Simplicity

Chapter 2

I woke up to a sharp pain in my hand, I looked over and saw a hungry Homer chewing on my index finger. Ever since he was a kitten he's woken me up by either chewing on my hand or sitting on my face.

  "Homer, come here you ugly ball of fluff." I rolled to the left, scooping him up in my arms and cuddling him like a teddy bear. He was purring and nudging my face, loosing patches of hair in the process. "You know what? I'm going to make you a fish cake. How's that sound, huh?" I looked at him, half expecting him to answer me. "Oh at least pretend like you understand me." I scratched him behind  his ears and stroked his nose, making him purr even more. "Alright buddy, I've gotta get ready for school, up we get." He meowed in protest as I lifted him up and placed him on the window-sill behind my bed.

   It was Monday morning and I was already late. Last night I'd gone to Edith's and stayed up 'till 2am playing PS3 with Rick. I reluctantly got out of bed and opened up the curtains to a surprisingly sunny day. "I guess I'll head down to the park today to get some portraits done." I said turning around to talk to Homer. With that in mind I padded over to my closet retrieving a Pink Floyd T-shirt and skinny jeans. After changing out of my pajamas I turned the radio on to my favorite station and walked into the bathroom to find Homer drinking out of the toilet bowl like a dog. "Do you ever learn?" He meowed and padded back into my bedroom.  I began brushing my teeth but there was a knock on the door so when I opened it to a happy looking Alex Hart I had toothpaste dripping down my chin with my toothbrush in my mouth. Alex was tall-about 6ft and skinny. He had dirty-blonde,shaggy hair and blue eyes. Alex and I had been friends since 1st grade and he's also been my lift to school for the best part of two years.I waved him in and went back to rinse out my foamy mouth.

  "What's up, rubber duck?" He perched himself of my bathtub, his long legs resting on my laundry basket.

  "As you can see I'm trying to get ready for school. So get out of my bathroom and go make me a coffee or something." I pulled him up and shoved him out the bathroom.

  "Isn't that the woman's job?" he snickered as I shot him a glare and shut the door behind him. Once alone, I went to the mirror and tied my long, scarlet hair into a tight bun making it look like a Christmas arrangement.I undid the bun and ran my fingers through it, letting it flow over my shoulders. Then I began the 5 minute ritual of putting on all my jewelry.

  "Yo, fatass. Coffee's gettin' cold." Alex was different around me, he was sloppy and impatient. Around everyone else he was the organized, responsible and understanding school president. We'd known each other  too long for him to act that way around me. He was really popular with the girls but the last time he tried to use his seduction skills on me I hit him with my pillow, real hard. We've had our flings but we  were always meant to be 'just friends'. Alex tells me everything, you could call me his diary, so when we'd tried dating it just messed that up for us.

  "Did you pour it into the flasks?" I walked into the kitchen to see the coffee machine off and two empty cups on the kitchen table. He shot me his prize grin and a wink that usually made every girl giggle. I just sighed "Fine, lets go you lazy shit. We'll be late for class." He stood up and saluted,

  "Yes Ma'am, Starbucks on the way then?" He shouldered his bag and grabbed an orange off the kitchen counter .

  "Sure, but you're paying this time."

  "Don't I always pay?"

  "No Alex, that's me. You're the one who's always broke." I grabbed my portfolio off the couch, flicked the lights off and we headed out the door.

On our way out we'd bumped into Edith and Joannie. He loved Alex, for some strange reason he treated Alex better than everyone else. In all fairness, He was like an older brother to Joannie. Alex was an only child so he didn't mind the company of a toddler. Joannie was only five so there was a thirteen year gap between the two of them. Even still, they were really close.

  "Hey Kid, I'm cooking dinner for you guys tonight, alright?" Alex was always good at everything but cooking was not his forte. We all just laughed and headed on our way. Alex drove an old, black Honda Civic which was a pretty decent car despite the fact that last summer he thought it would be a good idea to park it in a pond. Ever since then the faux leather seats have an uncanny resemblance to a homeless guy's blanket.Since no one made coffee this morning, we stopped off at Starbucks getting coffees and caramel waffles. Alex nearly got a number from the girl at the counter but I didn't have the patience for his flirting.

  "Come on lover-boy, lets go already." He winked at her slipping a few extra caramel waffles out of the box in the process. "You're quite sneaky you know that?" he offered me a waffle and I accepted it with a sigh and a shake of the head as we headed back to the car.