i woke up to the sound of the vacuum humming and artemis stepping on my feet with her sock paws. i softly curse as i sit up and pet artemis' head, she purrs, her bell around her neck ringing quietly.
artemis follows me into the kitchen, where dad is making omelettes with cheese and green peppers and oregano. nadia is sitting at the kitchen table with a coloring book and her sixty four pack of crayons she bought with her allowance.
"good morning my angel," my dad hums as i pour cat food into artemis' bowl. before i could properly respond, leslie starts chirping like mad. she's even louder than the vacuum.
"i'll feed her!" nadia exclaims as she runs from the table to feed leslie.
"good morning baby," my mom coos as she comes in the kitchen. her hair is wrapped up and she's wearing her purple silk robe. dad smiles at mom lovingly and im almost suffocated by their affection.
"morning," i hum as dad sets my omelette on a plate and gives it to me.
"joanna called," momma says. "she wants you to sleep over tonight."
"oh right, it's thursday." i sit at the table and begin to eat my omelette. momma pours me a glass of apple juice. every thursday joanna and i planned to have a sleep over, since her mom works late nights and her brother alexander goes out to swap spit with girls and lose himself in the pink flesh of their softer parts. joanna says he's just lost.
i finish my breakfast and leave the kitchen as momma washes the dishes and dad gets ready to go to work. nadia is in the living room coloring pictures with artemis comfortably nestled on the coffee table.
i throw on my pink floyd tshirt and my worn boyfriend jeans that have seen better days. i put my hair in two knots on my head and grab my circular sunglasses. i feel good.
i called joanna and told her to meet me at donnie's donuts. i grabbed a twenty from my piggy banks and stuff my pyjamas into a hobo bag. nadia came in my room then and handed me a picture she colored. it was a cat playing in a fish bowl.
"this is cute, dia. i'll stick it up on my wall," i smiled and sat the picture on my nightstand. "i'm leaving for the night, i'll be back tomorrow."
"when you come back can we go to herman's and pick out a fish? momma says we can get one," she looked up at me with her puppy dog eyes.
"totally squirt," i smiled and walked downstairs. my momma was on he couch painting her nails cherry red and watching one of her many soap operas.
"bye momma, i'll be back tomorrow," i said.
"bye baby. have fun. tell joanna i says hi," she blew me a kiss with her dry hand and i walked out the door.
i made my way to donnie's. along the way, there was a group of boys skateboarding and horsing around. they tried to make catcalls towards me, but i ignored it. they're all too cocky for my taste.
at donnie's, joanna and i scared down two donuts. after that, we just walked around the little shops on the strip. there's a nail salon, a bar, a restaurant, a music shop, and a grocery store. they're all small.
"hey you wanna do something fun tonight?" joanna's eyes gleaned in the way they did whenever she wanted to do something sneaky. i usually didn't follow her along if it involved anything stupid.
"hm, like what, jo?" i curiously asked. joanna played with a strand of her hair.
"there's this little party going on tonight. i told george i'd come- with a friend."
"george?" i huffed in disbelief. george is such a joke. he doesn't take anything seriously. his parties usually end with the cops being called anyways. "out of all people."
"he said it's just a small party," joanna defended. "cmon, it'll be fun."
i thought about it. i mean, if anything bad happens, joanna will have my back and we can leave in peace.
"i'll go," i said. "but, if something happens, we're leaving. no hesitation."
"yes of course," joanna smiled at me.
back at joanna's house, we found her brother alexander passed out on the couch with a cigarette hanging from his fingers. thank goodness it wasn't lit. joanna draped a blanket over him and we went to her room to get ready for george's party.
joanna made me try on her black shirt dress. it fit pretty nicely. she tied a red and black flannel around my waist. joanna put on a a white tennis skirt with black lines with the matching shirt. she put on a white visor.
joanna told alexander we were going to one of the live concerts down at the park, he said he was staying home because he's tired - which is his way of saying he's hungover.
we arrived at george's party and i found there were too many people for comfort. joanna went off and started dancing with a pink haired girl who looked like one of those galactic angels i've read about in my space fantasy books. the girl touched joanna and i could see there was something tender between them.
i stood near a corner and tried to imagine myself somewhere else, but a boy with brown hair that was in a curtain style asked me to dance with him.
i danced with the boy and found his brown eyes to be so intriguing. after three songs he leaned in to kiss me, his mouth tasted like vanilla and youth and i couldn't help but kiss him over and over.
the kissing felt like it'd never end until the boy asked me to come outside with him. i was scared to, but his tone and demeanor made me feel like liquid honey and i was drizzling across hotcakes.
i told joanna and i was going outside. she had been locking lips with the pink haired girl. she seemed so dazed like she was in a sweet fantasy. she told me to be careful and that she loved me.
outside, the boy held my hand and told me his name was ben and he was in a band. he also told me i was beautiful and that he felt like i was weirded out by him. i wasn't.
by three am, ben and i spent most of the night out under a tree while he kissed me and touched my chest and made my lungs feel like they were swollen with pollen. he slipped his number in my hand and told me to call him. he left with his two friends in their car and he blew a kiss to me out the window.
i went back inside to find joanna, my head felt light like a balloon and i thought it was too high in the clouds. my heart was thumping with joy and i felt like i was walking on daisies and butterfly kisses.
joanna was half asleep on a couch, the pink haired girl curled next to her. i smiled in awe and almost felt guilt waking joanna up. she drowsily kissed the girl's sleeping hand and grabbed mine, leaving with me.
we walked back to her house, feeling so good and so happy. joanna said she never kissed a girl before, but it felt right with the pink haired girl- tanis. i asked her about pierre, but she said he's halfway around the he globe and probably makes love to pretty models under the wretched candle light and he probably touches them and tells them he loves them.
she asked me about ben and i said he was nice and he was my first kiss and i felt crazy for feeling this way towards someone i met less than a few hours ago. joanna said that everything is crazy but destined to be.
that night at her house we fell asleep in her bed with love fairies dancing in our heads and our hearts beating so fast our chests could burst. i couldn't stop replaying ben calling me beautiful. this is strange.
*
