70 Days Of Summer

Day 14

I wake up at 11 and the space next to me is empty. I climb out of bed and move to the living room where Vanessa, yina, and Paige are discussing the party. Well, yina is just sitting watching them, a smile plastered on her face. She is a spiritual child.
" hey Clara! How was your sleep? Cassie called and wants you home soon," booms Vanessa in her psychedelic nightie dress.
"ok" I say disappointingly,
" I better get changed, and head home." I smile weakly and realize I have no clothes. I left the house in a rush with my cellphone and nothing else.
" sure, you can take anything you want," Paige says sympathetically reading my mind.
" thanks" I say sweetly.
I slip on her jeans and Aeropostale t-shirt, say goodbye and leave. I catch the bus home and I reach home at 12. I walk in the house and it seriously stinks! I hear faint voices from upstairs and the voices gets louder as I approach up the stairs. It smells really bad. I look Into Cassie's room and she is nuzzling against mr.dorking and that's not the worst part! She is blowing a cigarette, a cigarette! So, she is nuzzling against a 30+ single teacher who teaches her, and they are both smoking. They must've been doing it for awhile because the house stinks and there are a few empty packs of marlboros lying on the floor.
" what is wrong with you?! You sick girl! Darrell is gone ok, there are many other guys that are much better than him! So stop acting like this drunk party girl," I scream. I pack some clothes and go back to her room,
" I'm staying at Paige's for awhile and don't you dare make me come home or I will tell mum and dad about this," I threaten and then leave the house and catch a bus to Paige's apartment. Before I enter, I plaster a smile on my face and pretend that nothing is going on because i don't want to deal with Vanessa's questions. I knock and Paige opens the door.
" hey, why are you back?" She asks chewing gum and already changed in her pink tank top and white leggings.
I squeeze through the door and say,
" well, I just thought I would stay for awhile. Cassie is having some friends over for some days and I thought I could stay here," I say lying he whole way.
" sure sweetie" grins Vanessa.
"Right" says Paige slyly, her eyes glinting because she knows I'm lying.
" hey mum! Clara and I will run the errands together....soon" Paige says quickly shoving me in her room. I tell her about The cigarettes and she puts her 2 fingers on each side of her forehead, the position business people do when they are stressed.
"Clara, she needs help" mutters Paige.
"No, she needs to get over Darrell," I argue.
We argue for awhile until we settle on leaving the matter for now, and we decide to start running her errands. We start walking down the street and Paige says matter-of-factly,
" so first we are hitting the market, then the party store, the thrift store and finally a late lunch with Catalina at 'high diner.'"
" ok" I say non chalantly.
We enter dooseys market and as soon as we enter I notice the cheese/yoghurt section that Berun and I had that awkward moment. We turn into the cereal aisle and I pretend to look at a box of 'honey loops' when I'm actually thinking about Berun. I look up after 5 minutes and find paige gone. I sneak into the cheese/yoghurt section and..... I have no luck. I pick up a cube of feta cheese for the picnic salad and turn around and Berun is standing behind me.
" hey" he grins flashing his aging teeth, and his musky man cologne flying up my nostrils.
" hey" I whisper, staring into his eyes and avoiding his 3/4 open shirt exposing his tan chest.
He leans in and kisses me. An amazing, heaven like kiss. I feel unconscious. At this moment, I feel nothing but happiness. He pulls away and smiles,
" I have to go."
" me too" I whisper as he walks away. I run through all the aisles until I find paige.
" paige! It happened! Its official," I scream not caring about the store, or the world!!! We check out the groceries and start to walk to the party store. I explain to her everything that happened. We reach the party store and I'm in a love trance. I swoop around the store muttering love chants and picking up anything with hearts while paige shops seriously. We spend an hour in the party store and we come out with a huge basket. Before we hit the thrift store I notice Paige picking up a glass of water, and suddenly...., she throws it in my face.
I wake up from this love trance and complain,
" what was that for?"
" honey it's been 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was just a kiss. You need to get over it. Besides your best friend just got dumped by the lovely her life. Show some sympathy," she says jokingly.
" awwww, I'm sorry. It's just.... Berun, you know," I say out of the trance, jumping on her shoulders.
We talk about casual things and enter the local thrift store.
" why are we here again?" I ask weirdly as the bell against the door rings.
"Well, mum said that you and I can pick out an outfit for the party," squeals Paige looking through a dusty rack.
" how can I help you girls," croaks an old skinny, smiling, woman with her gray hair in a bun and is wearing a flannel nightie with a knit coat.
" we're just looking around," says Paige sweetly.
I give the lady and fake and kind of rude smile, and walk over to a shelf covered In debris. I pick out a pair of gold metallic spandex shorts, platform sandals, and a beige tank swing top. I glance at my watch and its almost 3. I'm starving! I'm about to call for paige when she calls me,
" Clara! I'm at the till!"
I walk to the till and evaluate her outfit while she pays. A lavender tank top, white faux leather pencil skirt and flats.
We walk out of the store each carrying a bag and I say,
" thanks!"
" don't thank me, thank the man with the credit card," she starts,
" anyways I'm starving! Let's head to lunch," she finishes.
We catch a bus to high diner which is 10 minutes away, but we are too lazy to walk, and we arrive prompt at 3.
" hey! How are you?" Squeals Paige looking fabulous as ever. She is wearing a pink crop top on top of low waisted extremely tiny shorts and 'ipanema' slippers. Her red hair is pulled into a bun and her natural makeup highlights her skinny face. She gives us air kisses and we sit at a small table inside. Catalina pulls out 2 bags from under her chair, passes one to each of us, and exclaims,
" so girls, you thought y'all weren't getting any presents, well y'all thought wrong!"
We stare at her confusingly and she says matter-of-factly,
"Well, open up then."
I look inside my bag and pull out a scarab necklace and Egyptian cotton dress. Paige pulls out a a lingerie set made of Egyptian cotton and a replica desk statue of king of tut.
" I know how you like old things for some reason, and I bought the...you know.... Set when I knew you and Bryan were still together and maybe you know....." Catalina trails off. We all laugh and paige slaps Catalina with the shopping bag and then Catalina tells me,
"The dress is just for casual wear, and rumor has it that scarabs bring luck and I thought you could use some."
" thanks, and speaking of luck....." I fill Catalina in on what happened in the market while we wait for our nachos to come. Well, Paige and I are having nachos, Catalina orders a Bean salad.
We're halfway through the meal when I tell Catalina about Cassie and smoking this morning. Paige starts up the argument about rehab and calling my parents but Catalina is on my side. She always is.
" it's her decision. Anyways, I've done Marlboro before, not as nice as pure shisha but it's ok," comments Catalina. Of course Catalina has. She lost her virginity in 6th grade with her brother, but they're totally cool about it. They kiss for fun sometimes, when they're parents aren't around obviously. Catalina hates her parents. They are a bunch of stuck up,rich Snots who are never home and go to fundraising events which normally her mum plans everyday and her dad is always at work. That means she has the whole house to herself and the whole alcohol cabinet to herself. She drinks and smokes on occasion but she is not addicted, she does it once in a blue moon. Catalina opens her same beige coach purse and places a hundred dollar bill on the tray, even though the meal was only $49.
" they need some new uniforms anyway" says Catalina referring to the very large tip she leaves. Catalina's family is from the rich side of Ohio, and they have a large victorian house filled with butlers, maids, and chef's from all around the world. We go over to Paige's house and chill for awhile, and then Vanessa walks in wearing her crazy yellow leggings and purple tunic covering her large belly. 

