Miss Movin' On

"I broke the glass that surrounded me
I ain't the way you remember me
I was such a good girl
So fragile but no more
I jumped the fence to the other side
My whole world was electrified
Now I'm no longer afraid
It's Independence Day
I'll never be that girl again
My innocence is wearin' thing
But my heart is growing strong
So call me, call me, call me
Miss movin' on" Miss Movin' On by Fifth Harmony

I woke up late Sunday morning, feeling groggy with a slight ache in my head and feet, but relative good considering the amount of alcohol I guzzled down while dancing the night before. I stayed in bed for a few moments, before rolling over and grabbing my phone and looking over my notifications. I went through all my social media accounts and checked out the various pictures and posts from the party.  Afterwards, I sent a group text to my friends reminding them about brunch:

Me: Hey everyone! Know what's great for hangovers? Brunch. Who's in?

Immediately, I got a text from Forrest.

Forrest: Do you not remember threatening us if we don't come?

I giggled. I totally remembered. I'm pretty sure I waved the cake knife around a little while I said it too.

Me: This is my subtle way of reminding you all. Be there....Our else! {knife emoji, gun emoji, eggplant emoji}

Sammy: I'm in. I value my life.

Rocky: I value free food. I'm there.

Corey: Is no one else concerned/confused by the eggplant?

I went downstairs, let Justine out in the back yard and made some coffee. While it brewed, I received texts letting me know who was coming, who couldn't, and a debate about what the eggplant meant. Corey, Sammy, Amber, Will, Richard, Jake, Dino, Rocky, and Forrest already agreed to come which was good enough for me. Jordan declined, but sent me a text outside the group message to see if we could meet up sometime this week. I agreed and told her I could met for lunch any day.

I was pulling out coffee mugs when I got a text from Ethan saying he would come. Serena and Ethan left the lounge way before everyone else because Serena wasn't feeling well. Sammy pointed out on the drive home that Serena's illness seemed to get worse watching Jordan and Blake together. I didn't pick up on that, but I did assumed Ethan wouldn't come when Serena sent me a text that she wasn't coming to brunch. I decided to call Ethan.

"Hey. You know you don't have to come to brunch if you don't want to." I told him, pouring two cups of coffee.

"Do you want me to come?" Ethan questioned me.

"Of course I do! I just know Serena isn't feeling well. I didn't want you to feel obligated to come."

"You wielding a knife last night says differently." He disagreed.

"I meant that in a non-threatening way."

"That's a first. A threat in a non-threatening way." Ethan commented.

I smiled. "But really, it's completely up to you."

"I want to come. You can put your knife, gun and eggplant away." Ethan assured me

"No promises." I teased, playfully, before hanging up.

I grabbed the Tylenol I left out. Amanda barely made it to my bedroom the night before so I wasn't able to get her to take any before she passed out. I knew she would be in pain when I woke her up. I grabbed a TV tray and loaded it up with water, Tylenol, coffee, cream and sugar. I let Justine inside before taking the tray to my room.

"Amanda? Amanda??" I whispered yell in my bedroom setting the tray down next to the bed. I nudging her to wake her up.

"What?" She sat up, failing, grabbing the covers around herself and looking frantic."Where am I?"

"My room. It's Lily. You crashed here. Do you remember last night?" I asked her softly. I looked her over, concerned. She was really pale and her eyes were wide as she finally focused on me.

"I remember you made me try every martini known to man." She groaned, her body untensing as she rubbed her hands over her face.

"No sweetheart. We downed every martini ever made and followed that down with some shots. Are you ok?" I asked, handing over a water bottle and a few Tylenol.

She took them and swallowed them down. "Yeah, I'm ok."

"You sure? You slept ok?" I asked, wondering if she had a nightmare. Maybe that's why she was so jumpy.

"Fine. Thanks for letting me crash. Your bedroom looks great. You don't need Carly to help decorate." She commented.

"No offense, but I would rather have the Tasmanian Devil come and redecorate than your sister."

Amanda snorted."None taken. He would be better company too."

I burst out laughing loudly and she winced.

"Sorry." I said, covering my mouth.

"It's ok. Serves me right for talking about my sister."

"No, serves us right for accepting his free drinks from older gentlemen." I corrected her.

