'Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out.'
| two |
I get a text from Bumper just as I'm pulling into the parking lot.
Waiting by the door, he's written and then added a thumbs up. He likes using emojis and funny little faces and he does as often as he can.
I drive past the parked cars, my eyes scanning the people, making sure none of them are stupid enough to step out into the road. I pull up by the door of the mall and Bumper climbs in, seeming very happy.
''Dude,'' I look at him, containing a laugh. ''What did you get?''
He lets a bag drop to the floor by his feet and shrugs, smiling. ''A necklace.''
I raise my eyebrow at him, knowing he can't be this happy by just buying a necklace but I leave it be. I wonder when he'll tell me, whatever it is.
Bumper starts talking about all the cool new shops there are in the mall as I drive back home, telling me I should go and look around soon. ''There's also this great ice-cream parlor type shop thing and they have cookie dough ice-cream and it looks amazing.''
I gasp and shoot a glare at him. ''And you didn't get me any?!'' I cry, turning back to the road. I see him lift his hands up in a peace making gesture. ''It would've melted!''
''I don't care, cookie dough is my favorite!''
''Dammit. Next time I'll get you some, I promise.''
''Good.'' I smirk, happy. Cookie dough is just the best thing ever. It melts and crumbles in your mouth, it's just so good.
''Tomorrow's Wednesday right?'' he asks, as I pull up to his house, seeing lights on all over the place. I nod, handing him his bag.
''Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow,'' he waves and jogs up to his house, after hiding the bag in a bush. I laugh to myself as I turn around and drive back to my house.
''Hey Mom, I'm home.'' I call, as I lock the front door, seeing as it's eight o'clock and we don't go out on school nights. I hear her reply from the living room and I drop my school bag at the door, since my homework's all done. I walk in and find her eating a pot of Chinese noodles on the sofa, watching a re-run of America's New Top Model. She likes that stuff.
''Where did you go?'' she looks up at me, muting the TV. I shrug, kicking off my shoes. ''I took Bumper to the mall, he needed to buy a present.''
''Homework done?''
I nod, picking my shoes up. ''And I put some washing in and hung some out. I cleaned up a bit and Bumper also sorted out the hot water, so I'm gonna go have a shower.''
''Well done Indie,'' Mom smiles at me and nods. ''I'll warm your noodles up when you're out. Let me know.''
''Okay,'' I go upstairs and notice the pile of clean clothes ready for ironing in the laundry room. I sigh, knowing that'll probably be a job for me. I pull my clean clothes off and I'm about to hang them up when I get a whiff of them. They smell like Billy's. Dammit. Bundling them up under my arm, I go to the bathroom and put them in the washing basket and have a nice, hot shower.
Glad to finally be having a shower, I stay under the running water for about five minutes, just standing there. Then I wash my hair, glad to get rid of the smell and slight grease. I don't wash my hair everyday so it does tend to get slightly greasy. Not that anyone would notice it though.
