Thieving Florida

chapter 4

I flopped onto my bed as soon as my door shut. I felt terrible about what my mom said about Liz. She had no right to ask her something like that.

Liz does have a reputation of sleeping with random guys. She uses her feminism to her advantage, as if it's a weapon. She is definitely a great weapon meister in that case. Liz almost never wears pants. Always skirts or dresses. Most of the time her blonde hair is in curls, but some days she changes it up. Her lips are always painted red and her eyes decorated with eye liner and mascara. She's pretty skinny, but not a stick. She definitely isn't flat chested either.

To be honest, I get jealous sometimes. My hair is brown with highlights from the sun, and is extremely curly and frizzy. Most of the time I braid it back or straighten it. I never care much for dresses or skirts. Plus, my eyes are sort of hazel, and never look good when I wear eye make up. I try to go for 'the natural look' most days because of this.

Right now I look like a wreck. I decided to take a shower. I've never felt so dirty in my life. I was grateful for the lemon scented soap to get rid of the alley smell (which was a lot like cat pee).

When I got out I wrapped an old blue towel around my body and wrapped my hair with a green one. I went to my room to find Christopher sitting on my bed. He looked like a mother who saw her kid come home from the first time he did- well, anything dangerous.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

"No! Everything is not alright! You ran away from your own party! Who do you think had to deal with the cops? It definitely wasn't Liz or anyone else drunk, which was pretty much everyone except for you, me, and Cody," Christopher said, breathless. I felt guilty. I ran off for my own selfish reasons, which was what again? Oh yeah, the old memory from a random stranger. Such a stupid reason.

"I'm so sorry. What did the cops do?" I asked.

"Well they couldn't arrest everyone. They pretty much took the people too drunk to go home home. You got in big trouble for the party. When the cops heard your parents were out of town and it was your birthday, they kinda thought your parents were idiots," he said.

"They are," I said quietly. He looked at me confused. "Don't ask," I said, sounding exasperated.

"You look pretty tired. Do you need to sleep?" Chris asked. I shrugged.

"I'd rather go for coffee or something," I said.

"I thought you were grounded?" he said.

"Then I get to break more rules."

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Chris was nice enough to buy my iced coffee. I apologized like a thousand times about leaving.

"Hey, it's my birthday present to you," he said. I nodded in agreement.

"Don't know what I would do without you," I said, hugging him. He hugged me back. We were in the middle of an outlet mall, so it was a little weird.

"Get a room!" shouted a familiar voice. I broke away instantly. I knew who it came from.

"Xander," I said through my teeth. Loudly enough for him to hear, that's for sure. I saw him dash out from the bushes where he had been hiding and sprinted after him. He was hard to catch up with, but eventually I made it. I tackled him and he stumbled.

I hadn't let go of my iced coffee when I ran, so it ended up all over us.

"What the hell?" he asked with an accusing voice.

"I thought we went over this. Don't cuss! And I should be the one asking that. Why are you over here again?" I asked.

"I didn't just make a trip over here to walk you home little girl, I made it worth my while," Xander said, holding up a couple of bags. One had clothes, one had food, and one had... A water gun?