"Older gentlemen? What's the male equivalent of a cougar?"

"A man. Men never get labels."

"That's crap. How about creeper?" She supplied.

"Cougars and creepers. The bar was crawling with them." I smiled. "Do you drink coffee with sugar or cream?" I asked.

"No. Black." She said, reaching for her mug.

"What happened with the guy you were talking to?"

"Forrest scared him off." I grinned at the memory.

Older guys bought us drinks every time we left the VIP section. I loved it at first- free drinks and it made me feel good to still be young enough to get hit on by men way too old for me. After my fourth mixed drink and forced conversation with an older guy, I implemented the "bae system". I then explained how I told everyone in Houston that Forrest was my bae to keep guys from hitting on me. They all cracked up at the horror that was on Forrest's face when I explained how people actually believed we were dating in Houston.

When the band wrapped up, a DJ came playing house music and the crowd got younger. By then I was tipsy, so when I kept catching eyes with a guy in my age range, I walked over to him. I invited him and his friends to come help us finish the huge cake with my picture on it. We flirted back and forth, mostly about how delicious my face was.

He kept hinting about getting my number or leaving the bar together. As much as I enjoyed his attention, I wasn't there yet. I definitely wasn't ready to play the dating game with anyone new and I wasn't sure if I was a casual hook up girl. Forrest eventually came up, put his arm around me and called me bae. The guy retreated immediately. Forrest laughed and said he thought I needed help. I punched him and called him a cock block, even though I was grateful for his intervention.

I retold the story to Amanda and she laughed then winced. "Even my own laughter hurts." She groaned.

"Food will make it better. Let's get ready."

We got dressed and headed out to meet my dad at a upscale sports bar in Plano. I looked it up and figured a bar setting would be casual for my friends while the extensive brunch menu would please my picky dad. The food reviews were great too and that's all that mattered to me. Amanda and I arrived at the restaurant early so we could have a table big enough for everyone.

Forrest and Rocky showed up together first. They were followed by Amber and Will. Amber had on huge shades, even though we were inside. She took them off and looked amazing. It was unbelievable considering she and Mia partied harder than anyone. After I greeted them my phone rang. It was Christian so I stepped away from the table to answer it.

"Hey, I'm so sorry." I apologized as hello.

"So you heard?" He sighed.

I frowned up."I don't think so... I never thanked you for the tickets. What didn't I hear?"

"Noelle and I broke up. It's not out yet, but I thought maybe your cousin told you." Christian replied.

"No. We don't really get into specifics about... this. I try to be there for her, but she knows I don't approve so I'm sure she doesn't tell me everything. I am sorry though. About you two."

"It's alright. Remember how I told you things didn't feel right?" Christian asked.

"Yeah." I said, waving at Corey and Sammy as they walked in the restaurant.

"Long story short, I found out no one was looking into the hack. No police report, FBI investigations, not even her own team. Which tells me she knows who leaked it or-"

"She did it herself." I finished for him. "Why would she do that?"

"When I confronted her about it, she broke up with me." He confided in me, sadly.

"That sucks Christian. She fucking sucks."

"I know. I'm glad to be done with the drama. You wanted to stay updated for your cousin's sake; just wanted to let you know I'm officially out of it."

"I appreciate you for letting me know Christian."

"No problem."

I got off the phone, feeling extremely dejected for Christian. I knew that feeling of someone breaking up with you and you have no idea why nor will they answer your questions. It brought a stream of emotions that I pushed aside to enjoy brunch with my friends.

"Who was that on the phone?" Sammy asked as I rejoined everyone.

"Christian."

"What did he want?" Sammy asked,
 in a disgusted tone. I narrowed my eyes at her, but ignored it.

"Make sure I got my present. 4 tickets to the Weeknd next Sunday in Houston! I haven't decided who's coming with, but I'm accepting bribes and blood sacrifices." I told them with a smile.

Amber brightened. "You can have anyone of my kids."

"What?" Will asked, while I laughed.

"Tempting. Rocky, can you top that? You don't have to give me your baby, but naming him after me would be a sweet gesture."

"I'm way too pregnant for a concert and there's no way I'm naming my son Lily." Rocky frowned.

