Just because they were close friends didn’t mean that they lived remotely close. The drive there took almost two hours, painful with the stubborn six o’clock traffic. Lane’s house sat uptown where skyscrapers of impossible heights huddled together within the same radius and loomed over the simpler suburbs, the way the ‘popular’ students at school would herd together and look down upon the rest. If only they knew they were only popular amongst themselves and that no one else really cared.

More specifically, Lane’s house was one amongst many identical villas that stood neatly in rows across the surprisingly clean city creek, giving the place a country-club sort vibe. Kenny got off at the most vibrant garden of the bunch, easily indicating that he was at the right house. Lane’s strange obsession with gardening reflected off the entire yard. The once plain white fence was overgrown beautifully with blue butterfly-pea vines. Overhanging from the little roof over the verandah were sweet-giddying honey suckle and at the base of the cream columns: bushes of hydrangea in both blue and pink. Other than that, aligning either edge of the property were tomato plants arranged in a perfect single file, each one filled with the most voluminous, juicy tomatoes Kenny had ever seen- no doubt all of them named something goofy like ‘Tubby Tommy’. If they weren’t, the person the house belonged to wasn’t Lane Bratislav Kalchik. The logo of the Whirleys Grocery store peeked over droopy willow at the corner, shading the canopy in a blue and yellow halo. Kenny only realized he had stood there with his backpack dangling over his side when he felt the presence of four eyes staring right back at him. Adjusting the weight of his luggage on his shoulder, he looked around nervously, suddenly catching the glimpse of four small glistening spots from inside a bush.

“P-Percy?” Kenny squeaked. The bush seemed to squeak back in return before it rustled and ejected a small cat: white with orange and brown fur. An exact copy of her plopped right behind who Kenny concluded was Ava. He let them sniff and purr around his legs until they got bored and headed their way, leading him into the house. Kenny could see Lane’s thin shadow flitting here through the glazed window of the kitchen. He smiled and his heart fluttered as he let out a deep sigh in the awe of watching Lane dash all around, handling spoons and pots of all sorts. With knew found courage, he marched up to the door and gave it a snappy knock.

“Kenny!” Lane gasped. Kenny wondered if he had any time to blink before the door was open. He was caught off guard, yet he noticed Lane hastily shove something into his back pocket- something that looked like:

“You wear glasses?” Kenny asked. He darted his look the other way, afraid he had hurt Lane’s feelings even before the night started. ‘I’m-I’m sorry” he said in a hushed tone.

Lane’s face graduated from its usual pale porcelain complexion to a concentrated pink.

 “They’re my mother’s” he chuckled, “I was fooling around with them.” He put them on again, “Don’t I look chic in them?”  Lane seemed embarrassed, seeing Kenny’s face scrunch up in disagreement. He shuffled from one foot to another. “Uh. Anyway..You’re very early actually.”

“Oh, I- “Kenny shuffled from one foot to another. He unconsciously turned around and searched for his dad’s car. He almost turned completely and started heading back the way he came on foot if Lane hadn’t held him back. “The sparkle in your eyes shouldn’t be muted by a pane of glass” he dropped unintentionally. What the hell was he saying? Now, he definitely felt like running home.

Lane chuckled, “Oh but I never told you the time, did I? Oops.”. Kenny sighed in relief – he hadn’t heard anything. He tried taking Kenny’s bag from him. Kenny gripped it tighter.

“I’ll handle it” Kenny said. He followed Lane and his cats indoors, getting showered by the warm light of the chandelier that hung itself perfectly at the center of the sitting room.  The whole room wafted of lilies, making Kenny feel just slightly nauseous. He quietly followed Lane inside towards the sofa where the TV was already playing a music video – ‘Blue Jean’ not surprising. On the coffee table were newspapers and magazines meant to distract you from the piles upon piles of Superman comics shoved beneath it – Mr. Kalchik’s prized collection. He noticed the way Lane walked. It filled everyone in the room with confidence they never had- because he walked with the confidence of someone that was beautiful, knew they were beautiful and carried themselves upon it: a pretty sort of strut his with his spine as straight as a pencil, hips swaying slightly and his fingers dancing rhythmically on his side at every step. Where was Lois? Lane waited till Kenny settled himself and headed back to the kitchen. Making himself at home, he asked Lane a question he had been meaning to ask for quite a while. “Why’s she named Percy?”

Lane chuckled, “Short for Persephone Von Whiskerfina the first, of course! … Ava is just Ava though…” he shook his head as if it was general knowledge that Kenny was supposed to know. He felt a bit sheepish that he hadn’t. “I named her when I was four…...” Lane shrugged.

"And to date you can't name anything sensibly," Kenny tutted. A mischievous twitch pecked at the corners of his mouth, “I saw a caterpillar taking its time with Plump Pomme D’ Amour” he meant it sarcastically, making up the name in his head.

"HA HA. I can do better than that, Kenny"