Chapter 35: Flying High

"David! I said let's go! Me and your mom don't have time for this shit right now!" My dad was screaming at the top of his lungs.
"I'm sorry dad. I'm just looking for something really quick." I pushed all the stuff around in the drawer of my end table. I was moving like I was in a frenzy, pushing all the ordinary plastic guitar picks out of the way, and lifting all the Rolling stone magazines up from underneath the bottom. I still couldn't find it, that God damn guitar pick was like water to me, I couldn't go a week without it.
Knowing how cautious I was with it, I knew I probably just hid it from myself. I didn't have time to keep looking for it.
"David! Do not make me come in that damn room!" He warned, and I could just feel him from behind the door, ready to squeeze the living breath out of me. Not only that, but I could see his feet underneath the door hinge.
"Alright, I'm coming!" I grabbed everything and stuffed it back inside the drawer, slamming it shut. "Asshole." I muttered underneath my breath.

My suitcase was right beside the door where I had left it. I had packed a decent surplus of clothes, and I knew how cold it would be in New York so I threw on some jeans and a sweater as soon as I got back home. Freezing nipples wasn't exactly my thing.
I grabbed my suitcase and headed out the door, standing in front of my dad. He just glared at me and threw his hand out in the air like he was throwing a bunch of invisible rocks in my direction. "I just can't deal with you sometimes." He wheeled his suitcase down into the foyer and I followed him.
Compared to how long it took him to get ready, I would say I was pretty fast. I knew he thought I was stalling, but I really didn't care about this trip.
"Oh honey, please don't start arguing right now. It's going to be Christmas time, I don't want you guys arguing. If you feel like you need to argue, just walk away. You guys need to bond and work things out with each other, you argue too much and that's unhealthy."
My father ignored her and glared at the bag she had hanging on her shoulder. "That's all you're bringing?"
She shrugged, "Well yeah, we're only staying for a week. I don't need much, right?" It was almost pitiful to watch her grab onto his arm as he tugged it away from her and walked out the door.

He walked out the door and lugged his suitcase into the front yard, approaching our housekeeper. "Sorry for the hold up, David and Elaine don't know how to pack their bags. Apparently they think bringing two bags and packing a useless guitar is sufficient."
My mom followed his lead and went outside to greet the housekeeper, I did the same. "Hi Kirsten! I'm so glad you can work for us on the holidays. How are your sons doing?" She asked.
Kirsten turned to my mother and smiled at her. "Oh, it's no problem. My sons are great, my eldest actually just got accepted to-"
My dad scowled and stepped right in front of them, cutting off their communication. "So, I need you to clean all the rooms except for the bedrooms, the dog is in a kennel a few miles away. Make sure you stop by at night before 7pm and set the alarm everyday, for the whole week. Any codes you might need are written on the fridge and they will be reset after we get back from vacation. I don't want any funny business going on. You got that?"
She nodded her head up and down furiously, like a bobble head toy. "Yes. Yes sir, you don't have to worry about a thing."

My father's breath rose into the crisp freezing air. "Good." He turned back to me and my mom. "Now, me and my family have a vacation to go on, if you will excuse us, we'll be on our way."
"Oh! Right! Sorry for the hold up. You guys enjoy your Christmas, and stay blessed!" She looked at me and my mother and waved her hand at us, her smile barely faded.
I never understood why she continued to work for us, until I looked at the checks we wrote out to her. My mother over-paid her, but I guess that was her unspoken sympathy she tried to give her for dealing with my father's nasty attitude all the time.
"Enjoy your holidays." I waved back at her once more, and my dad opened the car door, popping the trunk open.

"Let's get this show on the road! Load her up!" He ordered, pointing towards the bags and suitcases that were on the floor. For some reason, my dad packed way more shit than me and my mom did.
Kirsten disappeared inside the house to clean and set all the alarms. She still looked so jubilant and composed, I kind of liked that about her.
My mother grabbed my father's black suitcase, struggling as her muscles tensed. Her heels were scraping against the rough cobble stone in the driveway. "Ugh." She uttered, taking a deep breath as she presumed to lift it again.
As if he hadn't heard her struggling, my dad got inside the car and the engine cranked on. He was waiting for us, and I bit my bottom lip. "Bastard."
"David!" The back of her hand made it's way across my forearm. "What did I tell you about being rude to your father?"
"I don't care! Look at him! He's sitting in the car while we put all the bags in the trunk! What kind of shit is that?!"
All at once, my mother tensed up and and her eyes looked like two big baby blue sink holes. My father had rolled down the window and asked us, "What's taking you guys so long?! David, I know you're not arguing with your mother. Are you?"
She chimed in for me, "No sweetie! He's just getting a little irritated with the bags, that's all. Everything is fine." My mother probably had one of the most agile voices in the world.
"Okay, well hurry up." He rolled the window back up.

