Saturday December 26th, 2009
Christmas Day for Joey was spent helping poor Darren nurse his severe hangover. Go to the store and get ginger ale, open the windows, clean out the vile bucket that was next to his bed every hour or so, refill the glass of ginger ale, prep a simple snack for him, close the goddamned windows, and just give me all the fucking painkillers in the cabinet were only a few of his steps from the repetitive cycle he had gone through that day.
Now that he was free today and showered with an abundance of "thank you's" from a fully sobered Darren, he could finally go meet up with Kaylee for lunch and hang out. He hadn't forgotten about how he had promised the one-on-one time with her since the whole crowd seemed to overwhelming for her. "Are you sure that you'll be okay?" Joey asked for the millionth time as he tied the laces of his shoes. Darren could finally stand on his own without collapsing in a vomiting heap on the floor and rolled his eyes at his friend as he waited for him to leave to lock the door behind him.
"I'll be fine, Joey. Get your ass outside, I can tell you're going even more insane with every minute you spend in this house." He gave the taller man an oddly comforting smile and opened the door for him with a flourish.
"Okay, I'll be back later." They bid each other a goodbye before the door shut between them and Joey plugged his earphones in with blink182 on full blast. The university wasn't that far from their apartment, he'd be there within a half hour or so. His breath was the only thing keeping his face from freezing and already had frostbitten fingers, even though they were burrowed deep in coat pockets. He shivered and shrunk into his coat. He still wasn't that sure of what they were going to do.
He passed the gas station to see a familiar black and white car parked in a space in front of the 24 hour 7 Eleven. Abandoning his planned route, he turned to the glass doors and held it open for an elderly woman about to light a cigarette as she exited before letting himself in. Peering over the aisles, he saw the top of a white and caramel colored trapper hat before the slushie machine. He passed the two aisles of candy and chips and turned the corner to see Kaylee, filling up a cup that can possibly be enough to last her the entire day, with the Cherry Coke slush.
"Only you'd get a slushie in the winter, huh?" He smirked and pulled out his earphones. She whipped her head in his direction and gave a half-hearted smile and a wave. "Why the long face?" He reached over her to get the longest straw and the appropriate sized cover for her cup.
"Mother Nature is the biggest whore on the face of the Earth. Oh, thanks." She said with monotone and snapped the cover back into place. "You can grab your own straw if you want."
Joey shrugged and took his own straw just in case and followed her down the next aisle that he passed. She stopped and gazed at the wall of candy with glassy brown eyes. "Yes, fantastic…" She insinuated under her breath with an almost evil grin as she pulled out two packs of sour gummy worms and a pack of Red Vines.
"You like Red Vines?" He asked as he eyed the raspberry licorice.
"They're fucking great." She lightened up a little and stood in line with him at her side. "Why are you only wearing a peacoat? It's freezing." She gently tugged at the sleeve of his coat and he only shrugged.
"It's not all that bad, I can kind of handle the cold." He explained while the cashier scanned the barcodes of all the purchased candy. Kaylee handed a faded $10 bill and waited for her change. "So is there anything you want to do or…?"
"I'll make lunch; do burgers sound okay?" She shoved the candy and change in the pocket of her parka and took a sip from the frozen drink.
"Sure," Joey smiled and held the door open for her. Kaylee gave a "thank you" and placed the cup on the hood of the car as she fumbled with her keys. Joey stood on the passenger side of the car and opened the door when she unlocked it for him.
"Heat?" She cast a knowing look to him when she asked and he nodded. Shifting the gear from park to reverse, she slowly backed out and was about to turn to drive when Joey got out of the car. "What the hell are you doing? Get in the-" He walked over to her side and returned with the forgotten slushie left on the top of the car. "Oh, thanks." She mumbled sheepishly and fit the drink in the cup holder.
Before turning onto the street she put her iPod on shuffle and set it down. They both sat at a red light and listened to the opening guitar notes of an Aerosmith song. "You want a Red Vine?" She opened the pack in her pocket and pulled out two twists.
"Thanks," He flashed a crooked smile and accepted the licorice, nomming into it the same time as she. Joey noticed as she double checked each side of the intersecting street before stepping on the gas again that she had been mouthing the words to the song. On the parts where Steven screeched "dream on" like a pterodactyl she scrunched her face and mimicked him in complete silence. Joey couldn't help but chuckle at her impersonation and won himself a glare. "What?"
"Nothing you're just adorable." He let that slip out and mentally beat the shit out of himself for it. A sudden "HA!" from her surprised him and made him flinch in his seat.
"Far from it," She added and turned into the dormitories of the college and peeked around for her designated spot.
Remembering that it was probably PMS that was putting her in a shitty mood, he chose not to object in case if she decided to break all of his fingers. She yanked the key from the ignition and grabbed her drink when the car was parked to head over to her building. Joey followed, unsure of how to find his way around the dorms. Feeling in his fingers were regained when they stepped into the bottom floor and ascended up two flights of stairs.