"You're accepting gifts from him now?" Sammy snapped at me, crossing her arms.

"Yeah..." before I could ask her what her problem was, my dad joined us. I focused my attention on him.

I introduced him to everyone. Ethan arrived right after him. We sat down and watched the football game until everyone else showed up. Forrest was instigating a fight with me by talking about how badly my 49ers were doing this year, but I didn't take the bait... at least, not verbal. I kicked at him under the table. Jake and Dino arrived after a short wait and Richard didn't show up until after we ordered drinks.

"Richard did all the renovations in my house." I said, introducing him to my dad.

"You accomplished a lot of work for such limited funds." Dad asked him.

"Thanks dad." I said, making a face.

"I only meant for the amount you paid." My dad cleared up.

"I only contracted out for the flooring and the roof. Lily did a lot of the labor herself and I don't overcharge my friends for my time." Richard answered, smiling charmingly.

"So you were friends when she hired you?" Dad asked.

"No!" I interjected quickly at the same time Richard said "Sure."

My dad never did business with friends. It was in poor taste in his opinion.

"I knew of him, but I didn't really know him." I tried to explain.

"He's roommates with my brother. I referred him to Lily." Dino spoke up. I sent her a thankfully look while Jake looked amused.

"The materials weren't inexpensive were they? That means poor quality." My dad continued to grill Richard. He hadn't even had a chance to look at the menu.

"I hooked Lily up with the supplier so she could buy her own materials then drove to pick them up. Cut out out a lot of fees." Richard explained.

 "It sure did. Does everyone know what they're  ordering?" I asked, changing the subject.

Forrest jumped into the change of topic. "Eggs Benedict sounds good."

"No uncooked eggs." Rocky shook her head.

"Not for you." Forrest agreed.

"No, just thinking about it makes my stomach uneasy. The smell of pork is bothering me already. Do you mind not ordering it?"

"What? No bacon?" I asked.

"I can manage bacon. I can't see runny eggs." She looked at Forrest, apologetically.

"That's fine. No runny eggs or bacon for me." He told her.

"You can't go one meal without pork for Racqelle?" My dad asked, more like a statement than a question.

"For Rocky, no. For baby Liam, of course."

"Still not naming my baby after you Lily." Rocky shoot me down.

We had a surprisingly good brunch with my dad. While most of my attempts of humor went over his head, he got along pretty well with everyone else. The only time we butted heads was his insistence that I add deadbolts or some type of an alarm system in my house. I told him my neighborhood was safe, then Ethan intervened.

"It doesn't matter where you live- people are dangerous, not neighborhoods. You can buy locks at Home Depot." He hinted at the gift he got me.

"I'm spending that gift card on my eggplant army." I said, matter of factly.

"I'm serious Lilian. I read that in Plano last year the were a series of break ins around the holidays. You need extra protection." My dad lectured me.

"I remember that. He got out of jail for armed robberies on good behavior and went back to robbing people. He broke in people's houses during broad daylight." Rocky recalled.

"You're home during the day Lily. People are crazy, especially around the holidays." Forrest commented.

"Do you think they sell guns at Pier One?" I pondered out loud. "Then I'll be protected with my eggplants, knifes, and a gun."

"I have a rifle I will give to you if you take a few classes and go to the shooting range." Ethan offered.

"That's not a horrible idea." Dad nodded.

"No way. You actually own a gun?" I asked Ethan, no longer joking.

"Guns." He corrected.

"Ohmygod, are they in your house?" When he nodded, I continued. "You keep guns with EJ in the house?" I said, truly shocked.

"I keep guns because of EJ. They're locked up so he can't get to them but we're protected." Ethan explained, simply.

"I didn't take you for a gun toting, ammunition stockpiling, wild wild west type of guy. " I kept staring at him, flabbergasted.

"I didn't take you for a hippie. Move back to California." Jake taunted me. I mouthed "fuck you" to him when my dad wasn't looking. Jake laughed.

"Say what you want about the wild wild west, it was safer because everyone knew everyone had a gun." Will chimed in.

"I've seen victims of gun violence- there's nothing safe about a gun. " Amber disagreed, passionately.

"No one was running around in the wild wild west with assault weapons either." Corey added.

