binded

grace ; quick hands

Over the weekend, I am shocked to receive a text from Penelope asking if her and Juliet can come over. We haven't really talked as friends in such a long time and I feel like something like this could be good for our friendship. This is why I say yes and that I will pick them up from their houses.

I first begin with Juliet since her house is further away than Penelope's. While driving the familiar road, my fingers tap the leather steering wheel and I speed through the street. Part of me misses my tight knit relationship with Penelope, but at the same time I really don't. It's hard not to miss someone that I've been friends with for such a long time, even if I have been growing distant with her.

When Juliet sits in the front seat of my car, I give her my normal command of putting on her seat belt before I will drive to pick up Penelope. She is used to it by now and snaps the buckle in. I speed off and begin my drive to pick up Penelope.

"Can I have the AUX cord?" she asks while clutching her phone, "Just a few songs... that's it."

I nod and pass her the sparkly blue cord. She smiles wide and connects her phone and begins to scroll through her playlist of music. After a while, she selects a song and I begin to laugh.

"Really Juliet." I scoff while coming to a stop sign, "This song is so 2010."

"For your information, Lady Gaga's hit song Bad Romance was released in 2009." she informs me while screeching to the opening bridge of the song.

I'm hysterically laughing while turning the car left, "Do you want me to crash my car? Because I'll end up doing that if you keep screaming like that."

Juliet completely ignored my command and erratically flips her blonde hair around to the beat of the song, "WANT YOUR BAD ROMANCE!"

Maybe I did miss Juliet.

When we pick up Penelope, I unlock the back door and the third Lady Gaga song has ended. I sigh in relief and snag the cord out from her phone and plug my own phone in. Juliet crosses her arms, her hair askew and her lips pouted out as if she's a toddler and I've just ripped her favorite toy from her hands.

I put my car in park and turn around to face Penelope. I rapidly sign and ask if she wants to grab anything to eat before we go to. She nods and cups her hands as if she is doing a golf clap and then flips their positions.

"Okay, where do you want a burger from?" I sign back as Juliet begins to scroll through her phone.

She signs back In-N-Out and I quickly put the car into drive and give her a thumbs up. I speed through the neighborhood and play my playlist of music despite knowing that Penelope may feel uncomfortable. Jesus, how have I become so inconsiderate?

Despite this, we continue to sing along to whatever song I've played until I pull into the small parking lot. I see the familiar palm trees forming an 'X' and I park beside it. When I shut my car off, Penelope is staring down at her phone, invested as her thumbs scatter across the keyboard.

"Penelope, let's go!" Juliet yells while opening her door.

"She's fucking deaf Juliet." I laugh as she continues to type away while I wave my hand in front of her face.

Penelope looks up in shock and unbuckles her seatbelt as an automatic reaction. By now, Juliet is laughing hysterically yet I feel slightly guilty for saying something slightly negative about her while she is around.

When we go inside to eat, I assign Penelope to find us a seat while Juliet and I order our food. I fiddle with my nose stud for a while, twisting it as if it is a screw in a piece of wood. We reach the front of the line and I order all of our food, claiming it is my treat and hand the employee my debit card. He quickly slides it and passes it back to me, grabbing three large cups as well.

"You're gonna be order number 174." he states while giving me the long receipt .

I shove it into my pocket and glance behind my shoulder to see Penelope sitting alone. Maybe Juliet and I are casting her aside? Maybe she thinks we don't care.

"Grace, what does Penelope want?" Juliet asks while clutching two empty cups, her blue acrylics contrasting with the white and red cup.

"Just grab a lemonade, that'll be good enough for her." I shrug as blocks of ice clunk into the paper cup until it fills nearly half of it.

I watch as Juliet fills the cup with sour, lemonade until it reaches the brim. I chose on my own special blend of Dr. Pepper and Sprite. It bubbles and fizzes until the sound disappears from the lid that I place atop it.

When we sit together, Juliet awkwardly sips her drink while I sign with Penelope. She continues to ask me about Zane, and I respond with a blush and a simple good. However, she is not content with my answer and slides her left hand across her left and sticks out her thumb away from her. What else.

I sign how much I like him and enjoy his company. She smiles wide, pushing her hair out of her face and looking towards Juliet. She likes Axel.

I nod and we use our fingers as a method of gossiping about Juliet. I don't feel as bad anymore talking about Penelope when she can't hear or Juliet where she can't understand.

It's not like they could ever find out.