.
"C'mon, we're going to be late," he winked at me, "I made reservations, but this place is pretty strict with its tables."
"So why are we going out, anyway?" I asked
"I have something very important and very exciting to tell you, and I figured that I should set up a nice venue to do it in."
Okay, now I'm excited.
