Sunset Boulevard

Chapter 5

When Monday morning rolled around, Delilah's groove had returned. She was still upset, but Jae's comforting presence and the knowledge that her father was coming home had brightened her mood considerably.

"You ready Della?" Jae asked, staring up at the ceiling from his lying position on her bed.

"Yeah," she replied, and then jumped up from where she'd been straightening her hair in front of her dresser. She smoothed out her top and smiled at his dream-like state.

He smiled up at her, "We're taking my car today."

"You're coming back here after school?" She questioned, surprised, as they ventured down to the kitchen.

"Yeah," he said and grabbed the carton of pure orange juice from the fridge. "Why?"

Delilah shrugged and placed 2 glasses on the counter for Jae to fill. "Thought you would've liked to have seen your parents."

Jae suddenly grimaced. "I'd rather prolong the meeting I'll have when I get back home. They'll be wanting to hear what my grandparents had to say over the weekend."

Delilah laughed, sipping the orange liquid from the sparkling glass. "So this is your hideout for the time being?"

He grinned sheepishly at her and, quizzically, grabbed a bag of carrots out of the fridge as he was putting the orange back in. He stared at it sceptically.

"You're still eating like a rabbit?"

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

As an attempt to steer away from the topic, she walked away from him and grabbed a cereal bar from one of the cupboards.

"Y'know," he grinned cheekily, quite clearly not grasping the hint of dropping the conversation. "We should stop off at McDonalds sometime. Fatten you up a bit."

Delilah glared at him, "Why don't you just dump me in a vat of lard, instead?"

Jae rolled his eyes at her exaggeration and leant back against the counter.

"Look, bikini season is coming back up, and I wont be seen dead with anything less than a flat stomach," she ran her nails down his face. "We can't all be naturally ripped like you are."

He grinned and pushed her hand away. "You know I work for it."

She shook her head, "You're a bitch."

Jae flashed her a brilliant white smile and chugged his drink. Delilah grabbed a piece of blank paper and a black ink ball pen from one of the drawers and scribbled a note for Mrs. Martinez, telling her she'd had breakfast and to call her if she received any word from her father.

"Didn't you call her last night?" Jae asked, as he spied the note from over her shoulder.

"Yeah," she cringed as she recalled the Mexican shouting, as she'd forgotten to ring the night before. She blamed it on 'not feeling well', which was actually somewhat true. "But you can never be too sure with that woman."

She held it against the fridge and placed one of the magnets, shaped like Mickey Mouse, a souvenir from when she'd visited Disneyland Paris when she was younger, and turned back around, stretching her arms over her head.

"Lets go!"

He chuckled. "Your rabbit food, m'lady," Jae bowed, holding out her carrots, and she scowled at his sniggering form.

She grabbed the bag off him and glared. "Yeah, yeah, you're a comedian." She took one out and bit the orange stick in a loud crunching manner, just to spite him.