Rebirth

I woke up to a text from Brad:

              “I want to apologize for the other night.”

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes.

“Ugh, it’s too early for boy drama.” I muttered before starting a reply message.

               “You don’t have to apologize.”

I got up and brushed my teeth but when I came back I saw that he had sent me another message:

“Yes I do. I feel really bad about making you feel so uncomfortable. I don’t want things to be weird.”

I sighed and typed another reply:

“Brad, we’re both on the same page when it comes to what we have and where it’s going. Things don’t need to be weird.”

I was putting on a pair of jeans when I heard my phone buzz again.

            “We could try going on a date, though.”

I stared at my phone and cursed my sex life.

“Is this what I get for enjoying consistent orgasms!?” I shouted at the ceiling.

I began typing a reply to Brad but before I sent it I got a message from Luke:

               “Hey, beautiful, did you get your work schedule? When am I seeing you again?”

I quickly deleted my reply to Brad and started a new message.

               “I’m free Wednesday at 8.”

About three seconds later, Molly sent me a text from her room:

               “Why are you screaming about orgasms this early in the morning?”

I smirked and sent her a reply:

“Let me worry about maybe not having good orgasms anymore. You worry about Calvin’s penis.”

Finally I finished my text to Brad:

               “We can’t go on a date. You know I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now.”

I put my phone on my night stand and headed into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Molly was in there too and she was laughing over her cup of coffee and looking at her phone.

“Did Calvin send you another sext?” I asked mockingly.

“Uh, no,” she said turning her phone to me, “First, when did I become a dude and second, when did I ever ask you out on a date?”

“OH MY GOD.” I said spilling coffee everywhere, jumping over the couch, and running in to my room to grab my phone, “NOOO! NO! NO! NO!”

Molly found me sitting next to my night stand lightly banging my head against the wall and staring at my phone with dismay.

“Problem, honeybunch?”

“I just sent a text to Brad telling him that we could go out on date this Wednesday and another text to Luke vaguely implying that he’s gay and doesn’t give me good orgasms.” I put my head on my knees.

“Did they reply?” Molly was obviously suppressing a laugh.

“This is not funny!”

“It kind of is.” She said sitting on my bed, “Did they?”

“Yes.” I whined.

“And?”

“Brad says: ‘Really? I’ll see you at 8 on Wednesday, then.” And then Luke just put a bunch of questions marks.”

“Well.” Molly said with finality and then sipped her coffee.

“I am so stupid. WHO MESSES UP TEXT MESSAGING!?”

“Your mother.”

I let out a loud wail and threw a piece of clothing at her.

“Faith, you are over-reacting. Just text Luke back and say that you were making a joke and that you’re free for a brunch date this weekend. He wouldn’t have been able to do a date on Wednesday anyway; he has shows every weekday that start at 7:30.”

“And what about Brad?”

“Go on the date with him. I don’t know why you’re resisting this. Just do it. If it’s weird, then you guys can just be friends and he can continue to give you multiple orgasms without the added complication of being your boyfriend.”

I stared at Molly unhappily.

“What? I’m not the one that doesn’t know how to send text messages.” She shrugged and laughed.

I called Zoey about what she thought I should do and she basically said the same thing as Molly. Telling Brad I meant to send Luke that message would hurt his feelings and then things would get SUPER weird. So…I guess I’m going on a date with Brad?

My phone rang and I groaned. I was sick of dealing with my phone.

“Hello?”

“It’s your mom.”

“Hi, mom.”

She asked me if I’d gotten everything squared away with the move before she got my dad on the phone, too.

“Your mom and I have been thinking and we decided to buy you a laptop. It’ll be arriving sometime this week.” My dad said.

I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that they had done that. I told them I didn’t need it and that I would buy one later but they wouldn’t take no for an answer. I thanked them repeatedly and we talked about how I’ve been dealing with everything.

“I think I’ve been doing well considering.” I said shrugging, “Everyone has been really supportive and helpful.”

“How have you been sleeping, sweetie?” My mom asked.

“Okay.” I lied. I haven’t been able to sleep well since the fire. I keep having nightmares about Murphy being caught in it.

We said good-bye after a few more minutes and I went to lay down. My phone rang again. I sighed and answered it.

“Hello?”

The person on the other end asked me what my name was. I told them and then heard them mumble something on the other end to someone around them.

“My name is Dr. Jones. I work at the Southside Hunter Street Vet Clinic. I think we might have your cat, Murphy here.”