I sighed and watched my breath fall through the air so fast like a piece of shed hair. It looked like steam from a tea kettle.
"Come on, let's get everything inside." She tugged on his suitcase but I grabbed it from her hands. "What?" She asked, not understanding why I wasn't going to let her touch any of the bags.
"Nothing. Just get in the car, I'll do this." I was pissed my dad was making us do that, but I wasn't going to watch her struggle like that, it was senseless. It was better if I threw all these bags in the trunk myself, than watch her strain to do it.
My mother just put her hands on her hips and looked at me. "David, I don't care how much you deny it-"
"Deny what?" The look on my face was probably making the air around me get warmer.
She put her hand on my cheek, "Deny your love. I know, your anger issues aren't easy to deal with, but you're not a monster, you're a very compassionate person when it comes to the people you care about. Never change, stay that way." She kissed me on the cheek and I grimaced. "Oh stop it! You're never to old for a kiss from your mother!"

***

"Oh my! Look at my lovely family!" My aunt Sherill clacked her heels all the way onto the pavement as we were about to board our flight. We met halfway since her and her  new husband were going on a vacation to Mexico, they were going south, and we were going north so it worked.
When she hugged me it felt like she was trying to kill me with her love. Her bag she had in her hand smacked me in the back when she went to hug me. She pulled me in so tightly and my face was smacked up against her shoulder blades. Her perfume was almost suffocating me, I coughed a little. "Aunt Sherill! I missed you." I said, opening my watery eyes once she let me go; trying to breathe.
Her black attire looked very classy and bold. She was the complete opposite of my mother even though they looked alike. She didn't feel the need to cover up her cleavage or her tattoo that was just peeking out from above her skirt. She didn't care about cursing, but my mother did. She didn't care about what her husband thought of her clothes, but my mother did. They were like day and night.
She got a good look of me, up, down, and all around. "Working out?" She pinched my biceps. "You better not be using any funny drugs out there! And don't use those muscles for bad things like hurting your cousin!" She turned back towards Eli and said, "Neither of you boys. No fighting this time, okay?"

"Owww! I would never want to inject my body with fake shit, that's just weird." I looked down at myself, feeling somewhat prideful. Working out was good for your looks but I didn't do it for that, I did it because it helped me with my anger.
She quickly rubbed my arm and said, "Oh yeah, that's right- I keep forgetting about you and your arms." Then she tried to divert the conversation, asking me about Casey. "How's that girlfriend of yours? You guys still dating?"
As I went to answer her question, my father decided to jump in when the conversation had nothing to with him. "He's still dating that hussy, sadly."
"Oh shut up Dave!" My aunt back-handed my dad, and I was slightly over-joyed by her reaction. When my aunt said 'shut up,' she meant it. It was no secret that she didn't like my father, and he didn't care for her either. "She seems like a lovely girl from the pictures I've seen. If David's dating her, I'm sure she has some sort of standards for herself."

Eli was standing there watching us but he didn't say a word. Instead, he ran up to my mother and squeezed her by the limbs. "There's my favorite aunt!"
She's your only aunt. How could she be your favorite? I thought to myself, already becoming annoyed by him. When I rolled my eyes I knew he saw me, and I was glad he did.
"I missed you too, Eli. You boys just get older and older every second I blink my eyes David's doing something or you're going off to some camp. It's crazy and slightly sad, I miss my boys, you guys will always be my babies." My mother motioned for me to come closer as she still was hugging him and rocking him back and forth in her arms.
They pulled away from their embrace and looked at me. My aunt was screaming from behind me, calling out to my mother. "OH MY GOSH!" She click-clacked her heels all the way towards my mom. "Is that last seasons Louis Vuitton?! OR am I behind a season?!" She was trying to whisper, but it was still pretty loud.
"I guess, I'll leave you guys alone. Maybe you can make amends?" My mother said in a hurry as my aunt pulled her farther away from me and Eli, so they could talk about female-stuff.

And there was three of us. Eli just stared at me and it was like he was holding his breath. I could just see the tension in his muscles, he was clenching his jaw and I could tell. The muscles in his neck were prominent and still.
He was still the same old Eli. Dressing up in tuxedos and fancy suits, it was like denim jeans were an abomination to him. It almost burned me inside that we shared the same blood. His hair was slicked back and neatly combed, not one hair on his head was out of place.
We just stood there, reading each other's faces. "It looks like the girls are distracted, as always." My father sighed and pointed towards the bags. "You boys get this on the plane, and I'll get your mothers in check."
Eli didn't move just yet, he still stood there like he was paralyzed. My father walked away towards my mom and her sister who was giggling hysterically. "Elaine! Isn't it enough that you and David already held us up?! Let's go!"
I heard my aunt shout at him but I didn't catch what she said. Eli was waiting for me to make a move and do something and all I did was pick up one of the suitcases and start walking onto the plane.

***

The midnight sky was graceful, I felt mellow as I looked out of the window. The clouds looked like smoke trails. They were so light and thin, and then I remembered that they were just big puffs of gas. Big puffs of gas that just took up space in the sky to add those finishing touches to the simple things in life. In an essence, they were nothing at all, yet they were so special. They had their own little charm that was irreplaceable.

