Comfortable Liar

inquiry; the act of inquiring or of seeking information by questioning; interrogation

“So, how was your first day?” Aiden asked as soon as the door closed behind me.

“Great,” I said and stuffed my back into the floorboard.

“Very convincing.”

“Well, it wasn’t all bad. I made a new friend.” I looked over at her, and I made sure to show off a cheesy grin when she looked my way.

“It’s a miracle! Someone else is willing to put up with your…insaneness!” Aiden yelled dramatically.

“Shut up, I’m brilliant,” I said and threw one of my legs onto the dashboard. It was quickly followed by the next one, and I crossed my ankles.

“So, tell me about this friend,” Aiden said as she made a sharp turn. For once, my entire body didn’t move with the maneuver. I had finally gotten used to her wild driving.

“Her name’s Raynee, and she’s a senior this year. She was the first person to talk to me today, and we have all the same classes, except for my last class which is math,” I said quickly.

“Hmm…I’ll have to meet this Raynee person,” Aiden said.

“You shall. Soon,” I said.

“So what was the bad part?” Aiden asked.

“I don’t recall saying that there was a bad part.”

“It was school, there was a bad part.”

“Just some assholes, in math.”

“And who are these said assholes?”

“I don’t know their names. Wait, there was one. Zack or something.”

“Ha! I knew it!” Aiden yelled and threw her hands in the air.

“Keep your hands on the wheel!” I screamed and pushed her arm down.

“You worry too much,” Aiden said.

“And you can’t drive. Who in the hell gave you a license?”

“The state of California.”

“Well, California’s an idiot.”

“Don’t you want to know why I was freaking out?”

“Can I stop freaking out first?”

“Why are you so dramatic?”

“Why do you have such a small attention span?”

“Why do you ask so many questions?”

“Okay! Who were they?” I finally asked. Aiden smiled to herself, but then her smile quickly disappeared.

“They are the biggest assholes to ever walk the face of this earth,” Aiden said quietly.

“Now who’s being dramatic?” I asked. By now we were parked in front of Coney’s, but neither of us made a move to get out.

“Did you see all of them?” Aiden asked, completely ignoring my earlier statement. If she wasn’t going to “argue” back, then I knew something was up.

“No, only three,” I said.

“Well, there’s five, or there were. It’s down to four now,” Aiden said.

“Details would be helpful right about now.”

“The main one is Matt, did you see him?” Aiden asked. Her eyes had turned a dark violet, and I couldn’t see any traces of the blue or gold.

“I’m not sure…I only know the one’s name,” I said.

“Matt’s kinda tall, but he’s not the tallest. He’s got a little muscle to him, but not much,” Aiden said.

“I don’t think so,” I said. To be honest, I was kinda confused. Both of the guys I had seen had been tall, but one was way up there. The really tall one had been skinny, but the other guy had a little muscle to him. Was that one Matt?

“The ones you saw, what did they look like?” Aiden asked. I forced myself to remember the small details, and then I pictured each guy’s face in my mind.

“The first one, the one that woke me up, had really bright blue eyes. He was really tall and skinny, and he kept calling me “firecracker.” The other one had medium brown eyes and dark brown hair. He was shorter than the first one and had a little more muscle to him. It seemed like he had a pretty good sized ego, and he had this smirk that just got on my nerves like there’s no tomorrow,” I said, my accent really coming out the more I rambled on.

“That first one was Jimmy. You think he’s just a harmless idiot, but he definitely is not. The other one, that’s Brian. You’re right too, that boy’s got one hell of an ego. It doesn’t help that everyone absolutely loves him. Ugh, what a joke,” Aiden said. I couldn’t remember her ever saying anything negative about another human being (minus my biological father on occasion). So, my mind came up with the only solution. She knew these people, personally.

“Who are they?” I asked.

“Matt and Jimmy used to go to my school, but they got expelled last year. I was wondering where they’d end up, and I guess they got stuck at your school. Anywho, they’re just bad guys. Matt’s not as bad as the others, I’ll give him that. He doesn’t really say anything until you piss him off, and then you better start running. One hit and you’re out,” Aiden said. I could detect a little admiration in her voice, but not much.

“They met Brian sometime during their junior year, probably over the Christmas holidays. Through Brian they met Justin, who tried to overdose a few weeks before school let out,” Aiden said.

“So that’s why there’s only four?” I asked.

“Yeah. Another guy from our school, Dameon, went on tour with them over the summer, as their bassist. Word is that he split as soon as they got back. It wasn’t a bad split, he just wanted to go his own way. So now there’s only four,” Aiden said.

“What about Zacky? Is he a bad guy?” I asked. I thought about the way Raynee had looked when he was around, and deep down inside I decided that he was bad, even if Aiden didn’t know so yet. You didn’t get looks like that over nice guys.

