I want to make it clear that this another thing I didn't usually do. I know I began the last section of this thing by saying that I wanted you all to know that I didn't usually hook up with people. But I also didn't usually do things like make spontaneous trips to Florida. Oh, yeah, that's where Kennedy wanted to go. Good old Tampa, Florida.
I probably sound like a broken record of "I swear I don't usually do this!" at this point. And most of you don't really have anything to compare me to other than who I've been since meeting Kennedy Abrams. But I swear, all of these things I 'don't usually do' are things I only started doing because of this giant force of a human being I had suddenly found myself bonded to through no fault of my own.
That makes it sound like our friendship was some punishment. And it really wasn't. Isn't? But I just want to make it clear that everything about this trip was not something that spoke to my personality. It spoke to Kennedy's. And only Kennedy's.
I don't know how long I'm going to write about this before interjecting again with my own thoughts and whatever. So I don't know exactly how much to give away right now. I'm not the best planner when it comes to writing, which is in stark contrast to most other aspects of my life. I hope that everyone can see that I'm trying to be a good person here. Is that giving too much away? I want you to keep reading. I just...wow, I ramble on here a lot.
I think it's important to say that I take responsibility for my actions. But when someone else tries to claim that something is your fault when it 100% is not...it takes a strong person to tell them that they're wrong. Especially when you idolize the person trying to blame you for something. Especially when you feel like that person is going to be able to open up doors for you that you could never open on your own.
To put it simply, I am not a strong person.
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"Where have you been?"
Rebecca ran into the apartment at 2:12 Sunday afternoon, carrying with her the shoes she had worn to the party and her now completely dead phone. She and Kennedy had decided to drive to Tampa, Florida, and stay for a week. Kennedy had found an Airbnb and booked it, allowing them to check in starting at 6:00 AM on Monday. Rebecca wanted to wait and drive down the following morning, but Kennedy insisted on driving through the night; it was only an eight hour drive, after all. If they left at 10 PM, they would easily be there to check in at 6 AM on Monday.
So, Rebecca had agreed to driving through the night, starting their trip in less than eight hours. She had called Janie back and told her that she was terribly ill and wouldn't be in for the rest of the week. She had sensed Janie's trepidation and mistrust at her call, but she hardly cared; Rebecca had received permission to take the week off to recover. Classes were another story altogether, but she figured she would just do make-up work and hope for the best.
Memories were more important than grades. At least, that was what she had been told by Celeste for the past two years as the two compared vastly different college experience stories.
So, when Rebecca entered her apartment ready to pack, she was not sure why she hadn't expected to run into her best friend; she supposed she had expected her to be with Spencer or something.
"I was at Kennedy's." Rebecca replied to Celeste's question carefully, "I guess I passed out there this morning."
"I'm not surprised." Celeste raised her eyebrows, stirring her teabag around her mug absentmindedly, "You didn't seem to be...all there...last night."
Rebecca felt her face grow warm.
"Did I do anything embarrassing?"
Celeste thought for a second before shaking her head.
"I don't think so." She shrugged, "Or if you did, I was too far gone to remember it either. My night was interesting, to say the least."
The strange feeling that had accompanied Rebecca's chest when Kennedy told her about Celeste and Spencer returned at those words. She didn't know why she cared about Celeste and Spencer; she supposed she had always thought that Spencer was somewhat interested in her, and that he would always be there. As a backup option, for when she finally got tired of looking for someone else. If he was with Celeste, her backup option was gone, and she was left sort of...on her own.
"How so?" Rebecca asked cautiously, unsure of whether or not she wanted Celeste to answer honestly.
Celeste shrugged.
"I should probably tell you another time." She laughed slightly, "You look like you're anxious about something. What's going on?"
Rebecca thought for a second. She could tell Celeste that she was going on a trip with Kennedy. But that would require coming up with a reason that she was willing to go on a spontaneous trip with Kennedy and had denied Celeste's request to go to the beach for the weekend the month before. Plus, Kennedy had specifically instructed that no one know where they were going, since they were going to get more pictures for the account while they were gone.
"My dad was in a car accident yesterday." She lied through her teeth, the fib coming to her mind suddenly and her mouth acting on it, "He's fine, but I'm gonna head home for the week to spend time with him and comfort my mom."
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