light snowfall

ch. 1

        "Mikey, do you think I look good? Do you think Shane will like it?" Oralee asked while admiring herself in the large mirror that covered a small portion of her bedroom wall. She kept playing with her hair and running her hands down her tight red dress, as if trying to get rid of all the invisible wrinkles that covered it. I rolled my eyes and played with the apple that was in my hand; my other hand ran across the layers of soft blankets that Oralee had covering her bed. The deep colour and the shininess of the apple put me in a sort of trance, which made Oralee upset since she didn't have my full attention. She glared at me in the mirror and clapped her hands in an angry fashion. The sudden noise startled me, making me drop my apple. Both Oralee and I watched as the apple rolled toward her bare feet. She sighed in what sounded like exasperation as she picked it up. She handed the deep red coloured apple to me and said, "Will you please pay me some attention for once? You know today's a big day for me."

          I snorted. "It's just a date with the same guy you've been seeing since forever. It's not like you need to impress him or anything." I took the apple out of her hand and looked at it for a few seconds while I waited for Oralee to respond. When she didn't I reluctantly looked up at her, seeing the expression I had gotten far to comfortable with. The disappointment in her eyes was so apparent, it felt like her eyes were burning holes through my skull.

          "You know Shane and I haven't seen each other in, like, six years, right?" She sounded offended, as if I insulted her. I nodded my head, making a few strands hair fall in my face. Annoyed with my hair but too lazy to push it back out of my face, I tried to blow it back to it's original position but, after a few unsuccessful attempts, I reluctantly moved the strands with the hand that was not busy holding my apple. I looked up and smiled when I saw Oralee trying to keep from letting her smile show.

          "I'm sorry." I replied shortly, a large smile soon taking over my whole face. "And for the record, I think you look great. Shane's eyes will pop out of their sockets when he sees you." She grimaced and shook her head in a playful manner.

          "Thanks for the imagery, Mikey."

          "What are friends for?"

          "You make me what to pull my hair out, you know that?"

          I laughed loudly. "You love me." I stated with the smuggest of all smiles plastered on my face . Her smile just got wider at my reply and she turned back around to face the mirror. I began to lose interest in staring at my apple and seeing as though Oralee didn't want to pay anymore attention to me, I decided to leave her room. I jumped off her fluffy bed, walked out and bit into my apple. Satisfied with the sweet flavour, I slowly walked down the long hallway I had grown used to and entered the living area in my and Oralee's home. Once I caught a glimpse of the environment outside, I was mystified. It wasn't even Halloween and yet it had already begun to snow. Sitting down on one of the old grandma-esk couches we happened to have placed in our living room, I watched as the very few tiny snowflakes made their way down to the ground.

        "Isn't it just beautiful out there?" I heard a soft voice call out from behind me. With a slow nod, I turned to face Oralee. She had her red dress on with her long brown hair grazing her lower back. I've always been envious of her natural beauty, she could go out after just getting out of bed and she's still look amazing. This was one factor of many the made me self-conscious about myself. I loved Oralee with all my heart, don't get me wrong, we were best friends, but she was a bit too perfect all the time for me to not feel bad about myself.

        Sudden finger snapping pulled me out of my intensive thought and my eyes met a very annoyed expression. I heard the click of her tapping the toe of her heel on the ground impatiently, possibly waiting for me to come back to my senses and continue with the conversation we had started. But, I have no interest in pursuing a conversation with her, my self esteem had already dug itself a hole and was planning to sit in it for a good while. So, I gave her a quick, "Good luck on your date." And scurried off to my room. I sighed in relief once I entered and successfully isolated myself in my bedroom.

        I face planted into my warm cotton blankets that I had so dearly missed in the few hours I was out of bed. I felt my muscles relax, and I let out a happy sigh. But, my moment alone was short-lived as I heard a soft knock at my door. Behind the door, Oralle called out, "You forgot your apple in the living room, you haven't even finished it. Do you want me to throw it away or...?"

        "Yeah, I don't want it anymore, thanks."