It was another sticky and humid day in Texas, and it didn't help that the summer sun glared down at all on the ground seemingly more than yesterday.
Astrid Thomassen, a pasty and sweaty seventeen year old, stood in her room and peeled off a worn out t-shirt with holes and paint stains that stuck to her skin and threw it in a corner of the bedroom where a large pile of dirty clothes was grew each day.
Despite it being the middle of June and living in Texas, where it was sunny nearly every day, Astrid's skin was the same ghostly colour as it had been since birth. This annoyed her to no end.
Looking around for a new, clean shirt to pull on and not being able to locate one, she swiped a sailor striped tank top off of her sister's bed which was on the other side of their shared room. Only born a few months apart, most of the clothes they wore were in the same size and the two borrowed from each other constantly.
Slipping the shirt over her head and sticking her arms through, Astrid pulled her hair back into a ponytail with a hair band on her wrist. The tight hold of the tie left an imprint in her skin and Astrid rubbed at it before running her hands through the slightly greasy hair to smooth it out.
Only a week into summer break and she'd already grown bored. Her friends were visiting places like England, New York, Spain, while she and her sister were stuck in Austin for the next three months.
She made her way down the small set of steps of the second level to meet the cold tile of the first and wiggled her toes. Astrid swung into the kitchen where her younger sister, Elka, leaned over the counter and was looking down at her phone, sipping a glass of lemonade.
Unlike Astrid, whos skin was a close match to Casper the Ghost's, Elka was tan. Not so much that it contrasted too much to her thick, curly light blonde hair but enough to see the skin that the light never touched when she wore bikinis.
Astrid walked up behind her and whispered a "boo" into the youngers ear. Much to her disappointment, Elka didn't jump nor shout, only turn and shoot Astrid an unimpressed look before furrowing her eyebrows.
"Is that my shirt?" She turned to face her older sister who replied with a smug look and placed her hands akimbo.
"Ran out of clothes," Astrid explained and spun to show off every angle of her new look. "I think it rather suits me, though, don't you agree?"
Elka scoffed and puffed out her cheeks in a pout. "Just...give it back when you're done, will ya?" She asked, pushing her bangs out of her eyes to look at Astrid, who nodded.
"Deal. I'm goin' out to grab some groceries, though, so you got any requests?" Astrid turned to grab her backpack that was slung over a chair tucked into the wooden table that they ate their meals on. She looked back over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Elka.
"Hm…" Elka put a finger to her chin thoughtfully and looked around the room before meeting her dull blue eyes with Astrid's sharp denim ones. "More lemonade mix," She nodded. "Oh, and some more cereal. Life," Elka added.
"For fucks' sake, Els, we got two boxes last weekend. You're tellin' me ya ate through both of them already?" Astrid groaned and Elka flashed a cheeky grin before looking down at her phone she held in her hand, which was buzzing.
"Oh? Who's that?" Astrid stood on her tippy toes and peered over curiously. Elka swiped the screen and held her phone to her ear.
"Hello?" Elka answered, mouthing Nicolette as best as she could to her sister.
Nicolette was a French transfer student Elka had befriended her in biology, as told over takeout Chinese one night, and claimed to be from Monaco. She had long, shiny blonde hair that reached her waist and specialised in a surprising amount of card games.
Astrid nodded and grabbed her backpack, swinging it over her shoulders and the two gave short goodbye waves.
The sound of Elka laughing and gushing into her phone eagerly grew fainter and fainter as Astrid opened the screen front door and let it shut behind her.
x X x
The closest grocery store wasn't too far away, only a block or two, and even quicker to reach when riding on bike. Because neither of the sisters could afford a car, and Elka didn't even have her license yet. Their parents were usually never home, one stuck in the office or late because of traffic, and the other hopping around the country for business.
