Goodnight Moon

8- You're An Annoying Pest

“Today will be beautiful,” I tell myself in the mirror. I give myself a look that’s so intense that I just have to believe myself. Even though today is a Monday and even though Lake is still living in my guest room and even though gay marriage isn’t legalized everywhere, maybe today will be beautiful.

I go downstairs and take Max outside so that he can do his business and then I feed him breakfast as I make myself Nutella-covered toast for my own breakfast. I have my phone in my jeans pocket and my ear bud in my left ear that’s playing The Maine and I’m singing along and tapping my foot a little bit because that’s just the kind of day this will be. I’m sure of it.

“You’re disgustingly chirpy this morning,” Lake grumbles as he comes downstairs about ten minutes later.

I don’t want to be nice to him but I also can’t be mean to him because he has a black eye and cuts on his face and his lip is still a little bit swollen and I’d feel bad if I was mean to such a crippled elephant butt face. Biting my lip, I just ignore him and continue humming along to my song and eating my toast.

“So you’re not talking now?” He wonders curiously.

I glance over at him where he’s standing at the fridge, opening it up to get something out for himself to eat before we go to school. “Yes.”

“Yes you’re not talking?” He asks.

“Yes,” I say vaguely and then I think of something that’s not nice or mean at all and I can say that without ignoring him. “Do you need a ride to school?”

“Yes, Ariel, I need a ride to school,” He says it slowly as if I’m incredibly stupid for asking.

I bite my lip again so that I don’t snap at him because then I’d look at his black eye and feel bad for snapping at him. “I was just asking,” I defend.

“Why aren’t you being bitchy today?” Lake asks me, leaning against the counter as he eats his cereal.

“I am never bitchy,” I deny with a shake of my head. “You’re just a dick.”

He grins at me but it ends up being just a grimace because his lip is still so swollen. “There’s that charm. You had me worried for a minute there. I thought you were going soft.”

“Why do you make it so hard to be nice to you?” I snap at him, finishing my toast so I stand up and put the plate in the sink and then turn to glare at him.

“Because I don’t want you to be nice to me, Ari,” He admits. “What happened yesterday wasn’t a big deal and it’d just feel weird if you start being nice to me because of it.”

“I was not going to be nice to you,” I argue.

“Well you were ignoring me and that’s boring,” Lake explains. “And also weird.”

I roll my eyes at him and decide to prove his point so I ignore him and then look over at Max, who is just now finishing his breakfast. “Come on, Maxxie,” I chirp, walking towards the stairs. Max follows me up the stairs and then into his room. I shut his door and lock it and then I close my door and lock that one too because I’m so paranoid about Lake trying to dognap Max again.

When I get back downstairs, I grab my school bag and walk out into the garage without saying a word to Lake and he quickly follows. I unlock the doors and we get in the car as I open the garage door.

“Seriously, fighting is better than ignoring me,” Lake says as I back out of the garage and then shut the door as I drive down the road.

“I know my voice is lovely and you just love hearing it, Lake, but I’m not in the mood to fight today,” I inform him. “I still hate you though.”