Birthday Gifts
Johnny Vincent scanned the cosmetics and women's toiletries aisle of the New Coventry Drug Mart, the expression of discomfiture growing more obvious each second he lingered there. His hands were stuffed in his jeans pockets as he made his best effort to ignore the urge to pound the other Bullworth boys that passed by, snickering. He was here for one purpose and one purpose only: buy Lola a birthday present.
Lola Lombardi's birthday was rapidly approaching and Johnny had yet to buy her a gift. He was going to buy her a BMX from Shiny Bikes but that idea was soon thwarted. Mainly because he only had $22.38 worth of pocket change after betting on Russell at the Hole last week. How was he supposed to know that little twerp Hopkins would win? Now it was down to something girly and affordable, or so Johnny thought. He'd never shopped for a girl before and was only now finding out that makeup was damn expensive.
Hmm…eyeliner? What the hell is this for? Johnny turned the small stick between his fingers, examining it carefully. It had a white sticker plastered to it that read: $10.99. For this piece of crap? It looked like a skinny black crayon. He placed it back on the shelf amongst its multicoloured brethren and shuffled forward a few paces.
There was a row of brightly coloured and rather pungent candles marked $15.99. Johnny tentatively picked up a red and pink one and read the label. Tropical Sangria. He uncapped it and sniffed delicately. It smelled feminine enough. Lola likes sangria. This was a major understatement. Johnny's mind flicked back to a couple months ago when Lola had chugged an entire jug of sangria and started fooling around with that guy working at Yum Yum's. Grimacing slightly, Johnny put the candle back more roughly than when he'd picked it up. Maybe a candle wasn't such a great idea after all.
Shortly after this minor upset, Johnny came across a clearance bin filled to the brim with bottles of cheap French perfume. He wandered over, pretending not to see the female employee eying him questioningly. Squirting a little from a glass vial of translucent golden liquid into the air before him, Johnny coughed and quickly recapped the bottle. He waved his hand frantically through the cloud of slowly dissipating, strongly scented mist, regretting the decision to unleash it. After overcoming the initial shock of nearly being suffocated, realisation dawned and Johnny remembered this suddenly familiar scent. Lola had been wearing this when Johnny had caught her attempting to ``comfort`` a newly single and very reluctant Ricky a mere month ago. Now wearing a fierce scowl, Johnny tossed the small container back to the bin and heard it clatter noisily behind him.
That little slut!, Johnny thought angrily, How could she? I love her! He stood in front of a shelf packed with boxes of condoms now, dark eyes boring into them hatefully. He couldn't count the many times he'd apprehended Lola using those with someone other than himself. Why would she do this to him, over and over? Wasn't he enough? Peanut often told him that any girl would be lucky to have him, so why wasn't Lola ever satisfied? And why couldn't Johnny stop loving her? Practically fuming, Johnny yanked a box of tampax off the shelf beside the condoms and stomped off to pay for them. Screw this. Lola was having her period whether she liked it or not, and she was going to appreciate this gift. Served her right, that slut…That slut that I... I love…