Between the Distance

e l e v e n:

Loudspeaker by Muna is blasting through Sasha's radio in her bedroom on an unusual gloomy Thursday afternoon. An unusually gloomy day for southern California nonetheless. Not only does Sasha still use DVDs, she's also quite fond of radios as well. My grandmother and she get along quite well in that department when she visits. I'm lying on Sasha's bed with a poetry book open propped up on my legs whilst her cat, Pepper is lying on my chest. He glides up and down with my breathing. Sasha is on the other side of the room trying on clothes for the gallery later on tonight.

Sasha's bedroom is far more spacious and brighter than mine. And it's an actual bedroom at that, not a living room/bedroom. The walls are painted a peachy yellow color that accents the beige colored carpet. It's apparent by the piles of clothing, books, and make-up she has scattered all over her bedroom floor that she's never heard of minimalism or gives no regard to try it out.

Off to the right of her room is a large window and by it is a large bureau with white paint that's partially been chipped away. On top is her radio, some tubes of dark fuchsia lipstick, a withering plant that doesn't look like it's been watered in weeks, a mismatched two piece bathing suit and some old seventeen magazines. Straight across from her bed is her closet. It's not a walk in closet, but it is built into the room and far bigger than mine.

Sasha stands in front of her closet door mirror bobbing her head and swaying her hips to the music, humming along to the lyrics, though she stumbles over some of the words. But she doesn't care.

'So if I feel real good tonight I'm gonna put it high on the loudspeaker...'

Sasha twirls in front of the mirror, the eggplant and gold colored knee length dress she's wearing follows her body's motions and sways softly with her movements. The dress washes over like a sea of purple and gold foam swallowing her up elegantly. The dress fits her so perfectly and it's almost as if it was made exactly for her.

'And if I feel like crying, I won't hide it, I am a loud speaker...'

"What do you think of this one?" Sasha yells over the radio. She's still dancing to the music and she's bouncing on her tippy toes, so vibrant and full of energy. She couldn't manage to stay still even if her life depended on it. She turns around to face me and the dress finally falls flat just above her knees even though she's still dancing.

I peer my head up a little looking over Pepper and the poetry book. "It's nice I guess." And I return to my reading.

"C'mon you're going to have to be more help than that." She snaps her fingers and startles Pepper. Pepper bounces off of my chest and out of the room. When I'm still reading my poetry book she throws a black turtleneck sweater at me, finally grabbing my attention.

"Sorry, this poetry is really deep. Like I think I need to rethink some of my life choices kind of deep."

"Mhm, yeah that's great. But what about my dress?"

"Who'da thunk'd purple and gold go together so well."

"But is that a good thing?" She says eyeing me suspiciously.

"Fantastic thing." I say mooning a large smile back at her.

"Yay!" She claps and bounces up and down cheerfully. "Where'd I ever be without you?"

The truth is Sasha looked amazing in anything she wore. Her milk and honey porcelain skin accented by her deep chocolatey brown hair and piercing grey eyes, perfectly complimented every color of the rainbow. I'm quite sure she'd look stunning in the colors that the human eye couldn't even perceive. To this day, there wasn't an article of clothing that Sasha worse, that hadn't looked amazing on her thin frame. Everything about her was modelesque, from her petite frame, to her perfectly angled jawline to her pearly white teeth that were perfectly straightened without the help of braces. She's what I always imagined angels and fairies must have looked like if either of them existed. I sure hope the latter did, because I'm quite sure Sasha was one.