I'm Comin' Home To You

Chapter Two

When school was over, I wandered over to the new student's lockers. The lockers were in alphabetical order but all new students got put in the same section. I found Lucille easily. She was standing in front of one of the red lockers (The lockers alternated red and silver – school colors.), struggling with her back and books. I rushed over.

“Knight in shining armor is here!” I laughed as I grabbed the books out of her arms and shoved them back into the locker.

“But my homework!” She protested.

I slammed the locker closed. “You can use my books. I already checked your schedule, remember, and we have all the same classes, just mostly at different times.” She smiled.

“Well, if it means I don't have to carry that crap home, all right.” She headed towards the doorway at the end of the hall.

“Where you goin'? Wyatt's got the car today so we get a ride home!” I grabbed her hand and led her down the tangle of hallways until we got to the side door that whoever had the car waited by. It lowered the distance we had to walk in the Oregon rain. When we got to the door, she dropped my hand and pushed it open. Wyatt sat in the driver seat of a 2011 Kia Sorento. Everyone else was already in the car, leaving Lucille and myself the farthest back seats. “C'm'on, we'll climb through the trunk. Hey Wyatt! Pop the back!” He did so and we climbed over the backpacks and books and jackets piled in the back, up over the seat, and settled into the seats. I grabbed Lucille's bag, a cute purple bag with green dog prints on it, and threw it over the back seat to join the orgy of bags already back there.

“Where to today?” I asked Wyatt as I pulled a cigarette out of my pack and a lighter out of my purse.

“I was thinking maybe we could head up to the campsite. I got some kick ass bud from Marcus today.” Wyatt's eyes glinted in the rear-view mirror and he raised his eyebrows in a comical way at Lucille.

“Hands off! I already called dibs!” I shouted up to the front, laughing. As he drove off school grounds, I lit up my cigarette.

§§§§§§

I lay next to Lucille in her bed. It was a full-size, more comfortable than the futon I had drug out of my ex's house in the middle of the night. I silently laughed at the memory.

“What?” Lucille looked up at me from her laptop where she was transcribing what she wrote in Creative Writing earlier.

I quickly told her about Alex and how I had stolen his futon mattress. She laughed with me. When I was finished regaling the story, I opened my purse and pulled out my pack of Marlboro's. “Is there somewhere I can smoke?”

“We can take a walk.” We stood up and pulled on shoes and jackets. When I heard the rain, I pulled my umbrella out of my bag.

“Shall we?” We linked arms and walked out of her house. Once out, I pulled the pack of cigarettes out of my bra where I had stuffed them. I lit up and inhaled deeply, sighing out smoke.

“Why do you smoke?” Lucille asked.

We turned the corner as the rain intensified. I opened the umbrella, dropping her arm. “Oh, I don't know. Thought it was cool a long time ago and now I am sort of hooked. I like the action of smoking. It is relaxing. Calming. Almost like when I meditate. Let's go over here.” She followed me behind the school and up to the bleachers, which happened to be covered. I closed the umbrella and sat down on the damp, metal seat. She followed suit. As we sat there, we listened to the rain. After a while, I lit a second cigarette.

“So, what Wyatt asked at lunch... Are you gay?” I inhaled and waited for her answer.

“I'm... Bi.”

“Me too.” I exhaled. “God, I am so tired.”

“Me too. I'm hungry too though.” We giggled together.

“C'm'on! I stamped out my cigarette and stood, reaching for her hand. I opened the umbrella again and we walked back to her house, where we grabbed a jar of cheese dip, some Cheetos, and some regular chips. When we got back into her room, we ate and fell into a deep, drug-induced sleep.