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Stephanie Taylor, the free bird
Stephanie Taylor. I love the girl to death, I really do but boy is she a rough one sometimes. She is the epitome of a free bird. I met her when I was eleven. She lived just down the block from me growing up. Her parents were always out of town for work so she stayed home a lot with her live-in grandma, which now that I’m older, realize she must’ve had dementia. God rest her soul she was such a sweet woman.
Steph was usually hanging out at my house growing up, my parents basically raised her as their own. When high school rolled around and her parents weren’t home she had so much free range which included lots of parties. She was always the cool girl in school, but never a mean one. I envied her at times and still do now, just in a different kind of way. She’s gorgeous, she can be Barbie’s twin. She’s tall, long blonde hair with deep blue eyes that carry a sweetness to them. She always had the boy’s attention, she could get an A+ with flirting.
Now, I’m not going to tear myself down and feel sorry for myself. I’m a modest person but I’m not the worst looking girl in the world. I did pageants for two years when I was around 15 because my “eyes were so captivating” according to a pageant coordinator who approached my mom and me at the mall. I have heterochromia so I have one blue eye and one brown. At one point I wanted to get contacts so I had the same colored eyes as everyone else. In grade school, kids thought I was weird but when I got to high school everyone thought it was interesting and cool. I like my eyes now but it’s always a topic of conversation whenever I meet someone new.
The pageants were awful, I hated the whole thing and the other girls were so catty and competitive, they all just tore each other down. Sure, I liked dressing up in beautiful gowns and heels that made me feel taller than I was. I’m 5’5 so I’m not terribly short but next to these girls I felt like a child next to them.
Two years in, Stephanie told my mom how unhappy I was and that I wasn’t eating lunch anymore at school in order to stay slim. I felt betrayed by Steph that day for tattling to my mom but when all was said and done I couldn’t be more thankful that she did that for me. My mom made me quit immediately after that and what a relief. Stephanie has always had my back since day one and I know she always will, just as I for her.
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I’m nearly there now with only seven minutes to go according to Google Maps. I would be a whole lot more excited if it were just Steph and I living together but that couldn’t be further from the truth.I only really know a little bit about where Steph lives from what she’s told me. She lives in a huge house which I suppose at one point was a hotel.From what I know, there are about fifty people that live there. The fiftyish or so include the owners, workers, and “the girls”. Apparently, it’s sort of equivalent to the Playboy mansion with half-naked girls everywhere.Who are the owners may you ask? I have no idea. There are about 10 of them and I have zero idea what they do, I don’t even think Steph knows to be honest.Although Steph can be one of those “girls” in a heartbeat, she’s not. She got a job there a while ago through an ex-boyfriend of hers. While Steph was attending community college years ago, she had a job as a travel agent, she would find great deals sometimes and we’d ta
37 Days Lost confidence
I see two large black doors of the front entrance begin to open, before I even reach the stairs I see my crazy best friend running to me full force, jumping on me and nearly taking me to the ground.“Finally! I’ve been waiting just watching the clock, come on let’s go in!” she says and grabs my hand tugging me through the door.“Okay love, come here, let’s go into the kitchen, I want you to meet some people,” she says as we make our way down a long hallway.There are dimmed lights in black lantern-like fixtures hanging on the walls and it’s actually really beautiful against the cream colored paint. There are several closed doors on each side of the hallway until we reach the kitchen.When we step into the kitchen I’m blown away, it’s spectacular. It’s always my favorite place in a house. All of the appliances are stainless steel and high-tech. The countertops are white marble maybe? With a matching large island in the middle of the room with black barstools wrapping around it. The con
37 Days The suite
Steph slides her key card into the door and when the small circular light turns green she opens the door to a beautiful suite.This room was obviously a suite before the new owners took over, all they did was redecorate it to make it more homey. There’s the main living room with a couch and TV, on each side of the living room are two dark wooden doors which I’m assuming lead to the bedrooms. Off to the side of the living room is a small kitchen. The kitchen has a mixed black and white granite countertop with three dark wood cupboards that match the doors. It contains a small glass table with two black chairs around it, a mini fridge, a microwave, a sink, and an air fryer that sits on the counter. It’s a really cute small kitchen but clearly not compatible with cooking any real meals. Steph tells me I’m welcome to anything and to make this place my home as well. She says that all the actual meals can be made in the common kitchen area downstairs or we can request the cook to make somet
