Let's Make A Mess

Baltimore County, Maryland was incredibly dull for a seventeen year old girl at least that was what I had decided by the next evening. In Los Angeles there was tons of stuff for me to do, every day I would be out and about doing something different, here I knew I was going to be stuck inside earning myself a vitamin D deficiency.

“Emilia honey, I’m going to go and buy some groceries would you like to come?” my mother asked me as she poked her head around my door. I nodded my head and placed the hanger I was holding into my wardrobe before bending down to pick up my flip flops.

I followed my mother down the staircase and out the door, stopping briefly on the porch to slide my feet into my sandals. We climbed into her car and I buckled up as she started the engine, revving a little too much. I rode shotgun quietly, listening to everything my mother had to say about our new home. I didn’t answer her formally; instead I grunted or nodded my head with a simple ‘mhm’.

The ride to our local grocery store took about twenty minutes and as soon as my mother had the car parked I was out of the vehicle and in the store, pushing our cart towards the fruit and vegetables. Catching up easily she started to pick things up, examine them closely before chucking it unceremoniously into the cart.

“Oh look Emma honey, they have pineapple, you like that right?” she asked me quickly as she picked one up from its stand, sniffed it and threw it into our cart. I nodded my head at her back and continued to follow her around the store with ease. Usually I disliked spending time with my mother but I knew that it had to be done, so I always went grocery shopping with her. My mom was the queen of the grocery store; our weekly shop took us twenty five minutes and in that time, I had made my mother happy to have my company.

For under an hour’s work it wasn’t half bad.

I was watching as my mother struggled through the door with five bags when I was interrupted by a soccer ball to the back of my head. I grunted as the white sphere came into contact with my skin but made no other sign of emotion. I was too busy to deal with some seven year old brat who thought it was funny to pick on kids five times his size.

My mother was on her way back to the car when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I span around quickly, almost giving myself whiplash and gawked at the guy standing in front of me.

Hailing from Beverly Hills, I was used to seeing gorgeously muscled and tanned guys walking around the streets. In Baltimore however, I hadn’t seen a single good looking guy, until this guy showed up anyway.

He smiled at me shyly and I couldn’t help but flash him my own toothy grin, “I just wanted to apologise on behalf of my friend, he thinks that it’s okay to kick balls at pretty girl’s heads.”

I let out a soft laugh and nodded, “I thought your friend was a seven year old boy.” He laughed at my admission before leaning in a little closer, as though what he had to say was a secret.

“Well it would certainly explain a few things,” he whispered as another boy stepped up beside him and grinned at me, throwing his large hand out for me to take.

I hesitated but shook his hand as he continued to grin like a moron, “Hey I’m Jack, I’d be the one that kicked this ball at your head,” he grinned before proceeding to grab the soccer ball from his friend’s hand. He sent me one more wide smile before running away with the ball, screaming back at his friend as he left, “Come on Zack you pussy, we’re gonna be late.”

The boy I now figured to be Zack sent me one more shy smile before turning on his heel and jogging away from me after Jack.

My mother coughed loudly and I quickly span back around, fixing a pleasant smile on my face. She was grinning at me in that way parents do when they think they know something, even when they actually don’t. I raised an eyebrow at her subtly as I picked up a couple of bags and carried them into the house, dumping them onto the kitchen floor along with the others.

“Who were those boys honey,” she asked me curiously and I could feel her staring at me through the corner of her eye. I shrugged nonchalantly and continued on my mission to find the diet soda, grinning triumphantly when I felt the cool feel of the can come into contact with my skin.

My mother wasn’t buying my attitude about Jack and Zack though. As soon as I attempted to leave the room she was throwing all sorts of questions in my direction, finishing them off with, “The shy one was kind of cute huh?”