All the houses were coated with thick white sheets of snow as we went further and further up north. They kind of looked like little gingerbread houses with all their multi-colored lights on. I thought of Melody and how she would react to my little comparison I had going on in my head right now.
My mom and dad were sleeping, but me and Eli were up. Eli was watching a movie on his iPad and he barely made a sound besides an occasional sigh here and there.
It was 1am and I kind of wanted him to go to sleep. I had been texting Melody the whole time we were on the plane; sending her pictures of the sky and other stupid shit but apparently she liked it.

   "What an idiot." Eli grumbled from behind me, laughing the most discreet way imaginable. I wondered what the hell he was watching, because he just kept going on and on, talking like he was above them. "Useless imbeciles."
     I tucked my phone inside my pocket and looked out at the deep blue sky once again. The stars made everything seem a little brighter, they were like tiny diamonds in the sky, every girl secretly loved them.
    Getting out of my seat, I headed towards the bathroom. We had our bags all over the plane, on the floor, in the seats, under the seats, pretty much everywhere they shouldn't have been. Eli packed like my dad. They had the same way of thinking which was probably why they got along so well.
      As I walked passed Eli's seat he peered up at me and tapped the screen of his iPad, pausing whatever he was watching. He still had nothing to say, and neither did I.
     The image of his face covered in his own blood was the only thing I thought of when I looked at him. It was very vindictive of me, but I was proud of it. He learned his lesson and it was obvious, he hadn't opened his mouth to brag about anything the whole time he had been around me. Granted, it was only two hours, but it was still something.

   When I got in the bathroom I closed the door and locked it, smiling the cheesiest way imaginable, leaning against the door. I don't know why I was grinning so hard, but I was and it was hard to stop it.
    I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, and saw Melody had sent me a text. The text read, 'Cool. Keep em' coming all week. Please?' It was kind of cool that she wasn't bored with my pointless texts and pic spam messages, even though it was pretty late.
     Trying to stay quiet, I tapped the 'details' button on the side, and then the little phone button. I held my phone up to my ear and waited, it rang about 4 times before she actually answered.
      "Helloh?" She sounded all mumbled and confused. I could tell she was in bed, probably getting ready to go to sleep and I kind of felt bad for bothering her. Her words were slow and simple. "You actually called."
      "I told you I would. Didn't I?" I was making a face yet she couldn't even see me.
      "Yeah, but I didn't think you actually would." The sound of her phone brushing up against something rattled through my ear drum.
      I guessed she was moving around on her bed or something. Either that or she dropped her phone and was getting ready to fall asleep on me. "Don't fall asleep now, it's only been a few seconds, I know I'm being boring but you could at least pretend to be interested." I teased.
   

   "I'm not bored!" She retorted, her voice nearly jumping 3 octaves higher. "I'm just kind of tired." She admitted.
    "Yeah, I know. Wanna talk tomorrow instead?" It was kind of cute, hearing her all tired and sleepy, but I'd rather let her get her sleep.
     As I waited for her to respond, my mind went wandering. I imagined her laying in her bed, wearing not much. Maybe just a bra and some shorts? Nothing pink though, pink didn't seem like her color. Although, pink probably would look really nice on her too.
     "David?" She asked, sounding a little irritated. I hadn't even heard a word she said, I was too busy thinking about what the hell she was wearing.
    I cleared my throat when I felt my mouth become dry. "Oh yeah, I'm here. Sorry, what did you say?"
     "I said, we can talk tomorrow." She was a snowman, melting in the hot sun. She was getting warmer, more comfortable with me, loose and free from staying in the same spot all day. But it really depended on the weather, when it was colder she stayed solid and stubbornly frozen, she wouldn't budge. There were still all these parts of her that I was trying to melt, and to be quite honest, I wasn't sure if I ever would. Melody was complicated.
     "You know what? Let's not do that." Trying not to sound too suspicious I said, "Let's video chat tomorrow. Cool?"
"Oh, uhhh- yeah. Cool." She was a little thrown off by what I said, but she agreed and I was glad.

We both kind of got quiet after that and I wondered if she was sleeping, or waiting for me to talk. "Alright, well-" I was going to wrap it up and say goodnight, but then she finally spoke.
"So-" She stopped herself from talking.
"Ladies first." I insisted.
She giggled like a sheepish little humming bird. "I was just going to ask about your flight...It's so quiet in the background. No screaming babies? No weirdos?"
I really didn't know how she came up with her little fiascoes in her head sometimes. "Nah. It's just me and my fam."
"What do you mean? Like- you guys are all alone on the plane? How is that even possible?" Her bewilderment was borderline hysterical.
"We ummm-" I hesitated, there really was no plain way to say it. "We have our own private plane, it's nothing fancy though."
I knew how she would respond, even though I hoped she would at least surprise me for once. "Oh, I should've known. Nothing is too expensive for you Rakensons."

