Friday night, finally. Maybe I was anticipating this, even excited about it. The day at school was riddled with mixed emotions.
Knowing that another player besides Mr. Radek was nearby is kinda haunting, I did my best not to stare at him or engage with him. Spencer is mostly quiet in class; he sits with his girlfriend in the chemistry lab and in our shared math class for the final period. Emma used to talk with her a lot, back when we first became friends. Right, she kicked me in the middle of the hallway and acted like it was normal. She's always been one for dramatic entrances.
Now I'm just laying in bed reminiscing, my mind is going a mile a minute. Do I look okay? Do I stink? What if she doesn't want to visit? How do I get her to talk about Carly? What if more things happen? You know, romantic things? Fuck, I'm lame.
What time is it, anyway, let's check.
7:15 P.M
Emma's usually all gung-ho about being a flirt, but today she's been radio silent. She's always "Let's flirt after class." And "Why don't you kiss me on the mouth if you've got a problem with how I act."
Or even earlier, when she made her little snarky comment about how I couldn't cook, and that she'd be the one to make us breakfast.
I'll text her in a minute, I'm gonna clean my room up a bit.
At least take the tons of cups I've accumulated on top of my drawer down to the kitchen, along with any old plates. I should change my clothes too, and toss on some deodorant, at the very least.
Mr. Radek and I didn't do anything today, he knew I was going to be busy, or whatever you call this.
I've got to make sure my pistol is unloaded too and keep it far far away. I don't know if she's one to snoop in someone's room after visiting for the first time, but I'll ensure that there's no way she can find it.
Scooping up the glasses and plates in my room, they clack together, the rustling of the clay plates mixed in with the glass cups and cutlery almost makes it sound like I'm trying to perform a drum solo on the walk downstairs.
"That's where all my fucking cups went." Mom blurts out.
"Oh yeah, I just uhh, you know, right? I'm a busy-bodied young man, sometimes I forget cups. And spoons, forks, plates... that one bowl of old cereal." I say back to her.
"You're cleaning this up." She replies.
"Yeah, okay, in a minute, I'll be right back," I say back and run upstairs to my room.
I remove the pants that I wore at school today, put on a new pair of underwear, empty the pockets from my dirty pants and toss them into my new pair. Change my shirt, and grab some fresh socks.
I also throw away any trash into the garbage can in my room, I'll make up an excuse to clean the rest while she's here, if she comes.
There are old chip bags, wrappers from food, old soda bottles, fuck. I'm gross. All into the trash you go.
I remember Kelly said something about not using the bathroom while doing intense boss raids or something on his games, and he'd pee in bottles in his room. That thought irked me when he said it, and even more so that I'm remembering it.
First impressions of a home are important, at least I think so. Maybe I should fucking, spray my room with disinfectant or something. A boys' room is nasty.
Next, close the door to my room.
I step into the closet to the lefthand side of my door, across from my bed, and grab my pistol. I quickly empty the chamber, and the cartridge and hide the bullets somewhere else. If she is a snoopy girl, then at least I can say it's a BB gun or something.
Gotta go deodorant up my pits and brush my teeth real quick.
At least I don't smell like the bush like I did yesterday.
While brushing my teeth, it's hard to not notice the incredible clutter of women's hygiene products on the bathroom sink. Thea's green and blue hairs are stuck inside her brush. I almost grabbed her brush to brush my own hair, but then remembered I don't have any.
I'm not thinking straight, I'm filled with a mixture of excitement and fear, or something.
It's alright dude, you talk with Emma every day, and you've walked home with her numerous times, you even went with her to her volleyball games and watched her from the sidelines. So, what if you're hanging out alone? With just the two of you, in close quarters, with a girl who clearly has a crush on you. That's all just normal stuff, right?
It's not. At least not for you, Danny. I know I had a girlfriend before, Sarah. But I didn't feel like this like there's a lump in my throat when I think of Emma's natural orange hair and her big, beautiful eyeballs that stare directly into the core of my being. And her piercing and precise words of flirtation. No, I didn't feel anything with Sarah, or I did, at some point. I think I did anyway.
Whatever let's change this shirt too, and fold all the laundry on the floor.
Walking back into the room, I start piling up all my laundry and tossing it into a hamper. I'll take this to the basement before I text her.
Now that I can see most of the floor, I can faintly see the burn mark I'd left on my rug after burning the rules of the game I'd written.
That's right, the in-vicinity signal is still up. I managed to ignore it, I guess thinking about Emma made me forget, momentarily. I can't just be thinking with my dick here, I've got to ask her about her friend Carly and Spencer.
That was a lot of movement suddenly. I quickly jump into bed and prepare to send Emma a text.
