Page 21 of Before We're More Than Friends
“Are you ready for a tour?” Mom asked, still smiling as she looked around. “Your dad and I are in love.”
Dad nodded with a small smile, seeming a little happier than I’d seen him in a while. Maybe it was forced, or maybe it was really genuine. “We are.”
Mom started the tour before I could even answer. The half-bathroom was on the right when we came in instead of the leftlike the one in our old house. The dining room was on the left, and it led into the kitchen, which led into the den. The entryway led to the living room, which shared a wall with the master bedroom. Every room had peach walls, brown tile, and white ceilings. There wasn’t a single spot of dust in sight. The only imperfection was an extra paint splash that got on the den’s ceiling in one of the corners.
The stairs were in the living room, leading to the small second floor. The floor was wood instead of tile, but the walls and ceilings were the same color.
“You guys get to pick your rooms,” Mom said. “Pick the ones in the front since the one on the side is too small.”
“I’ll pick the one on the left,” Kami said before opening the door. “I think this one is bigger.”
“Guess I get the one on the right,” I said.
While my parents followed Kami into her room, I went into mine. It wasn’t as small as I thought it was from the pictures, but there was still a difference. My room in Dallas was at the back of the house and had two small windows instead of one big one. The walls in here were blue instead of the peach brown the rest of the rooms were. There was nothing in here but the clean wood floor. No cracks in the ceiling or holes in the wall. Not even dust on the fan.
I hated it.
“The moving truck is here,” I heard Mom say from the other side of the wall. Gosh, I really hoped Kami and I wouldn’t be able to hear each movement we made like we lived in a cheap apartment complex.
Houston ran into my room, sniffed around, and sat down at my leg.I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m sitting here for now.
I leaned down to pet him. “I know, boy, it’s nothing like home.”
I spent the next few minutes staring out my window, watching my parents talk to the moving guys bringing things in. A black couple from next door joined them, starting an engaging conversation. I smiled, happy that there were already nice people here.
Tired of being in the house, I opened my suitcase and pulled out a spare leash. “Come on, boy, we’re going for a walk.”
Houston wagged his tail, and after I put his leash on, we went outside, out in the part of the world we now lived in that was April Springs, Nevada.
A breeze blew by, cooling off the heat on my face. As I walked with Houston, I couldn’t help but notice the changes all around me. Slightly bigger houses with a suburban style. Different sounds of traffic. Different smell in the breeze. Nothing was the same.
After a few minutes, I gave up and headed back home. Well, our newhouse.
This would never be home.
CHAPTER 6
Raina
Saying I’d woken up with an elephant on my chest wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Given how I couldn’t breathe at all, it didn’t seem like Penrose was much lighter.
“Girl.” I huffed, trying to lift her off me. Her body covered my stomach and my chest, leaving almost no air. “Get off.”
The girl didn’t move one bit. Guess my oxygen levels weren’t important enough to her.
“Seriously, Pen.” I sat up again, but my head crashed against my pillow seconds later.
This wasn’t a new occurrence. She’d played this game almost every night since she was a puppy, even though my queen-sized bed was big enough for both of us. Now that she was eight years old and much bigger, the pain that came from this was almost lethal.
It was only six thirty in the morning, and I was already on the verge of death.
I grunted as I tried to push myself up again. “This is . . . getting . . . old.” My head collided with the pillow. “Ugh.”
The look she gave me with her big eyes told me she didn’tgive two flying dog flips about my upcoming death. Nice, even my dog didn’t care about me anymore.
With all my strength, I pushed myself up while trying to lift her off my body, but it resulted in both of us rolling off the bed and tumbling onto the floor. To say the pain was enough to fully wake me up was an understatement, and I checked four times to make sure I wasn’t hurt, but now that she was no longer on me, I could breathe again.
I picked myself up from the floor and smirked at Penrose, who looked at me with sad puppy eyes. “I won this time.”