"Stop." I knew she was somewhat right about the things she said, but I didn't like it. Sure, I was well off but I didn't brag about it, I hated when people knew stuff about my family and our money. It was so easy to be manipulated and used. "You really have to stop saying shit like that, it bothers me and you know that."
"Okay, sorry." Her voice was a lot softer and and she started talking a little faster. "I've just never been on a plane before. My mom and dad only took  me and Jess on a plane when we were like 9!"
"That's cool." I said, even though I kind of was annoyed with her. "Where did you guys go?"
"Peru. Other than that, we stay local... Camp grounds, and reservations, nature preserves; you know stuff like that. Florida has a decent amount to offer." She said it so casually, like it didn't bother her.
"Wait a minute- So you've been to another country but you've never been out of Florida? Ever?!" The fact that she hadn't visited a neighboring state was just plain weird. But then again, I couldn't really call her weird... Her parents were the ones that never took her anywhere.
She got silent. "Yeah. Why? Every state is pretty much the same right?"

"Not really." She had so much to experience. "There's a lot of things you've never done before, huh?" I knew she was a bit younger than me, but traveling to another state was kind of a basic thing. Her parents took her to Peru but not New Jersey or Texas?
"Yeah, I guess." She giggled and she sounded like she was waking up a little bit. "You know my uncle actually wanted us to go somewhere for Christmas, but my aunt kind of insisted that we stay home since the house is pretty knew to all of us. Now that she lost her baby, I don't think we will be travelling any time soon. It sucks in a way."
"That really does suck." Sometimes I feared that I was pitying her, instead of actually really caring for her.  It was my desire to care for her, pity was cheap and recyclable; I didn't want to be another piece of garbage to her. "But look at it this way, when you're 18 you'll be able to travel as much as you want, and do all the things you ever dreamed of."
"Hmmm, not really. When I'm 18 I'll be able to pay bills, that's about it." She was serious, not even laughing a little bit. "I probably won't travel until I'm like 23."
"23? Damn." As much as I tried to hold it in, I still laughed. "You're funny. You know that?"
"Really? No one ever told me that before." Her voice was all polished and smooth, all the bumps and dents were gone. She sounded normal again.
"Of course not. You're funny, but not funny-funny." It was a dick move, but I chuckled a bit too loudly.
"What? So there's two definitions of funny?!" She seriously didn't catch my drift.

"Never mind Mel, Never mind. Just forget it okay." If I explained myself I knew she might get all pissed with me, so I saved myself the trouble.
"Oh, okay then." She sighed into the phone, and it almost sounded like a waterfall was flowing from her mouth. "Can I ask you something? It's kind of random."
What could she possibly want to ask me? How many feet up in the sky we were? "Yeah, what's on your mind?" I could almost feel myself regret saying that.
"You know my sister is having a party, right?" Like a record player, she just kept going on and on, not even getting to the real point of her question.
"Yeah. I know everyone is going to be there, and it will be New Years so it's gonna be pretty rad. What about it?"
She waited before she spoke, and she was just like a spy; analyzing me. "I was just wondering if you were going."
"Nah, I don't know if I'm going. Jess is kinda mad at me over the whole Cris situation, which fucking beats me because I had nothing to do with it. You heard about what he did, right?" It still pissed me off just thinking about it. How the fuck was she going to blame me for something he did? I didn't make him cheat.

"Oh. Yeah, I heard about what he did... He's a pig." Great. I could tell she was trying to drag me in their mess, waiting for my opinion.
"I'm sorry but I'm not going to comment on it. He's my friend and It's just not my place to. That's his mess, not mine." I was harsh but I didn't want to deal with any bullshit. Drama was just destructive.
"I understand." The way she spoke was so calm, nervous but calm.
"You know what? Fuck it. I might just show up, if I'm back by then." Thinking about it, I realized that I really hadn't been to a decent party in the longest time. "I'll bring some weed, she'll forgive me."
Her laughter made me smile and I was just thinking about smoking with her again. "Well, if you go can you pick me up? We could go together." Her voice caught in her throat, and I guessed she realized what she said. "I mean not together, but like, you know- We could drive there and go our separate ways. I won't bother you."
I wasn't expecting her to ask me that; she was cool and everything, but I wasn't going to just show up with her, in front of everyone. That would just be awkward as fuck. "Can't. Sorry." I felt like an ass for being somewhat embarrassed of her. "If I go I'm probably gonna have to pick up some of my friends and my girlfriend. There won't be room in the car. And besides, you probably wouldn't like my friends anyways." I knew Melody, she didn't like the football players and cheerleaders, she was always talking shit about them... It just wouldn't be a good mix.