I don't know what to say.
I'll just type whatever.
"Hey, I'll come by to pick you up in 10?" and, send.
That's good, right? It's straightforward, assertive, or whatever.
Ahh, let's put the phone in my pocket and go do the dishes.
After walking downstairs, Mom and dad are in the kitchen.
Dad's saying something, drunkenly.
"So, I told this fucking dickhead of a boss, that I don't give a fuck if he needs me to work a Saturday, I'm spending that day with my wife. Ain't that right, Lor?" He says while holding his beer in hand.
"Oh, aren't you one for romanticism today, I didn't think you still had it in you." Mom actually laughs and jokes with Dad. That's weird to see, I don't want to see that.
They share a kiss in the kitchen, afterwards, Dad chugs his beer and puts it in the recycling, and grabs two for him and Mom.
"Oh, you're drinking tonight, mom?" I ask.
"Oh, I can do whatever I want at my age. I didn't drink while you and Thea were growing up but now look at you both. You two are old-ass kids who can cook for themselves, or whatever. You know, those chicken waffles you made were really good." She says while looking proud of me.
"Well, yeah, I'm going to have to grow up too. I can't be stuck to your teat my whole life." I say laughing.
Dad chimes in.
"Yeah, those are reserved for me now, you kids have milked your mother of too much, literally." And lets out the loudest laugh I've heard him bellow in a long time.
Mom laughs too and slaps his shoulder.
They're gross.
"Cool, thanks. I didn't ever want to hear that, but now that I have, I'll never unhear it. Can you two old bags get outta the kitchen so I can do the dishes." I say while spearheading my way toward the kitchen sink.
"You'll understand when you get older, if you can still make your wife laugh after 20 years, you're doing something right." He says before wandering his way to the living room. Mom follows behind.
They're in a good mood, for once.
Maybe I've helped with that, in a way.
Mom would always be worried about me in the past, I never got to see them laugh and talk with each other like that. I was never home, and when I was, I'd be drunk or high...
Now I'm growing up, mom doesn't have to worry about me anymore. Of course, Thea still needs some parental guidance. But I'm one less load off my mom's already burdened shoulders. At least from the outside looking in. I'm a part of a game where I'll need to kill others. Or die, but then I'll be erased from the entire history of the world. So, I guess, in a way, she'll never have to worry about me again.
I finish up the dishes after about 10 minutes of scrubbing.
I should check on Emma and see if she texted back.
"Hey yeah, I'm ready, why wouldn't I be? You know where I live." She responded.
Alright, let's go for a quick walk.
She only lives like 5 minutes away from me, but our neighborhood isn't exactly amazing.
"I'll start walking." I text her.
I quickly put on my shoes and make my way out through the back door.
It's cold, let's go grab a sweater first.
I run back in and see Mom and dad in the living room, Mom's leg is sitting on top of Dad's. I grab my sweater from the kitchen and make my way back out.
It's nighttime, my eyes aren't adjusted to the sudden darkness outside. There aren't any people walking around outside right now. Along the streets are several flickering and nonflickering streetlights. She only sent me that text a few minutes ago. But I keep checking my phone and looking at the time. It must be nervousness.
My heartbeat is faster than normal. I give myself another pep talk and begin walking toward her place.
There's a car that's stopped at the intersection in front of my house, it doesn't look like they're driving and are just sitting there. There's the muffled sound of loud blaring music coming from the interior.
Her house is just past the train tracks on the way to school. The train tracks are dark, and the light from the nearby streetlights doesn't reach them. I keep checking my phone, for no reason in particular.
As I passed the tracks, I'm near the corner turn to Emma's house. I start to notice small things like I'm becoming acutely aware of my surroundings. My feet clacking against the pavement, the smell of my own deodorant, my breathing and heart rate, I turn to take a sharp turn towards her place. On the left hand side of me, is a row of bushes, the leaves of which are long gone or in the process of falling. The foliage is empty but is shielded by the streetlamps above the head.
I open my phone one more time, knowing Emma, she's one to take initiative and meet me halfway, but I don't see her along the street anywhere. The streets are empty, I don't want to knock at her place. That'll be awkward. My heart isn't ready.
That's when Emma emerged from the bushes and screamed:
"Ambush!" she jumps towards me.
I can feel the weight of her hands pressing on my shoulders as she hops onto my back.
"Ambush! Get it? Cause I was in a bush? Now onwards, my gallant steed!" She screams out while pointing her fingers forward. I can only see her arm from where I'm looking. But I can feel her weight on me as I instinctively huddled my body forward to support her.
