I do not own anything…blah blah blah.
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Perhaps it was the fact that Jay and I were together. Or maybe that I was on a skate team. It could also be that school had ended so Kendall was off my back. Maybe it was a combination of the three, and that the parties had gotten ten times better. Whatever it was, I woke up the next morning feeling elated. That night Jay had walked me home, and kissed me for what seemed like forever, although we did have a few things to say.
"Hey, Jay," I murmured, while we were lying on the hard pavement outside my house. He was on top of me. It had been a fairly romantic night, I had to hand it to the guy.
"Hmm?" he replied, and then tried to start making out again.
"No, just one second," I said, pushing him off me and going to a sitting position. "I have a question."
"What?"
"Well, I don't think we should tell anyone about this."
"Why?" he asked, looking dumbfounded.
"Dude, we're like the most unlikely couple. And you have like so many girls all over you," I tried to explain. How could I tell him that the reason I didn't want anyone to know is because I didn't want to be screwed over by him? And then have everyone know?
"Yeah, whatever," he sighed. "You know, I just really wanted to tell the guys I fucked you," he said making the conversation light again.
"Boy, you're not getting that far," I replied, a smirk on my face. Maybe he would be the first boy to do that. Although it seemed I had done that with every boy I dated, I did have self-respect and feministic values. Besides if I did they would leave in an instant, I was sure of that. So I would play the game like they could get some, then dump them when they got close. It was quite fun.
I crawled out of bed reliving this memory. It was hard to believe I was dating a guy I shared so many interests with. But we weren't dating. I had to keep reminding myself of that, although it was hard not to smile as I brushed my teeth.
I saw Stacy's car pull up on the street in front of my house. I walked down the beaten concrete steps to the car. Stacy was driving, I saw Kathy in the front seat with the still broken window, Tony behind Kathy, and Sid next to Tony. My heart sank in the slightest when I noticed Jay wasn't in there.
"Move, Tony," I said, as he slid over to give me room.
"Ooh, I like it when you boss me around," he said, flashing one of his priceless grins, that made most girls blush.
"What about Blanca, Tony. Won't she mind?" I asked, making Kathy turn around.
"What's she talking about?" she questioned. Kathy and Blanca were close friends.
"Your dead, Wolffe," he whispered in my ear, then said audibly, "Nothing, Kimber just means… about the gift I bought her. You know and then gave to Blanca, because Kimber stole it, or something," he finished lamely.
"Uh-huh," she said with her accent thicker than normal.
Stacy bit his lip in the driver's seat to restrain his laughter.
"So, Stace, you and Kathy official?" I wondered aloud, knowing it would be more uncomfortable with her there. How interesting. His laughter cut at once.
"Uh…" he tried to start, but Kathy cut him off.
"Course we are, chica," she said trying to make it sound nicer. Kathy and I had never gotten along, mainly because I socked her in 9th grade for trashing Pink Floyd. I was proud of the punch because it gave her a black eye for a week. I grinned thinking of it.
"Where we headed Stace?" Sid asked.
"Venice Noodle," he said still blushing from my question.
"Who all is gonna be there?" I tried to make it sound like I didn't care.
"Red Dog, Peggy, Shogo, and Jay I think, Biniak might show too," Stacy rattled off.
"Why do you care? You love everyone," Tony's voice muttered in my ear to where only I could hear him. I looked at him and smelled the scent of cinnamon. Damn he always smelled good.
"I don't I was just wondering," I lied easily. We could speak normally now that Kathy had turned up some Aerosmith.
"I think not. You have a thing for someone in the group, and I'm gonna find out, baby. You just wait."
"Hah, who would I be interested in?"
"I don't know… Jayboy?" I tried not to flush. "Last night you and him ran off in a direction and I didn't see either of you again."
"Jay's a complete asshole," I said as though offended. Truth be told I couldn't care less. "And we've been friends since I was six."
"Yeah, but remember in fifth grade whenever you would wrestle with him? He was trying to get to second base."
"What a little pervert."
"You love a little pervert."
"Fuck off Alva."
"I touched a nerve."
"T.A. I swear I will tell Kathy about all your scandals with other girls, and Blanca will dump you in a second," I wouldn't ever do that.
"You-" but at that time I noticed we were in the parking lot for the Venice Noodle, and threw the car door open and went to the restaurant. I walked in with Stacy who had caught up with me. We saw them immediately. The loudest group of teenage asses causing a riot you could find. I walked over to them sitting in the biggest booth in the corner of the place. Jay looked up as he saw me, and I thought his face lit up a little. I had actually looked at the clothes I would put on this morning before I wore them. I had the shortest cutoffs I could find, a tight Grateful Dead shirt that showed off my midriff well, and my usual Vans. My hair was down and wavy with the blue showing up especially bright.