"Oh yeah, of course. It's no problem, I understand. I wasn't thinking. I'll just like- see you there or something."
"Really? Are you sure?" I asked, even though I knew she probably was upset with me.
"Yes, I'm sure. Jess will pick me up, she's dying for me to come." She was talking all fast again, like she didn't even want to talk at all.
"I feel bad now, but I really won't have any room Mel."
"David, I said I'm fine and I meant it. I'm fine, okay." Damn. She was getting feisty again.
I smirked, chuckling at the thought of her angry face which I had seen way too many times. "Alright then, whatever you say."
"I'm really tired, I should get my rest." She said before yawning. She didn't even breathe right, I could tell it was a fake yawn just from how her breath sounded.
"Yeah, me too." I wanted to make sure she didn't leave me hanging tomorrow. "I'll text you my Skype screen name tomorrow and shit like that, okay?"
"K. Talk to you tomorrow, bye." Just like that, she hung up without letting me say goodnight. I looked over at the bleach white towels resting on the counter. I wanted to get off this plane, but that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

Random Rakenson Half Family Photo lol:

Chapter 34: 15 Going On 16: Part 3/3:

Gheez. Never have I ever had so much scrap from one chapter. I could literally recycle all my scrap and make another chapter out of it, which is what I plan on doing. But it was just annoying as fuck writing this. -_- I'm not too fond of this last part of the chapter but what can ya' do...? *Shrug*

          I had just finished opening my mother's 'gift,' and I felt nothing at all, just plain emptiness. In a way, not feeling anything was better than feeling anything at all. I was tired of being angry, and sadness only seemed to subdue my mind.
    My bed was the only thing that seemed to give me comfort, I laid down on it, staring at the ceiling. It looked so rough and jagged, the white paint was showing all the little lumps and striations in the paint.
    It felt like I was floating on my back, drifting out into the middle of the ocean. I closed my eyes, wishing it were true even though I knew it wasn't. There was a lot of shit on my mind, a lot of shit I didn't even want to think about, yet I was.
When I opened the tiny box my mother had sent me, I thought something nice would be inside it. Only certain things would fit inside a box as tiny as that, things like jewelry. I opened it, expecting to see a necklace, a ring, or even a pair of earrings I could substitute as a nose piercing, but that wasn't what was inside of it. Instead, there was nothing but an empty box and a white bottom that was etched out with black ink. The writing marks were so hard that the 't' in the word 'bitch' was actually ripping through the cardboard in the slightest way. When she wrote it, she wrote it with passion, I could just feel her anger jump out at me when I read it. I guess the hardness inside my mom's heart was real. She got an 'E' for effort, it most certainly was original; I mean no parent in the history of parenthood had ever done that to their child, or at least that was what I thought.

   Whether or not my immediate family wanted anything to do with me, it didn't matter anymore. I was always the 'weird' one, and no one could understand me. Not everyone was made to be understood though.
    My muscles in my arm jerked when there was a pounding on the door. It sounded like a rock was being thrown against the glass, like someone was breaking in. All I could picture was my mom trying to retaliate against me.
    Bounding out of my bed and walking out of my room, I tried to prepare myself. Slow and steadily, I walked into the foyer to see who was there.
    There was no glass on the floor, everything seemed normal. I was just about to round around the corner when I heard someone muttering from behind the door, a guy.
     Taking another step and easing my back off the wall, I stood out in the open. When I looked out the door I was relieved yet nervous at the same time.

David stood there outside, scoping out our front yard. He looked at the cars parked on the grass and raised his hand to knock again. He looked kind of cold, I could see his breath leave his nose as he stood there, all white and smoky, and shivering in the slightest bit.
I opened the door before he knocked again and realized why it sounded so weird when he knocked before, he had a ring on his finger. When he finally turned around to face me, he just stood there. Staring at me as if I were an alien; sometimes I felt like an alien but damn, I never thought I actually looked like one.
"How come no one ever uses the doorbell?" I asked as I swung the door right open. The cold air swept its way through the door. "It's right over there." I pointed towards it, the damn thing wasn't invisible, and it wasn't broken either.
"Have you ever thought that maybe it was just easier?" He scratched his head, "I mean, unless you want me to wake your whole family up at 11:00 at night-"

"It's 11?" I wanted to turn back the time and fix everything. Why did I ever open that stupid box? It was like Pandora's box 2.0, and time didn't care about my feelings, it just kept slipping away from me.
"Yeah, it's 11." He was talking all slow and had a sardonic look on his face. "You alright? Are you sure you aren't on something?"
I was getting colder and colder, and my irritation was only rising. If there was one thing I hated more than anything, it was being cold. "So what's up?" I asked, nudging the door slightly more towards the closed position.
He gave me an odd look, backing up from the door. "Nothin'. Just wanted to give you something."
I turned in the other direction and started closing the door as I motioned for him to get inside. "I don't have a lot of time." He said, and before I knew it he had his hand on the other side of the door, his index finger easing up against my pinky. A pink and black polka dotted bag was in his hand, it was pretty big; and the red tissue paper sprouting out of it looked like a big rose bush

      I opened the door to my room and he asked me, "So how was the bowling?" His hair was all wet; he looked and smelled like he just got out of the shower. Gosh, his cologne was divine. He could spray it all over me and I wouldn't care, even if I smelled like a 'guy.'
    "It was surprisingly fun- Wait. How do you know I went bowling?" I asked, nearly stumbling all over my feet as I dashed towards my dresser like I was in a high-speed chase. I had to hide that damn box, he had no right to open it, but I still didn't want it out in the open. Clutching that little cow box in my hand, I opened my drawer and shoved it in there.
     "Your sister told me." There was this awkward look in his eyes, he looked down at his fingers like something might've been wrong, but then he looked back up at me. "We were texting."
    "Oh, right. I should have known that." The space between us was awkward, and I just wanted a sign. A sign that would tell me if I could get closer to him. I felt all stiff and stilted, but I still tried to talk to him. "Want a cupcake? I have chocolate and vanilla." Lame, I know. But what else was I going to say?!

