Weeks passed since I had last seen Dani, but we talked everyday either through text or over phone calls. Not a moment passed by that I wasn't thinking about her. My aunt noticed the change almost instantly. I was much more lively, had a smile on my face all the time, she didn't exactly know that I had met someone that I was talking to, but she knew that something was going on.
After a month of talking strictly over our cells we decided to meet up in person. Least to say I was excited, maybe even ecstatic to see her again. We had arranged to hang out at my aunt's house together. Phyllis didn't mind, she was just excited that I was finally having a friend over that wasn't Eddie. She loved Eddie because she knew that he was my person, but she knew I needed other friends that weren't my cousin.
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"Hey Carmen, you got any aces?"
"Go fish, Nichols," I ran my fingers through my bangs. God I needed a shower with proper shampoo and conditioner. The commissary had been out of anything good for 2 weeks now and my hair was starting to suffer because of it.
"God you look like shit kid. When was the last time you showered?"
"Last night actually. Commissary is still out of my shit so my hair accumulates grease like a dirty garage floor."
"Quite an analogy there. Why don't you take a bottle of mine? I stocked up when the new shipments came in last month," Nicky threw down her cards, "I fucking hate Go Fish."
"Me too."
"So do you want a bottle?" Nicky stood up and started walking towards the door.
"Sure," a beat, "What'll it cost me?"
Nicky looked over her shoulder, "Nothing, it costs you nothing. We're family Hannah. Consider it a gift."
I followed Nicky back to the suburbs. That was the name of our dorm here.
"So I heard you and Vause got caught doing something in the yard before count the other day," Nicky kept her voice low, not wanting anyone around us to hear our conversation.
"Yeah, but Coates is a bitch so we were able to get away with a warning."
"Surprised he didn't try to fuck you two," Nicky smirked. She didn't ask what it was we were doing in the yard, more than likely she didn't actually care.
"Too busy plowing Pennsatucky at the moment is what I've heard around the block."
"Probably."
We walked in silence the rest of the way to Nicky's dorm. She'd been my friend since I'd been thrown into this hell hole four years ago. We'd bonded over bad sex jokes and the need to survive our shitty ass prison sentences.
00000
The doorbell rang twice by the time I finally made it down the steps to the front door. I practically tripped over my own feet as I made my way downstairs. Phyllis's house smelled like pinesol and Yankee Pumpkin Spice, my favorite type of candle. I had cleaned the house spotless while Phyllis and Mark were at work. They always picked up extra shifts a few months before the holidays hit, so they had enough money for gifts and utility bills. I had made sure that they were cool with Dani coming over more than once. She was the only person I had ever invited over other than Eddie, but he was family and Phyllis knew that I really liked Dani. Phyllis had told me that as long as there was no baby making we were fine and in return I told her that I didn't think that was possible. She laughed at me and winked, but I still felt far too young to have sex. Kids at school talked about it and earlier last year I had been making out with a girl in the booth of the school theatre and it had gotten heated but I freaked out and left. Needless to say, we never spoke after that. I didn't want that to happen with Dani, hell we weren't even dating.
I reached down and wrapped my hand around the door knob, gulping in a lungful of air before turning the knob and yanking the door back. The door was screwed up, but that's beside the point. Dani was standing on the other side of the door with a glowing smile spread across her face. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a few loose strands were pushed back behind her ears which were decorated with small topaz earrings on either side of her head. She wore a pair of light blue jeans that had a ripped knee, they hugged her figure perfectly, making me let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. A peace sign necklace sat in the middle of her chest against a forest green t-shirt, her bra line visible against the thin material of the shirt.
"Hey," I opened the door wider and ushered her inside.
"Hi," Dani retorted, walking past me into the living room. She had a small backpack slung over her left shoulder, probably had her overnight clothes inside. "You have a really cozy place here, Hannah," Dani spun in a semicircle on the heels of her beat up converse.
"Thanks, the interior designers died 20 years ago I'm afraid so…" I stepped up behind Dani, slipping the bag off her shoulder. She giggled at my joke, I loved the sound of it.
"Why thank you miss," Dani let the pack slip into my hands.
"My pleasure. So I figured in maybe an hour or so I could order a pizza and we could just watch some movies tonight?" Dani turned around to look at me. I had an inch on her without my shoes on. The height difference only making her have to tilt her head slightly to see into my eyes.
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan."
"So we can hangout here or go to my bedroom? It's up to you," my inner monologue kept playing over and over again in my head;
'Just breathe and stay cool, you are just friends, nothing more and nothing less. Just be yourself and nothing will go wrong. She likes you.'
"Your room sounds fine. Do I need to take my shoes off?"
"No, all of the rooms have hardwood floors, but you can take them off if you want."
Dani slipped out of her converse and sat them down next to my pair of black high tops, she looked over at my shoes, "You have big feet."
I could feel my face flush to dark red. Dammit. I never blush like this.
"Yeah, it runs in the family. Most of my cousins are athletes so big feet give a better center of gravity, I guess,"I was rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. Dani was still bent down in front of me, her rear end extremely close to me. She slowly started to stand back up, I had to rip my gaze away from her butt and gather my thoughts again.
"But you aren't an athlete?"
"Not officially no, but I always play football or baseball with my cousins at family events and sometimes on this league my cousin Ryan is in."
"So you do play sports."
