A Different Life, A Different Story

Indie - This small, small world

I hold his hand and smile. He's so cute and nice.  I feel his pearl eyes gazing at me abroad as I look away.

A tall scrawny guy, probably in middle school, barges in, "hey Felix, family meeting." the scrawny guy looks at my shirt, "damn, slut, put some actual clothes on. You be lookin' like a brown Britney Spears."

My eyes widen as Felix states, "No she doesn't, and don't slut-shame her." He turns over to me, "stay here and you're not a slut, you're beautiful." His hand gleams my shoulder. The particles in my bare shoulder light up feeling alive when he touches it.

Heat streaks my face as I respond almost in a whisper, "Okay."

He hops off his bed and leaves the room leaving the tv on pause, I text Esy:

ESY;;;: HEYYYYYYYYYYY

ME: hey bestieeeee

ESY;;;: how's your new school?

ME: good I made some new friends

ESY;;;: u know alaska's my cousin I go to her house every weekend

ME: really

ESY;;;: yeah she's the tiny blond one you're next to in that post

ME: yeah! it's such a small world

ESY;;;: it really is gtg byeeeee

ME: byeeee

I slip my phone underneath my leg as I wait for him to enter the room.

What feels like an eternity passes, "I'm finally back. Sorry, it took so long."

I shrug both in my voice and physically, "it's okay." I feel the bed ease with pressure next to me. The warm feelings are back and stronger than ever. The last time they were faint, but not this feeling. The urge to only hug him now I want to kiss his soft lips. My eyes search his soft-looking lips as I dig my teeth into the flesh of my bottom lip wanting, waiting, for blood to start pouring out like a tsunami of red flushing the entire world. The world really is a small place. It makes it hard to believe that we're the only living things in existence, that no other world can hold living creatures. False, I'd say, false.

At the beginning of schooI, walk with Alaska today. "Where's Felix?"

She shrugs, "I don't know. Did you do the homework last night?"

"Yeah."

"Of course you did."

"What's that supposed to mean," I laugh.

"Nothing, nothing. I did some of it," she says stretching out the word some in a question-like tone.

"How did you not finish your homework?"

"I was at Alaynna's house. She's in our first-period class, but she's literally the funniest person in the world. She had her friend, Zarro, there, and oh my god it was fuuunnn."

"What did you girls do?" I ask skeptically why they didn't allow me to join in all of the fun.

"We stole some of my mom's alcohol and drunk so much of it." She shows me videos of Alaynna and Zarro rolling on the floor of her ginormous room with pillows all over it. Another one was Alaynna swinging upside-down on her ceiling chair in her room.

I gasp, "you have an egg chair?"

"Yesss, I got it for my thirteenth birthday."

"Wow." We enter the classroom and we sit right next to each other so she can quickly copy it down. Even when she's rushing she had really neat handwriting.

The whole class period, Alaynna and Alaska chitter-chatter, while I just read the class book. I feel like the unimportant friend who always walks behind them. At my old school, I didn't. I had only three, though Ty Sju, Esmeralda, and Ray (kinda) that's it.  That's all. That's all I needed. That's all I wanted but poof. Gone in a blink of an eye. Just gone. The bell beeps long giving me a headache as Alaynna, Alaska, and I walk to lunch. Alaynna is in all of my classes. My head feels like I'm suffocating as the air circulates my lungs giving them a tight squeeze. Well... Alaynna and Amilla sit down. Alaynna squeals, "She just texted me!"

Amilla in her mother-like tone says, "Wow, that's really good. Alaska, did you and Alaynna get the homework finished?"

"Yeah, we did. I copied it from Indie," she states slouched over the bench of the table scrolling on her phone.

Amilla points her dark eyes starring back at me, "Indie, how was your day?"

My Aunt's an abusive asshole and my Uncle doesn't know and I might, kinda, sorta like someone but all of that comes out as, "It's good you?" I know her fake answer, good, but she doesn't want anyone at her house or even near her family. I feel her, now. Aunt Lucy's a bitch.

I WALK WITH HIS hand in my hand completely flourishing feeling like I'd melt into a puddle both because of the strong heat and because of the feeling of my cells' excitement from his sweaty hand, still, he hasn't let go of it and neither will I, I guess. He pulls his hand away and wipes it on his shirt, "Do you wanna go inside because it's super hot out." He says panning his shirt out. I want to take his shirt off and wear it soggy and dripping with his sweat.

"Sure," the words escape my mouth. We walk around the mini circle of the neighborhood. He leads me inside his house. I've been here before the same white walls construct the foyer leading up to carpeted stairs to the rooms, the living room's big with an arched entrance leaving the dining room and starting up again into a tiny room in the kitchen area. He gestures to come upstairs with him and I follow. The hall is dim from the lack of a ceiling light, but the walls' lights look way better. When I enter the refreshing smell of his cologne, his things are in the same position as the time I left all the way up until now. I sit criss-cross on his bed as he dances to the rhythm of a song that plays from his phone. He wiggles his butt and does the stinky leg. I crack up. When I'm out of breath, from laughing so hard, he plops on his bed beside me. My insides warm up again. I glaze at his face. I've never been this close to him I didn't know he has faint freckles sprouted across the top of his feminine nose. It's so cute. I smile uncontrollably. He simmers in closer, while I'm unable to move as if I'm frozen in place. I close my eyes and feel the pressure of flesh to flesh pressing into one another. When he slowly pulls away I flourish and immediately look at my tennis shoes twisting my nervous hands in my lap. I feel him scoot closer to me. I slowly lift my head, meeting his eyes. His voice calmly swims in my ear like a stream of water filling my insides, "Is this...your first time?" I nod wanting to do it again but his brother bursts through his room. "Can you ever knock?!"

"No, Gramma needs us, and were you two--"

"Okay, okay just...go, please?" He says.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes as if he wasn't the one that barged in on us. A while after Felix is done with whatever downstairs, he says, "Indie, let me show you something, okay?"

I stand up with the guide of his hand carrying me away to the glistening sunset--well it's raining out and thunder booms from the outside world--but he makes it all go away. I quickly grab a hoodie from a box on his bed and hurried out the door into the garage. His garage is decorated with stars on the roof and painted planets all over the walls. The light is motion censored, the garage has LED lights strung amongst the ceilings perfect for nighttime. "I wish I could spin the night," I admit looking around the garage.

"I wish you could, too," he says helping me in the car and closing my door. He gets in and slowly crashing his lips into mine catching me off guard. I don't know why I always feel good after every kiss, I know this is only the second kiss he's giving me, but it feels like butterflies, and my lips tingle when we're done. We slowly get into the rain as it hits the car and the windows in a slow pounding rhythm. He glances at the hoodie I have on. I read it; girls' softball is plastered on it. "Do you have a little sister?"