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Aspen followed, stepping in front of Bean to lead the way to her car. She walked slowly, so Bean could follow, leading her to the parking lot, pulling out her keys and unlocking her car she turned to Bean "hop in" she said and got into the driver seat, pulling the door shut behind her.
Bean hopped into the passenger seat, smiling at Aspen. She shut the door behind her and put her seatbelt on. “So…where are we going first?” she asked, leaning back in the seat. She was excited to see what Arizona had to offer.
Aspen gave a small smile and turned to Bean as she started the car and put on her seatbelt. "I was thinking the small stuff first, like restaurants, parks, thrift stores, stuff like that. Then maybe one day we'll have enough time to explore bigger monuments like Canyon de Chelly and other cool stuff." She said grinning "seatbelt" she added, reminding Bean to put on her seat belt, she never drove anyone without them having a seatbelt on.
Bean nodded, showing that her seatbelt was on and fastened. “That sounds good,” she smiled. Despite how much she missed her family, she knew they would want her to be happy. She sighed softly. “This is going to be so much fun…” she smiled softly.
Aspen nodded slightly, driving towards the little shopping center near the campus. "These are the shops and stuff closest to the campus, very efficient for you I'd say." She said with a grin.
Bean laughed lightly. “Yep. It’s very helpful,” she smiled as she looked around. She took a couple pictures with her phone, sending them to her family. Like a lot of things lately, no response from Lilac. She sighed as she put her phone away.
Aspen gave a grin and drove forward, turning to the left briskly. "And here are more of like non needed places for like relaxing. Like the spa, the nail salon and the craft store because duh, crafts when stressed is a thing lots of people do." She said with a laugh "myself included" she added
“Ooh, crafts are fun,” Bean said, holding in a couple of giggles. “So are those other things…” she smiled as she went back to looking out the window. She took a deep breath as she watched the cars pass.
Aspen then circled around, pointing out various building which were of nominal importance. She drove towards the right of stores exiting the campus parking lot. "This is Thrifty's" she said, pointing to a red buildings, the windows containing golden trims. "My favorite thrift store. Ever." She said with a grin "they have the most shit I've ever seen, and not old useless shit, actual good shit you hope to buy when you plan on going thrifting." She added.
Bean laughed, turning so that she could see the store. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she smiled, leaning back. “The store looks kinda nice for being a thrift store…” she pointed out.
Aspen smiled and gave a laugh. "Yeah it's very bougie I would say, but once you get inside you can totally tell its a thrift store." She said, and kept driving, her hands gripping the wheel lightly. "These are all the food places pretty much." She said, pointing out the window.
Bean nodded in understanding. “Thank you for doing this…I could have done this alone, but I appreciate you helping me,” she smiled softly, turning to look out the window again. She lightly tapped her hands on her knees, humming quietly.
"no problem, seems like both of us could use a friend." Aspen said to Bean with a smile, she pointed out the window at a park with a visible, large cement fountain spouting water. They were at a stop light, currently red and Aspen pointed at the fountain. "I spent almost everyday sitting on a bench in front of that fountain trying to sketch it correctly, people always told me my sketches were good, but everytime I sketched it I felt something big was missing." Aspen said, her smile faltering a bit, before becoming solid again. "It was my favorite place in the entire state." She added, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.
Bean noticed the change in Aspen’s expression and frowned a bit. “Are…Are you okay?” she asked, not wanting to make her upset. “You seem sad…” she told her, wishing she could offer better comfort. “It’s okay if you aren’t ready to talk about it, but…I don’t want you being sad…”
"nah…im good." Aspen stated, then looped around back into the student parking lot. And parking briskly and quickly "well, looks like this is the end, maybe next time we can see more." She said in a tone of fake sympathy and hope.
"I have to go home and do homework and stuff so— I guess this is goodbye." She added with a sad smile and turned the radio up.
Bean waved sadly. “Bye…” she muttered before leaving to her room. She sighed as she couldn’t help but wonder what Aspen had been thinking about. She opened her door and flopped onto her bed,
Aspen turned the radio up loudly as she took various twist and turns around the town to get to her apartment. When she arrived she called out to her room mate, Max. That she was home.
"Okay!" Max yelled back as Aspen as she set her backpack down near the front door and went into her room, kicking her shoes off and flopping on her bed, pulling her phone out and scrolling through instagram.
Bean laid on her bed, pulling her phone out as well. She opened her messages. Her last messages to Lilac were met with no response. She took a deep breath and she started composing a new text.
Hey…I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not listening to you…I know you had good intentions and I should have left you explain why you wanted me to stay…
After sending that message, she sighed as she set her phone on her nightstand. She pulled her pillow close to her, wishing her sister would just respond to her.