He tensed up and said, "Nah, it's better if I don't." It was like he was under a spell, he wasn't being himself. It was no secret that he was nearly addicted to sugar. His eyes lurked away from mine in the most evasive way, as if they were hiding from me.
     "Come on, we have a bunch. Just have one- I know you have a sweet tooth." It almost offended me that he wouldn't eat a cupcake.
     "No Mel, you don't understand. I really can't, I mean I can but-it's just complicated." He rolled his eyes, holding the gift bag out to me. "Here." He nodded his head at me, "I really don't have a lot of time." His voice was all low and husky.
    "Okay then." I grabbed it, clenching my fingers even harder around the handles once he dropped it in my hands, it was heavier than it looked. "Gheez. I wonder what's in here."

The tissue paper felt dusty as my fingers mangled through it. Strips of scarlet tissue paper were scattering all over the floor like snow. It felt like I was digging through the gift bag, but eventually I felt something hard against my index finger.
      He glanced over in my direction and his eyes were like his hands. They were near places they shouldn't have been. "I guess you have a legitimate reason to wear that dress." He mumbled, taking slow steps towards me. If he took another step he would be stepping out of the invisible 'safe zone.'
    I was tugging on whatever was in the bag, trying not to rip it as I took it out; but it was stuck in there. "I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're trying to say." I said to him as I turned my head to the side and squinted inside the bag.
A smug smile crept up on his lips. "The flames-Come on, you're a smart girl and I know you can put two and two together."

 The wind whistled outside and something snapped against my window. It felt like everything was still, except my hands. "I'm sorry, I still don't understand you."
      Without even asking, he sat on the edge of my bed. I wanted to get up, but it wouldn't look right; so I didn't. "Really?" He blustered, his eyes trailed from the top of my dress and stopped right where it cut off by my thighs. "You look hot. That's what I was trying to say."
      As if being around him wasn't awkward enough, he had to go and make it even more awkward. I looked at him but he wasn't smiling, he wasn't frowning either, he was just staring at me. "Oh." I whispered, completely freezing up and losing all attention towards the bag.
    "Oh?" He frowned at me, acting like he was confused. "Is that all you have to say?" He asked.
    "Yes, David. That's all I have to say." It felt like the world was closing in around me, everything just kept getting smaller and smaller. "That was very inappropriate, and overbearing." I looked at my legs and then back at him. "What did you want me to say?"

      He shook his head back and forth. "Nothing."
      The way he looked at me sent my lungs on a 5k run, everything moved faster and my breaths became shallow. Oh shit. I was feeling it again. 'Don't freak out, whatever you do, do not freak out, ignore it and just stay calm and breathe. Slow steady breaths like you did that night in the hospital.'
      "Does it take you all day to open a present?!" He asked, giving me a quizzical glare.
    "Well yeah, when someone is talking to me." I said, continuing to tussle with the bag and catch my breath at the same time. "How did you fit this in here?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed with pulling.
    He just sat there laughing at me, and then he grabbed the bag from me. "Seriously? Just rip it."
    The bag crinkled and crumbled as he tore it apart. Scriiip shripp shraaap. Before he took all the tissue paper off he said, "Close your eyes."
     I had already gotten a decent glimpse at whatever it was, it was rectangular and big. "You know, I was going to rip the bag myself, but I didn't want to seem rude." I said, placing my slick hands over my eyes.

      I heard him tear through the remaining tissue paper. Zhriiip zzzhick. A crumple here a crumple there and one last loud zzzhick. 
     It was all quiet and the only thing I could feel was the slight warmth from his body sitting next to mine, and the way my mattress kind of curved from his weight. A feeling of fear creaked through my veins, opening my eyes was suddenly the most frightening thing imaginable.
     He took his hands and put them over my fingers, pulling them away from my eyes. When he saw I was still not opening my eyes he laughed. "You can open your eyes now."
    His hands were still holding mine and he moved them out towards him and then straight down. All I felt was this big smooth surface, like plastic or something.
    I opened my eyes. When I looked down I gasped. "How in the world did you get this ancient thing?!" I exclaimed, looking at the old fashioned record player that was sitting between us on the bed, the kind with a spinner and a needle. It didn't even look old, I mean of course I knew it was old, but it was very neat in appearance. No scratches, no dents, nothing.

David ran his hand through his glistening hair again, smiling like he was trying to fight back the inevitable curve of his lips. "There's this record store downtown, they have a lot of cool stuff there. Do you like it?"
"I love it!" I put my hands on both sides of it, my mouth was hanging wide open as I angled it to the side and tilted my head; looking for a button or something. "I just have to figure out how to use it-" I looked up at him and laughed like an idiot. "Well, you know I'm pretty sure I could figure it out but- Like, I've never used one before. You know?"
"Yeah, I get what you mean. That thing is way before our time." He snickered and turned to the other side, pulling out a book and a birthday card. "Here. I know you like reading and what not." He put the card inside of the book, and handed it over to me. "It's supposedly a 'life changing' book, I don't know how true that is though." He laughed to himself when I took it from his hands. "It's only 7 chapters, hopefully you won't think it's that bad."

