The Human Body

8

I woke up and Prince wasn't in bed with me. I rolled over to look at his alarm clock and it was 11 in the morning. This jet lag is killing me. I sat up and got out of bed to make myself some coffee and decided to sit on the couch and watch some TV. He'll be home soon, I hope. After watching TV for an hour I got bored and turned it off. I wanted to draw or paint something, but drawing would have to do. I decided to check the rooms in the house for anything to write and draw with, and lo and behold his office had a legal pad and a pen. Perfect.

I sat in his office chair and decided to start sketching him. If he couldn't be here, I might as well draw him here. I was working on his hair when I heard the front door open. "Felicity! I'm home!" I shot out of his chair and ran into the living room to see him holding a box of things. He shut the door with his heel and I walked over to take the box. "Where you been?" "Dad's funeral." My eyes got wide. "Already?" "Yeah, we kept it a family thing." He loosened the tie on his black suit. Yeah, he was at a funeral. My brain wasn't quite awake yet. I was looking in the box just out of curiosity and Prince came over to kiss my cheek. "I'm gonna go change. There's some stuff in there for you." He said. I cocked an eyebrow as he walked to the bathroom and I sat down on the floor with the box. I found a few things. Dried moss. I smelled it and it smelled like home. It brought me back. I found a small jar of water from Lake Ponchartrain. But this was stuff from New Orleans. Then that's when I saw an old map of Shreveport. So that's where his dad was from.

Prince walked in in a wife beater snd sweat pants which was a trip to see him in at first. He knelt down behind me as I was looking at this stuff. "I feel like we're in the Goonies." He said. I laughed a little and leaned back on him. "Prince...smell this." I gave him the dried moss and he smelled it. "Ew." "It's...it's home. Lake Charles had this. Not as much as Shreveport or New Orleans, but...it was there." He was rubbing my upper back. "Do we still got some left over cookies?" He asked. "No cookies for breakfast. Give me a second." I said to him. I was feeling the sea shells and it reminded me of Holly Beach. The only beach I had ever been to before Malibu. Malibu was much prettier, but...Holly Beach was the first beach I ever saw.

"You know...dad wanted his ashes spread in Claiborne County." I smiled. "It's Parish, baby. Louisiana is the only state that doesn't have counties." "You know what I mean. Anyway...I was wondering if you'd like to tag along with me." He nuzzled his nose against my ear. "I'll have to tell Johnny. He's gonna try to get Vanessa a visa so she can stay with us for a little bit." "That's okay. I plan on leaving tonight. We gotta be careful with his ashes." "Okay. I'd love to come along." He smiled and stood up. I saw the urn with the ashes and stood up with it to put it on the coffee table for now.

I made Prince breakfast and decided to call Johnny while Prince was eating. He answered pretty quick. "Hello?" "Johnny, I'm going to Louisiana with Prince." he was quiet. I got really worried and even Prince could feel his hard silence. "Are you sure you wanna do that?" He asked. "Yeah, of course. Prince is gonna be with me. His dad was born there, but in Cla-" "Felicity, I don't know. What if you get really sad when you go?" I looked at Prince and smiled. "He'll be there. He knows what to do." I told him. Somehow, I could feel Johnny smiling through the phone. "Okay. Just be careful, okay? We should be in LA in a couple of weeks, so...have fun." I smiled. "I will. Thank you, Johnny. I love you and I'll bring you some absinthe." We said our goodbyes and hung up. I sat next to Prince and stroked his hair. By the look of his eyes, he had done some crying today.

"I'm sorry I didn't bring you with me...but that was easier. They...they think you're using me." "Um, well...as a model yeah? I mean, why wouldn't I?" He laughed and I kissed his cheek. "Are the like Johnny? Are the protective?" "No...they just...they're not fond of anything I do. Like my sister, I bought her a car years ago, and she sold it for drugs. My eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry, Prince." He ate some pancakes and I stood up to wash the dishes. We were going on a plane again, but on the same time zone. I was going home. I didn't know if it was a good thing or not, but it was happening. I felt worried, excited, nervous, overjoyed...what could possibly happen?