"So what are these places like? I've never actually been in here." He asked when they stopped at her door.
"They suck. Roommates suck. People suck. It's just… no." She unlocked the deadbolt and pushed the door open. "Oops, I think I spoke too soon."
A short, Hispanic girl lay sprawled over a bed, throwing darts onto a board on one side of the room that wasn't assumed to be Kaylee's. "I'm sure I'm not that bad," she mumbled with a heavy accent and took the antique pipe out of her mouth. The room stenched of smoke and tobacco and made Kaylee wrinkle her nose.
"You only are when you smoke when you know we can't open the windows…" The ginger rolled her eyes and set her slushie on her dresser before she hung up her hat on a hook behind the door. Joey waited at the door awkwardly before being ushered in by Kaylee.
"Who's this?" She looked over her navy blue glasses, checking out the newcomer from head to toe. The suggestive tone put in her voice made him raise an eyebrow in wariness.
"My friend. Joey, this is Ana. Ana, Joey." Joey waved with a polite smile and observed his surroundings. Ana's side had infinite pictures of friends and letters taped along the wall that her bed was against. Kaylee's side had the top bunk with two desks below. Instead of pictures, her artwork was taped along the narrow strip of wall she had before it reached the ceiling.
"So what is Joey here for?" Ana rested her head in her hands and watched as Kaylee hung up her parka on the same hook.
"Lunch." Kaylee poked through the mini fridge that was hidden away in the corner of the room. Ana returned to her darts, sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated on getting somewhere near the bull's-eye. "You can sit down, Joey. Make yourself at home."
He found his place at one of the desks in a swivel chair. The room seemed comfortable, despite the lingering smell of Ana's pipe. Kaylee pulled out a clear, rectangular container that held cooking utensils, one of them being a spatula that she needed, and a plugin skillet that was hid under her roommate's bed and stuck it into the socket next to their heater. In a medium sized plastic bowl was pre-seasoned raw meat, already rolled into neat patties, which was set next to the skillet. "I'll be right back," She said mainly to Joey and slithered out of the room with minimal sound.
"So," Ana spoke to Joey as she went to recollect the darts from the bristle board, "what school are you in? I don't see you around often."
"Music, Theatre & Dance. You?" He replied and began to trace circles with his finger over the desk surface.
"Art & Design for ceramics. You do theatre, right?"
Joey nodded and didn't have much else to say. Neither did she, so they sat in a comfortable silence, both being attentive to the darts as they pierced into different areas of the target. After two more rounds of throwing, Kaylee returned with bacon that she probably forgot in the car.
"Hey, you gonna eat all that?" Ana eyed the package in her hands.
"I don't know. If I don't finish you can take it." The ginger sat on the floor before the preheated skillet and started with placing three of the uncooked burgers in the skillet. She sat with the spatula in her hand and watched the pink meat begin to cook. "An, could you be a doll and get cheese out of the fridge for me since I'm making you lunch?"
"Mhmm," She finally decided to put out her pipe and rolled out of bed to take out three cheese slices and leave them next to the bacon.
"Thanks," Kaylee flipped all of the contents of the skillet to reveal their brown sides and began to lay out strips of bacon on the pan. Ana returns to sit cross-legged like Kaylee on her bed and busies herself on her phone. Joey keeps his gaze out the window at the snow covered trees and bushes, also the occasional pedestrian.
"Dammit, sorry darling, Dee just asked me to –"
"Go ahead, I'll wrap yours up and put it in the fridge."
The Latina stood and threw on her Uggs and Northface, throwing a "thank you" over her shoulder before she left. A click from the deadbolt made Kaylee release a sigh of relief.
"Sorry about that, I thought she already left." She began to rip the plastic packaging off each individual slice and set them over each burger.
"It's fine. She doesn't seem that bad, besides the pipe." He neglected the swivel chair and now made himself comfortable on the opposite side of the skillet.
"Really?" She flipped the burgers over at let the cheese melt for a few seconds before twisting the dial over the section that read "OFF" in red letters. "She didn't do anything?"
"No, why? Is she known to do so?" Joey stood back on his feet to fetch the buns and plastic plates that were right on top of the mini fridge. Kaylee smiled and mouthed a "thanks" when she was handed the items.
"When I moved in she spent the first week asking me for weed money." She untied the bag and reached for two rolls, then pried them apart and laid them in pairs on two plates, "And she tried to sell me bongs that she made with all of the excess clay from her ceramics classes. It wasn't until after my first month that she started acting less marijuana-crazed and we became some kind of acquaintances. Thankfully I persuaded her into only smoking tobacco when she's here with the windows opened. We take responsibilities for dinner each week. So basically, on the weekend one of us preps and then leaves it in the fridge."
"Well that's neat," He smiled and took the plate that was handed to him. "You know, besides the begging part, I guess."
