I wake up, and for a moment, everything is normal.

The sunlight is streaming through the glass doors, birds are tweeting outside and the ducks quacking by the pond. I sit up and stare out the window at the pure, blue, cloudless sky.

Then I remember what happened yesterday, and I smile. Ryan and I are broken up. I didn't think it would feel this good. I don't even remember what my life was like before Ryan, but if it was anything like this feel I have right now, then I don't know why I ever gave it up. As I'm sitting there, my phone rings. It's Jill.

"Myka, what did you do to Ryan?" She seems a little frantic.

"I broke up with him. Why?"

"He just threw up in my mom's azaleas. Twice."

"What? Why?"

"Well, it would seem as though he's not only hungover, but he's trying to cure his broken heart by having breakfast with José."

"Cuervo?" I ask nervously, afraid of the answer.

"Man's best friend," she replies sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, Jill."

"Yeah, me, too," she admits. Click.

I let the phone drop to the floor, waiting for guilt or sadness to set it, but all I feel is sorry for Jill and her mom's azaleas for having to deal with Wasted Ryan so early in the day…or even at all. That boy is a terror when he's drunk. I sigh and send up a silent prayer for Jill before getting up and going to shower.

For the first time in a very long time, I sing in the shower. I sing Kelly Clarkson, Parachute, Hot Chelle Rae, Owl City, Fun, Fall Out Boy, and Avril Lavigne. By the time I turn the water off, I feel amazing. When I open the bathroom door, however, I hear something: a knock at the door. I pause for a moment before pulling my towel tighter around my body and running to get the door.

"Um, hi," Chase says when I open the door. "Is this a bad time?"

"Um," I look around as if the answer is written on the wall or the doorframe. "Yeah, come in. I'll get dressed really quick."

He closes the door behind him and follows me up the stairs. I silently thank God that my bath towel is one of the big, fluffy ones and not one of the tiny, falling-apart ones that Dad refuses to throw away. Chase awkwardly takes a place at the kitchen table as I rush into my room to get dressed. I tear my dresser drawers apart. Why do I have no clean clothes? Finally, I find a pair of running shorts and a V-neck. I towel my hair dry as best I can, but it just looks like a tousled mess. Giving up, I go hang my towel up then head back out to talk to Chase.

"Hey, Chase. Did you need something?" I ask him

He stares at me.

"Chase?"

"What?"

I laugh, "Why are you here?"

"Oh! I, um, just wanted to, um, apologize for yesterday." He's having a really hard time getting the words out.

"Oh, um, yeah," I start awkwardly, brushing it off as I go over to the counter and start to make myself a cup of tea. "Don't even worry about it."

"No, really," he's getting the hang of this talking thing now. "I was a jerk about the whole jar thing, and then I tried to kiss you, and that was a really douchebag thing to do especially cuz you're dating Ryan and obviously that's not going anywhere anytime soon and…" He's rambling now, so I cut him off by loudly closing the microwave.

"We broke up."

He freezes. "What?"

"Last night, Ryan drunk dialed me and I broke up with him." I nonchalantly punch in a minute to heat up the water while I speak so that breaking up with Ryan doesn't seem like one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

"Woah," he gasps, staring at me.

"What?" I take the canister with all the teabags in it out of the cabinet and rummage around for an Earl Grey.

"I just wasn't expecting you to actually break up with him."

"What WERE you expecting then, Chase?" I slam the tea canister down on the counter. "You to just play games with me and me to just let my douchebag boyfriend go on thinking that I love him when I'm CLEARLY into someone else?"

He falls silent and starts to play with the Rubik's Cube my dad left sitting on the table.

"Sorry," I say quietly. "I didn't mean for that to be so harsh."

"No, I don't know what I was expecting, either. I just…" He pauses for a long time. It's almost like he forgot that he was speaking until the microwave beeps, telling me my water is hot enough. "I really like you."

I almost drop my mug. The words hang in the air for a very long, excruciating moment before I bring myself to speak. "You what?"

"I like you. I like you. I like you," he repeats. "You're different from the other girls around here. I don't even know what it is. You're just different. You're better."

I'm speechless. I'm not even making tea anymore. I'm just standing at the counter staring at him, tea package ripped open halfway in my hands.

After a long pause, he starts again, "Please say something." He's sitting at the table nervously rubbing his hands together.

I open and close my mouth a couple of times and eventually manage a sentence that pretty much sums up my feelings for Chase thus far.

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

Hi, friends.

I like tea.

Review, please!

I love you all.