Handed Me A Can

I woke up not expecting what I saw. Instead of seeing bunk beds and squealing girls, I saw a dressing table, a wardrobe and an open suitcase. It was then that I realised I was back home.

A huge grin suddenly was plastered on my face and I didn't care. That's when Chris walked in and the grin grew bigger.

Before I left for Astoria, Chris would always bring me a cup of cocoa. But with it being summer, he walked in with a large glass of milk and a bowl of fruit with yoghurt.

One thing I loved about Chris is that no matter how much I annoyed him, he would ALWAYS rise to the occasion and do ANYTHING for me. Everyone says that it's a twin thing but I know it isn't. I know it's a Chris thing. No matter what, he would help people through anything. He doesn't get the credit he deserves though. Richard and dad have practically ruined his chances of a life.

He came and sat on the edge of my bed and handed me my breakfast. I mumbled a 'thanks' but I was more bothered about the food.

"Morning!" he smiled at me.

"Mrnumn…" I said through my fruit.

"So I had an idea about what to do today. When you left I made some friends and…" I swallowed my fruit and jokingly replied,

"You Christopher Chambers have friends?"

"Yes Elizabeth Chambers I do have friends!"

"Don't call me Elizabeth!"

"Don't call me Christopher! And hey it's not my fault; you're the one that left me socially retarded!"

"Look, I'm sorry dude; at least you've been cured of your retardedness and have friends. So what were you saying about them?"

"Well I thought you could meet them, I mean you need to meet people now you're back and not be the socially retarded one. So do you feel like coming?"

"What if they don't like me? I mean I don't want to make you less cool with your friends, like I bet you're the leader with your confidence and everything!"
"Look Lizzzzzzzz you'll be fine I mean Gordie and Vern will like you cause they're nice like that and heck Teddy will like you 'cause youre a girl and your hot as fire."
"Dude thats wrong calling me hot!"
"Well anything related to me would be hot I mean just look at me. And will you stop saying dude please?"
"Hey dude, I picked it up from Clarke so don't balme me!"

"What's with this Clarke anyway, he is the only thing you've mentioned, did you not make any girl friends?

"Well me and Clarke kind of dated for about a year but it got freaky so we decided close friends was best for both of us."

"Well ok then. You better start getting ready, I said we'd be there for half nine and it's a quarter to eight, it takes fifteen to walk down to the diner."

I smiled and downed the rest of my milk and handed him back the bowl and glass.

Meeting his friends wasn't going to be easy being the shyest person you would've met. I'm nervous when I meet a new teacher or lab partner, you don't need to know what I'm like with them being possible friends. And why was this town so deprived o girls? Was it because of this Teddy? Was it because there wasn't a shopping mall until five miles out of town? Or was it that beautiful sceneries and sunsets and a gorgeous summer lake wasn't enough for them or their mothers?

I got up from my bed and went and sat at the dressing table in the room. It was white but some of the paint was peeling off and I liked that. Most of the room was like that, the wardrobe, the bed, the floorboards. It had such a rustic feeling about it and it made me feel right at home. The table had to draws either side and a large oval mirror in the centre. It was origional and what made me like the room even more.

I picked up my comb and untangled my medium blonde hair. I had unpacked slighly since I got back, placing my brush and the little makeup and jewellry I had on my dressing table; my most used shoes under my bed and the most worn clothes in the wardrobe.

I pulled on the shorts I was wearing yesterday and slipped on a blue and white stripped vest top over my white bra. Adding a hint of eyeline onto my bottom eyelids I wondered if I was too revealing and contemplated on changing into jeans when I looked at the watch I never wore and saw it was five past nine.

Suddenly, I got butterflies and I decided that it wasn't the best idea. I dindnt know whether to along with it or pretend to be ill. Eventually I acted with out thinking and grabbed my charm bracelt and black converse and ran downstairs.

"CHRI…!" I yelled before noticing my father, passed out on the couch and all the memories from last night came flooding back. I creeped out of the house onto the front porch to wait for Chris when I saw him sat there, twirling a cigarette inbetween his fingers. I sat down next to him and added the finishing touches to my outfit.
"New t-shirt?" was the only thing he said. I knew he was thinking about last night too, who wouldn't? I nodded and once I finished tying my laces I finally took in the fact that he was holding a cigarette.

"Smoking Chris really? Has Richard finally got to you?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"He prefers eyeball and no actually, stress got to me, but it's only one a day."

"But then you get one day closer to an early death, you don't want that do you Chris. No-one wants that."

He put it back into his pocket, which made me slightly happy, but the fact that he was smoking at fourteen would stay in my head until the day I knew for sure that he had stopped that disgusting habit.

"We better get going, it's a quarter after nine." I said trying to push a different thought into my head. However it just had to be the one that made me queasy.

We walked onto the main road, not speaking, just awkward silence. How could a day that started out so nice, so pleasant turn into this? I really wanted to break the ice but I didn't know how. I didn't want to bring anything up from my life as we were going to see his friends. I just hoped he would say something soon. There was too much tension.

"Nervous?" Finally, I could be myself again.

"Chris, you've know me fourteen years, I think you should know when I'm nervous!"

"You're extremely nervous!"

"You got that right." As I walked on he stopped and grabbed my wrist, spinning me into a massive hug. He stroked my hair as I cried silent tears into his green t-shirt. I was crying over more things than just being nervous. The fact that Chris smoked, the fact he was being abused, the fact that I was finally home and could hug him whenever I wanted.

"Shhh, it's going to be ok…" he whispered into my hair as I wiped the tears away, thanking myself for only putting a small amount of makeup on.

We eventually arrived at Blue Point (five minutes late) and strolled over to the window booth I saw the three boy's in yesterday.

Chris helped me into a high seat next to the window and sat next to me. When I looked up at the boys, they seemed really familiar. Then it hit me. These were two thirds of the group I saw yesterday. The skinny boy and the small boys. Luckily the boy I had stared at wasn't there.

"Liz, this is Gordie," the skinny one, "and Vern," the fat one, "guys this is my twin sister Elizabeth but she prefers Liz or Lizzie."

I smiled weakly and practically mouthed a 'hi'. I was surrounded by his and heys when Chris interrupted.

"Teddy?"
"Getting drinks, he got some for you two as well!" Gordie replied, "He's heading back now." I didn't even bother to look, knowing that is would be him.

"OK five sodapops and a bowl of fries do ya?" and he placed them on the table.

"Teddy, this is my twin sister Liz, remember me telling you about her?"

"Yeah I do, hey I'm Te…" I made a big mistake in forcing myself to look up. He had recognised me. Now I saw him up close he looked different to what I remember. Before I knew it, I found myself staring again.

"What's your fucking problem Liz? Do I have something on my nose? Or are you interested in my fucked up ear?"

"TEDDY! Do you remember anything I told you?" Chris yelled in his face.

At this point I was close to tears and I choked out a 'sorry' and looked back down.

"No. I'm the one that's sorry, I only just met you and I'm yelling at you like you're a piece of shit. Skin it?"

I always remembered skin it. Chris and I had created it and passed it on to our friends to make sure we always had a piece of each other. I stroked his hand then turned mine over so he could stroke it.

"I'm sorry it's just that…that you look familiar, and…and you seem really interesting t-that's all…" I stuttered, hoping he would forgive me yet he just sniggered and handed me a can.

AN so chapter 2 huh? I'm hoping to update daily but meh, we'll see. I hope you enjoyed it, read && review please. I came close to tears when writing about Chris smoking, seing what happened to River Phoenix. May he rest in peace. )'=