Friday, August 26, 2011

Chapter 2

Slowly, Maggie was walking toward me.  I took in her appearance. As a kid, she was quite the tomboy and always wore a baseball hat.  Now, she looked like any girl but still kept her hat, except this time it was for fashion.
"Hey Terence, nice to see you here."  My eyes drooped in confusion.  Here she is, acting as though nothing happened between us in our childhood, like she didn't abandon me in middle school.
But, I still didn't want to be mean, so I talked with a neutral edge to my voice, "Maggie, it's TJ."  She didn't deserve to be called Mags like I used to call her.
"Alright, TJ then."  She raised her eyebrow, and I didn't know what she meant by that.
"Yeah, and...why are you here?"  I didn't care if I sounded a little rude.  It was just so strange to run into her-I don't run into people I used to know on a daily basis.
"Rude, are we now?  Are you still holding a grudge?"
"No..." Like I was going to admit it to her!
"Oh, okay then.  In that case, would you care to come to my house?"
I raised my eyebrow at her and almost laughed.  Was she kidding?  Why would I want to go to her house since I haven't seen her in years, and when we stopped being friends she shut me out?

At first I wasn't looking in her eyes since it felt uncomfortable to deny her.  Obviously she neglected me when we were younger so it should be easy for me to say no right away, but it wasn't.  We had some fun times as kids-yet, I still couldn't outright accept her strange, sudden proposition.
Then when I did look in her eyes, I stopped thinking for a moment how I didn't want to go to her house.
They sparkled and shimmered as I looked at them.  I continued to stay transfixed on her eyes for a while.
I couldn't deny her now.

As she closed her eyes, I looked away and glanced around to see where Trish was.  She was sitting on a bench reading Cosmo.
Smiling since I knew where she was (far away), I told Maggie, "I would love to come with you to your house."
She smiled, big and genuine.
"That would be great.  Hey..."
She looked behind her for a minute because Trish dropped her magazine and it plopped rather loudly on the ground.
In regards to her, I said, "yeah, she's my sister."  There's no reason why I should be embarrassed by her, nothing about her is embarrassing.  She has great style, lots of friends.
"Ah, I remember your sister..." I wasn't able to read tone of voice.
After she picked up the magazine, she looked in our direction and noticed us.  She started walking toward us.

She glanced over at Maggie so quickly that she probably didn't notice.
"Um, whatcha doin TJ?"
"Why are you butting into our conversation, Trish?"
She rolled her eyes.  "I don't know...it sounded like you were deciding to go to her house...the girl that totally ignored you when you were in middle school..."
"Um, hel-lo, I was just some stupid kid worried about my image.  But, I didn't even see what was right in front of me."  She looked at me with half open eyes.
"Yeah, well, it's too late for you.  Buh-bye now."  I looked at my sister annoyed, she doesn't need to fight my battles for me.  "Trish, it was a long time ago..."
"Yeah Trish, I'm a good girl now."  Trish looked away, clearly uninterested.
"Whatever, I have to get going anyway.  Lena is waiting.  You going with Maggie then?  Great, I don't want to be late."
For a minute I watched her go feeling dumbfounded.  It seems I got what I wanted.
"Well, it looks like you can come with me after all."

We walked together to her parked car.  I kept inching my way farther from her, but she kept trying to get closer to me.  It was like she wanted to bump into me or trip me!  Well, I wasn't going to let myself be embarrassed by her.
For a while we drove in her car. She tried to make small talk, but it didn't go over so well because I was zoning out.  It was just weird to be in there with her, I guess, but I still wanted to go?  It was a strange feeling.

As we were driving, the sun was setting and I transfixed some of my spacing out to watching it.  I traced the colors as I watched the blue line change in the places of the sky.
Now and then, I felt Maggie burning a hole through my head.  She still couldn't get over my whiteness, could she?  But not going to her house didn't cross my mind.

When we got there, I made the most disgusting look ever.  Okay, for most people it wouldn't be considered that bad.  But me?  I'm an interior designer.  Beautiful decorating makes me happy inside, and horrible decorating makes me cringe.  She probably was like every other post college graduate in that she was short on cash, so short on money to decorate well.
I wasn't about to bring it up in conversation, though.  It's quite rude to mention outright if a person's decorating is horrendous unless they mention it first.
"You hungry, TJ?"
I nodded.  I didn't eat lunch, so I was famished.

She showed me to her dining room and she went into the kitchen to cook some food.
"You like soup?  Oh, of course you do."
I didn't, actually, but I wasn't comfortable making her go out of her way to cook me something else. "Yeah, that's fine."
"Would you like Vegetable medley or vegetable medley?"
She was trying to lighten up the mood, but she was failing at it.  I didn't answer her, but mumbled to myself.
I was expecting to see her get out a pot to boil water, but she didn't.  Instead, I watched her get some cans out of the cupboard and put them in the microwave.  She didn't even bother to put them in a microwave proof bowl.