"Yeah, I guess… but theatre is my first love."
I started upstairs, I could hear Dani's footsteps directly behind me on the old wooden staircase. We walked into my bedroom, the smell of my perfume hitting our nostrils, I was used to the smell since I had been wearing the same perfume for years. But Dani noticed it, I watched her sniff the air ever so slightly.
"Have I ever told you how good you smell?" she chuckled at the end of her sentence, making me think of our first interaction a month ago.
"Maybe once or twice."
I walked farther into the room and Dani followed. When I had first moved in this room had been pretty outdated. It was Phyllis's old bedroom from when she was a kid, she had shared it with her older sister Lynda. Phyllis redid the entire room for me, my grandpa and I painted and picked out all of the furniture and everything, even replaced the floorboards in the entire upstairs. It took us six months to finish, but it was worth it. We painted the walls an extremely light baby blue, the color of a clear summer day, although I had so many posters and pictures hanging on the walls it was like the color didn't exist. A double bed sat in a corner of the room, it was made with a dark grey sheet and a navy blue comforter that covered my pillows. My walking dead quilt lay folded at the edge of the bed just so you could see the AMC WALKING DEAD logo. A large computer desk was pushed against the far wall of the room, it had two 30 inch monitors that sat on either side of a 45 inch Vizio. Both of my computer towers were under the desk sitting next to each other, one was a normal HP and the other was my gaming PC. A practically brand new CyberPowerPC. Each of my computers had a keyboard and under the desk in the keyboard slot I housed my PS4, which was connected to the 45 inch tv. My brown leather swivel chair sat in front of the monitors. I had books piled high in the corner of the desk closest to the wall, all of them were nonfiction. My school bag was slung over the back of my chair, we never got homework over the weekends so it would stay closed until Monday morning. In another corner close to the foot of my bed I had my bass guitar and my acoustic guitar on stands in front of my 4 foot high Peavy all purpose amp. The wattage alone could break every window in the house so I never cranked it up past a certain point. Above my amp I had a mounted 55 inch Vizio Smart T.V., I didn't use it a whole lot since I normally would just play music through my surround sound system when I went to bed. But Eddie and I always watched movies or played his XBOX One on it when he stayed, which was almost every other weekend. The last corner of my room was occupied by a two door closet where my dresser sat on one side and I had clothes hanging on the other.
I watched as Dani took in my room, she looked stunned by how modern my room was compared to the rest of the house. Phyllis wanted to make me feel comfortable so she always put money aside to buy me stuff, it always made me feel bad. Of course I loved the things she gave me, it wasn't as if she was trying to buy my love, we actually talked often. Phyllis and I were close, she adored me and I adored her, she took care of me and I could never repay her for that. She didn't buy me everything in the room. The guitar equipment was all from my papaw Eddie, he collected it all and would restore it then give them to me.
"Wow," Dani said as she slowly walked around, touching my desk lightly and running her hands across my guitars. She walked over to my Bed and plopped down on her bottom. "I really like your room."
"Me too," my hand had returned to the base of my neck.
"You look nervous, Hannah."
"Um… It's just that… just," I was losing my cool, stumbling over every word.
"What?" Dani smirked, "never had another girl in your room?"
I nodded my head.
"Don't be nervous, I don't bite," she took a moment, "Well I normally don't anyway."
A nervous laugh bubbled out of my throat into the air that seemed to be getting thicker with each word Dani said. She kept smirking to herself, obviously enjoying my reaction, knowing that I was starting to get worked up.
"What kind of movies do you like?" I said trying to change the subject, but Dani wouldn't let me.
"Have you ever brought a girl to your house in general?" She drew small circles on her thigh as she awaited my answer.
"No," I took another breath of air, "I've never had a girlfriend."
"When we talked on the phone you said you had done stuff with other girls. Did you lie?"
"I've had makeout sessions before and one time I almost had sex with this girl at school, but they were all flings," I pulled on the hem of my t-shirt, "I never really felt anything with them."
"I've had that happen before… So you're a virgin?"
"Yeah, still got the good ole V Card in my wallet and everything."
She started to laugh, causing me to giggle as well. Her laugh was contagious.
"Do you want something to drink?"
"What do you have?"
"Water and black tea," I started to walk towards her.
"Water sounds nice," I leaned down next to her leg and reached my hand under my bed, pushing the comforter upward. The mini fridge was farther under the bed than I thought, so I got down on my knees and shoved my entire arm under the bed. My hand finally came in contact with the cool hard plastic top of the mini fridge, but I didn't pull it out right away. I had other plans.
"What… What's this?" I made my voice sound fearful.
"What?" Dani looked down at me, I turned my head to give her eye contact.
"SHIT!" I banged my hand against the ground as soon as I let the word slip from my mouth. Dani jumped onto my body, pulling me back across the hardwood floor. Her left hand was looped under my left armpit while her right was draped across my chest. Her left leg was wrapped around my lower abdomen and her right foot was propelling us away from the bed. It took her a whole minute to realize that I was laughing, laughing so hard the vein on my forehead was protruding from the skin and my neck veins were pushing out. My entire face was beet red and she couldn't help but laugh after she'd realized that I had pulled a prank.
Between laughs I could hear her saying, "You are… an… ass hole!"
We laughed for what felt like forever, she was wrapped around my body for what felt like forever, and I could have stayed in that very moment forever.
