It was hot. It was nearing the end of summer in Northern California, and oh gosh, the weather just about matched that of the innermost circle of hell.
I was sitting in Chad's living room, I could see my house out of his open windows that were searching for a breeze. None came. Summer school had finally come to an end a little over a week ago, and I was slouched on Chad's black leather couch criss-cross-applesauce dominating in Mario Karts. I grabbed a dorito from the bowl between Chad and I and made princess peach do a full on flip in her dress.
"Hey, Ginny- I just saw Peach's panties" Chad remarked. Very mature.
"Yeah, that's only because you're behind me." I laughed as his Bowser plummeted from a giant mushroom that somehow caused your character to defy the laws of gravity. I crossed the finish line and began to dance in my seat, stealing the Doritos for myself and chanting "12-1" repeatedly as the front door opened.
Elijah burst in, took a look around, saw the look on Chad's face that simply screamed defeat, and quite demeaningly said "Dude- there is such thing as the mercy rule. You didn't have to go down like this."
Chad rioted. Elijah's waves fell over his eyes as he laughed and dodged the pillows being chunked at him from the leather couch. He stole a few doritos and replaced the bowl with himself on the couch in between Chad and I. Chad continued to hit him quite forcefully in the face with a pillow. Elijah grunted and resurfaced from the pillow clenched in Chad's face, his nose streaming blood into his mouth. He muttered something along the lines of Chad being a dick through the thick blood that was still sliding down his face. I guided Lij to the sink and handed him a washcloth while Chad trailed behind me sheepishly. Lij shot him an icy look and from that moment on, our afternoon at Chad's was about five times more intense. I was almost a bit too excited to excuse myself when the doorbell rang.
I opened the door to find a towering boy who was stick thin with crescent eyes that glittered in the sun sweating on Chad's front porch step. He was looking at the ground, his lips pressed together and his hands running throught dark, black-brown hair that swept over his forehead. In his hands was a ball- a crystal, glass, fancy, seemingly antigravity ball that he was sliding in between his fingers in a hypnotizing matter. He slowly looked up. "Uh... hi," he gulped; "my name is Nathaniel... and yeah, I just moved in down the street, and, uhm, I got locked out of my Mom's house and it's really hot out..." his hands shook as he pieced together his words. Chad came up behind me and looked the guy up and down as Lij waddled in with a bloody cloth still pressed to his nose. The boy named Nathaniel's eyes widened. "Sorry," he muttered and wiped sweat from his forehead as his head turned back to the floor.
"No, you're okay! You're more than okay- here, come in, it's hot," I invited him in before anyone else could comply. He awkwardly shuffled in, and I noticed a brown man-purse looking thing draped across his chest over his black sweater. Interesting wardrobe choice. "Would you like some water Nathaniel?" I asked and he nodded. I went into the other room as the boys introduced themselves and Nathaniel went more in depth about his current plight.
"My sister had a ballet rehersal, she's an amazing dancer and we moved here because she wanted to go to a fine arts school. So my mom took her and I guess she forgot to hand me the keys. I thought it wouldn't be bad but I'm from missouri and... and it's just really hot, that's all. I thought it would be good to meet my neighbors also, so, you know, I killed two birds with one stone," I handed him the water and he nodded as a thank you. "Do you have any apples?" He asked, flipping his hair out of his pale face. Chad answered for me.
"We probably have some in the garage, I'll grab a couple. Lij, Ginny- do you want any?" He tossed me a look. He still hadn't made eye contanct with a very bloody Elijah. I nodded, and Lij declined. He scurried away and I turned to Nathaniel.
"Do you like apples?" I asked, making talk off of what little I had to go with.
"They're alright. What are your names again?" He had already downed his glass of water, and his hand ran through his hair and to the back of his neck.
"I'm Genevieve, but you can call me Ginny. I like it better. And this bloody mess is Lij," I laughed, 'he took a bit of a hit to the nose earlier. His attacker, who is currently in his garage grabbing us some apples, is Chad." I smiled at him, and it was then I noticed that he hadn't once smiled at anyone.
"Genevieve, Chad, and- is 'Lij' short for anything?" He questioned.
"Elijah," Lij chimed in through a mess of bloody fabric. Gosh, does that boy's nose bleed!
"Feel free to call us whatever though. You can even call Chad by something else entirely- we've tried to find him a nickname, but one syllable names are difficult to find name supplements for," I said and he shook his head.
"I hate nicknames."
"So you don't go by Nathan or Nate? Ever?" Elijah questioned, his head tilted as his hand applied pressure to his face. Nathaniel wrinkled his nose in utter disgust, shaking his head rigorously. Chad entered the room and tossed us each an apple, and handed Lij a clean towel. I bit into my apple, expecting Nathaniel to do the same. Instead, he undid the top of his satchel thing and placed the apple into it along with his mysterious glass ball. He was quite an unusual boy. I ignored his strange habbits and made more smalltalk instead, asking about which school he was going to(he was going to be a senior at Holen High School this upcoming semester- same as Chad, Lij, and I) and when he had moved here(a few weeks earlier, he told me), but Chad's eyes lingered on his array of mysterious objects. I was just about to ask what extra curricular activities Nathaniel partook in when Chad inturrupted.
"Hey man, I gotta ask- what're you storing in the man purse?" The response, while defensive, was nothing that I could have ever seen coming.
Instead of saying anything, Nathaniel unlatched the bag, fumbled around for a moment, whipped out a spray bottle of a dizzying yellow tint, and sprayed Chad directly in the face. He screeched and wiped his eyes as Nathaniel smuggly set the bottle back into the satchel. Elijah roared in laughter so hard that I swear his nose began to bleed even harder. Nathaniel calmly latched his bag and looked at Chad, who was still yelling and trying to get whatever liquid was in that bottle out of his eyes. "It's not a man purse. It's a satchel, and it also serves as means of transportation for my Fu Higi ball, assorted magic tricks, occasional snacks, and, as you clearly saw up close and personal; my spray bottle. And if you have anything else to say about my choice in what I carry with me, I would gladly let you see the spray bottle again." And as soon as the words left his lips, for the first time ever that i had seen, Nathaniel smiled.
Chad went silent. Elijah and I exchanged looks, smiling at his response, and simutaneously burst into uncontrollable laughter. "You know, kid," Lij choked between hysterical rounds of laughter, "I like you. Ginny- can we keep him?"
"I kind of hate how his vibrant yellow spray bottle reminds me of Darcy's clothing choice- they're both dizzying and attack your eyes- but hey, I like his style. Let's keep him!" I laughed as Chad stared at us in the most hatred I'd ever seen directed from my dear, blonde, slightly violated friend.
"Who's Darcy?" Nathaniel asked, not recognizing the name. I told him not to worry about it right as Chad started up his whining again.
"What in the heck was in that bottle anyways?"
Nathaniel smuggly grinned and Lij and I quieted down our laughter, eager for a response. "Nothing that will hurt you, I assure you."
"It tastes like... like mountain dew or something. And it smells like limes. And it burns." Chad pouted, and I swear I saw a tear escape the corner of his eye. Nathaniel's grin widened.
Elijah was serious about keeping him, I suppose, because before even consulting it with anyone else, he invited Nathaniel to our hollywood roadtrip that was to happen on the 21st of August; the saturday before we began our senior year. Nathaniel graciously accepted, and Chad immediately excused himself to go cleanse his eye, his walk was rigid with anger. I turned to smile at Elijah and Nathaniel, no trace of regret in my eyes. Lij smiles back, and I think Nathaniel even grinned a little. Additions were being made to our little roadtrip and yet, we could have never planned ahead for the one we were about to face.