"Neigh," I say, knowing it could either mean that I'm a horse, or that I'm saying no and stand still for a second.
I place my hands on her thighs to support her better as I've always done. And feel the silky texture of... a dress? It's mixed in with the warmth of her thighs, the two textures of her skin, and the material blend into one another in my grasp.
Then I begin walking back to my place.
This is just normal Emma's behavior.
I almost wanted to throw her off me immediately, but instead chose to walk silently.
"I guess we're off then," I say quietly.
"Horses can't talk." She bonks me ever so slightly over the head before hopping off me.
When she jumps, I can hear several items jumbling around with her. I turn to finally face her.
She's wearing a blue dress, that stretches just past her knees. Underneath is a white sock, or something. She is one for knee socks. She's wearing a jacket that cuts off halfway down her waist. She's wearing boots, the laces stretch up towards her calf. And her hair looks like it's been straightened. And beneath the streetlight, I can see her beautiful green eyes emerge and glisten in the light. She smiles at me widely before saying:
"Did I scare ya? Were you scared? Did you almost go number 2?" in a cheery tone.
I don't know why I was so nervous. Emma is still Emma.
"Yeah, yeah. So scared, terrified even. I almost flung you off my back and ran for the hills. What would you have done then?" I ask in a sarcastic tone.
"I'd have brought you down with me, obviously, you know my grip. I wouldn't let you let go." She says so matter of factly, with a straight face.
"Sooo... You always drop me off at home first, I've never been to your house, is it that way? The way you're walking. Talk to me, Danny, I don't know where we're going, are you luring me somewhere to beat me up? Huh? Huh? Tell me, tell me." She's speaking so quickly and not giving me a chance to reply properly.
"No, my place isn't that way, I'm taking you to the hospital up the hill, you need a mental assessment and I know I've got to be the one to admit you," I reply.
"Hey, you ain't gotta do that, you already know I'm only crazy for you." She says while matching my pace, her hands are behind her back and she instinctively rests her head on my shoulders and smiles.
"I'm not sure that's the only crazy in your head."
"You're a big spoilsport." She puffs up her cheeks and turns away from me.
We've made it around the corner now, and just up to the train tracks. I can see my place from here.
"Hey, remember when those new houses on the right were just forest?" Emma asks.
"They built those places like, 5 years ago, right?" She turns to me.
She's quick to change moods.
"Yeah, I remember that, me and Austin used to go through those abandoned houses and just, hang out. At night, when the workers weren't around. I don't know why, but it felt like we were exploring new frontiers or something."
"You lame fuckin' nerd." She smacks me on my lower back.
"Ooh, I almost grabbed your butt, you want me to do that next time?" She asks while looking up at me.
"I'll pass on that, I'd like my butt to remain untainted, unless I end up in prison then I'll have no choice but to give up the goods," I say back to her.
She stops and grabs her chin, and after a few seconds of thinking says:
"Nope, not happening, no one's allowed to touch you but me, I might stab them. You know, I always keep a pocketknife on me, can't be too trusting of any individuals around these parts." She says after taking out a small knife with a wooden handle and blade that looks like it's been sharpened recently, she retracts the blade in a quick motion.
I reach my hands out to snatch it.
She immediately pulls back and releases the blade from its cover.
"Oh ho ho, you want some of this, burksy boy?" She says and begins laughing.
"No, just a test of your reflexes, I've got to make sure my girl is capable of defending herself without me around."
Why did I say that?
She slows down her steps and becomes quiet as we pass by the train tracks.
Oh fuck, did I make it awkward? Am I stupid?
As her footsteps stop against the rusted metal railway, I look back at the sudden stop of her feet.
"You promise? The whole... "Your girl" ... thing." She says while looking down at her feet.
She's not one to not have something to say.
The wind feels like it blew at the perfect time.
Her dress and hair sway in the wind, with the streetlights illuminating behind her, she looks at me with uncertainty, for what feels like the first time she's ever been unsure about anything.
"I promise."
She stands still, processing what I just said.
Then speeds up to catch up to me and punches me in the gut.
"Good, I don't know how to accept praise or things like, love. I get aggressive, I'm sorry." She says while skipping ahead of me. Her arms moved side to side.
"There are easier ways to say that!" I yell out and begin following her.
"You'll be fine, you're a big strong boy, remember?" She says while continuing on at the same pace before stopping and waiting for me to catch up.
When I finally do, we're stopped at the intersection near my place.
"Hey, you remember the old fart who used to live here?" She turns to the right to face a house along the corner of the street, the house is upon a slight hill, with a fence along the backyard.
"Oh, yeah, I think his name was Sam. I don't remember his last name..." I reply.
