It was almost high noon when I caught the car in the side mirror. The engine’s soft purr was beginning to relax the stretched silence and energize the lethargy. Rolling out the door and onto the gravel was hard work after contemplating life. However, I had a place to get to.
“So how do you think his going to greet you?” Ike commented.
“Depends on which soapie he was watching before I called him”
Ike simply grunted and we watched as the car pulled next to ours. Its slick dazzling black made the aquamarine visually enhance the design. It was a gorgeous thing in my opinion: low, black and damn sexy.
The thing that came out of the car was none of those previously mentioned things. Instead it was a Mexican frat boy, complete with golden skin and flip flops to match the aesthetic. The college look was enhanced with an exhausted face, pulled down by the eye bags and long uncut hair.
“Qué pedo, wey?” his voice seemed more gruff than usual.
“To be honest Eliseo, I would have loved a hello”, I commented while giving him a hug, “but I suppose concern will have to do now”
Eliseo smiled and looked over my shoulder before his face relaxed, “Well at least Ike was with you the whole time. So you couldn’t have honestly messed this one up on your own accord”
“Wow, concerned and helpfully judgemental. Such a wonderful combination wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t need the sarcasm Neu”, Eliseo sniffed, looking at the hood, “I guess I’ll get started on the car”
“Please do”
“Gasps”, he actually said the onomatopoeia of gasp, “you actually said please to me. This is a dream come true I tell you”
“There is no need for your sarcasm Eli”
I leaned against the Eliseo’s car as he scratched the boot for his tools. Ike followed and rested his head on my shoulder, probably suffering another migraine from the sun exposure. It was surreal again, calm and relaxing. That is until Vala stepped out the car, in all of her glory.
Her dark skin had gotten even darker over a short period of time. Vala’s normally light eyes turned to molten pools of gold, adding glitter to her luscious eye lashes. She puckered a pair of full lips and fluffed the soft black cloud on her head, as if she were adjusting a crown. She caught my eyes and the smile cut into her chubby cheeks, showing off a pair of pearly overbites.
In simple terms, she was beauty personified. And I was screwed, multiplied.
“Hey guys never thought I would visit again so soon”, Vala said, her foreign accent was still thick as ever.
“Sooner than later Val”, Ike raised his head and walked over to meet Vala with a hug. I simply stayed in my position and took deep breathes to ease my racing heart.
“Of course, we can thank Neu’s parents for that part”
“Yep”, I said with a delay.
My response suddenly made the air feel tense and there was an only a sense of silence. We were looking at one another but constantly averting eye contact. Ike gave me a look of utter judgement at the fact that I made the atmosphere stale and weird. I just fiddled with my yarn bracelet, the awkwardness beating a blush on my skin.
Ike cleared his throat and turned to Vala, “Did anything interesting happen while we were gone?”
Vala seemed to relax and leaned on the car door, only a few inches away from me, “Ms Biuret at the bakery decided to introduce a new recipe. Sadly Eliseo was a victim to the pastry and that’s why he looks like shit”
“Doesn’t he always look like shit?”
“I heard that!” Eliseo yelled, waving a wrench from behind the popped hood.
“Luckily for me”, Vala laughed, “I was preoccupied with packing for college so I didn’t get the opportunity to eat”
“I just realized that we are all going to be separated until Christmas, which sucks honestly because I really wanted to irritate Ike”, I stated.
“You would like that wouldn’t you?” Ike smirked and bumped my shoulder.
“Oh I would”
“If you guys need a minute to kiss or something I’ll look away, but you know I’ll still be filming”, Vala shifted backwards, making subtle hand gestures.
“You mean that ugly thing”, both Ike and I said, pointing to one another.
Vala giggled, which healed my damaged ears from all the years of hard rock on the maximum volume. The fluffy feeling in my chest however puffed into a few strands of prickly hairs due to Ike’s stink eye. I simply stuck out my tongue and looked back at Vala.
“I don’t think you guys are ugly. Ike has a certain type of gentleman look while you Neu, well you look cute”
During my period of accepting my non-binary identity, I had avoided any hormone suppressers. Though I was thankful for not damaging my body too much, I had always regretted one thing. That being the ability to get boners. However being on the, smaller spectrum, it was much easier to hide the infuriating thing.
That didn’t stop my body from simply exploding at her comment. I honestly had no clue where this fetish came from, but it made me feel like a dog. A dog that gets off being complimented for the most random things.
“Well Neu, you heard that. You are somewhat attractive, I mean you would definitely take Vala’s word wouldn’t you”, Ike said, and that made me blush even more. Vala only cooed at my flustered face and it did not help anything at all.
“Of course”, I squeaked.
“I am honoured that you take my comments to heart”, Vala said and gave a light bow.
“The honour is all mine”
“Actually I should get the honour for fixing the car”, Eliseo spoke from behind Ike and shifted to me. We walked back to the Sedan and Eliseo crossed his arms.
“Is the car going to run alright?”
“Yes”, Eliseo said and I smiled but he held up a dirty finger, “but I would have to be the one driving it. It would need to take a specific way to drive and I’m not sure you are capable of following instructions to the T”,
“Guess I’ll have to ride shotgun”
“Actually, Ike and Vala don’t have licenses yet remember, therefore you need to drive one of them”, Eliseo tied up his hair after having it constantly irritate his nose. It showed off his considerably young face, with soft cheeks and wide eyes.
