We live in a world of ups and downs; I get that. There is always a calm before the storm, both figuratively and literally. The problem is when you don't know that a storm is coming; the calm period before it can actually be a wonderful, blissfully ignorant time. That's how it was for the next week; we have officially entered the "calm" with an unforeseen storm in the far distance. None of us, not even me saw it coming.
Life is also sometimes ironic. For someone who was partly dreading Josh's return- yes, I fully admit that now- the week after he was back was one of the best, most fun weeks of the summer. How is that possible, I hear you ask. Well, it helped that Josh and Peter actually got along great after some time. They were really different, sure; but they had some things in common. I watched as they bonded over music and some select sports. Lucas even got in on the male-bonding action too. Don't believe me? They actually went out one night, the three of them; they went to an American football game- something I had zero interest in. But I didn't mind though; Chris, Kitty, and I took the opportunity to have a girls' night at home, complete with facemasks, ice cream, and cheesy romcoms. Stereotypical? Yes, but it was still fun.
Now, don't get me wrong. My feelings on Josh were still really unclear; he still made me insanely happy just by being near me. But Peter…. something was happening there. I actually think that he looked much more attractive in my eyes because he got along with Josh so well. It was like I didn't have to worry about losing Josh if my feelings for Peter developed. Josh was secure in my life; that was a definite. And with that being the case, I didn't have to worry about Peter chasing him away if I did fall in lo-…. well, let's cross that bridge when we get to it.
Still, I gazed out to the field where Peter, Josh, and Lucas were tossing a baseball around; they were laughing and yelling at each other. Man, they looked so happy…. so incredibly happy and relaxed. My eyes fixed onto Peter, who currently was wearing the biggest smile. Huh, my own lips curled into an unconscious grin. I like it when he smiled like that; he looked so good when he was happy….. so attractive, gorgeous.
"Want some more chips, Aerity?" "Huh?" I blinked over to Chris; she was cleaning up the remains of our picnic. Kitty thought it might be a fun idea for us all to go to the park for a picnic. Everyone was immediately on board and Josh fished out his old baseball from his closet. Chris and I made sandwiches for everyone; not because we're women but because I'm an insanely picky eater. We were going to have a round of make-shift baseball after eating, and the men were warming up. They were a lot more competitive and serious about it than we were; but in a playful, friendly way.
"What's taking you girls so long!? Come on! We're burning daylight!" Peter hollered over to us. I giggled and Chris rolled her eyes. "Your man needs to take a chill-pill, Aerity." "Her man's standing over there," Kitty pointed over to Josh. "Go team Josh!" She whispered while smirking over at Chris. "Oh my god, you guys," now my eyes rolled exasperated. "Come on, let's play," I then led them to the field. Josh and Peter were the "captains" of the two teams. Peter, Chris, and me on one, and Josh, Lucas, and Kitty on the other. It was clear that none of us were good at baseball, but we all tried our best anyway. It ended up being pretty fun.
"You're gonna home, Kavinsky." "Not today, Sanderson," we all observed as Josh threw the ball at Peter. He managed to hit it, sending it far off into the distance; far enough that Kitty had to run for it. Peter got to the plate, doing a victory fist pump in the air. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about! You see that, Covey?!" He shouted over to me. "Yep! Wouldn't miss it for the world," I called back. "Yeah, well no one's going to miss you striking out," Chris said to me. This sounds mean but it really wasn't; I was the worst at this game, literally. "Alright! Time to switch!" She announced and we all changed positions.
Lucas was tossing me the ball. "You ready, Aerity?" "Uh huh," I nodded, bat in hand. "Alright, here it comes!" By some miracle, I hit the ball on my second try; not very far though. But it was just enough to make Kitty run for it. She threw it to Josh, who proceeded to nearly tag me out as I slid to first base. "Safe!" Chris shouted. "Nice hit," Josh grinned down at me, offering me a hand up. "You alright?" "Yes," I smiled back, taking his hand and standing up. "Hey!" Peter called from the other side of the field. "No goggly eyes!" "Oh yeah?! We'll see about that!" Josh shouted back with a big smirk on his face; I noticed that he was still holding onto my hand.
"That was so much fun!" Kitty proclaimed as we entered the house. "We should play baseball more often." "But we lost…. or won; I'm not really sure how the scoring works." "Who cares?! It was fun! That's all that matters." "Yes, you're right," I smiled over at her. "Hey, by the way, what did Peter want to talk to you about?" "Oh," my lips drew in a deep breath, only to sigh lightly. "He probably wants to ask me about Paul's beach party this weekend." "Wait, what beach party?" "Peter's friend, Paul, is having his annual beach party and apparently Peter wants to ask me to go." "Oh…." Kitty's eyes began to wander in a considering way.
"Wait, so he hasn't asked you yet?" "Not yet, no." "Buuuuuuuuut you still somehow know that he's going to?" "I overheard him talking to Gen about the matter last week." "Really?" Her eyes grew. "How'd you manage that? Were you spying on him?" "How dare you suggest such a thing?!" I retorted immediately. The idea! "No, absolutely not! I accidently overheard their conversation while I was sitting under the bleachers at the field….. don't ask," my head shook. "O-ok? So this party? Peter's going to ask you to go…. with him?" "Probably. Either that or he's going to inform me of his going. Regardless, I'll respect his decision." "You mean if he doesn't ask you," she quipped. "I mean it's his decision and I'll respect whatever it is. It's not my place to tell him to bring me, especially when Paul hasn't invited me himself." "But Gen is going, right?" "I…. believe so, yes." "And… you're ok with that?"