"Didn't it start with an M?" She says while looking up.
"uhh, Mckoy? McDonald...Mck... something." She starts blurting out more M-sounding last names.
"McKenzie, I think," I speak.
"Oh! Right! McKenzie! That old guy was a dick, he'd always say how he was going to call the cops on me whenever I cut through his yard. You know how there's an elementary school at the end of this street, ya?" Emma says while reminiscing.
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well, I went there too, and whenever I'd cut through his yard on the way to school, he'd be watching Jeopardy or some shit in his living room, and would always, always, come outside and yell at me." She laughs.
"Hey, do you remember elementary? I remember you from there. I remember you were so scared of spiders back then when our teacher Ms. Mcloughlin found one, you screamed and ran into the bathroom." She starts holding her stomach with laughter.
Ms. Mcloughlin was like, grade 3? I don't remember that. It's weird for her to have memories of me when I have minimal memories of her. You never really know what other people know about you, I guess.
"Oh, shut up, I'm not scared of spiders. My friend Claire forced me to not be afraid of them, at least." I reply before walking across the street toward home.
"Hey, wait up!" She shouts coming back to my side.
"Right, your friend Claire. She's interesting, right?" Emma looks up at me with her green eyes as we're up to the front door of my place. We both take steps up against the concrete steps. Emma stops me for a second to breathe and smiles and says:
"Okay, meeting your parents, that's normal, we can do this." In a nervous tone, while manually breathing to hype herself up.
It makes me happy to know I'm not the only one who was nervous today. I stop before opening the door and stare at her.
Scanning every part of her face as she's looking down and breathing. The outside light in the front of the house is on, and I'm able to get a better look at her. She's wearing eyeliner that comes off the ends of her eyelids. They make her eyes look bigger, and her green eyes look uncertain. Her fair, ivory skin shines against the illumination. Her freckles are speckled across her nose and cheeks, which are just barely noticeable through the opacity of her makeup.
"Why you looking at my face so much, you not saying anything is weirding me out." She says after turning away from me to the nearby street.
"I just thought, you look really pretty. You're beyond beautiful. And your makeup looks really nice. I sorta just found myself staring, my bad." I say while making a lighthearted smile.
"Well... you can look at me all you want. Just give me a few seconds to take that in." She says in a low but high-spirited voice.
"Nope, no seconds," I say while opening the front door and entering the house, taking off my shoes and looking back at her with a sly smile on my face.
I've become so accustomed to her doing things like this, she's gotta be on the receiving end occasionally.
"You gonna come in?" I ask, loud enough for my parents in the living room to hear me.
She enters slowly while watching her footsteps and moving deliberately with a scornful look on her face.
Now I feel like a bully.
When she steps forward, the items in her backpack rustle around.
Mom and Dad are looking at me in silence and waiting to see who's going to come around the corner.
Emma enters their field of vision, they share a look with each other, and they're clearly a little drunk because Mom says:
"Oh, Danny brought home a girl, and aren't you a looker." She stands up and waddles her way towards us and on her way butts out a cigarette she had in her hand.
"That's my boy," Dad says before drinking his beer and turning his attention back to the TV.
Mom slaps me on the arm.
"If you were bringing a girl home, you could've told me, I'd have been much more dressed up." She says while welcoming Emma into the house.
"I thought it'd be better for Emma to see you in your natural element," I say back to her, she ignores what I say.
Emma smiles and takes off her shoes.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you, uhh, Danny's mom." She isn't looking into Mom's eyes, she's stuck staring at the wall and stairs to the right of the doorway. Emma is holding tightly the straps around her backpack.
"Oh you can just call me whatever, my name is Loretta, it's nice to meet you, Emma," Mom says while gesturing for Emma to follow her into the kitchen.
Before Emma is roped into following behind Mom, she hands me her bag silently and looks upstairs. I get the hint, she wants me to take her bag upstairs, probably.
Emma removes her shoes and follows Mom while I head upstairs with Emma's bag and place it on my bed. There's the sound of glass coming from the bag. Best not to pry, I leave it and head back downstairs.
As I'm walking down, I overheard Mom and Emma's conversation.
"Is your hair natural? It's so pretty. You know when I was younger, I always wished I had natural red hair." Mom says loudly.
"Oh, yes, my mom is a redhead, so that's where I got it from, yup, she gave it to me the day I was born," Emma says while laughing quietly.
I make it to the kitchen as they're talking.
Mom is bent over the kitchen counter while Emma is sitting at the kitchen table.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
Mom looks back at me.
"What the hell do you think? Trying to light my smoke, I lost my lighter somewhere." She says and returns to bending over the counter.
