"Momma!"
"Stop screaming at me!" my mom screams back at me, but I'm upstairs fixing myself up in the bathroom mirror and she's downstairs. How else is she supposed to hear me?"
"She'll be here in like ten minutes!" I scream, ignoring her warning.
No answer.
"Momma!"
Still no answer.
"MOMMA!"
Suddenly she's right behind me. I didn't even hear her come up here!
"I love you dearly baby girl, but if you scream at me one more time…."
I gulp and turn around to face her. She doesn't even need to finish that sentence. She's said enough.
"So, what do you want?" she questions, crossing her arms over her chest.
I blink at her. I kinda forgot.
She raises an eyebrow and then I remember. "Um, do you have the snacks and stuff ready?"
Her eyes narrow and she puts her hands on her hips.
What?
"That's why you were screaming at me? Because you want me to have the "snacks and stuff"ready for you?"
Oh sure, when she says it like that.
"And you can't get the "snacks and stuff"ready because…?" She continues.
"Because I'm getting me ready!" I snap back. Okay, usually I don't snap at Momma. She doesn't handle that kind of stuff very well, but she's picking on me and Charlie will be here any second! I don't have time to be picked on!
"Jesus Vega! It's a sleepover, not a date!" Momma rolls her eyes at me.
"But it's my first sleepover!" I rebuttal immediately. Hopefully Momma doesn't notice the blush that's trying to creep its way onto my cheeks. I most definitely wishthis was a date.
Momma scoffs at me. "No it's not. You've been to plenty sleepovers."
"No I haven't."
"Yes you have."
"Name a time. And Aunt Trina or Cat's place don't count." I place my hands on my hip and wait for her answer. I know she's not going to be able to think up one. But she tries though.
"Let's see, there was the time…" She starts off confidently but then falters as she comes to realize that I'm telling the truth. "You're fourteen, why haven't you been to a sleepover yet?" She accuses like it's my fault.
The nerve.
And if I was going to answer such a ridiculous question, I would've been interrupted by the bell.
Charlie's here.
"Go answer the door, go answer the door." I squeak.
"Please?" I add on when that one eyebrow of Momma's lifts up automatically. I swear she doesn't even know she's doing it.
"No." She says. "I'm gonna start on dinner. You get the door."
"Fine, I will" I glare at her. It's a playful glare, but I still get a very loud smack to my rump when I pass by her. She smiles after me, letting me know it's a playful smack, but it still stings like a bitch.
I'm still rubbing my fanny when I open the door for Charlie. She barges in, pushing me out of the way with a huge and very heavy overnight bag. I fall down, landing on my already stinging butt.
She doesn't even apologize. She slams the door shut, locks it, slides down until she's sitting down, then closes her eyes. I start to laugh at her.
"What the heck are you doing?"
She holds a finger up, asking for a moment, and I notice she's completely out of breath. "He's…he's out there." She pants.
"Who?" My eyes widen. Does she have a stalker or something?
"My brother. He drop…dropped me off."
Her brother? He's old enough to drive? I didn't know that. In fact, there are a lot of things about Charlie that I don't know.
"Vega!"
I groan out loud at the sound of either my brother or sister's voice. Hey, they're three. They sound the same.
"Vega, look what I got!"
I turn my head. It's Ayla, my sister, and she's showing me a half-eaten pretzel.
"That's great Ayla, now go show Aiden." I roll my eyes.
"Oh my gosh, she's so cute!" Charlie gasps, crawling up beside me.
"No, she's not." I disagree.
"Yes I am!" Ayla stomps her foot.
Okay, that was cute, but I don't want to deal with cute right now. I wanna spend time with Charlie. "Momma!" I scream as if she didn't yell at me for that just five minutes ago.
Momma comes to me, a huge scowl on her face. She wants to yell at me, I know it. But she's not gonna do it in front of Charlie.
"Can you get her?" I point at Ayla.
Pushing it. That's what the look Momma's giving me right now means. I just smile back before standing up. Charlie stands too, but not on her own. Without giving me any warning, she grabs my hand and hoists herself up. I nearly fall, but Charlie rights me with a slight push to my shoulder.
"It's nice to meet you, momz." Charlie says casually as she holds her hand out for Momma to shake.
"Cute." Momma says as she shakes Charlie's hand, though I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm. Then she grabs Ayla and takes her away.
Charlie whirls around and by the expression on her face I'm positive she's about to gush over either my sister or my mom.
"Please tell me you have a PS3."
And I was wrong.
"Of course, why?" I ask. It's a stupid question. Why else would someone want to know why I have a PS3?
To play it, duh!
She grins at me and I stop listening to anything she says. I'm too busy staring at her mouth, wondering if her lips are as soft as they look.
