Black Lion - A Short Story

Black Lion (4)

Chapter 4

I saw the deer early enough thank god, and I missed it by no more than an inch. It got scared and kicked my fender as it ran away. I sat there with my foot on the brake hoping I didn’t ruin the car. After a few minutes I got to driving again and was on my way to pick up Colleen. With my cell phone in my hand, I made my way through the small town to her house. She was waiting on the porch. I could hear people yelling inside.

“Hey,” She said when she got in. I started backing out.

“Hey, what was that?” I asked.

“Mom was yelling at my older sister Angelia, nothing new,” She replied. I nodded and drove back into the city. I looked over to see Colleen counting bills.

“Holy, how much did your parents give you?” I said, shocked.

“None, this is mine from work, I never buy anything but books anyways,” She said.

“How much are we talking?”

“About two thousand, I’m not allowed to drive, so it’s not like I have to save for a car,” She said glumly.

“Don’t worry, we will put that to good use,” I said. I looked at the sky to see it was still mostly blue, and the shops in the mall were open late today.

                First, I took Colleen to get new clothes. She told me she loved how I dressed but I figured it was too dark for her and helped her choose SOME stuff like mine, but some lighter options too. I guess I enjoy a lot of black. She ended up have a very rock star look, while I was more punk. Next was make up. We got her the basic kit, brushes, blushes, foundations, liners and shadows. The works and more. We also picked up some hair stuff. After that, we had to get her some dresses, that was a whole new story. It took an hour and I got one myself for a secret reason. Finally was shoes, to which we took great joy in. While we were there we also got some accessories. At long last we got to go back to her house to start on the real work.

Her room was nice, tall dark bookshelves, sky blue walls, matching bedspread, a study desk and a big mirror. On one wall was a bunch of posters of movies that were okay and a cork board for notes.

“Sit,” I said and pointed to a chair away from the mirror. She did as I said and I picked through the bags.

I pulled out some studded black ankle boots and some lacy studded boots from one bag. I also picked out a gray dress that was strapless and short. Too short really… Perfect. I matched it with a black dangly necklace. I gave them to her and she went to the bathroom to change.

“You look awesome!” I said.

“Only until my neck,” She replied.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you look hot,” I finished and pulled out the hair stuff we bought her. A straightener, hairspray, and frizz cream. She questioned only getting a straightener but I told her to trust me.  I had to straighten it first, put some hairspray in and let it dry while I did her make up. I picked a dark purple to go with her eyes, put white in the inner corner of her eyes and black on the outside to make it look dramatic. I topped it off with black liner and mascara. When I finished curling her hair and letting the spray dry, we got back in the car.

“Where are we going now?” She complained.

“We are going to go see how good a job I did,” I said and smiled. We went to a club and got in easily.

“Oh my gosh, we can’t be in here,” Colleen said. I laughed.

“No one needs to know.” We danced, a few guys asked us for our numbers and I was left sitting at the bar in the black dress I bought today, watching Colleen dance with some guy. I wish I was as good with guys as I was with hair. I turned to the bartender and ordered a beer. He was reluctant but did it anyways and laughed when I gave him a large tip.

“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” he asked me.

“Aria,” I replied. He shook my hand.

“I’m Matt,” He yelled over the music. “I think I’ll get to like you.”

“Awesome,” I said with a smile. I turned back around to bump into someone.

“Sorry,” I shouted. I looked up to be met with bright green eyes hidden behind dark hair. I gasped when I noticed it was the guy from the tattoo shop.

“No problem, I hope you didn’t spill that,” He replied. I smiled.

“Not a drop, I’ve learned all the tricks,” I said with a laugh. He sat beside me.

“You don’t strike me as the beer type,” He pointed out.

“I’m a very complicated person,” I said and looked back at the crowd to try and find Colleen, only to see her walking towards me.

“Hey hun, what happened?” I asked.

“Can we just go home?” She asked and looked around.

“Perv?” She nodded. So did I.

“Sorry, I have to go,” I said to the guy.

“I understand, some guys just don’t comprehend no,” He said. I smiled at him one last time, called a goodbye to Matt and left with a shaken Colleen.

“It’s okay, he didn’t hurt you did he?” I asked as we stood outside the entrance. Colleen shook her head no and I gave her my blazer that went with the dress. The bouncer stopped us.

“Excuse me ladies, did you say someone was out of line in there?” He asked. So Colleen told him what he looked like and we were told to wait in our car while we watched him get ejected from the club.

“I feel so much better,” Colleen admitted.

“Yeah, and I made another friend who works here,” I said.

“Really, who?”

“The bartender and the bouncer,” I said and pulled out of the parking spot. When we were back at Colleen’s she handed me my blazer.

“Thanks so much Aria!” She exclaimed and hugged me, we said our goodbyes and made plans to go get coffee after registration. I drove home to see Lisa waiting up.

“I’m fine Lisa, see?” I said.

“Then why do you smell like beer?” She asked… Dang, gotta lie I guess.

“Some idiot spilled some on my dress, can you get it out?” I asked.

“Sure, go to bed, it’s late,” She said and I went up to bed. I changed into my ninja clothes, locked my door and went out for a stroll to see if I could catch another glimpse of the animal in that cemetery, but no luck tonight though. It was so weird, I think I felt something watching me. When I crawled back in the window, I saw an animal in the woods, too bad it was too far away… maybe it’s tame…