Chapter 3: Zig
"Ugh. Sorry we're a little late guys. Water main break in the town square and traffic is beyond insane." Danielle says, stepping out of her car. "Not to worry Danni. All that truly matters is that you have snacks at home." Gigi says, getting up from the stoop and stretching. "Have we just met? There are always snacks in my house. The fact that I'm not 700 pounds is beyond me." She says, swirling the lanyard that held her keys around her wrist. "And all those years of refusing to be active never quite caught up to us. Suck on that society." Gigi says, flipping off the sky and trying to contain her bubbly laughter. "Are we getting back into our non conformist feminist ways?" Danielle asks, her arms crossed and eyebrows raised. "And what's wrong with that. I'm not the anti town girl, I'm not Daria. I socialize plenty." "Watching netflix in your room doesn't count." Danielle says shaking her head. The two pause for a minute. "Oh my god you're here. I'm here. We're here, right now, together." Danielle says initiating a tight hug between the two. I still sit on the porch and watch the scene play out. "Oh god I'm spacing today. Danielle this is Zigmund Novak." Gigi says, gesturing my way as if auctioning me off. "Nice to meet you." I say nervously, extending my hand. "You too. And this is Jared Cooney, my boyfriend." "Hey how's it going," he says, waving his hand in my direction and nodding. "Not too bad." I say smirking. "And we've met before. Nice to see you again Jared." "You too." He says, smiling wider. "Alright. Now that we're all acquainted, lets head to my place for food. And yes, there will be cake." Danielle says, slipping into the front seat and starting up the engine as we make our way to the back and positioning ourselves, my foot tapping with nervousness.
"You okay?" The familiar voice of the burnette beside me asks. "Yeah. Just a little jumpy I guess." "No need to be. These two are the most relaxed people I know. No pressure." She says, grabbing hold of my hand and caressing it gingerly with her freshly painted fingers. "Thank you." I say back, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Stop whispering sweet nothings you two. This car can't handle that yet. This babies new." She says looking at us from her mirror and tapping the steering wheel as we enter her garage. "But we weren't-" "Thats just her off-putting humor. You'll get used to it in... I don't know, four years." Jared says, taking her hand in his, looking back to the two of us. "Five if you're a tad dim witted." She jokes, squeezing his hand tighter.
Danielle pulls out a key and the door beeps twice as we enter, taking in the aroma of some odd dish I can't describe. "Oh god. If your mom is back on the curry tofu kick we're outta here." Gigi says, inspecting the oven. "DON'T TOUCH THAT." Shouts a heavier man as he walks into the kitchen. "Will do Joe... what are we cooking today?" Gigi asks, looking at the ingredients sprawled out on the counter. "My famous homemade nachos of course. But they mustn't be seen, or the true secrets will be out and they will no longer be famous." "Infamous really." Danielle says, taking a seat at the island and flipping through a magazine. "You're damn right. Entered these in the Marshfield fair and got a booth for em. They had to make people sign waivers before eating them, thats how dangerous they are." Joe says, checking on them briefly and walking out of the kitchen. "Well that was-" "Just a touch of the local color in this town. You should meet Fake Grandma, she'll push her Christian views down your throat every Christmas and Easter." Danielle says, popping chips into her mouth and continuing to scan the magazine. At this point I'm the only one still standing as a women walks in. "Hey Mom. Look I'm socializing." Danielle says, still not looking from her magazine. "Taking a quiz on 'who's hotter: Justin Beiber or Justin Timberlake' is not socializing." Her Mom says, walking to the fridge and pouring a glass of juice. "Okay fine, we'll go down the the basement in a minute. Geeg, can you grab drinks?" She asks, pointing to the garage. "We've got everything. What do you guys want?" Danielle asks, getting up from the stool and walking to our side of the marble island. "I'll take a sprite, what about you Zigmund?" Jared asks, looking my way. "It's Zig actually, and I'll take coke if you have it." "KK. Geeg, you know what I want already. Grab three of each and meet us downstairs." "Sure thing."
Armed with snacks of all kinds we venture downstairs and place everything on the black coffee table in front of the flat screen. "Okay. I set up a system and I'm hoping it works. You have your drinks up front with easy access. Behind them are your chips. You've got your lays, doritos, veggie straws, pirates booty etc. Then you've got your pizza: everything pizza, cheese, and a bacon and mushroom. Then there's Joes' nachos. If you die from the spiciness of the food its not our fault. I made you both sign the waivers. Then you've got your ice cream and frozen treats: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, peanut butter, raspberry sorbet and popsicles." Danielle says, finally taking a seat next to Jared, and snuggling next to him. "Geeg can you pop in our first selection?" "Sure." She says, walking over to the DVD player and sliding in a disk and pushing a few buttons before the menu comes. "Juno. Uh you really do know the way to my heart Danni." "Well I thought, Canadian movie for our Canadian guest. Plus we can quote this thing to the credits. I deemed it appropriate." Danielle says shrugging and sinking into the couch. "I've never seen this movie." I say, confusion spreading over my face. Danielle begins to choke on her drink. "My god. Gigi how could you. This man must be uncultured." "Or just normal." "Both are a disgrace. Not shut up the movies starting." She says, waking Gee's arm playfully and resuming her position in the crook of Jared's arm. I ambitiously put my arm around Gee and she doesn't reject it. In fact, she welcomes it with a warm and hopefully genuine smile as we all begin eating and watching.
I look over to the screen, where a teenager walks down the street chugging Sunny D and argues with the clerk at the drugstore. Gee shifts next to me. "Hey uh, is this okay?" I ask, talking about my arm around her waist. "Yeah. Totally fine." She says, resting her head against my shoulder and taking long calming breaths. And for the first time since I'd been with her, all was calm and we were completely in sync.
I promise this Author's note will be shorter.
This isn't my best chapter but I wanted something out quickly. It has its moments but its not quite up to par. But I assure you, there will be many more chapters to come that will (hopefully) be suspenseful. This is the calm before the storm guys. Have a great day and get excited because Degrassi comes back in 10 days!
Please read and review! It lets me know what you guys do and don't want and each one makes me really excited. And P.S. thank you to the people who reviewed my last chapter. My loyal fan HopelesslyFictional and the guest reviewer, Jessica. It means so much that you not only gave feedback,. but also that you're enjoying what you're reading. That means so much to a new author like me.
Love,
Squeegee G