Ephemeral: An Apocalyptic Novel

Chapter 5

Dulce

I opened my closet, pondering on what to wear. Reya was already dressed with hair perfected and was putting her makeup on.

She was wearing a golden romper with heels and had her curly hair down. She looked like a goddess, if I may say so.

I slopped my hair back and sat down to paint my face.

Reya had a natural brown smoky eye, winged liner, dewy skin and a shiny pink lip stain.

I had a sheer shimmery wash of brown on my lids, thick coats of mascara, contoured cheekbones, and good ol' Carmex on my lips.

When it was about 6:40 PM, we all filed downstairs. I gave Acid the emergency cell phone in case something were to happen.

I pressed the phone in her hand. "Only use it for emergencies, okay? Call me first before calling anyone else."

Acid nodded. "So this girl Paola...would she happen to have a sister named Laylah?"

"Um...I don't know."

Reya walked over. "Yep, Paola has a little sister. She's sort of quiet."

Acid pouted her lips. "Well, she's my friend and she's anything but quiet! She owes me a game of Monopoly, y'know!"

"Make sure to play with no mercy." Reya clapped her hands together. "Alright, everyone good?"

"Yup!" Acid yelled, already in a flaming fighting spirit.

Isaac was waiting outside on my bike. He was wearing a blue shirt, leather jacket and jeans.

We began our ride over to Elijah's with (of course) Reya leading us.

The sky was at a deep sunset and the weather was mild now, with a chilly breeze every now and then.

Isaac turned his neck towards me a little. "You look nice."

"Thanks. You don't look too shabby yourself."

He chortled. I took a deep breath of the howling wind. I couldn't help but think about if this counted as a romantic gesture or if I was just being cocky.

"So how's Brooke?" I asked, recalling that he was already taken.

"She's fine. I haven't seen her in the flesh for weeks, though!"

"How far does she live from the school?"

"Eh, roughly an hour or two."

"You guys can't hang out?"

"Her parents didn't leave and they won't let her drive down here with all this stuff happening."

"Sucks."

"Yeah."

"At least you guys text and Facetime and such."

"Yeah, thanks for technology! We haven't Facetimed in a while though...most of our conversations are through text."

"You're at least communicating."

He laughed. "Yeah!"

Elijah

At 6:30, at least 10 people were filing inside the house. Junho and Derek were in charge of music and Mindie was still getting ready (as always). I already paid Paola and some kids were already over there.

By 7, the house was packed, music was blasting, people were dancing and flirting, the TV was playing new episodes of shows and the party animals were coming in with alcohol.