Wednesday, September 10th 2008.
I wake up, the realization that today is my last full day living in Seattle hits my mind. It'll take a couple of days to get to Buffalo, since I'm totally not going to drive non-stop. I've already put in my two weeks for work, my coworkers seemingly already saying their goodbyes on the day left, I've got my last paycheck already last week, on Friday. I'm still recovering from my breakup with Melissa though, I'm doing somewhat better now compared to where I was a month ago, staying in bed all day if I didn't have work or I wasn't dragged out of my room by Mom or Howard, every now and then I'd go hang out with Tim if he wasn't occupied with working, or Kevin, although he's not really seemingly all too cool with hanging out anymore, saying something about getting more responsibilities at his dad's restaurant and not really getting time to hang out anymore.
I shift up a little bit in bed, I hear Sasha playing around outside in the backyard, barking and the sound of her panting and running.
I think about why things went to shit between me and Melissa, I wasn't really attentive enough towards her, maybe me and her only talking about once a week, every now and I'd pick her up or she'd come over here when on a day she wasn't working as a barista at some local coffeehouse, she never really talked much about where she worked exactly, and maybe we'd hang out for a day, get some ice cream, drive out to a remote area and then do some fooling around in my backseat, and then I'd take her home. Besides that, we didn't really do much else together, she was a little bit taller than most girls, about five foot nine, average breasts, jet black hair, and looked pretty average, not exactly out of my league, but not the type of chick you'd take a second look at if you're walking down the street, either.
I slowly step out of bed, it's actually pretty nice outside today, something rare for Seattle, as I can tell out my window, the sun is shining and all, it's a little cold, as I feel from the chill of my window radiate throughout my room, it feels somewhat chilly in my room.
I walk out into the hallway, I can hear the sound of the TV on downstairs, mom seemingly doing something downstairs. I walk into the bathroom, I take a shower, brush my teeth and comb my hair and use the restroom, this all takes me about close enough to about a hour.
I walk out, and I see mom walk by, she's dressed in her pink robe that Howard gave her last year for her 51st birthday and her green and her green night gown.
"Good morning" she says to me, before she sips on the mug of coffee in her hand.
"Morning, mom" I say, and she gives me a weak smile.
"Y'know, Howard's really proud of you for trying to make something of yourself, I'm sure your dad would be too" she says.
"Yeah dad, I'm still really bummed out I never really got to know him" I say, being reminded of when we had to fly out to Los Angeles last year to go on Dateline and talk about the situation, it was a pretty big national news story in late 1999 and early 2000, they didn't really want us to get involved in it, for whatever reason until the second day of the year 2000, when I remember when some FBI agents in suits came by our house in a unmarked car came by our house and "officially" told us. We flew out for his funeral and everything. That whole period in my life was a dark time for everyone in this house, once that situation with that Cuban kid in Florida started to heat up and the news turned all of their focus towards that, our lives started to go back to normal, or at least, somewhat. We'd get recognized in public for the next three-ish years, and I remember girls and teachers in school would come up to me and ask me if I was okay, and stuff like that. It's not so bad once I graduated now, but every now and then It'll pop up.
"Well, he's in a better place now" she says somberly, and kissing me on the cheek and then walking off into her room and closing the door.
"Well, I guess I'll go call up Tim or Kevin and see if they wanna hang out" I say to myself, walking back into my room.
I grab my flip phone and dial up Kevin, and then it I wait about 30 seconds or so, and then it goes to voicemail. I try calling Tim, but the same happens.
"I guess I'll just see if Cindy wants to do anything" I say, dialing her number, she moved out to a Apartment in Lynnwood.
"Hello?" I hear her voice say.
"Hey, do you wanna hang out today? It's my last day in Seattle before I make the drive out to Buffalo" I say.
"I mean, I'm off today and Trevor's at work, so I guess I could use a little company here at home, so yeah, I guess you could come over" she says.
"Alright, be there in about 30 or so minutes" I say, hanging up the phone.
I stand up off of my bed and put some clothes on, a light blue t-shirt and some jeans and socks, I put on my light black Adidas jacket and zip it up, I slip into a pair of white New Balances and head downstairs, I'm not really hungry this morning.
