Screw Love

Chapter Eight: Newcomer

                        NICOLE

     Surprisingly, but at the same time, unsurprisingly, my mom really liked Blake. It was a sigh of relief because I felt much more comfortable with him around her, but the only issue was that she still didn't know that we were dating. Apparently, she thought we were best friends by the way we toned down our closeness with each other. Don't get me wrong, we were gonna tell her eventually, I just needed to wait for the right moment.

      It was two days before Thanksgiving and the homecoming dance was moved to a week before Christmas break for some reason but whatever. So I guess I had to shop for a holiday dress. At this time, we just got on Thanksgiving break (which was short) and Blake was already invited to spend Thanksgiving with us.

      I was over at Lee's apartment (yeah, I was a little surprised to find out she lived in one) to spend the night.  Her mom worked at a local Wal-Mart and she had to work late that night and wouldn't come back until early in the morning. It was around ten at night and Lee and I were watching TV in the living room.

"What do you wanna eat?" asked Lee, stroking her black hair.

"Uh, what do you have?" I returned

"We got frozen pizzas, breakfast food, hot dogs, ravioli, Ramen, I can make some chicken if you want."

"Um, I guess we'll eat pizzas."

"Okay, let me put them in the oven."

   I laid down on her bed, yawning and scratching my leg. I was honestly tired; I woke up at five in the morning after having a bad dream about my dad. From what I could remember, he was holding me in his arms and then everything around me turned gray. Then, he dropped me.

        Have you ever had those dreams where you're falling and as soon as you hit the ground, you wake up? Yup, that's how it went. What was weird was why I was dreaming of him in the first place. I haven't seen him since I was five. Literally, I have not seen or heard from him in years. The last time I saw him he was angry, but I didn't know why.

       When I hear kids talk about how "awful" they have it with their parents because they didn't get the new iPhone, I want to scream. They're lucky to have both of their parents and to actually have people that care about them. Of course, I loved my mom, but I honestly don't know why she acted the way she did sometimes. If the subject of marriage popped up, she would get excited at first if I said "Oh, I would like to get married one day", but then, like a flash, her whole attitude would become bitter and she would quickly change the subject. I honestly didn't know what to do about that.

  The last time I saw my dad in a good light was at his birthday party. I don't remember too much since I was too little, but I do know that my mom and some of the family threw him a party outside. He was so happy and I remember him carrying me for most of the day. I honestly don't know what happened after that and now I really don't care.

  Lee came back in the room after putting the pizzas in the oven and I caught her looking at my hair.

"What?" I said, wondering why she was staring at it.

"Have you ever dyed your hair before?"

"Nope. This is my natural hair color," I replied.

"Damn, you haven't done anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she stated, " you haven't really had that much fun with yourself. Do you want me to dye your hair?"

"I guess."

"Okay, come in the bathroom."

  I was being serious. I never dyed my hair, wore fake eyelashes, smoked weed, did drugs, have sex or anything that kids do nowadays. It's a little strange. I was never desperate to do those things or in a rush but at the same time, I wondered how it would be if I did. I'm not saying I'm antisocial (or at least I don't think I am), but I was never a party girl or the girl who tried everything. Back at Chicago, if my old friends did something they weren't supposed to do, I would be the first to say "no". But now, with Lee, I guess it wouldn't hurt changing my look a little.