room. Nicoleâs off-key shower singing made her smile. Her date must have been more fun than sheâd shared. That was something at least. But then Baileyâs smile faded. She didnât have a teen daughter of her own, and yet guys didnât stick with her very long either. Maybe it was a Grant curse. Maybe she should just accept reality and stop dreaming about love and happily-ever-afters and be more like Meg. Practical, realistic, determined Meg, who wasnât going to let any guy sway her from her plans, including the guy next door who was madly, passionately, and pointlessly in love with her.
Bailey clicked through channels for five solid minutes before she huffed out a heavy sigh and tossed the remote to her comfy full-sized bed and wondered why she even bothered to try watching TV because there was never anything good on unless it was Thursday night when The Vampire Diaries aired. She thought about playing Xbox, but what fun would it be without Simon? She logged into Facebook and read the status updates her friends had posted. No, it wasnât true that sheâd bloodied Simonâs nose. No, it wasnât true that sheâd caught Simon with Caitlynâs pom-poms andâ gasp âof course it wasnât true that she was pregnant.
God! She rolled her eyes. People should get a life. She abandoned Facebook and decided to update her blog. She typed her name and password and waited for the site to appear. Her blog had been a work in progress, as Meg always said, since the day sheâd started it. At one point, sheâd called it âGrantâs Random Ramblingsââthat had been when she was in her heavy metal rock phase and had a mad crush on a satellite radio DJ named Grant Random. Sheâd written a three-part series on stamp collectingâthatâs when the site had seen its lowest dip in visitors everâand then switched to reviewing her favorite TV show episodes. Those were always fun. But lately, the blog had become a place where she could just muse and vent and wonder and dream, which is why she now called it âTake It for Granted.â
Itâs been a hard day. I guess days are always hard after a breakup, especially a breakup you donât really want. But when the guy youâre seeing, the guy you think could be âThe One,â suddenly starts looking at you like heâs bothered and would rather get cavities filled instead of be with you, donât you have to ask yourself which is harderâbreaking up or staying together? Iâm lucky to have a friend like Meg who forces me to call it what it isâtotal crap! When you do that, when you have that, even the hard stuff is a little bit easier.
Bailey twirled her hair and bit her thumbnail while she considered how to respond to the various rumors posted on Facebook. She finally decided that complete denial was the best idea. She wrote a paragraph on the rumors and then switched to tips on removing red Gatorade from expensive jeansâyou know, just in case Caitlyn decided to try it on anybody else. Her thoughts turned to her absent dad and she added one last thought before she posted the update.
Times like this are when I miss having a dad the most. I wonder if heâd be like Bellaâs dad, you knowâall Iâm-a-cop-so-I-know-how-to-use-a-gun. Or would he come up to my room with a bowl of ice cream and a movie and tell me the guyâs a total loser for not seeing the girl he sees and keep handing me tissues while I cried away my broken heart? Or maybe heâd slam his hand on the table and shout, âI never liked that boy anyway.â
Bailey thought about talking to Gramps about Simon, but the one time sheâd talked to him about a boy, he turned sheet white and fled, tossing something that sounded like âGo ask your mother!â over his shoulder on the way out.
She published the new blog update and trolled her favorite social networks for a little
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