Chapter Three:
The past night, Kristine had counted how many times her heart had flipped inside her chest rather than sheep. Senseless questions rattled around her tired head, and clouded her better judgment. What bathing suit to wear? Would he like it? Still bemused by so many non-coinciding thoughts, she drifted off into the hallway bathroom in her pajamas. Thankfully, Kristine didn't have to share room with anybody, and so she had gotten comfortable staying in her flannel pajamas all day long. Upon going to the kitchen, Kristine pulled out a plain bagel from the fridge, and lathered it with a generous helping of cream cheese. Once she was done with that, Kristine settled back into her bed in order to catch a rerun of The Doctors. Knowing that time would pass by slowly, she settled in with her bear nestled under her arm, and laid back down. Looking over, her once messy room was now so clean that you could even see your reflection on her wooden desk. Yesterday after arriving home she had spent hours cleaning, reorganizing, and packing her beach tote for today. If Anthony came to pick her up here, he wouldn't have to see the tumult that had once encompassed her room. It was refreshing to see the floor. Not entirely paying attention to the show, she thought about her and Anthony's relationship. Last year they had been teammates. Friends who were attached at the hip. Kristine laughed as she thought about their races. They would "compete" to see who could run faster, although everybody knew that if Anthony really put an effort into these "races", Kristine wouldn't even see him in the distance after a minute or two. So that was two friends...what was this? Gosh. Kristine smiled to herself...she was so contemplative lately. Though it was usual for her to think about things, such detail was never put into everything. Back to her original topic, Kristine considered her old friendship to this new tingly feeling she felt: a good old crush.
Smiling to herself, Kristine figured that wrinkles were worth it. They showed that you had had a good life. Kristine walked over to her walk-in closet (walk-in only by name), and pulled out a linen white two piece bathing suit. She pulled at the halter top, and triple knotted it...no mistakes today; and then pulled on the bottoms. She quickly added some blue shorts with white lining that were meant for swimming, and pulled her hair into a somewhat sloppy ballerina bun, brushed her bangs back down, and looked into the mirror with a confident expression. Satisfied, she turned towards her door while her emotions were still temporarily subdued.
Ring! Ring! Ri-! Kristine's cell phone chirped and vibrated from her tote bag. Pulling it out quickly, she opened the phone up before the third ring. She pressed it against her awaiting ear, "Yes?"
"Hey. It's me. Ummm...Anthony."
"Hey," Kristine laughed. Anthony still hadn't gotten over his reservations for talking on the phone.
"So when do you want to go to the beach?"
"Ummm...any time is fine actually," she responded, looking down at her bathing suit, and tote bag full of beach essentials: sunscreen lotion, bucket, cell phone, towel, and a retractable seat.
"Okay cool then. You live in Oviedo, right? Yea, so where do you want to meet?"
"Wanna meet me at the 7-11? That way we can get slushies before we take off."
"Sure, and I'll borrow my uncles car and come at around 3:20? That way you can have about 30 minutes to walk to the 7-11."
"Perfect. See you soon."
Kristine snapped her phone shut, and put it in the outer pocket. She then walked over to her parent's room. She scribbled a quick note to her parents to let them know where she was going, though this was really unnecessary. Kristine's clean record, and her parents overwhelming work hours made it easy to go anywhere whenever she wanted; often a relief from other parents' pestering. She opened the fridge in order to pack her lunch into her bag. Kristine glanced up from packing, and noticed a new addition to the kitchen. In truth, the kitchen was relatively simple. The entire decor had to do with chickens. Kristine failed to see the allure in chickens; unless they were served on a plate. Kristine's mom was from New York though, and the sight of the Oviedo chickens always made her smile, and she would wait for hours on end just to make sure that they crossed the road safely. Kristine on the other hand would rather beep relentlessly at them, and when this failed to work (it always did), she would slowly creep forward. Let the chickens decide whether they wanted to live or not. What happened to the good old chickens that crossed the roads? These just sat in the middle of it. Kristine put the note on top of the marble counter, and began her walk to 7-11.
-----------sry...still not done w/ ch 3, but I'll try and finish it soon. There are some revisions I did to chapters one and two. Okay then, thanks for reading--------------