“Just as bad as the rest of them. He’s the star of the baseball team, so he automatically thinks every girl wants him. Sadly, most of them do,” Aiden said with a small sigh.

“Well, they sound like horrible people that I plan on avoiding to the best of my ability. Now, let’s put on a smiley face and serve dripping ice cream to our customers!” I yelled and threw open the car door. I managed to get my foot tangled in my seat belt, and I twisted so that I landed flat on my butt. Aiden’s head poked out of the passenger side, and I was happy to see blue streaks in her eyes and a smile.

“What has the south done to you, my friend?” Aiden asked, thickening her accent on purpose.

“Well, ma’am, I guess you could say that it has made me so uncoordinated that I’m worse off than a man with one leg in an ass-kicking contest,” I said, deepening my accent into a true southern drawl.

“Do you need any help?” Aiden asked.

“I’m still stuck,” I said with a small frown, pointing to my foot.

“What am I gonna do with you?” Aiden asked as she untangled my foot from the seatbelt.

“You know you love me. Now, let’s go!” I yelled and started towards the door to the shoppe. Aiden followed behind me, and we replaced the daytime workers that were here because we were in school.

About an hour later, things were kinda slow, but there were a few tables that were filled. It was mostly mothers with their kids, and I smiled as I looked over at them. Happy families, just enjoying an ice cream cone after a long day. It must be nice.

“Hey, Aiden, I’m gonna go get something to drink real quick, okay?” I asked.

“Sure. I can hold the fort down,” Aiden said. I slipped into the back lounge and got a drink out of the refrigerator. Kelly kept it stocked with random drinks for me, Aiden, and her other employees. I grabbed a can of Mountain Dew and leaned against the fridge to drink it. This was the good life…

Aiden’s POV:

I listened to the swoosh of the door as Erika disappeared, and I leaned my elbows against the counter. I had a random magazine open in front of me, and I lazily flipped through the pages. These girly magazines have some really good tips, but some things are just ridiculous. Seriously, who wants to read about “How To Get The Best Looking Bikini Line This Beach Season”?

“Hey, look at who it is!” I heard someone yell. A part of me cringed at the voice, and I slowly lifted my eyes. Four guys now occupied the space in front of me on the opposite side of the counter, and a pair of bright blue eyes were right in my face.

“You know, I was kinda hoping they’d accidentally leave you somewhere on the other side of the country,” I said with a sweet smile.

“Sorry, sweetheart. I’m here to stay,” Jimmy said with a smile that could have almost been classified as innocent. His eyes were too mischievous though to ever believe that.

“Do any of you actually want some ice cream?” I asked and looked around Jimmy.

“Yeah, I’ll take some,” Zacky said. He leaned against the counter next to Jimmy and smiled at me.

“What kind?” I asked.

“You got any of that minty stuff?” Zacky asked.

“Yeah. Coming right up,” I mumbled. I turned around and started getting his ice cream, and then I heard the door to the back lounge open.

Erika’s POV:

“Firecracker!” I heard as soon as I stepped out of the back lounge. I froze in my steps and looked up. The guy, Zacky, and the other one who had kept poking me earlier, Jimmy, were standing in front of the counter.

“Dumbass! How’s it going?” I asked as I walked forward. I heard one of the guys behind him laughing, and I looked up to see the other guy.

“Asshole! Don’t think I forgot about you,” I said and flashed a smile at him. His laughter instantly stopped, and he gave me another one of his smirks.

“And I definitely haven’t forgotten about you,” the guy, Brian, said.

“I don’t know if I should feel honored or disgusted,” I said.

“Disgusted,” Aiden whispered as she breezed by me. I followed her to the counter and then I simply propped my elbows up on it. My eyes lazily looked around the three guys I had come to dislike intensely in just one short day, and I found the fourth member. The entire time I hadn’t heard him speak, but he was looking this way. He was sitting in one of the booths, and his eyes quickly caught mine. They were hazel; cold, dark hazel eyes.

“See ya around, firecracker,” Jimmy said and tugged on a lock of my hair. I snorted at him, not feeling like coming up with a response.

“Toukokuu te apaja jokin että lääkehoito can't panna päästää –lta,” Aiden said and smiled at him. I felt a small laugh escape my lips as I heard her native language. She had taught me over the summer, so I knew what she had said. Jimmy, on the other hand, had no clue.

“Hän ennestään has,” I said and smiled over at her. She nodded her head thoughtfully, and then Jimmy walked away with a confused look on his face. I watched as all of them disappeared, and then I turned my head in my hands to look at Aiden.

“So, I’m going to have to put up with that for my entire senior year?” I asked.

“’Fraid so,” Aiden said and patted my shoulder. I hung my head down and sighed. This was gonna suck…