“Can’t I drive with them both, or alone?” I asked nonchalantly but this was a matter of life or death, because it was either a smoker or a crush to choose from. It would still be terrible either way.
Eliseo raised a pierced eyebrow, “You can’t be selfish and deprive me of social activity and there is no space for the both of them. So you need to pick which one while I take a quick coffee break”
Ike was walking up to us, in hopes of hearing the verdict. I thought in that moment on whether to get seriously ill from being a passive smoker or spend the next ten minutes with someone I have adored for the past two years. It was clear on which decision was the best.
“Then I think I will drive with Ike”, Ike looked confused for a second and I quickly explained to him the issue.
“Then I want to be with Eli”
“Why?”
“Because we have important things to talk about”
“We do?” Eliseo asked.
“Yes”, Ike looked from Eliseo to me, “we do”
The betrayal of my best friend was something to be expected but I had never thought it would be then. I had sworn to get revenge but remembered he was going to pay my pension. The murder was going to have to be rescheduled for another time.
“Okay so I guess the arrangements sorted:” Eliseo clapped his hands,” Hey Vala, I’m going to have to drive the Sedan with Ike, are you good with Neu driving you!” his baritone voice boomed next to me.
“Sure!” Vala screamed back.
“Well then it’s settled. You better get ready to hit the road Neu”, Ike winked and moved to get into the Sedan.
“I’ll hit something alright”, I said.
As I walked up to Vala, who looked dazzling in the afternoon sun, I prepared myself. We would simply just talk about normal things and eventually be lead into silence. All I had to do was keep calm and not freak out. It was going to be absolutely fine.
-
“Ike, I fucked up with Vala”
“Am I supposed to be shocked or something?”
Ike placed the last box on the kitchen counter. He wiped the small amount of sweat off his brow with his shirt sleeve and took a sip from his water bottle. I collapsed on the couch, the one that came with rental. It was in good shape and didn’t seem to harbour any cocaine or rats.
Ike sat next to me and placed his feet on the coffee table. We watched the sky darken from the moderately big window and it looked like a painting. With the simple wooden border and clean sheet of glass, you would think it were a work of art. That is until a bird decided to poop on the window.
“Let me guess, you guys went into a dangerous territory with your conversation”
“Dude we were talking about animal sex, and plant sex and human sex. It was a whole topic of absolute sex”
Ike chuckled and shook his head, “Isn’t Vala an asexual?”
“That was the issue, she didn’t realize the startling effects the topic of sex had on a person. Especially if the person likes her a lot”
“And didn’t you almost run over someone when you entered the city area?” I groaned at his question.
“She wanted to hear my poetry, not me”
“I was surprised she didn’t have a stroke on the spot because of that awful piece of literature”
“Sorry if my poems don’t match your sophisticated level of the English language”, I teased him and threw a pillow in his face.
“Hey Vala speaks English and at least she liked it”
“Sure she did”
I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. We listened to the radio while Ike picked at his nails and I watched the sky darken more.
“You’re not going to confess to her yet are you?”
“One day at a time Ike, one day at a time”, I sighed.
A knock on the door echoed in the empty room, before Eliseo and Vala entered. Ike and I looked behind to see them place the take out on the table, and the smell of KFC was causing my stomach to hurt. It was demanding to be filled to the brim and then digested with no nutrients and only fat.
However, Eliseo’s face seemed to be more focused on the phone. He quickly walked across the room, checking boxes and shuffling through my belongings. I knew that set of behaviour, it meant that he is getting ready to leave.
“Sorry Neu but we didn’t realize what time it was and the lines were so long. We need to go now, and I assume Ike needs to a ride home”, Eliseo checked the room for anything and took the car keys, placing them in his jacket.
A sense of sadness washed over me and I worried my frown would be permanent. It would have been cool if they stayed a bit longer, helping me check for any ghosts that might haunt the place. Vala’s empathy might have spiked because she walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry Neu, we’ll visit next weekend”, Vala said.
Ike got up and slipped on his blazer before we all walked downstairs. The minute I walked out the building, I felt how the air had cooled significantly. The warm lights from the buildings next to us though made it feel more bearable. It was a shame we came later than expected, or else we could have seen the pink buildings better.
“Sleep well and let us know when you’re awake tomorrow”, Ike said.
“Of course, and thanks again Eli for helping me”, I said as I pulled away from my hug with Ike.
Eliseo wrapped his arms around me and patted my back, “Anytime”
“Bye Neu”, Vala said and gave me a light hug and then a kiss on the cheek, “Dream about us tonight”
“Oh I know he will”
“Shut up Ike”
I watched as they all climbed into the black car and drove off down the road. Before I entered inside the building, I took in my surroundings. I couldn’t make out the stars like in the town but the moon was still bright as ever. The sound of parties and nocturnal activity was something I needed to get to.
But life seemed to be a little more different now and I smiled at the thought. It was life in the new for me, and I couldn’t wait to live it out.
Comments (0)
See all