Free When I'm Gone by Katilyn S Page B

her face .
“Hi, Claire,” she called out and waved. I managed a small wave back.
“Hey,” I said and stood up, wiping my dusty hands on my paint-splattered jeans. Lauren swept her gaze over my walls and her darkened eyes lit up with surprise. She let out a twinkling sort of laugh and I raised my eyebrows in confusion.
As she looked around my room, I took the chance to look at her appearance. She looked more proffesional than a few days ago. She wore a pair of dark wash jeans tucked into a pair of gorgeous brown boots that I immeditely wanted. Her top was a slouchy, blue sweatshirt over a white tank top. Her hair was straightened, and she wore a white flower headband that stood out from the bright red. She opened her mouth but I didn’t hear her at first.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “What?”
“I said that I love what you did to your walls,” she cooed. “It’s so cool and looks like something a teenager would do.”
“That was kinda the point,” I stated. Blood pooled in her cheeks and she opened her mouth to apologize. I put up my hand. “ It’s okay.”
“Oh,” she murmured and glanced at Alex. He smiled warmly and she grinned back.
I flicked my gaze to the package in Lauren’s hands. It was long and flat, wrapped with shiny, navy blue paper. A wide yellow bow was tied to perfection at the top right-hand corner. A small card was attatched to the gift but I was too far away to read it.
That looks kind of like her, I thought to myself. She looks rich and she wraps her gifts like they’re rich too. Usually, I just throw it in a bag and be done with it.
Lauren noticed my stare and held it out to me. She laughed again when she saw my expression. “I meant to give this to you a few days ago, but I forgot after our little disagreement yesterday. So, I brought it today.”
Disagreement? I shouted silently. You were close to calling me some unmentionable names. And you call that a disagreement? Wow, you have a skewed version of life.
However, I took it in my hands, surprised at the light weight of the gift. Sighing, I held up the card and looked at it. Gorgeous, caligraphy letters exclaimed :
Welcome to the family!
Cute, I grimaced and laughed silently. Suddenly, I noticed Lauren watching my every move.
“Do you want me to open it here?” I wondered aloud. Startled, she glanced at my face.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she exclaimed, looking sheepish. I shrugged lightly and placed the gift on the table closet to us.
I slid a finger underneath the wrappings and pulled it off in one swipe. Lauren and Alex watched me, impressed at the feat I had just acconplished . Underneath the wrapping paper was a long white box. A box that would usually hold some type of clothing. I picked the top off and was greeted by a swarm of black tissue paper. I threw it to the side and picked up the garment that laid in wait underneath them.
“Oh my-”
In my hands, was the beautiful art smock. It was a navy blue with pockets positioned all over the place. I slid it over my neck and marveled at the way it fit my body perfectly. I glanced down and noticed that on the center of the chest, more caligraphy letters stated my name.
Ms. Barnes
“Do you like it?” Lauren’s voice brough me out of my trance and I looked up at her.
“Like it?” I asked. “No.”
“Oh, I’m-” She took a step back and cast her eyes to her boots.
“I absolutely love it,” I gushed. She looked back up, surprised. I grinned and took the smock off. “I’ve been looking for something like that, but I could never find one that I really liked. This one is perfect.”
“Oh, thanks,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Did you do it yourself?” I wondered.
“Um, yeah, kinda ,” she admitted. “I wrote the caligraphy , but I found somebody to embroider it onto the smock.”
“That’s so cool,” I awed. “Thank you so much.”
“No problem. It was my pleasure,” she said and gave me another shy