Chapter 18

                                    

                                          
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"
I hear mom's voice from the corridor.
Aaarrrrgggh! 
I rollover to face the wall and pretend to be asleep.
I've actually been up for a while now. I woke up when Randy "tried" to leave the room without making noise. 
Need I tell you how bad he was at it?
His footsteps were effortlessly noisy, despite him trying to tiptoe out, plus, he did a bad job with the door too. 
 I didn't feel like going down yet so I just lay on my bed and stare into the space, hoping to fall back asleep, but the chatter from downstairs makes that slightly impossible.
They all sound very cheerful and I feel it's too early in the morning to be this cheerful, plus, I'm not really in a cheerful mood right now so I just stay out of their way.
"Mandy?" 
This time I hear her voice right outside my door. 
I quickly cover my head with the pillow and bury myself even deeper under the sheets.
The door clicks open and I hear her footsteps approaching the bed.
"I know it's Saturday, but you've gotta get out of bed now."
I just lay still. Who knows, if I keep at it long enough she'll just give up and go away.
The last thing I feel like doing right now is talking or even facing anyone.
"Mandy?" She calls softly. "We're about having breakfast. Why don't you join us?"
Almost instantly, my stomach gives a low growl  in response and I realize I haven't eaten since last night.
Suddenly becoming conscious of my hunger, I'm tempted to go down with her, but I decide against it.
Going down would mean coming face to face with Randy and I don't want to do that right now because I feel really bad about last night.
I've been up thinking about him actually, and I realize I just might have been a little too harsh on him last night.
I mean, who am I to judge him?
It's totally normal that I was upset about him getting into that drinking game even though he literally swore he was done with alcohol, but I had to understand things from his perspective too ...that the change wouldn't happen overnight like magic, but that it'd take time.
And then I make a decision, to be patient with him for as long as it took to get over it. 
"Mandy?"
She tries yanking the sheets off but I'm holding onto them tightly.
"I know you can hear me. Get up already!"
"Mom, go away," I fake a sleepy voice, pulling at the sheets even tighter.
"It's past 10am. You've had enough sleep."
I finally let go and slowly emerge from under the sheets.
"No, mom. I haven't had enough sleep, because you guys woke me up! I've barely had any sleep since."
"Silly. We kept the noise down."
"Yeah, right." I snort. "You guys all but kept the noise down. I could hear you singing William Pharrell's Happy in my sleep."
"Someone's very grumpy this morning. I'm gonna go now."
I sit up and release a sigh.
Mom always has a way of making me feel bad for stuff I really shouldn't feel bad for....like right now.
"I'm sorry," I call after her as she leaves but she says nothing and just walks out.
Well that's a great start for the day.
I get out of bed and lazily walk into the bathroom.
Mid shower, it dawns on me, that Randy used THIS VERY SHOWER a few hours back!
I mean, how crazy is that?
This isn't a big deal and shouldn't mean anything right?
But somehow, it does, in a way I can't describe and now I don't know whether to be excited or to be freaked out about it?
Soon, I find myself combing through my closet for something to wear. 
Usually I'd just throw on some sweatpants and a tank top or a sweatshirt or something, but today I find myself looking to wear something else.
And as much as I hate to admit it, that might have to do with Randy being around.