I'm Only Me When I'm With You [part5]

A Story by christina

Sofiee prepares to spend another day with Tanner, despite her mothers disapproval.

I woke up early the next morning. It was just about 7:30. “Good morning sweetie. You were asleep when we got in.” mom said. I sat up and looked around the room. Alex was still asleep on his cot. “Did everything go okay last night?” she asked. “Yea, it was great.” I replied. I got out of bed and started walking to the bathroom. “What did you guys do?” mom asked. “Shopped and ate some ice cream.” I closed the bathroom door, trying to avoid conversation with her. “He was a gentleman towards you?” she asked. “Mom, I’m in the bathroom. Can we discuss this when I’m not going pee?” I yelled. “I’m sorry hunny.” I opened the door and walked to the sink to wash my hands. “So, he was polite and all that.” “No mom, he was extremely rude.” I said sarcastically. “Sofiee, I just wanna make sure he didn’t hurt you are something.” She replied. “Mother, I’m not 10. I can take care of myself.” I walked back over to my bed and checked my phone. I had a text from a number I didn’t recognize. It read: hey. I had a good time with you tonight. I hope we can go on another date sometime soon. I looked over at mom who was messing with her phone. “Where’s dad?” I asked. “He went to the lobby to get breakfast. I’m about to go down there. Wake your brother up and tell him to get ready and you guys can come down and eat.” She opened the hotel room door and walked out. I walked over to Alex’s cot and poked him a few times. “Go away!” he yelled. “Mom said to wake you up.” I said. I walked back over to my bed and sent Tanner a text which read: how about today? I’ll ask my parents what we’re doing today. Assuming he was asleep, I put my phone on the nightstand and proceeded to get ready. I picked out a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt and my converse and I got ready. “Alex, seriously dude. Wake up.” I threw one of my shoes at his cot. It hit him in the back. “What the hell Sofiee!?” he yelled. “I said wake up.” He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I picked up my phone to see I had a missed call from mom so I called her back. “Hello?” “Did you call me?” I asked. “Yes. Are you guys coming down?” she asked. “Alex just got up. I’m almost done getting ready.” I said. “Well hurry up. There are a lot of people down here.” “Okay. We’ll be there in 10 minutes. Bye.” I hung up and laid the phone on the table. I pulled my hair back in a pony tail and put my shoes on. I sat and waited on Alex to get ready. “Mom said there are a lot of people downstairs so hurry up.” “Shut up. I’m almost ready.”

We walked downstairs to the lobby and met mom and dad who were sitting at a table eating. I got a bowl of cereal and some apple juice and took a seat with mom and dad. “So what are we doing today?” I asked. “We’re leaving after this to go to Universal Studios. So when you’re done, come straight to the room to get what you’re taking and we’ll leave.” They both got up and headed back to the room. Alex came and sat with me. “What movie did you guys go see last night?” I asked him. “We didn’t go to the movies after all. We went to the mall and walked around for a little bit.” He said. “Oh. I went to Hot Topic last night. I got a new wallet.” “Cool. Is that all you guys did?” “Well,” I said. “No. Tanner took me to his school. We went inside and he showed me the band room and attempted to teach me how to play the drums. And then we went to get ice cream.” “The school was open at 8pm during spring break?” Alex asked, confused. “No. One of the doors in the back was unlocked. We sneaked in.” I explained. “I bet mom liked that one.” He said, laughing. “I didn’t tell mom. She’d flip out for no reason.” “Oh. Well are you guys gonna hang out again?” He asked. “I want us to. I’m thinking about asking him if he wants to meet up at Universal and hang out.” I said. “That’s cool. Do you like him or something?” Alex asked. “Yea, kind of. He makes me smile and laugh and he’s sweet. You know, I’ve never felt like this. There’s something about this guy.” I explained. “You know Sofiee; I think for the first time ever, I understand what you mean. There’s this girl in my history class. Her name is Ashlyn and she’s so nice and pretty. We talk everyday in class. I think I like her a lot.” Alex explained to me. “Aww! My baby brother is in love!” I exclaimed. “Shut up. I’m not a baby �" I’m only a year younger than you. And I’m not ‘in love’. I just kind of like her.” “It’s cool bro. I understand. I’ll keep your secret. Let’s go.” We got up and went back to the hotel room. Mom and dad were sitting on the bed talking. “We’re back!” I shouted when I opened the door. “Grab your things and we’ll go.” Mom said. I grabbed my phone off the table and saw that I had a text from Tanner that said: I would love to hang out today. Let me know what you wanna do and when. I grabbed my purse and opened the hotel door. “I’ll meet y’all at the car.” I said. When I got outside, I called Tanner. “Hello?” “Hey there drummer boy. We are going to Universal Studios today. Maybe we can meet up later tonight?” I suggested. “Definitely. Just call or text me and we’ll get together.” “Wait! Do you wanna come to Universal with us?” “I’d like that, but only if your family is okay with it.” Tanner said. “They won’t care.” I told him. “Well then, I’ll get my money and I’ll meet you there.” He replied. “I’ll see you in a little bit then.” I said. I hung up and put my phone in my purse. “You’ll see who in a little bit?” mom asked, walking up behind me. “I invited Tanner to come with us to Universal.” I told her. “Sofiee, why would you do that?” mom yelled. “Because I wanted to. We had fun hanging out last night and I asked him to hang out again.” “Sofiee, you need to ask before you invite random strangers to hang out with you.” She lectured. “Mother, he is not a random stranger. Dad is okay with it. I don’t understand why you can’t chill out and just calm down.” I yelled. Dad and Alex came walking out of the hotel, right into our argument. “Do not raise your voice at me Sofiee. It’s not fair that you’re trying to ruin our family vacation by spending time with this boy you don’t even know.” “I’m not ruining anyone’s vacation! I’m enjoying it by making new friends! Why can’t you understand that?” “What’s going on?” dad butted in. “Your daughter invited that boy to go to Universal with us.” Mom said to him. “So? I don’t see that being a problem.” Dad said. “See, dad understands. In a normal family, this would be the other way around, but for some reason, you wanna be all over-protective. Well I’m a big girl and I can make my own decisions. Tanner is coming with us. Better yet, he’s coming with me. We wouldn’t wanna ruin your family vacation.” I got in the car and put my iPod on full blast so I couldn’t hear anything mom had to say.