Big Men of the House(66)

“We did it all by ourselves,” my mom said with her hands on her hips. “You'd be surprised by the amount of free time we have now that you're away at college.”



“Very impressive.” I ran my fingers along the granite counter tops. “So what's for dinner tonight?” I asked with a gleaming smile.



“I thought you'd never ask,” she replied, opening up the fridge. “I'm making your favorite: macaroni casserole.”



I feigned happiness. “Oh that sound awesome!” I had told her a million times before that I didn't like that dish anymore yet she always made it for me. I think she remembers when I was a kid and asked for her to make it every night. It was the only meal my mother made that I would actually ask for seconds.



Blake rejoined us. “Okay Isa, all your bags are in your room. Maybe your mother wants to show you what we've done upstairs,” he said.



“Oh yeah!” my mom said, slapping her hand to her forehead.



“What else did you do?” I asked.



“Like I said, we've had a lot of free time. Come on, I'll show you.”



I followed my mom upstairs, wondering what else could have changed. Blake was close behind.



“Here it is,” my mom said, opening the door to my bedroom.



Everything was changed. My wallpaper and posters had been torn down and replaced with some boring paintings. My old pink bed was gone and in its place was a bigger bed with a blue comforter. My makeup table was missing the mirror and my nightstand with the Barbie lamp was gone. My entire room had been changed into a guest room.



“What do you think?” my mom asked, searching for my reaction.



“Where did all my stuff go?” I blurted out.



Blake stepped in. “Well your mother and I thought that since you moved out we can change this into a guest room. It will still be your room whenever you stay.”



“Don't worry, Kaitlyn, we didn't throw away any of your things. It's all packed away in the garage. You can take all your stuff when you find a permanent place after college,” my mom said



“And what if I move back here?” I asked.



“That's fine. You can decorate your room however you want,” she said.



The anger began to subside. It wasn't that big of a deal. “Okay,” I resigned.



“We'll leave you to it then,” my step stepdad said, closing the door as they left. I sat down on the bed and let out a sigh of relief. Even though it wasn't my same bed or same room, it was nice to be home.



I took out my phone and messaged Crystal. She was my bestest friend and since we went to different colleges, it was a real strain on our friendship. It wasn't too often that my friends and I would all be in town at the same time. We all grew up together and used to do sleepovers all the time. I asked Crystal to round up the whole gang and let's have a sleepover on Friday night.



She responded instantly with a ton of exclamation points and smiley faces.



I didn't think to ask my parents if it would be all right to have a few girls over. I had been used to living on my own now that asking permission for something was foreign to me.



“Hey Mom,” I called downstairs. “Would it be all right if a few of my friends slept over on Friday night?”



“I'm going on a business trip for a few days,” she said. “It's up to Blake if it's all right.”



Blake yelled, “Who's coming over?”



Why did he care? “I don't know yet, probably Crystal and a few others.”



“Fine with me,” he replied.







A knock at the door woke me up from my nap. I ran downstairs and opened it up to find Crystal, carrying a pillow and wearing a pony onesie. “It's so good to see you,” I said, hugging her tight.



“Good to see you too,” she said, dropping her pillow on the porch to hug me with both hands.



“Who else is coming?” I asked.



“I got Jennifer, Brittany, and Carly to come.”



“Sweet!” I helped Crystal bring her sleeping bag upstairs.



Blake was at the top of the stairs, waiting for us. “How are you doing, Crystal?” he asked. He laid his eyes on Crystal like she was a meal.



“Doing fine, sir, how about you?” she replied, awkwardly.



“I'm great, you girls have fun now,” he said, walking past us downstairs.



We went into my bedroom turned guest room “Wow, what happened to your room?” she asked.



“My parents did it,” I sighed.



“Well it could've been worse. They could've turned it into a workout room.”



“True,” I laughed. “By the way, sorry about my step stepdad. I don't know what's gotten into him.”