A Desired Difference

Peachy

Friday morning.

The one morning everyone expects to be great because tgif! When in reality, everyone's just exhausted from the week and everyone just wants to die.

"I made you breakfast," my brother Vince tossed across the counter containing a burnt up bagel that's been cut lopsided and has strawberry cream cheese smeared everywhere.

"Gee thanks" I say take a bite of the bagel. Burnt things have never bothered me in the past, I even preferred them for a long time. So why would they bother me now?

"Are you ok, Tay Bay?" my mom asks walking into the kitchen from the living room.

"Yeah- uh, tired" I say pushing my hair back with my fingers.

"You look really bothered" says Vince, who doesn't actually give a damn at all.

"No- no I'm fine I'm just really tried I'm going off 2 hours of sleep" I say quickly and all together.

They both shrug.

"The bus is gonna be here in 10 minutes, make sure you don't miss it" my mom walks out of the room, presumably to take a shower. I wish she or Vince would drive me. The bus is always the worst part of my day. Not that I dong have friends or anything like that, I just hate all that goes on. And it's small.

So I put on my hoodie, pull on some faded red skinny jeans, grab my backpack, and head out towards the bus. Damien is waiting for me in our seat, and my friend-ish person Analeise Jones, walks with me to the bus. She's my neighbor.

"Did you get the poetry assignment finished yet?" she asks, her eyelashes longer than her fingernails and her long blonde hair with pink streaks pushed up in a high ponytail. There's a reason we aren't the best of friends.

"Yeah," I say shrugging, "I wrote it on Tuesday."

"Isn't that the day we got the assignment?"

"Uh- yeah."

Analeise purses her large glossy lips into a small smile, "what'd you write about?" We step into the bus.

"Uh.. coffee..." I lie quickly.

She laughs and walks off.

I take a seat by Damien and he smiles at me, "coffee, eh?"

I crinkle my nose, "Coffee is gross. Pay me and maybe I'll consider writing an ode about it."

Damien laughs and puts on his headphones. I admire his face. His eyes are dark brown and his skin is a soft auburn. He doesn't look like a conservative Catholic, he's Hispanic and his teeth are crooked, and he has hair down to his shoulders that's always soft and across his forehead in a fringe kind of style.

Not to mention he's incredibly nerdy. Star Wars, Transformers, Call of Duty; you name it. He's tallish, skinny, and his arms are strong. I like the way t-shirts fit his torso, and I love watching him to martial arts.

I hate that he's conservative. But no one's perfect. I still like him. It's just... easier to avoid political conversation with him- or anything related to that.

I slouch back in my seat and stare at my thighs. Squished against the bus seat they look wider than my figure, my skinny jeans contain them. I brush my hair back again and tie it into a knot behind my head.

Damien leans his head against my shoulder, despite how much taller he is than me even when sitting down, and closes his eyes.

"Someday we'll get on this bus, and it'll never stop."