She's using the elements of the toaster to light her smoke. Jeez, Mom, first impressions matter, you know?
I dig around in my pockets and take out my yellow lighter. I give it one last flick and see the sparks of the flint wheel light the gases in the lighter one last time.
"Hey Mom, you can have this one, you'll burn your hair again doing that," I say and hand her the lighter after she turns my way.
"Hey, that was one time you little dickhead." She says and uses it to light her smoke.
I go to sit beside Emma, so she's not feeling too awkward.
"So, how long have you been in love with my son?" Mom asks in a completely serious tone and stares at Emma with dead eyes.
Emma is clearly taken aback.
She's stumbling over her words.
"Oh? Love, um, well, you know. There was that time and uh." She says while trying to explain, she's moving her hands around a lot, like she's fixing the puzzle piece together.
Mom starts howling with laughter.
"Ahahaha, I'm kidding, imagine if I was serious. George! I finally did it, I scared Danny's girlfriend! Didn't I say I'd do that when he was still a boy!" She's still laughing as she talks.
Dad's distant laughter from the living room reaches the kitchen.
They make me want to die.
Emma starts laughing too, seems like she understands Mom's humor.
"Ahh, I wonder what Danny was like as a boy." Emma stares at me from over the table with half-closed eyelids.
Oh god, don't get Mom started.
"Oh, you should've seen him, where should I start?" Mom starts smoking while she's thinking.
"Oh! He used to have trouble speaking as a kid, like when he'd say garbage, he'd say bawbitch." She says while looking like she's gonna crack up again.
"Anyway, he came up to me once, I don't even remember how old he was, and said "mom the bawbitch." And I thought he said "Mom, the bar bitch." I thought his dad taught him that, and I was just about ready to kick my husband's teeth in. But when I was going downstairs to yell at George, Danny said "The bawbitch is full, the bawbitch is full!" in his little high-pitched voice." She looks at the garbage bin.
"Anyway, it took me a second to understand what he said, and my motherly instinct to understand he was talking about the garbage." She says while chuckling and staring longingly at the garbage.
"Mom, you look like you're in love with the garbage, quit looking at it like that," I say while trying to bring her back to the present.
"Oh, shut up, you. Always ruining moments." She says before pouring some water and slamming it down.
Emma is finding this amusing. I regret bringing her here now.
Kidding, I don't.
"What else did he do?" Emma eggs on Mom to find out information about my childhood.
"There were so many things that he did, Danny was such a little shithead while growing up." She says before being interrupted by Emma.
"He still is." She says while laughing together with my mom.
"Oh I know, I can't believe he brought home such a pretty girl like you," Mom says while leaning her weight against the counter.
"Well, someone has to keep him in line, right? Imagine if we let him run loose, you should've seen him before I showed up." Emma looks at me and sticks out her tongue with her eyes shut.
"Oh, is that why he's been getting so much better? He hasn't come home drunk in like 3 months. Guess a good woman can make the world of difference." Mom says before grabbing herself another beer from the fridge.
Well, don't they get along just swell? They're both working equally well together to crush my self-esteem, it's hard to join in the conversation with them.
Emma's completely immersed from learning about me, and Mom loved the attention to tell her all about my childhood.
"Okay, so for real, how did you two meet?" Mom asks.
Emma looks to me to answer.
I finally feel a part of the conversation now.
"Well, we meet in chemistry class at school. We both sort of gravitated to each other." I say and begin remembering how she kicked me in the legs the first time we formally met.
"Yeah, gravitated, that's definitely a word. You don't remember the magic in the air? We locked eyes, you, Danny, completely stunned by my beauty, and me, the compliant damsel, ever so enthralled by the trashy kid in the back of the class. You said how we were star-crossed lovers, whom you'd met in thousands of past lives, all leading to this moment of true love." She says while acting out a dramatic play with multiple hand gestures and changes in vocal tones.
"Nuh-uh, didn't happen, you kicked me and said you liked seeing me on my knees," I say back to her.
"Oh, same thing," Emma speaks quickly and shoots a glare my way, while Mom stares at us with a smile on her face.
After a pause, mom says:
"Well, I hope you come around more often, and sorry, I'm being inconsiderate of your feelings, you don't mind if I smoke around you, do you, Emma?" Mom walks to grab the ashtray from the table.
Emma passes it to her before she makes it halfway across the room.
"Oh no, don't worry. My mom smokes around me too."
"Well, if you ever asked, I'd happily smoke outside. Who was your mom, again?"
"My mom's name is Taylor, she's about, yay-high, small-statured, always looking like a miserable bitch." Emma says with a tinge of resentment in her voice.
"Taylor... Taylor."
