Pen Ink

Bailey - Adventure

"It's absolutely incredible. Just getting to sit and paint as the sun sets, getting to capture that moment where the sun meets the land, and stars start to come out. It's so fascinating, just.." I was at a loss for words as a toothy grin stretched across my face. Simon just seemed to stare in awe at me as I stared at the pictures flashing in my head. Sure he couldn't see them, but in my eyes they were gorgeous. I watched as he shook his head and quickly looked down at the table. I looked at him curiously as we both sit in silence, he seems to shift nervously, fidgeting with his hands, twiddling as waits for something to happen, anything. I speak again, hating the thick silence that lies between us. "So where are you from?"

"New York." He answers quickly, jerking his head up as his lips move. "What about you, how long have you lived in Rhode Island?"

"It became twenty-one years about three months ago." I nodded, smiling. "My birthdays in August."

"Our birthday." I heard from behind me as out of the corner of my eye I saw my sisters short figure maker her way over to our table with a hot chocolate in her hand, in the other a paper bag. Much like me, she got the same thing every time she came as well. She set her food down, pulling a chair from the table behind her and sitting on it backwards as she looked towards me.

"So what are we up to weirdo? Who's your new friend?" She motioned towards Simon with her hand, looking at the two us. I reached out for the brown paper bag, snatching it off the table, to look inside. "Aye! Grabby hands, that's mine!" she went to pull the bag of goodies from my hands as I turned further away from her, searching through the bag for the one item of food that was my favorite on their menu. Every time we would go to Starbucks, we ordered the same thing. I handled the drinks, one vanilla bean, and one toasty hot chocolate. Kennedy would get the food, some banana bread, and a cinnamon bun. We always kept our orders the same, rarely changing, unless someone had altered the menu. I pulled out the small loaf of banan bread, before turning back to her to have the bag snatched out of my hands. I laughed as she scowled at me.

"I'm Simon." The boy smirked, speaking up as he noticed the slight sibling rivalry between us.

"What brings you to Rhode Island?" Kennedy questioned pulling her cinnamon bun out of her bag as she placed it on top of the brown paperish material. She started to tear it apart, breaking it into pieces as she started to shove some in her mouth.

"Can everyone tell I'm not from around here?" The boy laughed, waving his arms dramatically. "Are you guys really that enclosed of a community that you know I'm not from here??"

Kennedy snickered, not bothering to finish her mouthful of food before talking, "that, and" she pointed towards the shirt that was on underneath Simon's unbuttoned flannel. "Your shirt says 'New Yorker' in clear bold print." Kennedy laughed as she swallowed the rest of the cinnamon roll in her mouth. Simons eyes trailed down to his shirt as shook his head, and then his whole body shook as he erupted with laughter. I elbowed Kennedy, swallowing the bite of banana bread I had in my mouth before speaking. "You know it was funny to watch him when he was paranoid.  You shouldn't have told him. You ruined the fun." I nagged, giving Kennedy a disapproving look as she shot one back at me. "He has a right to know." She shrugged taking a swig of her hot chocolate. 

Simon seemed absolutely baffled not sure what to say as he just watched the two of us converse. He kept his mouth shut, shrugging as he nodded in agreement with my sister. "Whatever." I ended the conversation, standing up from my seat, pushing it in. Kennedy called after me, her mouth shoved full of cinnamon bun. "Where are you going??" Her voice was muffled from the food in her mouth, but I was still able to understand her non the less, it was easy, especially when you live with someone almost all your life. "I'm going to get another drink, because someone spilled mine." I said to her, eyeing Simon as he gave me an apologetic look. He started to say something  away. I ignored it,  out of ear shot within a few steps. 

I looked back at the two at the table who had started conversing. I then looked towards Kat who was smiling at me. "Can I have another vanilla bean please? Somebody knocked into me and spilled mine." I smiled warmly at her, pulling out my wallet. "It's fine bailey, don't worry about it, it's on the house." She smirked at me, turning back behind the counter. "Thanks Kat, you're a life  saver!" I smiled, as I yelled back to her.

I turned around, leaning against the counter as I watched my sister and my new acquainted friend talk. Kennedy was a social butterfly, that was one other thing that was different between the two of us. Growing up, I never really talked to many people, I met Robin in kindergarden, and even then we weren't friends, she had been telling me off about my sister, who I defended, because well, Kennedy was all I really had. After that little incident we became close friends, and we've been like that since. She met aubrie late eighth grade, and they connected over the summer. We found out they were soulmates in high school, that was when we met Lucas, Aubrie's older brother. We've been friends since high school, and they're really the only friends I've kept. Kennedy on the other hand, has met so many different people. She knows and is practically friends with everyone that lives in our small town. Not only is she friends with the people around her, but she knows people all over ten world. People from Ireland, and England. It's ridiculous, I have what four to six friends, and here she is taking over the world. It reminds me of my parents honestly. My dads say they were the same way. One always looking for adventure, and the other much happier with staying home reading a book. I was the latter of the two, but you know, it can never hurt to adventure a little, even if it's just heading to Starbucks.