A blank Slate

Introductions are Everything

"So do you always walk home?" I glanced up at my blonde companion with an eyebrow raised. "Right. You have some code of silence or something." The comment caught me so off guard that I laughed. I actually laughed. I bowed over clutching my sides as the sound bubbled from my chest, smiling until my cheeks were sore. "You know it wasn't that funny." She put her hands on her hips and frowned down at me.

"Sorry." I whispered. Her mouth dropped open and she pointed at me.

"You talked! You talked to me!" I raised an eyebrow and shrugged making her howl in frustration. "You can't just... Oh you." She glared as I shrugged again and continued walking. Throwing her hands up, she chuckled and followed beside me again. "Anyway, I have a car. I could give you a ride home if you want." She offered.

I debated for a while, my hands deep in my pockets. She frowned and I sighed, standing up a little straighter. She told me a few days earlier that I shouldn't slouch. I wanted to point out that I always had perfect posture in school, but I didn't say anything. After a few moments of deliberating, I nodded to her offer and she squealed, dragging me behind her by my wrist.

We weaved our way through the parking lot until we came to a white bug. She opened my door for me before hopping in the driver’s seat. I was still taking in the sight of the car. I hated bugs. They were little deathtraps as far as I was concerned.

I slid into the passenger seat and buckled myself in. I could almost hear my mom in my head "safety first." That reminded me of what she'd told me last time we talked. She was staying close to the shop for the next few weeks. She couldn't make the trip back. I wasn't surprised, it happened often. I realized Carrie was looking at me intently.

"You're gonna need to tell me how to get there." I internally groaned. I knew this was a trick. She was just trying to get me to talk.

After twenty minutes of incessant blonde babbling and my occasional lefts and rights, we reached my apartment complex. I looked up at the rickety wooden stairs leading up to the second floor where I lived. A hand stopped me before I could get out. "You live here?"

I avoided her gaze for a minute before looking at her. She flinched a bit from my red eyes. It was almost as if she constantly forgot what color they were. Her eyes held so many emotions that I didn't want to see in that moment. Wonder, curiosity, pity.

My guess was right. She was a sheltered girl after all. I assumed she'd never wanted for anything and had probably never seen a neighborhood like this. It wasn't green grass everywhere you went. I shrugged, opening the door. Her hand slipped from its grip on me. As if to cover for her lack of tact, she smiled cheekily. "Aren't you going to invite me in?" She winked and a blush flared up on my cheeks making me scramble out of my seat. I could hear her giggling as I closed the door.

The flooring creaked underfoot as I pulled out my keys, jangling them in the lock until it popped open with a click. "Welcome home." I whispered to myself.

Carrie waited until I was out of view before pulling back onto the road and making her way home. Her hands drummed on the steering wheel to the beat of escape the fate. She would never tell her friends that she listened to stuff like that, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. The three girls she spent time with were triplets. Bell was the oldest and, honestly, the worst of them; but she was loyal and definitely there when she was needed. She just had a funny way of showing it.

Her thoughts kept drifting back to the past hour. The neighborhood was nothing like she expected. It was relatively run down. Lots of boarded up houses foreclosing and the like. She sighed. She had a bet to win, but it was beginning to bother her a bit.

Just as the thought was crossing her mind, her phone rang. She shut off the music and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Care!" Bell squealed. Carrie inwardly sighed.

"Hey Bell. What's up?" She tried to keep her voice cheery, but she truly was not in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.

"So I saw Silent get in the car with you..."

"Yeah. So?" She just wanted Bell to get to the point.

"You any closer to getting the girl?" Carrie's anger flared up a bit.

"Of course! She even talked to me. I told you I can get anyone I want. Just you wait." Her grip on the steering wheel tightened.

“Oh trust me, I am waiting. Okay out little gremlin is beside the point-” Carrie tried to bit her tongue, but it just wasn’t working.

“She has a name, Bell, and you would do well to remember that!” there was a sharp intake of breath on the other end and then a fit of laughter.

“Oh my gosh Care! Don’t tell me you’re actually growing attached to her.”

“No, but still. You know I don’t like it when you talk about people like that.”

“Okay, fine. Just watch yourself. I don’t want you ruining our little game.” The line clicked off and Carrie sighed again, rubbing at her temple. There was a little voice in her head saying that she was losing.