Two sides, same coin?

(via)

So, for today's story, I thought we'd do something new and have a dual perspective. Because sometimes things aren't quite what they seem...

Words today:

lunch break

racing

flannel

adapt

KACEY

July in Atlanta can be hellish. I pad down the stairs on my bare feet and glance at the thermostat. Stupid thing says it’s 70 in here. My fingers itch to crank it down, but at this rate our electric bill is going to be higher than rent this month. “You still there?” I ask Dean.

“Yep.”

I cradle the phone to my ear and plop onto the couch. “It’s hotter than the hinges of hell down here.”

Dean chuckles. “I definitely don’t miss the heat.”

Who would? Though, there isn’t much that Dean misses about Georgia. His job in Columbus is going so well, and now he spends weekends going to his nephew’s soccer games and poking around his new city. “Our electric bill last month was close to two hundred," I tell him.

“Yikes.”

No witty comeback. He’s so tight lipped today. “You thinking about work?”

“Nope.”

Of course not. No fretting from Mr. “I never worry.” I picture Dean’s face in my head and smile. I’ll admit it - I’m obsessed. I think about him first thing when I wake up each morning. I text him on my lunch breaks. I’m both giddy and so at ease with the two of us. Being with Dean’s as comfortable as flannel pajama pants and hot chocolate.

“So do you think you’ll be able to come down for Fourth of July?” I ask him.

“Not sure.”

"Is your family getting together?"

He doesn't say anything. I look at my phone to see if I lost him. It says we're still connected. "Dean?"

"What's that?"

"I asked if your family was getting together for the Fourth?"

"Oh, I'm not sure."

I nod my head and chew on my lip, my heart racing underneath my tank top. The Fourth is two weekends away and he doesn't know what he's doing? He doesn’t seem bothered over us not seeing each other that often. He can either come down, or he can't. Why doesn't he know?

"Well, hopefully I get to see you," I tell him.

"Yeah."

Silence. Ok. So no Fourth of July. Or the weeks before. Or the weeks after, probably. Gah, adapt Kacey. Things are not going to always go the way you want.

"Hey," Dean says, "I need to give my sister a call, so I'm gonna let you go, ok?"

I bite my lip, his suddenness to get off the phone slicing my heart. "Ok."

"Love you, Kace."

I nod again. "Love you, too." I end the call and stare up at my ceiling. Boyfriend distracted and hundreds of miles away. And here I sit, sweating through my clothes.

This absolutely sucks.

DEAN

“You still there?” Kacey asks.

“Yep.” I scroll down the web page, not content with what I’m finding.

“It’s hotter than the hinges of hell down here.”

I chuckle. “I definitely don’t miss the heat.”

I picture her, as I always do, when we talk. In the winter I’d see her stretched across her bed, hunkered down between her flannel sheets, her pj's on and her hair a mess. Now she’s probably sweating through Atlanta summer heat in those adorable old gray shorts she has. I picture her legs in those shorts and smile, then click on a few pics on the page I'm on. 

“Our electric bill last month was close to two hundred.”

“Yikes,” I say. Hmm. Nothing here. I close that tab and return to Google, my determination building. Nothing gets me amped up like Kacey does.

“You thinking about work?”

I smile and click on another webpage. “Nope.” I glance at the list I scrawled out on a post it during my lunch breaks this week and type in the last place I know to look.

“So do you think you’ll be able to come down for Fourth of July?”

The Fourth. That’s only two weeks away. I’d rather wait until later. No sense to rush. “Not sure.”

I scroll through the webpage I have pulled up, and click on a few things.

"Is your family getting together?"

I zoom in on an image. Now that one I like.

"Dean?"

My brain trips, racing to remember what we were just talking about. "What's that?"

"I asked if your family was getting together for the Fourth?"

"Oh, I'm not sure," I tell her, adapting my tone because her voice has that bite to it that tells me she’s stressed or worried.

"Well, hopefully I get to see you."

"Yeah." I click on the image I'm looking at and bring it up on a separate page. Then I click my other open tabs. There. These five. There’ll all good, and within what I can afford.

Maybe in a month I'll have things ready? I bookmark all the pages. "Hey, I need to give my sister a call, so I'm gonna let you go, ok?"

"Ok."

I stare at my computer screen. "Love you, Kace."

"Love you, too."

I end the call and pull up my older sister’s number, and stare at the diamond on my computer screen. I can’t pick out a ring for my girlfriend and not get some female input.

"Hey little brother."

“Hey Becca, you free this weekend to help me with something?”