"It's not the gun that's unsafe- it's people. No civilian needs any assault weapon." Jake said,

"I feel with any type of gun, you should have to take a class and pass a test. As hard as it is to get a driver's license, that's how hard it should be to get a gun." Dino suggested.

"I don't know. I've seen a lot of bad drivers with valid licenses." Richard debated.

"Maybe as hard as it is to get legal citizenship." Sammy muttered.

Urgh, gun control and immigration- not something I wanted to discuss with my dad over fully cooked eggs and turkey sausage. I was dying for a subject change.

"Isn't Texas a open carry state?" My dad asked, drawing my attention and keeping the conversation going.

"Not yet. Next month, it will be." Ethan answered.

"I would feel at ease if I knew you were taking proper precautions at protecting yourself Lilian." Dad started.

"Stop Dad. You don't have guns in your house." I argued.

"You're a young woman living alone. My community has 24 hour surveillance and guards. It's not the same."

"What's it going to be Lily? A trip to the shooting range or deadbolts and an alarm system?" Ethan asked me.

"Deadbolts and an alarm." I said, hopefully ending the topic.

"What kind of locks can you get us today Richard?" Dad asked him.

While my dad was preoccupied with locks, I mummered "thanks a lot" to Ethan.

He smirked. "Your welcome. Now you can spend the gift card on your eggplant army."

Amanda, who stayed silent during the debate, laughed at Ethan's joke. I smiled despite myself.

After we finished eating, I let Amanda take my car for the day while my dad and I went furniture shopping. I talked him out of trading my queen size bed for a king and he bought a bedroom set for the a guestroom. He also bought me a bookcase and a desk for the spare room to be converted to a study. I had no idea what I would be studying, but I didn't fight him on it. We finally picked out a saddle sectional with a chaise and a matching ottoman. My dad chose the area rug and a couple of end tables and I chose a few accent pillows and entertainment center. I really loved it and was glad it would be delivered in time for my dad to see it set up before he left.

While the new locks were installed on the doors, I brought up something that Jenna said that stayed with me.

"You really weren't going to get married if I wasn't apart of it?" I asked.

"I would have married Beatrice, I just wouldn't have had a wedding without you. I told Beatrice to give you a year."

"A year huh? I wanted to get married on New Year's Eve just to spite you." I confessed.

"Why New Year's?" He asked.

"Trevor and I would have been dating exactly a year."

"Can I ask what happened between you two?" He asked.

"I'm not 100% percent sure why he broke up with me but I finally realized I couldn't keep trying to convince him to change his mind."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah well, you were right about us not being ready to get married. That's was one of the reasons why I was so mad at you. I shouldn't have took it out on Beatrice and I will apologize."

"Do you really dislike Beatrice?"

"No. I really don't know her all that well."

He nodded. " I didn't know Trevor and I was disrespectful towards him. I'll apologize to him as well. "

"Trevor and I aren't speaking. I'd rather you didn't but I appreciate that." I told him, solemnly.

After a few minutes of silence, my dad spoke again. "I enjoyed breakfast with your friends."

I grinned. "You didn't think you would, did you? What were you expecting? The breakfast club?"

"You have quite a few male friends." My dad pointed out.

"I do..." I trailed off.

"Are you dating?"

"No dad!" I shook my head, vehemently. "And I will never date anyone you meet today. They're all just friends."

"Fair enough." My dad said, letting it go.

He didn't need to know I learned my lesson by dating a few guys in my circle of friends, but I did. The next guy I dated would be completely out of my group of friends. If it didn't work out between us, we could just end it- no drawn out break ups, no pretending to be friends or worst, pretending not to mean anything to each other. We could just break up and move on without the pain of losing a friend. In my experience, it was much easier to lose a boyfriend than a friend.

I smiled as recognized the thought of dating wasn't something I felt like I had to do to move on- nor did it leave me deeply depressed or frightened. I eventually wanted to date and get to know someone new, but I knew I would be ok by myself. I told myself that all the time- now I was starting to believe it.

Just as I was getting comfortable with my single, alone status, Christian's uncoupling was hitting the entertainment news. The headlines read:

Reality star Noelle Pennington and Hitmaker producer Christian Wilson call it Quits!!! Is this FIDM student the reason for their split?

***New post Tomorrow