Every story begins with an adventure, as small and insignificant as it might be- you went to school, to church or to the grocery store and everywhere something happened to you. It might not be as huge and adventurous as it happens to everyone else around you, but it always happens. However far away the energy you have might be, however far away the person you love is. Life will always bring adventure you just have to accept it for what it is.
As for this adventure, it was nothing more than to accept what life threw at me- for it was not I who had the massive adventure, the sort of adventure that you remember until the day you die- the one with the anecdotes, tears, pain and love. No it wasn't supposed to be mine, but somehow it wormed itself around all the rules that time and space has put down since the dawn of time and let me be a part of it. This is a story, about an adventure that never was meant to be mine, but somehow ended up being just that.
The sun was high and the humidity of the air on this spectacularly ordinary day made everyone gasp for air and stay in the shadow. Or well, everyone with some kind of functioning brain did. I however, were out on my daily 8k run, sweating away while listening to the dull notes of "Do I Wanna Know?" with arctic monkeys. The steady pace of my Nikes moving in a leisurely pace down the steaming asphalt the only thing that broke the rhythm of Nick O'Malleys' adored bass guitar and made my day slightly more interesting. As for the rest of the world I was an odd break of pace as I ran past their homes.
The thing was, I wasn't actually supposed to be there, I wasn't supposed to run down a slightly cracked pavement on this particular day. No, I was supposed to be in school, with my friends chatting about cheerleading practice and laughing about the most unimportant things imaginable. But, alas, that was not what was going on in my life on this particular day. Because this particular day was what would be the turning point, I wouldn't be a part of someone else's adventure and my adventure would not be minuscular one any more. No, this day, this hot day of old Nike's hitting cracked pavement and Arctic Monkey's "Arabella" would be the turn of events, this day was the last day of me: Nikole Reed- cheerleader extraordinaire and fantastic fashion diva, living with my mother and instead being shipped off to my half-sister and her fiancée. I would be moving from stinging sun, friends and a frantic mother to rain, loneliness and a half-sister whom I was a tiny bit scared of- and mostly made me feel ashamed of my very existence. For I was the shameful mistake our shared father just happened to create on a business trip- with a the kind of woman you hope never would have any children at all.
It wasn't that my mother was a bad person, no, she usually got by quite well. She even had the whole "you're-grounded-cuz-you-skipped-all-your-classes-today"-thing down, which, for being her was quite impressive. No, why she wasn't "parental-approved" was because she had a tendency to get a bit…frantic and usually disappear for days at end. Once you got used to that, everything else was just brilliant- and guess what? After having picked up your own mother at the police station after one of her disappearances- you will never, ever, feel mortified about looking like shit in school or, possibly, being dumped by a guy. Seeing your mother sitting in one of the cells, looking terrified, that did it for me. No more insecurity, no nothing. I was done. I was done with the whole "insecure teenager"- thing, done with the "focus on your grades"- thing and mostly, I was one with having to plan my life after my mothers episodes.
Which is why this day isn't at all going as my friends and I planned, I'm not in school, I'm not discussing cheerleading practice and mostly- and most surely, I'm not planning anything for the future since it seems like everyone else already has planned it for me.
The frantic growl a female grizzly bear as it throws itself at the one hurting her cub usually has nothing on my own mothers frantic screaming as she realizes that something is spinning out of her control. Both being played at the same time, thanks to me of course- I have this fascinating theory that my mother can be calmed down by playing interesting documentaries. However, since the screaming was moving closer to my laptop I was fairly sure that the "documentary theory" didn't really have the same effect as usually. At least not today.
"NIK. Nik? Nikole you lousy little… Oh, honey. There you are." My mothers slightly blotchy face, once beautiful- now looking more like a cosmetologists worst nightmare- was turned towards me, however her eyes were straying, never looking straight at me. At times like this I couldn't even understand how she could have given birth to anyone, especially since she couldn't even look into their eyes. She wrapped her light blue cardigan tighter around her bony body as her eyes continued to wander around the room- never meeting mine.
"Honey, I just wanted to make sure you have your tickets for tomorrow. And that you have packed. Yes, packed, I mean… So you don't leave anything here. In my home. I don't want anything to be forgotten here. You know. Something that might be in the way, or missed. I…" her rambling didn't really make sense, but she rarely did. Especially not when she was unfocused. "Do you have a ride to the airport tomorrow? You do know you'll have to leave before 6am because otherwise you'll have to lock up and if you leave with the keys to my house I won't be able to stay- I mean I, I won't be able to make everything fit together." Her eyes continued to roam the vicinity of the room, however the longer time it took for me to reply the quicker the pace. Her breathing quickened and I knew that the time to reply was, well, now, or I'd had to sleep outside my house on my last night living in it.
"Yeah. Mom. I've got everything sorted." I gestured at the two bags next to the doorway, the two bags filled with the small part of the world I called my life. "And Kate said she'd pick me up and wave me off at the airport." Kate, my best friend. My fellow cheerleader and fierce fashionista. We were the unofficial queens of a school filled with imbeciles and if it wasn't for that we would probably never have been friends.
"Oh. Yes. That girl. That's nice. Very nice, I hope you thank her? Yes. Thank her for everything." Mom started muttering, talking so quickly and quietly that I could barely hear her as she started to leave the room, stopping with her back turned towards me: "I, I just wanted to tell you that I'll miss your mess, honey. Yes, I'll miss your mess." She walked out, leaving me alone again. The documentary had changed it's primary focus from grizzlies to rabbits, focusing on how easily they can die- just from fear.
When Kate picked me up the next day in her convertible it was to the tune of Britney Spears, her favorite and most adored artist. As "Lucky" started playing she turned towards me, pushing her Céline sunglasses down the back of her nose.
"Lucy Liu, honey bun. Get your shit into the back so we can go, you need to be at the airport in like 30 minutes and I have a manicure due at 7." Oh, the sweet joy of having a bitch as your best friend. Sure, it was brilliant while in school- putting all those little sweethearts, also known as stupid peasants, in place. However, when being just the two of you- it felt like choking yourself with barbed wire- unpleasant and torturing.
"Yeah Katie, will do my favorite little rainbow." Throwing my bags into the back of her car and then jumping in I realized that this was the end. Looking back at the house where I'd grown up I met my mother's eyes for a second. She was hiding behind the curtains in the kitchen window, looking terrified and slightly satisfied as she watched me leave the life we'd had together. As she saw me leave her. Turning back as the car started moving, I threw a quick look at Kate who was screaming along to the lyrics of "Lucky", probably quietly relishing in the fact that I was leaving.
No more me, no more competition, no more competition a perfect life. This was California after all, hard to miss.