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen was written across the cover of the book along with the image of man sitting hunched over, in deep thought. I ran my fingers along the book, and picked it up, thumbing through the pages. "It's worth a read. I haven't read anything in a while, thanks." I smiled at him and it seemed like we were just staring at each other for a moment. There was less tension around us now and I felt a little calmer, my breaths felt a little less shallow, but there was still a slight struggle in my lungs.
Out of nowhere David cleared his throat. "The card." He pointed at the card, and had the most sly smirk plastered across his face. "And read it out loud too." He sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.
I probably looked like a deer in headlights as I pulled the card out and opened it. There was no way I could read it, he had written it in cursive. A black bow was peeping out of the corner of it and there were white glittered flowers drawn on the left side of the card. Although the card was pink and pretty, it felt like it was staring back at me. Everything was all slanted, fancy, and connected in deep blue strokes of ink; I glared at it for a moment, muttering out the obvious first two words which were written bigger than the others following it. "Happy Birthday." I paused, trying to decipher the rest that proceeded.
He laughed, snatching the card from my hands. "You can't read script?" Holding the card in his hands, he started to read what he wrote like an obnoxious smart aleck. "Happy Birthday! I hope this proves that I don't have chicken scratch. P.s.- I was only having a bad moment that day."

Was he for real? "Wow, I guess my 'chicken scratch' comment really upset you, since you took the time to write all that.  I'm sorry." I was trying to get a  feel for what to say next but I wasn't getting anything from the expression on his face.
"I really don't care about what you said, I was just trying to prove a point." He closed the card and placed it on top of the book I had resting on my lap.
"David, it's obvious you care. If you didn't you wouldn't be trying to prove a point right now. You ignored me after I said that to you, you were upset." I giggled, shifting around on the bed a little bit. I put the card inside the first page of the book and got up, walking over to my night stand.
"Yeah, I was upset, but it wasn't because of what you said. I'm not going to lie, when you said that it got me angry but I was more upset about other shit to really care about your little 'statement'." He got up too, taking a look around my room. "Wow, you finally decided to show some school spirit." He was talking about the blue curtains I had hanging up over the windows.
"Oh please! As if I would actually be repping our school, fuck that shit." I chuckled some more, placing the book on my night stand.

He laughed at me while walking over to my turtle tank. Tip tap tap! He pattered his index finger along the glass. "Oooh a turtle, nice."
Walking closer to him, I put my hands behind my back, giggling for no legitimate reason. "Yeah I just got it."
"What's its name?" He asked, taking it out of the tank and letting him rest in the palm of his hand. "I like the markings on its skin, it's really cool." He placed him back inside of the tank.
"Uhhh," I mumbled as I tried to ramble a name off of the top of my head. The day was almost over and I still hadn't even given him  a damn name yet. Way to be a great pet owner, I said to myself.  "Leonardo." For some reason that was the only name that was at the tip of my tongue, it was quirky and slightly sophisticated.
David zipped around to face me and said, "For real? That's so lame."
"Lame?!" I shrugged my shoulders. "How is that lame?"
"Because, everyone knows that was a name of one of the Ninja Turtles. Would it kill you to be original?"

"Kill me to be original?!" I snapped, pointing my finger at him and back at me. "You named your dog Chi-Chi and you think that's original?" I laughed my ass off.
"Hey, in my defense it's a mashup of chocolate and cinnamon, she has some teeny brown patches of fur on her face and the rest of her body is black and white. I was stuck between Oreo and Chanilla to be honest." He shrugged, "Either way, it's original all around." He frowned, scratching his head. "Maybe I should've stuck with Chanilla?"
"Oh my God. Are you always thinking about food?" I raised my eyebrows as I asked him that. This dude was standing there talking about how he named his dog after different flavors yet he wouldn't eat a damn cupcake.
"Yeah, I'm a guy." He said, as if it wasn't obvious enough. "Guys love food."

"Well, either way I don't need help naming my turtle from you." I reached in the tank and picked him up, he crawled into my palm and when I held him in my hand he peeped his head back inside of his shell.
"Wow. He's afraid of you!" He exclaimed, watching me rub its shell.
Ignoring him, I kept grazing the turtles back. "Come out and show your cute little face." I cooed, but of course it didn't come out. I shrugged, "He's probably just afraid- of YOU!" I glared at David and put my turtle back in the tank. "I don't care what you think, I'm naming him Leo, it's short and cute."
He folded his arms and smirked, "Leo is slightly better than Leonardo, I won't deny that."
I shook my head back and forth, watching Leo stretch his legs out towards the stone. "I wasn't asking for your approval either way."

