I was woken near noon by the red sun burning deeply through my eyelids.
"Ouch," I said to myself, pulling the blankets over my head.
"What?" I heard someone respond. I turned over and looked down to the floor.
"The sun is burning my face. You're already awake?" I asked a tired looking Benny, who was staring at the ceiling.
"Yeah. Sun woke me up, too."
Benny and I talked for a few minutes about sleep and the night before, until Erik finally awoke. Erik and I headed off to separate bathrooms for our morning showers, while Benny went home for his.
Around thirty minutes later, I finally finished washing my hair and cleaning myself up. I towel-dried my hair as I walked back to my room. I locked my door and dropped my towel to the floor, exposing my wet naked body. I quickly slipped on my underwear and bra, and then sprayed myself with my strawberry body spray. I continued dressing, covering myself with my favorite 'TAKE: Drug Free for a Purpose' shirt and camouflage shorts. They were girl style instead of my usual baggy camouflage shorts, so they came mid thigh and were pretty tight around my lower body. I sat down at the edge of my bed and put on some black ankle socks with my black and white old-school lace-up Vans.
Once I finished dressing, putting on my make-up and straightening my hair, I went downstairs for a lovely, stomach-filling breakfast. Once I reached the bottom step of the stairs, a big whiff of pancakes and bacon aviated through my nose, making my stomach growl with hunger.
"Good morning, Auntie," I said, sitting down at my now usual seat at the table.
"Good morning," she replied with a smile, setting my plate down in front of me. Erik soon entered the room, fresh smelling and wet hair. His face glistened from the moisture. Now that he was here, we could eat. We said our prayers, then dug into our food.
Half an hour later, Erik and I decided we were full.
"Mom, I'll be back in a while. I'm taking cousin with me," Erik shouted as we walked out of the front door.
"Alright, kids, be careful!" she called back just as he closed the door behind him.
"So, where do you want to go?" he asked me. I looked around, and then shrugged.
"I'dunno. Mall? Downtown? Anywhere, I guess." He nodded, and led me into the garage.
"Like my ride?" he asked smiling, getting into the driver's seat of his 1969 Camaro.
"Holy shit, when'd you get it?" I asked, examining the leather on the inside as I got into the passenger's seat.
"Graduation," he smiled.
We ended up at Benny's house a few minutes later. It was only a block away, so not too far. We decided to go to the mall, then later, a movie. Being the weekend, the mall was packed. Kids and teenagers crowded the place.
"Wow, this is going to be thrilling," I said dully. Benny and Erik chuckled then pulled me along with them by my wrists.
"Why do you sound like you don't want to be here?" Benny asked, once we got towards the further end of the mall.
"Too many people," I simply replied.
"Hey, there's Matt!" Erik said, running off to some tall guy wearing aviators.
"Want to go with him?" I asked Benny. He shook his head, 'no'. I nodded and we continued walking.
We stopped in a few stores before finally sitting down at a bench, by a waterfall. It was quiet for a few moments, until Benny broke the silence.
"So...how old are you?" he asked nervously.
"Going on 19," I said, "And yourself?"
He smiled, "I'm 19." We started talking more, and getting deeper into conversation. We saw Erik running around the mall with his friends a few times.
"We hella got ditched," I laughed, not really caring.
"Ha, I know. Oh well," Benny smirked.
"Why didn't you want to go with them?" I asked. His eyes shuffled around a bit before he replied.
"Uh, he hates me," he said.
"Why?!" I asked loudly, making him jump a little.
"Uh-I don't know. We're just, really different," he said with a shrug. I nodded. We decided we'd start walking around again.
I ended up dragging him along with me into Forever 21, my favorite store. I ran around, him practically having to chase me down to catch up. I always got really excited when I went shopping. I don't know why, I guess I just felt like I had to beat everyone to every spot in the store so I could get the good clothes. I ended up finding a cute red and white striped shirt with a black belt that went around the stomach area, and black shorts to go with it. Then some chunky red and white bracelets, big red framed sunglasses, a long black bead necklace, and black hoops that I could link onto my gauges. I figured I'd try on the outfit, just in case I went home and realized they didn't fit or something unpleasant like that.
A lady led me into dressing room number six. I smiled back at Benny before entering the dressing room. He made a smirk, which soon turned into a grin. Wow, was he cute. I unzipped my pants, and dropped them to the floor, then pulled my shirt over my head, leaving me in my bra and underwear. I slipped on the shorts first and buttoned them up, then the shirt, then put on all the accessories. I scrunched up my hair a little bit with both hands to tease it out, then stepped out behind the curtain.
It looked as if Benny's mouth fell open and his eyes bulged.
"What?" I grinned.
"You look so beautiful," he said softly. I blushed at his comment.
"Wow, really?" I thought to myself. He just stood there and smiled, making me smile back. I looked down at the floor, still blushing.
"Let's go. I'm getting this," I smiled, going back into the dressing room, and changing back into my recent outfit. I grabbed all the items and took them up to the front register. The woman scanned all of the price tags and bagged all the items.
"Fifty dollars and sixty-two cents, please," she said. I handed the credit card that my mom and dad gave me. She smiled and handed it back to me along with my bags.
"Have a nice day," she smiled.
Benny and I eventually found Erik, then drove back home.