37 Days The rules
I wake up to darkness.I grab my phone that’s sitting on the nightstand beside the bed. The light from the screen makes my eyes squint. The time reads 7:50 pm. Wow, I slept for a while. I hear several people talking throughout the suite.I turn on the light sitting on the nightstand and lazily swing my legs over the bed to stand up and stretch. I look out the window where the balcony is and see the beautiful, dark, calm ocean. “What a view,” I say to myself. I turn towards the door and walk out of the bedroom.I see Steph and Mia alongside two other girls hanging out in the living room and kitchen. I recognize one girl from the common kitchen area but I never got to officially meet her.Steph exclaims “Hi sleepy head! Hope we didn’t wake you up.”I reassured her that she didn’t wake me and apologized for sleeping so long. “Here, Mills come sit down and I’ll introduce you to these lovely ladies,” Steph says. I walk over to the black leather couch and plop down.“This here is Ellie, you
37 Days Hangover 1, Steph and Mia 0
I toss a little hearing noises outside the bedroom door. It’s Steph. She stumbles in laughing with and to absolutely no one or anything. She’s drunk.She throws herself in the bed and lands on top of me. “Ow!” I yelp.“Oh shit Mills, I forgot you were here.” Steph laughs.So not funny.Steph becomes a child when she’s drunk and needs a babysitter which looks like it’ll be me for the hundredth time. “What time is it?” I ask.She slurs “I dunno. Like 4?”I don’t know how she does it, if I stayed up drinking until four am I’d be hospitalized with a month-long hangover. Years ago, I could take that like a champ but now it just catches up to me.I roll over so my back is facing Steph. I snuggle my head into the pillow and stare at nothing. “Hey, Steph?” I ask.She replies with “Hmm?”“Do you think that we’re safe here? That I’m safe here?” I ask.She grunts and says “Yeah Mills. I’d never put you in a situation where you weren’t. Now go back to sleep. I can’t stay up for a second longer.”
37 Days Is that me?
After the very refreshing shower that I sat in for a half hour just letting the hot water wash over me, I step and dry myself off. I leave the bathroom and go into the bedroom.I’m wrapped in a towel and rummaging through my backpack.Shit! I never brought in the rest of my bags from the car. I have no clothes in here, I walk over to Steph’s closet and sift through her clothes. She’s at least a size smaller than me so jeans will definitely not work out. I look through her yoga pants, this will do. I slide a pair of black yoga pants on and find a gray hoodie to wear with it.I decide not to do my hair or makeup yet because it’ll just get ruined by tonight so I’ll hold off until later.I exit the room and only find Steph sitting at the kitchen table drinking a coffee. I sit beside her and ask where Mia is at. She tells me she had work stuff to do for tonight but will be back later to get ready with us.As much as I like Mia it’s nice to have it just be Steph and I.“I need to run to my
37 Days Too much to handle
The three of us make our way to the club door. Stone, the very large man we met earlier today, stands outside a closed door that leads to the club. He greets Mia first and then nods to Steph and me with a straight, strict face.He opens the door to let us through and as soon as we walk in, dear Jesus what the hell did I just walk into?This is no club I’ve ever seen before. It’s dark in here and the music is near deafening. If it wasn’t so dark in here my cheeks would be as red as a tomato.There are handfuls and handfuls of topless women in here. Some are waitresses, some of them are the “bunnies”, as I like to call them in my head and some are strippers dangling off poles. Topless girls are sitting on middle-aged men nipping at their necks and ears.It’s unbelievably uncomfortable for me, I don’t even know where to look without seeing boobs.Mia guides us to a high-top, round bar table and we take a seat. I give Steph a death glare and she immediately looks away knowing she left man
37 Days Peace out
I opened the door to free myself from whatever the hell that was going on behind me. It’s dark outside and although it’s May, tonight there’s a bit of chill in the air, so I wrap my arms around myself.I notice a man standing next to the door with one foot propped up behind him and the rest of his body leaning against the wall. I don’t even have to look his way to know he’s smoking a joint, the smell is so strong. I walk past him and decide to call my mom.It rings and rings and finally goes to voicemail and my mom’s voice fills my ear while I recite her words in my head and mouth it silently“Hi, you’ve reached Ellen Hill, I’m unable to get to the phone right now but if you leave your name and number after the beep I’ll get right back to you. Have a great day!” Have a great day…I wish Mom.“Hey Mom! It’s me…Sorry I haven’t called you in a few days, I’ve been busy. I finally got here and I know you’d be proud of me.” I say and while I’m still holding the phone to my ear talking, a la
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