The Red Hot Tamales

Todd
The last day of school was the most… interesting so far. Dehlia and I got into this huge fight because I thought, hey maybe I should tell my girlfriend the truth. Yeah, let me tell you right now that it didn’t go well. There was screaming. And then, she and Copper got into a fight. Dehlia marched up to her and slapped her. They got into this cat fight and I had to pry Dell off of Copper before either did serious damage to the other. What’s worse is now Copper’s pissed at me, Dehlia’s pissed at me, I got called a toddler by my girlfriend and oh yeah, I’m still homeless.

Well, I can’t really say that. I do have a place to stay, just not a home. I’ve been staying at the one of two friends that don’t hate me at the moment. Skylar is a great guy. He’s a book nerd, always having three or four books in his Theory of A Deadman messenger bag. He’s got scene hair, like seriously. And dark, dark eyes. I can’t tell you how many times I could’ve sworn Skylar’s eyes were black. He's also got snake bites.

Speaking of Skylar, after school, he waltzed up to me and plopped down on the stone steps, following my gaze to where Dehlia and James stood. He had no idea how insanely jealous I was at that point. James and Dehlia crushed on each other for the longest time. At one of James’ infamous parties, about a year ago, Skylar and I found them in a closet, making out.

“Don’t be worried about James, Toddie-Boy. He knows not to touch another guy’s girl.”

“To be honest, Sky, I don’t know if you could call Dell my girl anymore.”

“I saw what happened this morning.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“So… did I hear correctly? You kissed Cooper Ludlow.”

“Mhm.”

“Why? You have Dehlia. Or had, rather.”

“I don’t know, Sky. I thought it was a good idea at the time.” I muttered.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Oh, I know.”

“Ready to go home?”

“Sure.”

Skylar and I walked back to his house which was in the nicer end of town. Once there, we headed into his attic bedroom, listening to his six brothers and sisters scream at one another as they played.

“Todd, we should hang out more when you finally get home.” He stated, lounging on his bed. I sat at his laptop and pulled up his Windows Media Player and set it to random.

“Yeah, I agree. I miss having friends. Besides Copper.”

A comfortable silence fell over us and we relaxed, listening to song after song.

“James is having another party tonight, wanna go?” Skylar asked. I chuckled at the thought of his last one. You see, James’ parents are as absent as Copper’s are. And they always leave James a credit card so he orders booze and whatever by the hundreds of dollars, and he throws these amazing parties that no one talks about. I’ve had to help clean up at most of them and let me tell you, they get insane. I’ve found seventeen bras at one party!

“Was that serious? Of course, I wanna go!” I replied.

“I figured.” Skylar chuckled. I sighed and joined Sky on his bed. We lay there, not even bothered by the nearness of one another. Skylar is bisexual and my best guy friend ever. So it wasn’t a big deal.

Song after song passed until we got to I’m Yours by The Script. Skylar sang along and the lyrics, they just sparked something in my mind. And I know this is starting to sound old and tired, but it got me really thinking about Cooper Olivia Ludlow. It seemed that all I could ever think about was that girl. Her face plagued my thoughts, my sleep when I actually slept and my every waking moment. Except for when I kissed Dell, of course. That’s possibly the one activity that Copper could never invade.

I thought about the lyrics.

And though I may not look like much, I’m yours.

“Sky, there’s something I gotta go do. Do you mind meeting me at the party?”

“Nah, that’s ok. You go do whatever the hell you gotta do.” Skylar said softly as I pulled myself off the bed and pushed my feet into my Converse that I’ve had close to three years.
I had to make things right, I really had to. I couldn’t let Copper go. I wasn’t going to let her go back to someone like Mike, or worse. I just couldn’t.

I called a “I’ll be back” to Skylar’s stay at home mom and headed outside, set on getting to Copper’s. I ran as fast as my scrawny pale white legs would carry me. I passed a lot of nice houses and grew familiar with the neighborhood. I finally found Copper’s road, a street lined with mini-mansions, BMWs and I’m pretty sure, 15 diamond karat doorknobs.

I stopped and let my heart slow to it’s normal pace before taking off down the street.