This Is How It Goes

Chapter Three: A Bag of Chips

"Can I eat these Dorito’s? Or are they off limits?" Lea asks from somewhere in my kitchen. 

"You can eat them." I reply flicking through the channels on the TV. 

Lea is my best friend. My Dorito’s loving best friend.

"You have any salsa?" She yells.

"Somewhere in the fridge. Top shelf I think." I yell back.

"You sure? Cause I'm looking at your top shelf and I do not see any salsa." Her reply is somewhat muffled, I think she might already be eating the Dorito’s.

"If it's not on the top shelf it's not there." I say.

"That's a shame." I hear her say, more to herself than me.

She comes back into the lounge room with bare feet and a bag of Dorito’s. Lea is far too comfortable in my house. 

She plops down next to me and offers me a chip, I decline. She shrugs and digs her hand into the packet and shoves three into her mouth. "I'm so hungry."

"I can tell." I say trying not to laugh.

She tucks her feet underneath her and continues eating Dorito’s. "So how was the wedding to end all weddings?"

"Spectacular. There was wine and children and fat aunts and this wonderful specimen of a lad called Isaac." I say and then take a long sip of my soda.

Lea's big brown eyes widen. "Isaac? Do I know him or is he a new catch?"

"New." I say giving her a grin. "And fine as hell."

"Did you?" She raises her eyebrows suggestively. 

"Oh we did." I say.

She puts a hand to her heart. "Your sexual ventures inspire me."

"I'm glad."

"So, will you see him again? Have you been in contact?" She starts eating the Dorito’s again.

"I don't think so and he has. He texted and I texted back, last night. He was fabulous and really hot and just insecure enough. But I'm going to college Lea. I can't limit myself by getting involved with an Isaac. I have college boys to seduce." 

"That you do." Lea says. "Two weeks yeah?"

"Yep." I say.

"This is crazy." Lea says.

Lea and I have been friends for the past ten years, best friends for the last three. I'm not going to be cheesy and say she knows me better than anyone because I know myself best, not anyone else. But she is the closest thing I've ever had to a soul sister. She's my mate. I love her. So it's weird thinking about the fact that we won't be able to see each other all the time soon. I'm going to Cornell and she's going to Pen State. It's the classic post high school bad movie scenario. But it sucks. The cliché aspect doesn't take away from that.

"I want to be six again." I sigh.

"Kat do you truly want to be six again? Think about it." She licks a cheesy finger. "You can't have sex with boys, you barely know the alphabet and 'hell' is a swear word. Plus being six means being really dependant on your parents. Remember being dependant on your parents?"

I shudder. "I think I was self-reliant by seven."

"I think I was self-reliant by three. I don't even think my Mom packed my lunch on my first day." Lea says.

If you thought my mother was unreliable you'd have a cardiac arrest over Lea's. Her Mom is not the most stable. She's flighty. She had Lea when she was twenty and promptly handed her over to her mother, Lea's grandmother. She then snatched her back a year later and decided she wanted to be a mother and then couldn't handle it and handed her back to her mother when Lea was eight. Lea hasn't seen her mother in a year and a half. But she respects her mother's decision to at least try and stick it out unlike her Dad. He bailed as soon as her Mom told him. I know, I know it sounds like an episode of Teen Mom. But it's Lea's reality.

"Imagine how we would have turned out if our parents were normal?" I say stealing a Dorito from her. 

"Annoying as fuck." Lea says.

"Not me. I think I'd have been on the honour roll and dyed my hair strawberry blonde and been going steady with the same boy since junior year." I say flipping my brown hair over my shoulder.

"So annoying as fuck?" Lea says laughing.

"Yeah... pretty much." I agree.

"I know I wouldn't be fat." Lea says. "People with stable parents are never fat."

"No, people with pushy, perfect parents are never fat. There's a difference between normal and perfect." I say. "Besides you're not fat. You're well cushioned."

She shoves me with her shoulder. "Bitch."

"Whore." I retort.

"I think we just insulted ourselves." Lea laughs. "I'm the bitch and you're the whore."

"And proud." I say.

We sit in silence for a moment. I think that's when you know you're best friends, when you can sit with the person in complete silence. You don't need to say anything or fill in the gaps with pointless conversation. It's just nice being in that person's presence. Knowing they're with you. The best support is when a person can sit next to you and hold you together with their presence.  

"So," Lea says. "About this Isaac fellow. How old is he? What's he do to pass his days?" 

"Don't know." I say only slightly sheepish. "I think he might have said something about majoring in something to do with political science. I don't really remember. And he's probably a bit older than us."

"So it really was just a quick hook-up?" Lea asks.

"Well... it wasn't a quick hook-up." I  say with a grin. "But it didn't mean anything, no."

"And why was he at the wedding?" 

I pause for a moment and have to think. "Oh, his Dad is friends with Darren or something."

"And have you heard from your Mom and Darren?" 

"Yep." I say taking another sip of my soda. "They are having a truly fabulous time and miss us dearly."

"Well make sure to tell your Mom I regret being unable to make it." Lea says. 

"I shall." I say.

Lea stays a little longer and leaves around dinner time. Tabitha and Lachlan are at a friend’s house and I feel suddenly lonely. It's beginning to hit me. I won't see Tabitha or Lachlan or Lea all the time soon. I won't get to be annoyed by them or annoy them. I'm going to miss them. 

A/N Thanks so much for reading :) remember to comment and vote if it takes your fancy!!