I look at the slide door leading into the backyard, Sasha seemingly laying on a pile of leaves and seemingly enjoying the weather, the huge trees in the background all multicolored. I remember that I forgot my keys upstairs and run back up there, going up the stairs, I push open my door and grab my keys off of my desk, and then I run downstairs and go out the door leading to the garage, I press the button and the garage goes up, it's cranking sound. Mom's 1996 ruby red Buick Skylark in the first spot, the second car she's had since she got rid of the station wagon that she drove me and Cindy out to Seattle in that my dad bought for her back when they were a new couple and just moved to the suburbs, she had a lot of emotional attachment to it, but Howard bought her the Buick brand new, as kind of a sign to move on and to show his love for her.
I walk out pass the second spot, where Howard parks his car, a green 1993 Volvo 240, something he bought brand new, his previous car before that being his first car, a grey beat up 1962 Chevy Impala. He said something about buying built to last to me the other day, and the car being something along those lines.
I walk past the back of my Envoy and open the door and get in, feeling the somewhat cold leather seats, I crank my SUV up, it's on Howard Stern, dad being the last one to use my car, I let him use it due to the fact he needed to borrow it to help one of his employees move something around, I change the station, landing on the pop station, mentioning something about this upcoming election, talking about Obama and McCain and the campaign trail, and mentioning something about having the first black president, I've never really cared much for politics, so I just kinda tune this out.
I back out of the driveway and out onto the street, the radio's playing a Coldplay song, Viva La Vida. As I make my way from the street to the interstate, I think about the song and it's lyrics, while reflecting on the fact that today is the last day I'll be in Seattle, seeing these familiar sights, Lake Washington and the fact you can always see water surrounding you at all times living here, Madison Park and it's stores, and the Seattle skyline as I drive down the I-5 Interstate.
I make it to her apartment, the pop station now playing
Paper Planes by M.I.A, as I notice the name revolve over and over again on my radio screen.
I wait a minute before turning in, a couple of cars passing by and then I turn into the complex.
I park, and then turn off the engine and take my keys out of the ignition and then get out, I walk up to about 3 flights of stairs and the walk along the hallway, and then I knock on her door. This is probably the first time I've been to her apartment, since we've helped her move in last summer, she took awhile to find apartments.
She opens it, smiling, she's dressed in mesh shorts and a t-shirt with a orange Crush design on it.
Her apartments somewhat well furnished, her TV is on some commercial, I think it's Oxy Clean.
We just sit on the couch and talk, mainly about how much she says she's gonna miss me when I leave, and general stuff like that. We talk about old memories, like when we first came to Seattle as kids and being shocked by huge trees and mountains, compared to the desert landscape we lived in before, although she remembers more about Phoenix and dad than I did, she mentions something about dad being somewhat stuck in the seventies, or at least that's what mom told her at one point, she says that mom started to notice this towards near the end of her marriage with him, him keeping on the sixties and seventies hits radio stations, and complaining to her about the music coming out during this time. I remembered something about that, him yelling at a teenager on a airplane like I remembered before.
We talk some more, generally about just life and her telling me what to expect about living in apartment and just on your own in general.
I hang out there until about 5 or so, and then I head home.
As I pull into the driveway, I've noticed Howard has made it back, his Volvo parked into it's spot.
"There he is!" Howard says while standing in the kitchen talking to mom, he dresses in suits and stuff like that at work, he's never really been a casual guy, he's got thick rimmed glass and somewhat looked pretty nerdy, he's Jewish, and you can somewhat hear it in his voice, he's two inches shorter than me.
"Yep, I'm leaving out tomorrow morning!" I say giving him a bear hug.
I got the job doing some searching online, a bank job in Buffalo, New York that had some spots open, somewhere cheaper than Seattle too.
I get a call back from Tim, saying that he'll miss hanging out with me and tells me that we should keep up with each other on face book, didn't get a call from Kevin, but he's probably busy. We didn't stop communicating on bad terms.
I eat dinner that night, mom made some Tacos that night, at dinner we talk about memories and how they'll miss me being here, mom tears up during this all too.
I go to bed that night, thinking about everything that's led me up to this point, I wonder how different my life would been if my parents split up.
Maybe for the better, or maybe for the worse.
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
This is the last flashback before we get into the last three chapters which will involve the ending, which by the way, I've got something interesting planned for it that I foreshowed in an earlier chapter.