I woke up in front of the television, curled up beneath a blanket. I didn’t know what show was on, nor did I care very much. It wasn’t the movie I’d been watching with my newest best friend, Bethany. I must have fallen asleep, but I was awake now. The den was dark except for the TV and I looked around, expecting to see her zonked out on the sofa. She wasn’t there and I wondered about the time. Was it late? Past midnight?

Maybe she’d gone to my room and was asleep in my bed. I wouldn’t blame her for that and I was glad she’d put a blanket over me. I hoped she wouldn’t mind if I got into bed with her, but I was still pretty sleepy. It must have been the middle of the night. My bed was big enough for the both of us anyway. Bethany was kind of a skinny girl, much like myself, and we were both pretty geeky. That’s how we’d become friends last year, and this year we were high school seniors and best friends.

Stopping by the kitchen for a glass of water, I saw the clock on our microwave said it was only 12:10am, which was still kinda late for me. Even on a Friday night, I was usually under the covers and reading a book by ten. By eleven, I would have turned out the light and been fast asleep. Beth was probably the same way, I figured, although I confess I really didn’t know everything about her. That was one of the reasons I’d invited her to spend the weekend, so that we could become even closer. I really liked her a lot.

Next, I had to pee and the first floor bathroom was closest. The one upstairs was more comfortable, just because we used it all the time. The downstairs one was more for visitors, you know. But the one upstairs had a loud flush and I wasn’t sure if Beth was a super light sleeper or not. It didn’t matter, I just needed to pee and then I could brush my teeth upstairs, change out of my clothes, and get into bed. I had it all planned out, because why would it be complicated?

I liked simple things. I liked Bethany because she seemed pretty simple, and not in the bad way. I just mean she seemed to be a lot like me and so I didn’t have to deal with a lot of high school social stuff. We weren’t cheerleaders or in the cool clubs. We weren’t that pretty or popular, Beth and I were awesomely average and that was fine with us. But that’s not to say we were gruesome, either.

Beth had light brown hair that she parted in the middle and it fell down around her shoulders. She had a nice face, kind of pretty and a shy, awkward smile. She hated having her picture taken, but I was the same way. Neither of us was very photogenic. My friend had beautiful eyes though, I’ll say that about her. They were a very nice shade of brown, very light and flecked with gold. Some people would call them hazel, but I didn’t think so and I’d never seen anyone else with eyes like hers. I was a little jealous, actually.

My own eyes are more of a dull, everyday brown. Like my hair, which I wore in a pageboy cut, feathered on the sides and with a little curl around my shoulders. It had looked awesome in the hairstyle catalogue I’d been looking through at the salon, but on me it just looked okay. Much like the rest of me, I suppose. I had dimples and freckles, and my mouth is too big for my face. I hate to admit, but it’s true. My mom says it’s nice, and not too big at all, but as soon as I smile it’s like the rest of my face disappears. I hate it.

While I was brushing my teeth, I wondered if Beth had brought some pajamas. I’d told her to bring some, but I’d forgotten to make sure. It might be kind of awkward if I got into bed and she was only wearing her underwear. We’re both girls, obviously, but it still wouldn’t be very cool. I should have asked earlier, because even if Beth had forgotten to bring hers, she could always borrow something from me. Maybe not pajamas, but a sleepy-tee and some yoga pants, maybe.

We were very close to the same size, kind of tall and slender. I weighed myself all the time because I was actually trying to put on some weight. I stood five-six and only weighed 93 pounds as of that morning. My mom was something of a worrier and she talked to a nurse or something and it turns out I should weigh like ten or even fifteen pounds more, but I wasn’t so sure. I felt okay, but I did have a small butt and my hips weren’t very curvy. My boobs were okay, but only because the rest of me was so thin. I wore a 30B cup, but my tits moved around a lot and I sometimes padded my bra with tissue paper, which is totally embarrassing.

Anyway, like I said, Bethany is pretty much the same size as me, although she has some babyfat on her hips and thighs, and butt. She has a real butt, relatively speaking, but her breasts look smaller than mine, just because she probably weighs fifteen pounds more. Of course, she worried about maintaining her weight, or maybe even losing a pound or two, which I thought was ridiculous. She wasn’t a supermodel, and God! I think we would both rather die before walking around in a two piece bikini ... Anyway, she wasn’t ever going to be a model. But Beth had a better body than I did. Barely. All I needed was ten more pounds.

What did it matter? Neither of us had a boyfriend. I think she’d kissed a boy once, but he was like a cousin or something. I’d never kissed anyone, but I thought about it a lot. I was seventeen, you know? There were girls way uglier than me who had hooked up with guys, but I never did. I guess I was just too shy and Bethany was the same way. We talked about guys. We would giggle and whisper, and act like a couple middle-school kids barely out of puberty, and never take the plunge. I think we were hoping that our newfound friendship would give us the little push we needed to actually talk to boys.

I found my bedroom door open, which surprised me. The lights were off, naturally, but my eyes were well enough adjusted that I could see my bed was empty. It was still made-up with all my stuffed animals sitting on the pillows. Beth hadn’t been in here at all, except her purse and overnight bag were sitting on my desk chair, right where she’d left them. I changed clothes, shrugging out of my jeans and sweater. I took off my bra as well and after a second’s hesitation, I removed my panties as well. I didn’t usually wear underwear with my pajamas and there wasn’t any reason to wear them now.

I put on my pink pajamas with the blue teddy bears, they were soft and super comfy, and wondered about Beth. Where could she be? I hadn’t checked every room downstairs, so I suppose she could have crashed out in the living room or something. Upstairs, there was my room and the master bedroom where my parents slept, which would be empty because they had flown to Vegas for the weekend. I thought maybe Beth had gone in there, but that would be kind of strange. I would feel very uncomfortable going into the bedroom of parents who weren’t my own, and even then ... I didn’t go in there a whole lot. That was an adult place and I think a big part of my brain was still pretty juvenile. I mean, my parents had sex in there! That’s the real point.

There was a third bedroom, which belonged to my older brother. Dave was nineteen and a student at the local junior college. He still lived at home, but he’d embraced his newfound freedom after high school and our parents kind of spoiled him. He’d always been Dad’s favorite, being an athletic kid and playing all the sports that our father loved. I guess it’s understandable and Dad had pushed me to try soccer once, but I’d hated it and that had pretty much ended any chances for quality father-daughter time. I suppose I resented that a little, but not really. I was loved.

Anyway, my brother was almost always gone from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, out with his friends and having fun. He had gotten the outgoing genes. He wasn’t anything special, don’t get me wrong. My brother was athletic, sure, but he’d suffered from acne when he was thirteen and it had cleared up, but still left him a little scarred on the cheeks. Other than that, he was a very average looking guy, and he’d always had very average looking girlfriends, but it was never serious. Lately, Dave had been moping around the house all unhappy, and I knew it was because his last girlfriend had broken up with him.