This didn't bother anyone, though, and in fact, it was preferred more to live like this. Elka and Astrid were capable of taking care of themselves. To get to school, they would take the bus or ride a bike and a taxi to get around if it was a lazy day. But today, Astrid decided to walk. In only a few minutes she reached the sliding doors to the grocery store and welcomed the air conditioned cold air of the market.
She pulled out a reusable fabric bag from her backpack and glanced down at the palm of her hand where she had scribbled the grocery list in sharpie earlier. Elka's cereal and lemonade mix wasn't written but Astrid would probably be reminded of it later while in the line to check out, as always.
Astrid strolled right past the fruits and vegetables section and instead into the Wheats and Grains aisle. Two loaves of white bread, one bag of flour, and yeast.
Check, check and check, Astrid mentally crossed off and turned into another aisle. All that was left was brown sugar, sausage, Elka's lemonade mix and cereal, and wine.
"Ah?" Astrid squinted at the words written on her hand. Had she read that correctly? Wine? She wasn't even legal to buy a pack of cigarettes, but Astrid went with it anyways.
She picked up all of the foods scrawled onto her fingers and palm and grabbed a bottle of the cheapest but nicest looking wine that could be found and made her way to the checkout centre. It wasn't busy or crowded; the store never was, to be frank, since it was one of the lesser known chains.
With two empty and one stationed with a grumpy woman in what looked like her late sixties, Astrid went to the checkout counter where a woman her age was slouched in a chair and playing a game on her phone.
"Hey," Astrid coughed and dropped the bag onto the conveyor belt with a loud enough thud to draw a glare from the old lady and a few glances from shoppers. The employee shot up in surprise and scrambled to put her phone away.
"Don't tell my boss?" The young adult smiled pleadingly and blinked her lapis blue eyes, similar to Astrid's.
"Just as long as ya check out m'stuff," Astrid assured and began to place the foodstuff on the belt.
Sigrid, the store name tag read, chuckled and scanned the items. "Yer a funny one. It's my first day here, so I gotta impress the boss. Don't wanna get fired, y'know?" Sigrid had choppy dirty blone hair and bangs held back by a black hair band and was already proving to be quite the chatterbox.
Astrid only hummed in agreement and listened to her continue, "I plan on buying a car soon! My first! Pretty cool, hah?" Sigrid trailed on, growing more excited, but suddenly changed the subject. "Hey, you go to the high school right? You look pretty young to be buyin' wine. Bread...wine…What're ya planning on makin' anyways? The Last Supper?"
Astrid chuckled at that. "Yes, I do, I am, and no." She replied with a loose, closed smile. During this time, the employee was packing away the goods in the fabric bag Astrid had broughten along with her.
"Me too!" Sigrid cried and leaned forward. "Senior year! I'm surprised I haven't such a beautiful lady as yourself around!" This caused Astrid to blush, trying to find somewhere to look.
"Ah...Thanks…?" Astrid said and took her bag that Sigrid held out in front of her. Wearing a proud look on her face and arms crossed, her bubbly acquaintance stroked her chin.
"And for being so cute, I'll sneak you the wine. Half off! All on me!" Sigrid smiled and Astrid looked at her in confusion. This dirty blonde sure was one hell of a character. "As a thank you, you can give me…your number?" Astrid rolled her eyes. One hell of a character, indeed.
"Here," Astrid motioned for Sigrid to give her her hand and leaned over the counter to pluck up a pen. Lightly, she wrote her digits in on Sigrid's skin; it was a similar shade as Elka's, with a few scabs and freckles decorating it like specks of paint on a canvas.
The ink stained into it and Sigrid looked at it, basking in pride, which made Astrid shake her head in amusement. "I'll call ya later, then, yeah?" Astrid said and adjusted herself so that the bag of groceries weighed down one shoulder and her backpack, the other. "Yeah," Sigrid nodded and saluted her off.
On the way back home, Astrid couldn't help but bit her lip from smiling. Sigrid may have been what she needed to liven up the summer.