"I brought some crisps incase you guys are hungry," she exclaims dropping a bag of crisps on the bed. We hear a knock on the door and Vanessa grumbles as she walks out, 

"Better see who that is." 

We hear some faint mumbling and heels tapping against their cheap tiling. It reminds me of Aunt Rosie. Vanessa sticks her head in the door and whispers, 

"Catalina, your mums here, you better come out." 

Even Vanessa is scared of her. We shuffle into the living room where Catalinas mum, Minou, is standing looking very uncomfortable. She is wearing Pucci heels, black Chanel Pantalons, White satin long sleeve, button up, Versace blouse tucked into her Pantalons and her beautiful light brown hair is open and cascading around her collarbone. She is clutching the autumn season Prada handbag as if the apartment is filled with germs. Ms.Minou always gets the next season's handbag flown in straight from the designers themselves.

"It's time to go Catalina," says Ms.Minou not breathing becasue she is scared she might catch some disease in the apartment. Vanessa is just standing there smiling and then grins,

"Well, It's always nice to have Catalina over." 

Ms.Minou gives Vanessa one of those fake smiles, and looks at her outfit disgustingly. 

"Interesting choice,"she comments very rudely. 

Just as they are leaving, Yina pops out of nowhere and tugs on Ms.Minou's pantalons. Ms.Minou flaps her hand away and pretends that she never did anything, but clearly looks annoyed. 
" I never knew why you dyed her hair blonde," Ms.Minou says irritatingly. They walk away and we burst into giggles. We shower, eat crisps, eat dinner, and hang out. I give Berun a call and we talk about the kiss today. We decide that we are a couple, and we do that thing where we tell each other to hang up multiple times, but Paige finally cuts the phone. 

"You can invite him to the party you know," she says matter-of-factly, flipping into a cartwheel.Paige is very flexible, but me, I'm a stump. We prepare everything for the party and go to bed. 

So Berun and I are a couple now....EEEEEEK!!!