Rooftop

15.

 Last night, I didn't get home until around 5:00 in the morning, so once I did, I fell asleep until around noon, to a completely dreamless sleep, until I was woken up by my mother.

"I need to ask you a question, Columbia." I sit up to listen to what she has to say.

"Yeah? What is it?" She seems a little bit more serious than usual, but still seems to have her happy exterior. She sits down beside me and takes in a deep breath.

"Now, I'm sorry I haven't told you this yet, but I have started dating one of my co-workers, and while it hasn't been anything serious yet, he invited me and you over to his house to have a dinner with him and his kids. Now, don't worry, I can cancel and never see him again if it makes you uncomfortable, but it would really mean alot to me if you came along." She gives me a small smile, with pleading eyes. I can't believe that she feels like she needs to ask me for permission.

"Of course. Should I dress up for it, or is what I'm wearing fine?" She smiles, and leans in for a hug, which I reluctantly allow.

"I would really appreciate it if you dressed up. We'll leave at 3:55." I nod and she leaves the room. I search through my closet to find one of the only dresses I own, the dress I wore to Christmas dinner last year. It has some lace, is a tannish color (which I'm pretty sure was described as "nude" on the website), and has spaghetti straps. I lay it out on the bed, and find a pair of flats that have a very similar color to it. After that I take a shower, curl my hair, and do my makeup, despite that fact that I'm not great at much other than concealer, and mascara. By 3:30 I've slipped on the dress, and am ready to leave, so I wait downstairs, sipping on some water until my mom comes down, wearing her knee length black dress, and heels. We step outside the door, and start walking towards the house, which I'm assuming isn't that far away, because we aren't using the car. We keep on walking until we reach a pale green house, built practically right onto the beach, sand spilling into it. We knock on the door, and a nice man, who looks around my mom's age answers the door.

"Hi there, Janet," He says with a smile, before kissing my mom's cheek. "You must be Columbia. It's great to meet you." We shake hands, and walk inside, where there is a table set up for five people. My mom and I both sit down, and wait for his kids to come down. And then they do. And then I realize exactly who my mom is dating.

"Hi Columbia," Ren and Franny both say to me.
"Hi Ren. Hi Franny." I smile and they come and sit down next to me. Ren leans over to whisper something into my ear.

"So, one. Happy Birthday. And two, did you know that our parents were dating?"

"Nope. Did you?"

"Not until I came downstairs and saw you." He pauses for a second, then speaks again, "This is really weird."

"So weird." We then move away from each other, and I pour myself a glass of water.

"I'm assuming that you three know each other," His dad says. We nod, and smile, all feeling at least a little bit awkward.

"So Ren, do you have a girlfriend?" My mom asks, obviously trying to make polite conversation. I look down, cringing slightly, then take another sip of my water.

"Um, no Miss Canor, I'm gay," He tells her, obviously a little bit uncomfortable by the question, but my mom seems completely unfazed.

"Oh, so do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope. Still single." After that the awkwardness seems to magically go away, and we continue on with our suppers until I hear a tap on the window, which makes me jerk my head around. Ren seems to notice my sudden movement and turns around as well, to see Brad. I turn around and take another bite of my dessert, which I'm almost finished with, but then hear him tapping on the window again. I turn around and try to shoo him away. He shakes his head no. I jerk my head slightly, indicating that he needs to go and leave us alone, but he still doesn't move. So I charade a rooftop, and point to the top of it then hold up ten fingers to tell him that I'll be there in about ten minutes. He gives me a thumbs up, and then leaves. Ren and I both finish up our desserts, and ask to be excused, so that we can go on a walk. Our parents seem grateful for the alone time, because Franny also asks to leave so that she can go and hang out with Magenta. Ren and I walk to my house, and climb up to the rooftop, where Brad is waiting for us, with Bob Dylan playing in the background while he sips his drink.

"Oh good, you two are here, now we can start the movie marathon." We both sit down by him, and he starts the movie, which is Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'm only partially paying attention, and Ren hands me a small gift, in a cardboard box. I open it to see a small candle from Bath and Body Works. I smile and hug him, just grateful that he remembered. I smell the candle and immediately love it. It smells like The Bean, but better, with more coffee and less sweat from procrastinating college students. I set it back into the box, and put it next to me, then go back to watching the movie. I'm paying attention until it gets to the part where Janet cheats on Brad with Dr. Frank-n-Furter.

I've been looking into the window of my dad's office for just about the past half hour waiting for the lady he was talking to to come back out. And then, right as I'm about to leave, I see her again. She has the prettiest shiny blonde hair ever, but it's messed up now. Instead of laying down flat, it sticks up in multiple directions, and even though she is constantly combing through it with her fingers, it still doesn't stay or go back to where it was when she first got there. I hold Ebenezer, my teddy bear, up so that he can see it too. The lady gives my dad a kiss on the cheek, then grabs her jacket and leaves in her shiny black car.

Eventually the movie finishes, and Brad turns on Grease, which strikes up a memory in just the opening scene with Sandy and Danny on the beach.

I splash my feet hanging from the cool water below me, and smile. I have never been to a large body of water before, because I live in the middle of the driest place in the United States. I sit down for a while, and wait to when it becomes hotter, so that I feel more inclined to go into the water than I am currently, because it's really cold. I sit around and think for a little bit, but then feel someone grab me from my sides and toss me into the water, laughing while he does it. After I resurface, I splash my dad back, and then hold out my hand to them, showing that I need help up. But then once I grab a hold of his hand, I pull him in, laughing. And he laughs too.

We finish up the scene and then, eventually the movie. By now Brad is drunk, and Ren is bouncing off the walls, caffeine more plentiful in his veins than blood. Then we start playing Footloose, which seems to bring me back the most.

I run into my dad's office to see him packing a bunch of things into a cardboard box. Footloose is playing on the record machine in the background. I run over to see what he's putting into it. There are a bunch of paper weights, snowglobes, old books, and the journals he would write in constantly. He's humming along to the song, and doesn't seem to notice that I came in.

"Why are you putting everything into those boxes?"

"Well Columbia," He pauses for a second to think. "I'm just going on a really long vacation."

"Will you send us a postcard?"

"Probably not, but don't worry. I'll call you all the time."  

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Coffee or tea?

(P.S. these questions I ask at the end of the chapters are a thing now.)

~Fawn