"Oh, Taylor Harrison? I grew up with her, and you're right, she can be a miserable bitch." Mom doesn't sound apologetic or like she's joking, but she smiles anyway.
"Well, next time you come over, have Dan say something. I'll make a nice dinner." She says while butting out her cigarette.
"Oh yeah, I'll have to mention it, Danny doesn't always think things through." They both like at me as though they've reached some mutual understanding together.
"Well, you two have fun, I'm gonna go continue this movie with George, it's so nice to meet you, Emma," Mom says before leaving to the living room but stops at the hallway door.
"Why the hell did you have a lighter, Dan?" She says in an angry tone.
"You better not be fucking smoking."
"I'm not, I don't know why I had it, sorry!" I yell to her.
Mom scoffs and goes to sit down, with a beer in her hand.
Emma looks pleased, she's got this shit-eating grin on her face. I can tell she really enjoyed that.
"Well, wanna head upstairs?" I ask.
Emma nods and follows me to the stairs.
As we're walking by, Dad's hand is around Mom's shoulders, and he nods at Emma.
"Nice to meet ya." He says and doesn't say anything else.
Emma didn't really acknowledge him.
As we're walking upstairs, Thea looks out of her doorway and stares at me and Emma in the hallway. Her eyes only widen and then she closes her door. Emma giggles at it.
I don't think I have visitors often, is my room, like, ok? I don't know, do I even have anything to entertain her with? How does one entertain a girl, a love interest, what if she sees through the façade of my character and realizes I'm a boring fuck.
Thinking this, Emma walks into my room and sits on the bed while staring at the walls. She stares at my floors, my inspecting my bed sheets and blankets, feeling the textures and swinging her feet around while taking it all in. It's kind of creepy that she's just looking at my room. She looks at my drawer, the posters along the wall, and everything else.
"Oh, hey, I like that band too, rise against." She says while pointing at the poster.
"I wouldn't mind going to one of their concerts," I say back to her.
"Guess we'll have to buy some, then, won't we?" She smiles and lays down on my bed.
"Hey, my bag." She looks over to it and grabs it before sitting back up and looking into the bag.
"I've never really been to a guy's place before." She grabs her phone from the bag and checks the time, then looks back at me and throws the phone against the bed.
"Come sit down, it's your room, don't be standing at the edge of the bed like that you big weirdo." She says before placing her bag on the floor.
"Hey, you cleaned out your bawbitch before I came by, how chivalrous of you." Emma points to the trash can by my drawer.
"Gotta clean the bawbitch once a day." I say back sarcastically.
"You big stupid. Oh, you have this game?" Emma stands up and grabs a game case by my TV and Xbox.
"I love Left 4 dead 2, you wanna play a game? You got more controllers?"
She looks all excited like she wants to hop up and down.
"Yeah, there's one somewhere, around here," I say.
Emma stares at me.
I stare back.
We look at each other in silence.
"Well, are ya gonna find it? Or do you want me to start going through your room? Either one is fine by me, by the way." She says half-jokingly, half-seriously.
"I think it's actually beside your feet."
"Oh, where?"
Emma leans down looking at her feet.
"Right there."
I poke her in the ribs and her body stiffens and she lets out a small yelp.
"Ay, no tickling, I'll kick your ass." She says while raising her fist to me.
"I actually think it's in my drawer." I get up and start opening and closing drawers until I find it.
Upon being given the controller, she says it won't turn on and that the batteries are probably dead.
"I'll find some, just give me a minute." And begin turning to leave the room on the hunt for batteries, Emma stops me.
"Wait, I got a weird question. Do you have any, pop? Or juice, or something." She says while taking a bottle of vodka out from her bag.
She lets out a faint smile and a defeated giggle.
"Do you ever, uh, drink? I grabbed this from my mom earlier, I don't know. Carly said it was a good idea to bring it with me." And then she shuts up during her explanation.
Maybe she wasn't supposed to tell me the Carly part?
The bottle is unopened and says 40% alc/vol, 750ml at the bottom of it.
"Um, not recently, it should be fine, I think. I haven't had anything to drink in months, but yeah, I could drink." I say to her.
Maybe she'll talk about Spencer and Carly if she's inebriated.
She looks hesitant for a second.
"Your mom won't hate me, will she?" She looks like she became smaller than she already is and looks downwards.
"No, mom was, well she was herself at our age, I don't think she'll care. As long as we're not out partying and making poor decisions, it's fine." I say back to her.
"So, we just need chase?" I ask her before making my way out of the room.
"What's chase? Like a cat and dog? I'd definitely be the dog."
