Bonnie & Clyde

Chapter 6: Contentment

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear loser
Happy birthday to you

I squirmed in my covers as I slowly came into consciousness. I stretched my limbs all over the place and peeked through my blanket.

I saw my sister leaning against my doorframe with a smirk on her face. "Hey, loser."

I immediately sat up in my bed and smiled. "Hey," I said as I yawned. I rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms again. "What are you doing here?"

Lola arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean what am I doing here?" She pushed herself away from the frame and made her way towards me. She sat down on the covers that I was still tangled in and said, "It's my little sister's seventeenth birthday."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I don't know what's so special about it," I said. "It's not like I'm turning twenty one."

Lola grabbed my knee and shook it. "But seventeen is the new twenty one." She got up and strolled to my closet. "Which is why," she drew out as she dug through my clothes. "I'm taking you out tonight."

"No," I said, knowing very well that Lola's version of 'going out' is very different than mine. I got up and straighten my covers before sitting down on my desk chair. "I'm not going out with you."

She turned to me and put a hand on her hip. "Are you embarrassed of me?" She asked with an insulted look on her face. I knew she was just joking, but I answered anyway.

"No," I said. "But I'm really not in the mood to party or anything. I'm still recovering from the last one."

She waved her hand at me in a dismissive way and turned back to my closet. She shuffled through my things for a moment before saying, "You have nothing good in here." She turned to me again. "You're lucky I'm nice enough to let you borrow my things, or else you'll be walking around dressing like a ten year old boy for the rest of your life."

She headed towards my door and on her way out, she said, "I'll pick something out for you." Her voice had faded away slightly as she said, "And it's not a party."

Before I could object or ask any further questions, Lola had already shut the door behind her.

***

"So she didn't even tell you where you guys are heading?" Sammy asked through the phone.

It was quite some hours later and all I've done the whole day was mess around on my laptop and watch T.V. That and eat.

I couldn't hang out with Sammy because her dad had grounded her for 'the rest of her existence.' Which meant that she was forced to cut off any and all forms of human connection aside from my disembodied voice.

"Nope," I said popping the p. "All I know is that we're going out and it's not a party."

"But that could mean anything," Sammy said. "It's your sister we're talking about."

It was true. Lola was well known for her 'wild-child' persona and her care free attitude. She was the very definition of rebellious teen.

She had the botched hair and the colored highlights as well as all the piercings and a few illegally done tattoos to prove it. Her clothing and style screamed teen angst and rock music.

I, on the over hand, was her polar opposite. I was supposedly the 'good one' and I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about that. I didn't like how everyone took me so lightly but then again, it wasn't like I was anything heavy either.

"Yeah," I said, disconnected from my response. I was too busy staring out the window. No children ran and played on the street I grew up on and every now and then I would get a sad feeling in my chest because of it.

My whole life I had been missing something. I never played outside like kids were supposed to. I had to make my own dinners and clean the house because no one else was going to do it.

I wondered how many families on this street were like that. How many kids had to grow up as fast as I did? How many of them had to depend on themselves at such a supple age? And most of all, how many of them wanted to escape?

You would think for someone who has that constant 'I want to see the world' feeling in her gut that she would actually do something about it. But my version of seeing the world wasn't going out and partying. It was traveling. Very literally seeing the things around me.

"Hello?" Sammy asked rhetorically. "Earth to Bonnie."

"Huh?" I let out. "Oh, sorry." I blinked a few times and tore my gaze away from the window.

"You okay?" Sammy asked. "You've been acting a little spacey lately."

"Yeah," I lied. "I'm fine."

"Well," Sammy said. "I have to go. My dad has a shit ton of chores waiting for me and it's getting a little too late for me to blow off."

"Alright," I responded. "I'll call you later."

"Tell me if anything happens, alright?"

"Got it," I said with a small smile. I could always rely Sammy to be there for me. It made me feel good. I just didn't know if it made me feel content. Then again, nothing made me feel content.

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Hi! Another short chapter. Thanks for reading!!

-eryn ~~