"Hey," he said slowly, looking me up and down. Stacy looked between us shocked. I noticed this while Jay didn't.
"Move over jackass," I said laughing. He came out of his trance and moved for me to sit next to him. Stace looked as though he was trying to figure out what he just saw when Kathy came up and pulled him into the booth, with her practically in his lap.
"Trying to get me to notice you?" Jay whispered out of the side of his mouth.
"Not at all, just thought I wouldn't wear a bra today," I said, equally quietly. His head spun to my chest and he stared for a second. "Just kidding, God…"
"Don't do that to me," he said with a malicious grin. I saw Tony's amused face out of the corner of my eye and decided to do something about it. I took Jay's fries and threw them directly in his face, some getting caught in his curls. He took the ketchup bottle from the middle of the table and squirted it all over me. I was so angry with him ruining my clothes I couldn't say anything. I wiped my eyes and mouth as clean as I could while I heard the others throwing food. I heard footsteps running to our table, and looked through my stinging eyes to see the manager, Stacy's boss.
Shit. I loved seeing my friends in awkward situations, but Stacy being fired? I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I ran through some options quickly in my head, while the others continued waging war. Normally I could use my body, but I was covered in ketchup. Maybe it would be a turn on? No it wouldn't be. I could try taking the blame for it, but it most likely would still get him in trouble. The manager was getting closer as I decided to just grab Stacy and run through the fire exit. I hurled myself over Tony, and took Stacy's upper arm, and heaved. Kathy fell and the manager simply stared after us. He then began yelling things at the others. We fell out the back door with sunlight washing over us. He looked at me gratefully.
"Thanks, I didn't even notice he was coming over there," he said laughing slightly at the narrow escape.
"Yeah, well, I'm smart," I said smiling, but on the inside I was a little annoyed. Jay and I were separated for the time being.
"You look pretty disgusting," he told me. It was true. My hair was matted with ketchup and my shirt was completely covered in it. My face had a redish tint to it.
"Ew, it really smells," I sighed, further examining my now ruined outfit. That's what I got for trying to look nice. Fuck this.
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I walked up the steps to my house with Stacy. We had decided to hang out there for a while, then check Zephyr. I opened the bright red door to the messy house. I saw my siblings lounging around, and then, oddly enough, my mother. She was supposed to be at work. She was sitting alone at the circular table with her head in her hands, her beautiful light brown hair was tangled, as though her hands had been running through it. I looked at Stacy and said,
"Hey, go hang with Alex or something. I have to talk to my mom," he understood and sat next to Alex on the yellow couch. They were watching Charlie's Angels. I walked over to the table and sat down in the chair across from Kendall. She started at the squeak of the wheels on the chair.
"Oh, honey, it's you," she mumbled. I noticed that her normally soft and pretty face looked lined and stressed. Her big light brown eyes were full of something like disappointment. I couldn't tell for sure.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing, nothing…" this was a terrible lie in my opinion, for there had never been a worse giveaway.
"Seriously, tell me."
"Well, today at work… what happened to you?" she had just registered my stained appearance. I could tell that she had jumped to the conclusion of blood.
"Ketchup, but what about your job?" I said waving my hand to dismiss the fact.
"I… got fired."
"Why?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"Well, just being too tired, and not good enough. But Kimber, I don't want you telling anyone about this okay? I don't want your siblings to worry…" she trailed off.
"Look mom I can get a job-"
"That's not necessary," she said standing up. And with that she left me sitting at the table alone.
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The small battery was cold against my hand. I reached up to my hood and brought it lower over my face. I noticed that Tony, Jay and Stacy weren't trying to be as inconspicuous as I was. I looked at their faces and said in the most demanding voice I could muster,
"Look, dudes, you have to try and… not look like yourselves."
"Ugh… shut up. They'll pick us up anyway," Tony snapped back.
We were standing at the bus stop and all had batteries in our hands. We would throw them at passing cars, or pedestrians while on the bus. A few minutes later the shabby blue and white bus came to a rolling stop and opened its doors. The elderly man that was muttering to himself stepped slowly on first, we followed. I realized my smirk was implanted onto my face as Jay, who was walking behind me, pushed my butt up the three stairs. The driver, a pudgy balding man, didn't spare a glance at us. I breathed a sigh of relief. What else would I have done with my day? Sure, I could spend it with Jay, but how would we ever be alone. We took our normal spots at the back of the bus, the two across from each other. I slid into the plastic seat hoping Jay would be the one to slide next to me. He did. I smiled for a second catching his eye. He grinned stupidly at me, showing me the batteries in his hands.
I couldn't help but notice the beautiful glint in his topaz eyes. I was drowning in them, but this type of drowning was one in which I never would want to breathe again.