"Yeah… You sure you want to keep your coat on? It's gonna be fucking freezing when we leave."
Joey had forgotten to take off his jacket and knew that she was right about the temperature when they would step outside. He took another look around the room and just noticed the Christmas gift he got her on display on one of the shelves beside the window. "Did you like your gift?" He asked, noticing the plush manipulator arm poking out from his angle.
"Did I like it? I absolutely LOVE my Dalek. He is gorgeous." She scrambled to her feet and pulled down the red and gray robot from the shelf. "I mean like, it talks, Joey. This is probably the best invention since the Han Solo ice cube trays!"
She squished one of the dots that were aligned vertically with her finger. His eyes widened and his eyebrows snapped together as the plushie squealed "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"
He took a bite and then set down the sandwich to actually take off his coat. He tucked it away in the corner and readjusted his UMich hoodie before continuing his lunch. "So do you want to do anything?" Kaylee questioned, setting the Dalek aside to eat.
Joey shrugged since his mouth was full at the moment. "Up to you." He said once he finished swallowing.
"Is bumming out and watching movies okay?" She asked. Joey nodded, remembering the snacks they had.
"Yeah, of course." He agreed. They ate in silence since they were both pretty hungry and he helped her clean up lunch. Once the skillet cooled off, Kaylee went down the hall to wash it along with the spatula and she told him to select the movie first since he was the guest. Before she returned he already tossed the plates in the trash and put the rest of the uncooked meat in the fridge.
"Did you choose one yet?" She returned with the pan and spatula and tucked them back in their places under Ana's bed.
"Oh, not yet, I was just putting some stuff away."
"You didn't have to you know," She tilted her head the side and sighed. Joey shrugged and leant against the windowsill. "Okay, now you choose the first movie, since you're the guest. I'll just get Netflix up first." Kaylee climbed up the ladder to her bunk and pulled down her laptop.
It took a few minutes for the movie library to load and they both sat against the side of the desk closest to the window. "Oh wait, I forgot the snacks." She stood and picked the pockets of her parka that hung from the door and drew out the two bags of sour gummy worms and the already opened pack of Red Vines before finding her place next to him again.
"Obsessed?" He suggests, pointing to the picture of Beyoncé, Ali Larter and Idris Elba with the title across the middle in black and white letters.
"Sure." She clicks on it and leans back against the desk to watch the movie.
"You go Beyoncé! Beat dat hoe!"
"Mmm stupid ass bitch needs to know when enough is enough." Joey agreed and followed along with the ghetto slang. The snacks were gone halfway through the film, so the next best substitute they had was to interject opinions and act like sassy motherfuckers.
They had ignored the fact that Beyoncé's character was named Sharon but addressed the other actors by their character's names. On the screen, Beyoncé was balancing on the beams that supported the ceiling, trying to maneuver around them to bash Lisa since she broke into her house and started creeping on their kid, too.
"No Beyoncé! What – no! Let the crazy bitch die!" Kaylee shouted at the laptop as Beyoncé offered a hand to help save Lisa when she broke through a weak part of the attic. Lisa took her hand, but instead yanked her down with her in an attempt to kill her. The ceiling finally began to collapse and Beyoncé pried her off just in time to watch that bitch fall. Lisa dangled from the chandelier for a few seconds until she slipped and fell to her death on a glass table below her.
Joey and Kaylee began to applaud for Beyoncé's ninja ass skills until Lisa's eyes flew open again. "How?!" He exclaimed, raising his arms in emphasis. "You don't just do that! Bitch, go die again!"
That time the chandelier finally fell onto her and actually killed her. "It's about time! She didn't even need da po-po for dat crazy ass mo'fo'. Beyoncé beat anyone's ass if they touch her man." Kaylee snapped her fingers in a Z-formation with a small hairflip.
"Mmmmmmmmmmhm." He nodded, and watched the credits begin to scroll. "Your turn, now."
She thought for a while before asking, "Can we watch your musical? The Harry Potter one?"
"Oh, sure." He said after blinking a few times and exited out of Netflix. When the Google Chrome browser opened, he searched for their channel on YouTube and sat back.
"You guys have like a million views!" Kaylee exclaimed, her eyes glowing as he set the video to full screen mode. A grin crept onto her face when the red and yellow title appeared. "You know what," She paused it before the title faded and crept up to her bunk, "I think I may pull out the emergency snacks for this occasion."
Joey tilted his head back to see her drop down a pack of Twizzlers and a bag of Hershey's Kisses. "Jesus, you come prepared for like the apocalypse." He joked with his crooked smile and didn't press play until she was back beside him.
"In case if you were never informed, menstruation is the apocalypse."
"Uh-huh."
"It's true."
"Whatever floats your boat, Kay."
She playfully punched him in the arm and they both finally decided to watch the musical that they've been neglecting for the past few minutes with even more lovely snacks.
