Not Important

A day out with Kerry

It's Sunday today. Or what's left of it. I wake to my phone making a horrible shrill ing sound. Answering it, I mumble a hello to whoever is calling.

"Devon, are you busy?", Kerry asks me.

"Well, not anymore", I say, knowing I will not get back to sleep right now.

"Great. I need you to go shopping with me", Kerry says. I blink, the sunlight hitting me in the eye from the window.

"Why? Can't one of the others go with you?", I ask, my voice sounding strange from me waking up so late.

"No! And, anyway, I need to sort out a lot of things with you", Kerry says, not fully explaining.

"Okay. Okay. I'll help you shop for stuff", I tell her.

"Okay. I'll have Brian pick you up and drop you off at mine", she says, before hanging up.

I'm guessing she means right now. So, getting up, I go to the bathroom, and shower, having found that I smell like smoke and crap. After a shower, I chuck on some clothes, a little eyeliner, and put contacts in so as not to look like I've been taking drugs recently. Dad still isn't back, so I leave him a note, and walk out of the door when I hear Brian beep his horn. I walk out after doing what needs to be done. As soon as you get up on Sunday morning, the first thing that you would not want to see is bills. The bills are rising and I have to pay them soon. If I don't get enough money soon, I will have to sell a few things.

We sped off down the road for Kerry's.

"So...how was the party at the beach, Devon?", Brian asks me, keeping his eyes trained on the road.

"It was fine", I tell him.

"Fine? That's all you give me?! Come on!", Brian moans, making me smile a little bit.

"Okay, it was different", I tell him, giving him a little more information.

"What do you mean, different?", he asks me, confused.

"I mean, I have never been to a beach party before, and it wasn't like what I had expected", I explain, watching him nod, taking my answer.

We stay quiet for a while, until I finally pluck up the courage to ask him a question.

"Brian, how are your kids?", I ask him, gently. I watch as he breathes in and out, his fingers flexing on the wheels.

"They aren't doing as bad as I thought they were going to do. But, they miss their mum, and their mum has been gone for a while now. She's with some stupid guy with a big ego, and a sports car", Brian says, sounding a little bit pissed off right now. I would be too, if I were him. She left him with four kids to go off with some idiot with a cool car.

"Brian...", I start, but he cuts me off.

"Devon, don't say that it will all be okay, because that is a pile of shit right there", Brian snaps at me, glimpsing at me, before looking back to the road.

"I wasn't going to, Brian. It's not going to be okay", I tell him, and he looks at me for a minute, his face scrunched up in a frown.

"It's going to be like hell. Especially if you don't have anyone to help look after your kids for you when you're at work. You're fending for you and four kids, Brian. It's not exactly easy as pie", I tell him, and I watch as he looks back at me from the road.

"How do you know so much about this? How can you understand?", he asks me, looking frustrated, his voice a little hoarse. He stops the car in front of Kerry's house.

"Brian, we all have our problems. Even people like Kerry have problems. Some people only have the smallest of problems, like trying to get into their college, getting a decent job, or deciding what they want for dinner. Some people have to deal with a load of shit. It just so happens that I ain't holding a golden ticket in my hands", I tell him, before getting out, and shutting the door. I walk up to Kerry's house, the door is pulled open, and I walk inside.

.......

"The red or the blue?", Kerry says, holding the red top to me, and then the blue. We have been shopping for two hours, and I just want to go to sleep. I hate shopping. Who cares what the hell you wear? According to strange pop stars like Lady GaGa, and Nikki Minaj, we will probably all end up wearing bin bags and meat suits soon. I groan in misery at Kerry.

"No offence, Kerry. I know you love shopping and it's 'like the Gods have spoken' and all of that, but I don't care! I don't care! I just want to go home and sleep!", I tell her, not in the mood to do this right now.

"Oh, quit your whining! You need new clothes, and I intend to get you some", Kerry says, glaring at me, before putting both tops in the basket. It is filled to the very top, a sleeve or two hanging over the top.

We have gotten through jeans, belts, and skirts. Yes, skirts. I don't know why Kerry even bothered there. I'm not going to wear them. She can stuff those skirts up her-

"Devon! Come here!", Kerry calls to me from the jacket aisle. I walk up to her, and look to where she is looking. It's a leather jacket. It has a collar, big buttons running down the length, and it would probably come up to my thighs. In other words: it is perfect.

"You like?", Kerry asks.

I just nod, staring at it in awe. She picks it up, and puts it in the basket.

"Okay. Now, stop moaning. We are almost done. All we need now is shoes", Kerry says, skipping off to the shoes.

......

After trying on twenty two pairs of shoes, Kerry bought the clothes that we had picked. We now sit at a table in the food court. Screw sleep, this is what I needed. A big baguette, with meatballs in sauce, and melted cheese on top. With a side plate of fries. And a sprite. This is heaven!

"Thank you, Kerry", I mumble through my food.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm amazing. Eat up", Kerry says, waving it off as if it is nothing.

.....

After we had finished, we go back to hers, and watch some movies in her room. It's quite fun hanging around with her. She's nothing like I thought she would be. She's funny, she's random, she's not stuck up, she's a good friend. She told me about when Meghan's boyfriend flirted with her, and she told Meghan and they set him straight.

She let me download some music at her house so that I could listen to it with the earphones she gave me. We are popcorn and threw it at the screen when idiots and killers that we hated were on. Kerry decided to make us some lemonade, from scratch. So we went into the kitchen, and we started to make it. But, she put too much lemon in, so it tasted too strong and zingy. She made me try it first, and I couldn't help but spit it out. She began to laugh at me for that.

"It can't be that bad!", she told me.

"Fine. You try it", I said, pouring a cup of it out, and handing it to her. Within half a second, she spat it back out, making a weird face. I laughed at that, her face too funny not to be laughed at.

.......

"Devon, before you leave, here", Kerry says, holding out a wad of notes. My eyes widened at that, and I couldn't form any words.

"Kerry, no. I'm not supposed to be payed until the end of the month", I tell her.

"I know. It's just that, I had fun. And I just wanted to say thank you", Kerry says, handing me the money. I take it. She wraps her arms around me so quickly, that I don't have time to even react. I pat her on the back, awkwardly, before turning around, and walking to Brian's car.

All the way back, I only had one thought in my head.

No one has hugged me in years.