I set the bag with the picnic stuff in it down on the kitchen island and turned to face Kitty. "I'm ok with whatever Peter wants. I'm not his real girlfriend… at least not yet." "Oh?" Her face lit up in that usual, knowing way. "Are you hoping that you will be soon?" "I…" Before I could answer that tack-less question, Daddy entered the room with a Lush box in his arms. I know it was from Lush because it had the logo on the cardboard. "Hi girls," he greeted us, putting the box down on the island alongside my bag. "Hi Daddy," we replied in unison. "This came for you today, Aerity." "Oooooooh, my Lush order!" I squealed, grabbing hold of the box excitedly. "Why do you order from online when we have a store in the mall?" Kitty asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because there's some stuff you can only get online."
I didn't waste any time getting a pair of scissors and cutting the tape. The box opened to reveal a bunch of plastic peanuts at first; that was normal, Lush was so good with shipping. My wide smile began to fade however when I pulled out a bottle of Rose Jam. "Wait…" More searching through the box. I uncovered a Ro's Argan body conditioner, Rosy Cheeks facemask, Rose Lollipop lip balm, and much more.
"T-this isn't my order." "What do you mean?" Daddy and Kitty came to stand at each of my sides curiously. "This isn't mine; I didn't order these. I just ordered some Rose Jam soap and bath bombs. This is like…. way too much." And really expensive too; none of the items here were cheap. "Huh," Daddy picked up one of the bottles. "I wonder if they accidently sent you someone else's order?" "That's the strangest coincidence if they did," Kitty noted with a hint of sarcasm. "Why?" I blinked to her confused. "Because you love rose; everything here is like rose." "Huh?" With a quick rescan, I found that she was right; she was totally right. "You're right. That's weird…." Really weird. But I suppose coincidences like this aren't impossible. Still, we should get to the bottom of this mix up.
"Where's the invoice?" I asked Daddy; there wasn't one in the box…. for some reason. "Uh, I don't know; I don't think there is one." "What do you mean?" "Well, the delivery man just brought the box. There weren't any papers or anything." "Look, the label has your name and address, sis," Kitty pointed to the box's flap. "They must have put the wrong label on. This is not my order." "Well, what did you order?" "I ordered….. wait," a sudden thought came to mind.
"This… is from the UK." "Huh?" Both Daddy and Kitty turned to me in confusion. "They don't sell this facemask in America; I've only seen it in Europe." "This box came all the way from Europe?" Kitty's eyebrow lifted skeptically. "I-it… it must have! It didn't come from here," I gazed back down at the products. "So, they mixed up your order with someone in the UK?" "I….. I guess so! Here, let me see the tag again," we all scanned over the label on the box. It didn't have a return address unfortunately. Kitty's eyes lit up as she spotted something however.
"Hey, that looks familiar." "What?" "That," she pointed to a logo at the bottom righthand corner. She's right, it was familiar. "That's the Oxford logo," Daddy announced. "Where have I seen that before?" Kitty sounded genuinely perplexed by this query. "Wasn't that…? That was the logo on the card that came with the bouquet for me last month!" My fingers snapped. That's when Daddy started to lean back with a slowly enlightening face; his head gave a little nod. Meanwhile, Kitty and I were busy trying to figure this out still. "Why would it have the same symbol? Do you know someone at Oxford?" "No! It must have come from the city Oxford. I… I suppose the city logo is the same as the university logo." Yeah, that worked… didn't it? Something about Daddy's face however… it caught my attention.
Daddy was leaning against the counter behind us now, thoughtfully nibbling the skin on the tip of his thumb. "What do you think, Daddy?" I asked as we both looked behind to him. He didn't answer my question, instead staring at me with intent eyes. "You…. really don't remember, Aerity?" "Remember what?!" My hands tossed up into the air. I'd had enough of people saying "I didn't remember"; if I didn't remember and it was clearly that important, why didn't they just tell me? "What don't you tell me what I'm supposed to remember? Because I have no idea," I retorted honestly but a bit loudly. Kitty's eyes moved from me to Daddy, a tad worriedly. I don't think she knew what he was talking about either.
To my surprise, Daddy looked…. conflicted in that moment. Wait, what was there to be conflicted about? Why didn't he just tell me? What was this big secret that I didn't know, if there was one? I was way too old for this; if there was indeed something I should know, he needed to tell me. But he didn't say anything; he simply stared off into space for a minute as if he was debating with himself. Eventually, his head shook as he let his hand fall and straightened up. "Forget it; it's nothing." "Are you sure?" "Yeah," he grinned up at me; a pained grin to my bewilderment.
An awkward silence over the room as none of us did anything for a second. Kitty was the one to break the tension, grinning to herself and grabbing something from the island; I didn't see what. "Come on, let's go try this out!" She tugged on my sleeve; I guess she grabbed some product we could both use. Daddy and I stared at each other for another second before I turned to leave with my sister, letting her guide me out of the room. But before we left the kitchen, Daddy's voice caught our immediate attention again.
"Aerity!" We both checked over our shoulders to him. Daddy didn't look mad, more… confused if anything. His eyes were locked onto me for a moment while his mouth hung open; I think he was about to say something but stopped himself. He stood there with a look on his face that read that he didn't know what to say next. But he finally broke the silence with a quick blink of the eye, as if realizing something; something important. "Just…. wait." "Huh?" "Don't… rush into anything. Wait a while, is what I mean." "W-what are you talking about? Wait for what?" "I-I…." His shoulders gave a defeated shrug. It was clear that he wasn't going to give me any adequate answers. "All I'm saying is don't make any decisions about anything… or anyone yet. I have a feeling that you're going to see things very differently by August."