"No, you doof. I meant like, so when you're drinking the vodka it doesn't taste like hairspray being shoved in our face holes." I reply.
"Don't talk about my face hole like that, talking about shoving things in it. I'm a delicate lady." She pouts and turns her head from me.
"What," I say in a confused tone.
I can feel my eyebrows furrowing against my forehead and them rolling to the side as I walk downstairs.
Emma yells at me.
"And batteries!" her voice echoes through the whole house.
It's Friday, so Dad just got paid. There's probably something in the fridge.
Mom and Dad are still watching their movie in the living room. The sound of the TV is blaring over the surround sound speakers.
It's weird that we're often impoverished, but Dad still has money to buy things for himself. He's just that sort of dude.
Walking into the kitchen, I begin rummaging through the fridge. There's an off-brand 2L of soda, I'll just grab the whole thing. It's unopened. I should grab two cups from the cabinet too. Dad's beer is in the fridge, never been one for drinking beer though. Sometimes I wonder how people can drink the stuff. But then again, I was smoking crack in a shit hole in my memories and shooting up dirty heroine, so who am I to judge.
After grabbing the cups, I start walking upstairs with my hands full. Before turning back, and asking Mom:
"Ay mom, we got any batteries in the house?"
"Shut up, we're watching a movie." She says and pauses.
"What do you need batteries for? Your vibrator? Took those out ages ago for the TV remote." She and Dad laugh, she looks like she wants to slap her knee from her stupid joke.
When they're done having their moment she says:
"There should be some on top of the fridge, or in the drawers in the kitchen, or my room." She says before adding:
"There are some condoms in my nightstand too, you gotta be safe, I know what it's like to be young." She says before laughing.
Dad laughs too. They're both gross.
I just shake my head at them and go upstairs to leave the 2L and cups to Emma and wander back downstairs.
Alright, batteries, batteries... batteries for my...vibrator... no.
Fucking mom, saying stupid things. Batteries for the controller.
If I were a controller, where would I hide? I mean battery.
I breathe a heavy sigh at myself.
Okay, let's check the fridge first.
I'm tall enough to see the top of the fridge, and upon inspection, there's only old mail and dried-out pens, and some other miscellaneous crap.
Let's check the kitchen drawers next. There's a small portion of the kitchen counter that's beside the oven, we keep all our random crap in it. This middle section is beside the fridge, and next to the oven. The coffee pot is on top of this section.
After pulling the brass-colored handle to the cupboard, I start rummaging through there next. There are, a lot of old cords to electronics we probably don't own anymore, some old nickels and dimes, more mail, and a few small tools like this see-through screwdriver. Nothing I need.
Whatever, let's check upstairs in Mom's room.
As I wander into the living room, Mom and dad have stopped watching the movie and are flirting with each other. No one wants to see their old asses do that.
Dad sees me and yells out:
"Danny! You didn't bother introducing that girl of yours to me." Dad says before he lets out a gnarly wet burp.
Mom looks visibly disgusted.
"Yeah, and that's why. You're too raunchy for her." I say while laughing.
"Damn straight," Mom says and takes his arm off her, and scoots herself to the opposite end of the couch.
"Pfft, I can be a gentleman. How do you think I met such a refined and beautiful woman like your mom." He says while falling forward towards Mom and grabbing her by the waist.
"Shaddap, you're drunk." Mom replies.
"What, you are beautiful, just as beautiful as the day I met you, you gave me 2 wonderful kids, even though they're handsome like me." He says while stroking his beard, and his metaphorical ego.
"Whatever, they look more like me and..." walk upstairs while they talk. They're making me feel weird and gross at the same time.
When I make it upstairs, Thea is looking at me from the end of the hallway through her open door.
"Who's that girl." She says while darting her eyes back and forth.
"Emma, that's what they call her anyway. Could be a fake name though, maybe she's a double agent." I reply back to her.
"What the fuck are you talking about." She says, before closing the door on my face.
She gets that from Dad.
I open up mom's room, their room looks more parently, parental? They've got their bed in the center of the room, with a nightstand on mom's side of the bed, various crap they've collected are in their room. Dad's work clothes are hung up in the open closet on the right side immediately entering, and there's a drawer and a huge TV that sits across from their bed. Their bed even has a huge metallic frame.
The lamp on Mom's nightstand is on its low setting, there's a dark ambiance to their room. The shadows on the walls stretch across the room.
Okay, let's grab these batteries.
Walking up to the nightstand, I try to open it, but the damn drawer is stuck. There are a few scratches along the side of it, I think they've had this thing for years and years.
I try jerking open the nightstand drawer, but when I do, the entire cabinet falls out and the contents spill onto the floor.