Only about two minutes later, she came over with our soup.  At least she bothered to put it in bowls, I was starting to doubt that she would.
Slowly, I started to choke down my soup.  The soup was really chunky and the flavor was bland.  Usually that's a bad thing, but since I don't like soup I guess it was a good thing.  If I did like soup, I'd probably say it's the worst soup I've ever tasted.  But I really think that it's just as bad as any soup.
Suddenly, I looked at Maggie and I realized that she was looking at me.  I was too busy being disgusted with my soup. "We're going to have fun tonight, Teej."  Oh now, now you're sounding like Trish!  It's okay to hear her say that but not anyone else.
"Yeah..." I was starting to think about going home.  I could really go for some chocolate...

After we finished eating, she stood up and I did too.
"You ready?"
"Ready for what, I want to get going home..." ... because I want chocolate really badly...
"No, silly, you're coming up to my room!"  She touched my arm and pushed it slightly too hard.  I winced, touching my arm and she just rolled her eyes.
I didn't like the sound of that, but I didn't want to disappoint her.
"Alright.."
I stood there for a moment, breathing hard, but my breathe was taken out of me when she took my hand.
"Come on, let's go!"

She took me upstairs, and when we got in her room, (which was decorated even worse than anywhere else in her house I've seen) she quickly threw her hat to the side of the room.  Then, she raised her eyebrows at me and stripped off the rest of her clothes.  The only thing she kept on was her bra and underwear.
She went on her bed and lounged on it.
Smiling, trying to lure me in, she said,  "Come on, TJ."
I found myself looking into her eyes... she looked really nice in her skimpy little...attire, but it wasn't doing it for me.  That's just it-it was just nice.
"Um...I have to go to the bathroom."
Her smile was replaced with a puss. "Oh, alright.  It's over there."  Her bathroom was apparently attached to her room.

I didn't actually have to go to the bathroom, but I had to call Trish.  There was no way I was going to play with Maggie.  We're not friends anymore-why did I come here in the first place?  My mind was drawing blanks.
I clicked on Trish's speed dial and she picked it up.  
"Hey Trish...um..."
Right when I heard her voice, I knew she was worried about me.  Great, she knew it wouldn't work out.  How embarrassing, "you need to go, don't you?  Wait-someone important is on the line.  Oh gosh, it's Miranda Omegle.  I gotta take this..."
"It's alright."  Apparently that was one of her clients, she wouldn't make me wait for one of her friends.  She's a good sister like that."

I continued to stand there as I waited for her to call me back.  There was no way I was going to sit on the bathtub or, worse, the toilet.  I have no idea how clean they are...
"You doing okay, in there, Teej?"  There she goes again saying Teej..."
"Oh, I'm sorry.  I actually have the runs.  I could clean the toilet when I'm done if you need..."
Oh llama, I'm such an idiot.  I have the runs?  That's the best I could do?

Soon, I heard my phone ringing.  Thank goodness she called me back.  That's when I realized that she could've heard it...I wouldn't let myself think of that, though.
I decided to lower my voice. Why didn't I think of that before? "So can you pick me up?  Like, now?"
"Yes, what's the address?"
I wasn't quite sure, so I just said, "that's alright..I'll get back to you on that...Bye for now."
"If you're sure..."
So I got out of the bathroom and went past Maggie.  But of course that wouldn't come without her saying, "hey, were you talking on the phone in there?  Hey-where are you going?"
"Yes, I actually was.  Maggie, we're not friends anymore.  I don't know why I even came here....I'm leaving, bye."
She put her hand toward me and moved it toward her as she started to get up.  She was so transfixed that she stumbled onto the floor.  She wasn't the only one falling, though.  I was able to get out quite well since I was speed walking (I guess you can't walk very fast in very little clothes).  I wasn't even thinking well about walking so I stumbled and fell.  For the second time of the day.

I called Trish back as I started walking outside, "Trish..just start driving toward..." I looked at a street sign and told her the address.
"Alright, Teej..." For a while, I just continued walking on the road since I was bored...and I didn't want Maggie to get to me.  Not that that was possible, it would take a girl like her a long time to get dressed.  It's not like she's going to run after me practically naked, right?
I shook my head to myself, and in no time Trish's car was there.  She never disappoints me...

I was lucky that on our ride home she didn't question me at all about what had happened.

But when we got home, she insisted that I sit with her on the sofa.
"Okay...I gave you a breather.  What...happened?"
"Come on, you couldn't guess?"
She smiled.  "Yeah...but I just want to hear it come from you."
"For some reason I agreed with her to go to her house, and she gave me this gross, bland soup for dinner.  Then she took me to her bedroom...and she wanted...you know."
She nodded.  "Yeah, now that she's not so insecure of who you are, then she decides she likes you."
I laughed.  It all just sounded so weird-she liked me?  Yeah....
"Teej, are you serious?"
I looked at her quizically.  "What are you talking about?"
"You're kidding."
"No..."
"Lots of girls like you."
"But I'm as pale as a piece of paper."
She rolled her eyes. Trish wasn't making any sense.

3 comments:

  1. That Maggie is a bit of a skank LOL. Doesn't talk to him for year then is throwing herself at him. I'm glad he left.

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  2. Wow I was not expecting Maggie to behave like that! Hahaha
    Good chapter ^_^

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