Sunny stomped up the stairs to his apartment that he shared with his friend, Shiloh. Shiloh had been Sunny's best friend since the fourth grade. They used to get made fun of because they spent so much time together. They would say that Shiloh was his girlfriend and sing that song that kids sang when someone had a "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". The one about sitting in a tree. As Sunny grew older, he began to resent this song. He felt so much anger towards the kids that would tease Shiloh and embarrass her. As far as Sunny was concerned, Shiloh was his sister. And nobody messes with his sister.
Sunny closed the door after he entered his apartment.
"Shiloh, I'm home!"
"Hey!" Shiloh said as she casually walked into the living room. She walked to the fridge and grabbed a diet soda.
"So," Shiloh piped. "Did you see that girl at work? Lola?"
"Oh," Sunny said sheepishly. "Yeah, we talked a little bit about her family. Her mom is sick and she has to go see her this weekend, so she had to cancel on our date."
"Oh, Sunny," Shiloh said softly as she opened a small bag of chips. "She just doesn't want to date you. It's probably your hair. You should let me cut it!"
"Ha. No," Sunny refused as he stepped into the kitchen, leaving a few specs of mud on the linoleum tiles.
"Fine, your loss," Shiloh said nonchalantly. "But I'm still going to paint your toenails tonight!"
"How about tomorrow?"
"No, you said that yesterday. We're doing it tonight."
"But-"
"Don't fight it. It's gonna happen." Shiloh then grabbed her soda and chips and marched down the hall and back to her room, calling out, "Be ready for gorgeous toes in an hour."
About twenty minutes later, Sunny finished his fifth beer and propped his feet up on the wooden coffee table. He grabbed the remote and changed the channel from a soap opera to super model photo shoot.
Suddenly, Shiloh came jogging out of her room and into the living room. She stopped right in front of Sunny, blocking the TV.
"Hey, move," Sunny said, irritated.
"No."
"Come on, man" Sunny tried looking around her.
"We're going out tonight."
"Where?"
"The beach."
"Why would we go to the beach at night?" Sunny didn't like the idea of being at the beach in the dark.
"This guy posted about a party down at the beach by Rick's Bar and Grill."
"Well. I guess if the party is lame, we could just go to the bar." Sunny didn't hate the idea as much when he realized there would be booze.
"Let's get you dressed, young man. You're not gonna catch a girls eye wearing that."
Sunny looked down at what he was wearing. Shiloh was right. He was wearing thrift store slacks and a blue collared shirt with grease stains on it from work. His mouth even tasted unattractive.
"When is the party?" Sunny looked up, buzzed.
"In two hours."
"Wake me up it half an hour."
"Oh, no," Shiloh said as she grabbed Sunny by the wrists and pulled him to his feet.
"Man, I just got off work, I'm tired."
"Come on, you cook food for a living. You're not, like, building anything."
"Dude, you work at a floral shop. You literally hand out flowers all day. You can't try to tell me I have an easy job." Sunny walked to the bathroom, locked the door, and started stripping off his clothes.
After a cold shower, Sunny dried himself, feeling the buzz wearing off.
Sunny put on a worn yellow t-shirt and some baggy jeans. He then pulled on a large hoodie and was slipping on his shoes when he heard Shiloh knock on his door.
"Hey, Sunny, if we leave now we can grab some food before we go to the beach."
"Sounds good," Sunny replied. "I'm almost ready."
Sunny grabbed his keys and phone from his dresser and walked out of his room and down the hall to the living room where he found Shiloh sitting on the leather couch. She was wearing a dress with blue flowers and skulls on it.
"Let's have a good night," Shiloh said, standing and walking to the door.
After eating some food at a cool diner that neither of them had been to, Shiloh and Sunny got into Sunny's grey 2004 Volkswagen Rabbit and headed to the beach.
"When was the last time we went to a party?" Shiloh asked.
"Like, three months ago? It was Jeremy Stock's party, the one where that chick threw up on the couch."
"Oh, yeah!" Shiloh exclaimed then laughed. "Like everyone left!"
"Yeah, then we went to your mom's house, like, three hours later. I was so tired that I fell asleep on their couch."
"Well, let's hope that tonight is even better than that night."
Sunny parked the car on the street in front of Rick's and they both got out. They walked out onto the beach and saw a girl walking along the water. She was walking toward a van with six people standing around it. The music coming from the van was loud and Sunny could smell weed.
"This might be fun." Sunny decided out loud.