He didn't say anything after that, he just kind of mumbled and took his phone out of his pocket, sending a text as his fingers zoomed across the screen.
I got a good look at the ring he had on his middle finger, it was nearly white. It was obvious there was something etched into it but I couldn't exactly see it that well. It looked fancy, like white gold or something.
"What?" He asked, realizing that I was staring at his fingers.
"Oh nothing, that's just a really nice ring." I could tell how nosy I sounded. "I've never seen you wear it before."
There was a silent moment after I said that and he just stared at me, smiling like something was funny. Maybe I was too infatuated with it? He took it off his finger, and grabbed my left hand; sliding it onto my fourth finger. "It's a family ring. It's a silly little tradition of ours."
He kept staring at me but my eyes were fixated on the ring. The name Rakenson was engraved on the ring in the most elegant way. The 'R' was curved and the 's' was all wispy, the 'o' even had a little hoop around it like the halo of an angel. "Wow, nice." I murmured, holding my hand out in front of me.

"You look a little too comfortable with that on." He said as he took my hand into the palm of his hand.
"And?" I asked.
"And- You might steal it." He glided the ring off of my finger and put it in his pocket.
"WHAT! I don't want your ring! I would never do something like that!"
He just shook his head from side to side. "You see that's why I mess with you. Your reactions are priceless." He started laughing and then he said, "Really priceless, but with all jokes aside, I really should get going; I have to catch a flight."
"A flight where?" I desperately was fighting back the urge to say more. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

He looked so disconnected when he mumbled, "New York." He was making it seem like it was something to be ashamed of.
"So you're going to the big city, and you're not even the slightest bit excited?!"
"First off, I had a bad hangover, so my day was shit from the moment I woke up. I had my head in the toilet for hours. But I'm going to see my cousin- and we're going to some random guy's house to celebrate Christmas with him and his family. I hate my cousin and I don't want to celebrate a holiday with people I barely know. I'd rather be here with my friends at least." He shrugged his shoulders, "We're going to Staten Island, not the big city." He threw air quotes up in the air and grimaced. "Maybe I'll meet some cool people over the week, and hang with them instead."
I guess when you're an only child you have a lot of friends to make up for it. Which kind of explained why he was hungover. I imagined him at a party with a bunch of people, taking shots or something. Besides his plethora of friends, I kind of was shocked that he wasn't okay with his family. Don't get me wrong, his father and his mother were something else but, I didn't think the rest of his family was like that. "What's wrong with your cousin?"
"It's a long story." He was talking all slow and detached. Suddenly he sighed and said, "Last time he was around, we got into a fight in front of the whole family- it was just a big bloody mess." He saw the look on my face and a flash of guilt seeped through his eyes. "I'm not proud of it, but it happened." His voice was cold and ambiguous.

"Of course, I understand. That's pretty embarassing, especially in front of your whole family. Yikes!" It was amazing how it only took a split second for his whole demeanor to change. "But what happened though? What made you guys fight?"
"I have to go. I really can't stay and talk, I'm sorry Melody." He walked towards the door and got the surprise of his life.
Like a groundhog, Adrianne opened the door and popped inside. "It's 11:15, Melody. That means no one should be in this house."
I stood there with my mouth wide open like an idiot. Where the hell did she come from?! She was in bed all day, and all night, but there she was. It was a little strange since she hadn't talked for like the whole week. "I-I- He was-"
David put his hands in his pockets and grabbed his keys, swinging them in the air as he held them. "I was just leaving actually, I'm not looking for any trouble."
"Mhmm." Adrianne hummed and she looked him up and down. Her eyes traveled from me, to my bed behind me and then she looked back at David. "Well, it's pretty late you know." After saying that she closed the door and left.

David looked so relieved, and ready to leave. "I'm sorry, but your aunt freaks me out; she's so vague when it comes to her expressions. It's like she has one face on all the time, I can never read her. I wouldn't be surprised if she said she hasn't had a good laugh in a while."
"She hasn't." I admitted, feeling horrible just thinking about the past week. "Turns out she was having a tubular pregnancy. They had to remove the fetus."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? You couldn't control that. I hate when people say 'sorry' to unfortunate events."
He scowled at me, his eyes nearly shooting bullets at me. "It's just a sympathetic gesture." He shook his head and said, "You know, I don't understand you sometimes. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm sorry for her not you."
I didn't know what to say to that and I didn't really want to say anything with the way he was looking all annoyed and frustrated. Silence was just surrounding us and I just had a blank stare on my face.

He let out an Earth shattering sigh and stood up a little straighter. It was like he was ready to conquer the world or something. "Welp, it's time for me to go spend time with my amazing family!" He exclaimed sarcastically.
I laughed and said, "Take some pictures of New York for me! Have fun and don't hurt your cousin!"
"I can only promise to send you pictures." He chuckled and headed out the door, waving to me before he left. "Happy Birthday Melody."
"Bye." I waved goodbye to him and actually wanted to say more. Not say more things, but ask him more stuff. I wanted to talk to him. I didn't want it to be just a "hi" and "bye" kind of thing, I actually wanted to know about his cousin and he left me hanging. Typical David.