Aspen then set her phone down and went and got her backpack, setting it on her bed, she opened it and pulled out her notebooks, taking to the task of labeling them for each class they had, and did so with different colored sharpies.
She pulled her phone out and started playing music MGMT's Electric Eel drifting through the air of her bedroom. She also took to texting Bean. Hey sorry I left so quickly, I hope everything goes well with Lilac:)
Bean grabbed her phone when it dinged, opening her messages. She smiled sadly when she read Aspen’s text.
Thank you…I’m just waiting for her to respond to my text…
As she sent the text, another notification appeared. It was another text. This time…from Lilac. Bean frantically opened the conversation and gasped.
…I know. I’m sorry too…I just…I want you to be safe and happy…
Seeing Lilac’s words instantly relieved her, causing her to relax. She quickly sent another message to Aspen, telling her that her sister responded. She then started a call with her sister, which led to the two of them talking and crying.
Aspen saw Bean's message and smiled to herself
that's good, hope it gets better between you two, it can be good to have someone there for you she texted, then turned her phone off, her phone playing Black Out Days by Phantogram.
And all the stars will shiny a bloody red… her phone speakers sang, Aspen was lying on her stomach and rested her forehead on her lower arms.
Bean noticed the notification and smiled softly as she continued chatting with Lilac. Eventually, the call ended and both sisters hung up. The older sister flopped onto her bed, hugging her pillow as she smiled. She finally made up with Lilac…she could finally stop worrying about it.
Aspen felt a headache come on, it came quickly, out of nowhere and wavered her vision and made her dizzy, she stared at the ceiling, the world spinning, hoping like the other headaches she got that made her like this, that they would go away.
Bean quickly fell asleep, finally relaxing a bit as she snuggled her pillow. She was going to wake up soon, but she needed a nap. Right before drifting off, she sent one last text to Aspen. Things are getting better…if you need anything, I’m here. Thank you…
Aspen read the text and kept working, until all her notebooks and folders that she carried in her backpack had labels for one of her classes on them. She then set her backpack near the front door again and changed into sleep shorts and a loose T-shirt, opening the window a crack to let the cold night breeze in, something she had done since she was a child, as she listened to birds and various animals mixed with honking horns and tires skidding she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
Bean woke up a bit, changed into comfy clothes and went back to sleep. She snuggled her blanket and pillow, sleeping peacefully. She felt a lot happier, since she made up with her sister and things were only going to get better. She was certain of it.
Aspen only woke when the songs birds were chirping happily outside her windows, she sta up groggily, not having remembered falling asleep and rubbed her eyes with her fingertips rather violently. She stood up, raising her arms above her head and heard her back give various small sounding cracks. She yawned and went into the kitchen where Max was cooking back and eggs for breakfast. She smiled to herself and walked over to him, hugging him from behind and resting her cheek on his back.
"oh Max you are simply the best roommate ever" she said into his back and he laughed, his fluffy chestnut brown hair falling into his eyes as he did. She pulled away and sat at their small dining table tucked into the corner of the room, she pulled her feet under her as she sat down "what what you do without me?" Max asked her with a grin, she smiled "survive off ramen because I cannot cook for shit" she responded and they both laughed, he sat two plates down, one in front of her and one in front of himself.
They clicked their forks together in a toast "to the bro's who can cook." Max toasted and together they said "to the bro's who can cook!" before digging into the food.
Bean soon woke up as well, heading to the kitchen where her own roommate was cooking breakfast. The two of them talked as they prepared the table. Afterwards, they started eating, still telling each other about the previous day’s events.
Once Aspen was done eating she piled the dirty plates into the sink, Max stood up as he always did in the morning, to wash the dishes while Aspen dried them. "So how were classes yesterday?" Max asked Aspen, attempting to bumping her hip with his own, but due to their slight height difference he bumped right above her hips instead. She turned to him and smiled, drying the plate he had just washed and sticking it into the dishwasher, which they hated because the water pressure did not clean dishes well enough unless you washed them before you put them in. But it was cheap and affordable so they lived with it.
"I sit next to this really cute girl in Phycology." She stated proudly "I got her phone number" she bragged, Max smiled down at her "good, glad to hear your finally getting back on the horse after the whole—" he paused, debating of is he should say Clementine's name and Aspen raised her head slightly to look at him and said "you can say her name, it's not going to summon her spirit" she joked and Max blushed a deep red "i'm just glad you aren't so socially crippled by Clementine anymore." He said softly with a half smile, she nodded "yeah me too" she said quietly, giving him a sad smile.
Bean continued talking with her roommate, Alana. Alana smirked. “So…I heard from one of my friends that you met a cute girl in Pyschology yesterday,” she teased. Bean blushed deeply. “I-I mean- She was really nice and-“ she rambled, causing her roommate to laugh.
“So I was right.”
“Alana!”