Eighteen n.h.

Eighteen

When I was 18, I fell in love with a girl that smelled like cherries and drank smoothies when she was tired. She had a dream of dating the front man of a band and living in a big city. We would hang out at the juice bar downtown after school and she would tell me about her plans. She would graduate and go to community college to get her associates degree and then go off to Seattle and study art. I never got the nerve to tell her some people are artists but I think she is art.

When I was 15, turning 16 the next week, I was wandering around the town looking for a place to have my party. My aunt insisted on throwing me one. I passed the ice cream shop and stood outside the movie theatre and across from the bowling alley, trying to decide which lame party I would prefer. She ran straight into me, knocking me into the postage box behind me. She threw out apologies left and right, asking if I was hurt or needed ice or a doctor. I told her I was fine over and over again, trying to assure her that I am no where near in need of medical assistance. She smiled and I couldn’t breathe. My aunt showed up and asking if I had decided and invited the nameless girl to my 16th birthday party. My aunt asked for her number and said she would call her and inform her of the details. The next week, I was sitting in the bowling alley with my aunt and little brother, 15 minutes after the time on the invitations. I had told her to not throw me a party, nobody would show up. But the girl showed up. She was wearing shorts and socks that reached her knees. Her converse were dirty and her red jacket had the logo of my high school on the left side; a C with an angry looking bird on fire. She paid for her own and greeted me with a smile and a quick happy birthday.

“M’names Niall.”

“I know.” She smirked and tied her shoes. I sat beside her and scrunched up my nose.

“That’s not fair.” She laughed and sat with her foot on the chair so she isn’t leaning over anymore.

“Your aunt told me when she was giving me the details, also it’s on the wall.” She points at the Party City streamers my uncle hung up. In shining blue letters is, happy birthday Niall. I frown and she stands up. We had an unspoken competition as to who could get the most points and she brought out the metal thing that kids roll their balls on to get it to go straight. There was only one and she claimed it as her own so I wasn’t allowed to use it. She helped my brother with his since he was only 7 and decided he wanted to show off and use a 13 pound ball. I learned her name when we gave her a ride home. She hugged me goodbye and just said a simple, Lux. At the time I was confused but then it sunk it a few days later.

After that Christmas, the semester ended and classes were switched up. We ended up having English class together and she willingly sat next to me. We sat together for the rest of the year. I wrote and she doodled. I told her our assignments at the end of the period and we worked on them at the juice bar after school. She would draw me and I would write about her. That was our perfectly comfortable cycle. Nobody could change our cycle. I fell in love with her during our cycle. I loved the way she would bite her straw when she was doing homework and sipping on a smoothie. She would glance at me, taking notice of my staring, and she would smile.

“Don’t look at me, I’m doing math.”

“What does you doing math have to do with me looking at you?”

“Because I actually have to think during math.”

“You’re adorable when you’re thinking,” I said. She smiled once again, her pink straw between her teeth, and looked back at her paper. The best part about being friends with Lux is that she never pried into why I lived with my aunt and uncle, I don’t even think she ever asked.

Lux took up night classes so by the time we graduated, she 3/4 of the credits she needed to her her associates degree. She was determined to get out of here, taking Econ and Gov online our sophomore year. She didn’t care it was a senior level class, she wanted out and she was tackling the hardest classes first.