Fuck.
Whatever let's clean it up. Oh, look, batteries. I grab the AA batteries and notice that she wasn't lying, there are condoms in here. I grab them too, hesitantly.
My monkey brain just grabbed them both, I blame the reptile that crawled out of the ocean and gave birth to mammals a 1/3rd of billion years ago.
Claire always says that.
I toss them both in my pocket and finally, make it back to the room.
Emma is sitting happily, looking through the menus on the game and choosing her character.
"You took forever, so I started the game. I'm the first player, you can be second. The early bird gets the worm, as they say." She says while smiling.
She's excitedly kicking her legs and back forth against my bed, now that we're alone, it's weird. Her multi-colored knee socks against her pale legs is, something. Something else. There's a small exposure of skin between her socks and dress, I gotta stop looking.
"That's fine, we're both playing on the same TV anyway," I say before going to sit beside her. I tell her to scoot over, and she complies. The warmth of the bed from where she was sitting is making me feel nervous, I can smell Emma's perfume. When I turn to face her, her exposed neck is blemish free, and her collar bones gently arch towards her chest.
Yeah, really gotta stop looking. She makes my heart skip beats. This girl gives me heart palpitations.
When Emma finishes setting everything up, she looks at her feet to the vodka bottle.
"Hey, can you close the door? I know you said it's okay, but I still don't want your mom to see me drinking." She says while avoiding eye contact with me.
"Sure, sure," I say while standing up and closing the door.
She picked up the bottle as I did so.
She's looking at it, inspecting it, scanning it, looking at it from all angles.
"No time like the present." She opens the bottle and immediately takes a shot of it, quickly and without hesitation.
Her face fills with regret as she barely manages to swallow it.
"Blegh, urgh. Aaaaaaah." She says while making a sour face.
"Well, no one told you to do that... did you like it?" I say sarcastically to her.
After she finished making her weird faces, she turns to me:
"No, what the hell, why is it so nasty, I hate it, why does my mom drink this shit." She says while gesturing for me to hand her the 2L.
After I pass it to her, she makes a face of relief.
"That's what I brought it for," I say while smiling.
"You take one, see if you're such a big man, huh, hot shot? You gonna make me do that by myself, huh, huh?" She says while passing me the bottle.
"I'll take one, it's no big deal," I say back to her.
I bring the clear bottle to my lips, the pungent aroma fills my nostrils. I take a deep whiff of it and already know it's going to be nasty. I tip the bottle upwards, and as the cool liquid hits my tongue, I tasted the strong, burning flavor of vodka. The taste is sharp and bitter, with a hint of sweetness that lingered on my tongue.
I swallowed it, feeling the warmth spread around my chest and stomach. It's fucking gross, but I can't let her know that.
Trying my best to keep a neutral expression, I hand it back to her.
"See, it's an acquired taste."
She places the bottle down while narrowing her eyes to me, her green eyes reflect the light in the room.
"Sure, you're just tryna act tough." Her tone of voice is mixed with disbelief and contempt as she turns away from me and starts playing the game.
"I'm gonna start without you if you don't join the game."
I grab the batteries from my pocket and drop the condom on the ground. The immediate sense of embarrassment rushes through me like a wave, kill me now.
Emma is distracted, I quickly snatch it up without her seeing and walk over to the controller and pop the batteries in and join her.
"Who you gonna pick?" She asks.
"I don't know, they all do the same thing, right?"
"No way, you be the chick. That's a guy thing to do."
"I'll just be Nick."
"That's the wooses' choice. Ellis is the best choice. The only real choice, I'd be like Ellis if there were a zombie apocalypse. Talking about how Jimmy Gibbs Jr. is the man." She tries her best to imitate a Southern accent.
Emma starts the game after I join, and I make myself a strong drink, the fizzy sound of the cola mixes with the vodka, but it still smells nasty.
Emma tells me to make her one too as she gets comfortable, not that I mind.
While we're playing, Emma gets really competitive.
"God damn fucking zombie piece of shit, why don't they bother you? Are they more attracted to me, you should be there by my side you fuck head." She says while bumping her shoulder against mine and tapping the controller buttons aggressively.
"You just gotta be good, sorry," I reply to her and bump her shoulder back.
"I haven't been able to play for a long time, okay? I'm rusty." She says after pushing the majority of her weight against me.
She doesn't pick herself off of me when she does, she continues leaning her head against my chest and starts pushing her elbows into my thighs.
"Ay yo, get outta there."
The tickling vibration reverberates through my body, and I jolt away from her.
"Payback." She sticks her tongue out at me and sits back up while laughing.
We continue playing, and drinking, for a good hour.