"Hey, roll down the window," Jay said to me. I couldn't help but die a little inside at such a stupid remark.
"Okay…" I replied, taking the top of the window and pulling it down halfway. I looked to my left and saw Tony doing the same with Stacy watching eagerly.
"So," he said in a lower voice. "How've you been? You disappeared today after the Venice Noodle."
"I had to save Stacy from losing his job," I whispered back, not looking at him.
"Whatever, what are you doing tonight?"
"Nothing, why?"
"Lets hang out," he said, raising his eyebrows in the slightest.
"What does that involve?" His eyebrows went even farther up his forehead.
"Yeah, that'd be fine," I agreed. "Can we throw the batteries already?" I asked. Tony and Stacy had already thrown half of their ammo.
"Sure," he grinned and leaned over me to throw the first battery at a biker.
After we had been thrown off the bus, the day passed without incident. We smoked a few blunts, ripped a few pools, and the guys harassed many girls.
The darkness of night came quickly and I said my goodbyes to the guys, claiming to feeling sick. Jay and I had devised this plan. He would take a different route than me, but the two crossed paths. My Van clad feet tread down a sidewalk, passed a warehouse and came to a cross-section. I scanned the direction Jay would be coming from and saw no one. I sat down, knowing my path was much shorter.
I felt very conflicted. The thought had been running threw my mind many times that day: what would happen when Jay and I broke up? But then again we weren't even a real couple. Yet I desired to be one. Which brought me back to the original problem. Would our friendship ever be the same? Well I knew it would never be the same for me. I couldn't help but feel a very magnetic connection to him. The sound of approaching footsteps brought me out of my trance. Thinking it was Jay I spun my head to the unknown person with a broad grin. Unfortunately, the voice that spoke belonged to a girl.
"Kimber! What are you doing out here?" Kathy's voice exclaimed. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. All I could do was hope that Jay wouldn't come around the corner.
"I… Um…" I stuttered out, becoming aware of how weird I must have looked sitting down. "Jay and I were gonna go skate."
"Just you and him?" she asked. I knew perfectly well that she was always on the hunt for a piece of gossip. I pushed myself to my feet to reach her eye level. They were a deep brown and her long hair had a red glow about it. I was realizing how much more beautiful she was than I. Another set of footsteps echoed through the night. This time they were actually Jay's. I heard them slow, obviously taking in the scene. He reached the spot where we had stood and his bewildered expression was readable.
"Oh, hey you guys," his gaze lingered on her for a second longer than it had on me. More jealousy reared up inside of me.
"Jay," she drawled. "Hey."
"What are you doing here?" he questioned. He looked her up and down. I then realized she was wearing a clean, flowing white shirt and a denim skirt. If he didn't stop looking I was going to hit him. Without giving her time to answer, I cut in using an innuendo I knew her small mind couldn't figure out.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I think it's going to rain," I glanced up at the clear sky. "I really want to get wet, but not out here," Jay's mouth almost dropped. Kathy looked at me as though I was crazy. "I'll see you two later," I finished smirking and walking away slowly. I heard him exchange a hurried goodbye and ran to catch pace with me.
"Decided to join me?" I said with a smirk.
"Lets go to my place," he told me.
"Sweet."
Fifteen minutes later would find us walking up his stairs. He swung open the screen door to his cozy house. I had always been welcome here.
"Phalaine!" I called seeing her in the next room. There was no need to shout, apart from my excitement of seeing her for the first time in a while. Jay rolled his eyes and went to the fridge.
"Sweetie! How are you?" she asked moving towards me and giving me a tight hug. Her blond hair and green eyes smiled at me, as though she were my own mother.
"I'm good, you?"
"Just fine… fine. Jayboy, honey, that ham went bad a month ago." He spit out the ham immediately and she turned back to me. "It's so nice to see you again! You need to come around again, where have you been-"
"Mom!" Jay interrupted. "Kimber and I were gonna go hang, so, can you like…"
"Oh, I get it," she said with a wink at us. Jay flushed as he took my arm and led me into his room. He swept me into his room and threw me onto the bed. I gave a small gasp as he leaped on top of me and began kissing me. It was ever so natural with him, never forced. He parted his lips and mine and looked down at me. His golden hair hung with a curtain on each side of his head. His topaz eyes were shining with excitement and passion as he licked his pink lips. He then came from being on top of me to beside me in his bed. His arms stayed around me and he placed his head parallel to mine. We fell asleep holding each other, not bothering to even take off our shoes.
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Sorry, this chapter was a filler. Very much so. And I realize that some of the characters (Stacy) are a little off to how the movie portrayed them. It's because I read an interview with Tony Alva and he said Stacy wasn't that straight and Jay that angry. So I went by it. But it'd be cool if you'd review! Cause I need it to keep writing.
-lette.