The Perks of Being a Freak (Editing)

83. My Simon

“Alright, so I noticed that your apartment, while clean, is painfully bare,” I told Jaeb a few days later, after school in the library. “I would like to help you fix that.”

Three hours later, and we were walking out of Ikea. We had used part of my parents money and part of Mitchell’s meager paycheck to buy a shit-ton of house things.

Cleaning supplies, cooking utensils, a washing machine and a dryer, a really, really cheap couch, and a coffee table. At the supermarket, we went crazy and got lots of fruits and vegetables, some meats and a loaf of bread. I got shampoo and conditioner, as well as body wash and told Jaeb about what to do with each. We bought three new toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss.

It took us four or five trips to carry everything up to the fourth story apartment. Mitchell had to help us with the washer and dryer.

They had a fair amount of money, seeing as they never bought new clothes, ate mostly fast food, and hardly used electricity.

I’m not going to lie. I had a really fun time setting up the apartment with them. I taught my boyfriend and my new friends how to use each appliance, how to clean, what to use to clean, and everything else. I took out my laptop and helped Mitchell register for some online college courses, seeing as he had actually gone to high school, he just hadn’t gone to college afterwards.

All in all, it was a successful day.

And Simon and I decided to finish that successful day by going out to dinner. On a real date.

I ran (flew) home and changed into a nice, clean pair of black skinny jeans and a purple off-the-shoulder sweater. I rebraided my hair, laced up my boots, and grabbed my wallet. It took fifteen minutes tops, and I was nearly bursting with excitement.

After I had picked up Simon, we drove to a little Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet. Simon stared at it hungrily, and I motioned for him to go ahead. There was hardly anyone there to witness my boyfriend eat half the bar.

That was a nice thought, I smiled dreamily. My boyfriend. Mine. My Simon.

He came back with two plates, and surprised me by setting one down in front of me. I smiled gratefully and we dug in. For a long time, the only sounds were the noises we made while we ate, and soft comments on the food.

“You really have changed, haven’t you?” I rested my fork against the edge of my plate. Simon smiled bashfully.

“Only because of you,” he said, leaning forward on his elbows. I smiled and met him halfway across the table to press my lips to his.

Suddenly, explosively, pain ricocheted across my skull, accompanied by the image of me, leaning across the table to kiss Simon. I yelped and clutched at my head as anger filled me, accompanied by betrayal, and sadness, and so much hatred that it burned.

Tears blurring my vision, I turned to look out the window, and found Tony standing across the street, eyes wide. A young child clung to each of his hands, both with golden hair.

“Tony,” I whispered, and then slumped sideways.

The last thing I felt was Simon’s arms wrap around me.