"So, you wanna play or are you too afraid I'm gonna kick your butt?"
I blink a few times to focus. She's got an object (that I didn't see her get mind you) pushed up close to my face. Then I grin widely when I realize what it is. It's a game. Michael Jackson the experience. I have that one and I'm pretty darn good. I've never gotten five stars before, but I've gotten really close. I'm so gonna kick Charlie's ass.
I take her to the living room and show her the console. "You get it set up. I'll put your bag in my room." I tell her while reaching for it. When she gives it to me, my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. This thing is heavy. What the heck does she have in here?
I complain to myself the whole time I trudge the bag to my room. Then I set it down as close to the door as possible. I'm not gonna carry that thing for a second longer than I have to.
By the time I get back to the living room, Charlie's already picked out a song for us to do and everything. Thriller.
"Here." She says as she hands me one of the motion controllers. The top part of mine is glowing blue. Hers is green.
"You ready?" I ask her. "You can back out anytime, you know."
She laughs. "I'll be Michael. He's hard. You can be the zombies."
No she didn't. Telling me to be the zombies is like giving me training wheels while she rides a motorcycle. "No, we'll both be Michael." I decide.
She shrugs her shoulders in a way that lets me know she's nonverbally telling me to suit myself.
I'll show her.
But I don't. She beats me by nearly six hundred points. Why? Because I got distracted. Charlie can really move. I mean, no one can top Michael, but she most definitely nearly did the dance perfectly.
She smiles at me, this smug look on her face and I suddenly want to show her what I can do.
Because I can move too. And dang well if I do say so myself.
"You got lucky," I say. "Let's play again."
"Sure I did," she mumbles under her breath before picking a different song. Billie Jean. Yes! I can do that one with my eyes closed.
And apparently so can Charlie. It's close one, but I win this time. Not by a lot, but I still win. It's my turn to give her a smug smile.
She narrows her eyes at me.
Whoa. That's a different look.
I like it.
"Let's play again," she suggests. There's a bit of an edge to her voice and I can't believe I never noticed how competitive she is.
"Nope, it's time to eat."
Both me and Charlie turn around. Apparently Momma snuck up on us.
"Just one more momz, please." Charlie begs.
That's not gonna work.
"No."
And I was right.
"But it's the tie breaker. Please, please, please, please," Charlie begs some more.
"Fine. One more. That's it." Momma relents and I grin like an idiot. She must really like Charlie.
"Let's play Speed Demon." Charlie suggests.
"Ugh, I hate that one. Let's play smooth criminal."
"Nah, let's play"-
"How about this." Momma takes my controller away and selects the random option before leaving us alone. Neither one of us gets to choose the song. I guess that's a good idea.
In the Closet. That's the song "random" chose and I frown. "I've never played this one before."
"Really? You be the girl then. I'll be Michael. He's harder." She commands, trying to make this fair.
This time I agree. I have no idea how this one is gonna go. I'm gonna need all the help I can get.
Once the song comes on, I see a girl and Michael. I focus on the girl. Her moves start off fairly easy, and somewhat…sensual. But it's the same move, over and over again for a good little while. Pretty soon I'm getting perfects. Then the music changes a little, announcing the end of the intro. Michael starts singing, but I ignore the lyrics. I'm focused on the girl. Copying her moves. Again, they're sensual, but very repetitive and easy to do. It's not long before I memorize her part. And once I've got it down, I'm able to pay attention to other things, like Michael's moves…and Charlie doing Michael's moves…and the lyrics…
Suddenly, I feel it. The stretching.
No, no, no. Not now!
My face turns red and I double over trying to hide the sudden bulge in my jeans.
"Vega? Are you okay?" Charlie asks and as much as I love her voice I wish she'd shut up. My….thing, does this little jump/throb thing at the sound of her voice.
Dang it, I've got it bad! Could I be any more pathetic?
"I don't feel so well." I manage to squeak out before running upstairs and into the bathroom. Once the door is shut and locked I relax.
It'll go down now. It always goes down when I distance myself from Charlie.
A few seconds roll by.
It doesn't go down.
Those few seconds turn into a minute.
It still doesn't go down.
When that minute stretches into minutes, as in plural, I start to panic. Why won't it go down!? Oh my God, what if it never goes down?
"Momma!" I scream.
"Stop screaming at me!" She screams back.
I ignore her and unlock the door. "MOMMA!"
Seconds later she charges into the bathroom.
"What did I just…" then she sees my problem and her eyes go round.
"SHIT, Vega!"
"I know!" I yell back.
{~~~O~~~}
Author's note: So, for those of you who actually want to see the "In the Closet" dance you can actually youtube it. Just type in "In the Closet Michael Jackson the experience ps3" and it'll pop up;)