Sinking Faster

“That’s not cool,” I said, looking at his pile of popcorn and mine. “You have way more popcorn than I do.”

Garrett looked at me, tossing a piece of popcorn into his mouth. “You’re crazy, Nicole. You probably just ate all of yours not even realizing it, since your eyes are like, glued to the TV.”

“I’m crazy? You probably ate all of mine when I went to the bathroom,” I retorted, throwing a piece of popcorn at his face.

“What makes you think I’d do that?” he asked in a falsetto-like tone, feigning innocence.

I laughed, propping my head on the pillow in front of me. “Garrett Nickelsen, you’re so full of shit.”

“And you, Nicole Freeman, are a fatass from eating all of that popcorn,” he chuckled, laying down next to me.

It had to be, by now, at least four in the morning. The stereo was still blasting downstairs, although someone had turned it down to a more reasonable level, probably so the neighbors wouldn‘t complain about the noise. A couple people were still here; there were only a few more cars parked down the street, aside from the big white van that occupied the end of the driveway.

Within the last hour, Nick waltzed into the room, opening the door uneasily, seemingly on the verge of passing out. He spotted Garrett and I laying on his bed, watching the movie. “You guys are assholes,” he slurred, stepping out into the hallway. pointing up. “I’ll be in the guest room.”

We both just looked at each other and laughed as he closed the door, having just finished watching Dawn of the Dead, even though we’d both seen it already. It was now thirty minutes into I Am Legend. In between, however, we ran downstairs, grabbing fruit roll-ups, a tub of ice cream and popcorn from Nick’s kitchen cabinets, figuring that he wouldn’t suspect anything due to his current state of mind.

“I am so not fat,” I finally responded, playfully pushing him over. He sat up, glancing at my stomach. He then pinched the bit of skin that was visible from underneath my shirt, as it had risen up, due to the fact that I was laying against the mattress.

“Aha!” he exclaimed, grinning at me. “You’re such a fatass.”

“Ouch,” I yelped, rubbing the spot where he pinched me. “That hurt! You’re such an asshole,” I said, pushing him again, although this time he fell off of the bed. I heard him laugh hysterically as he got up from the floor, now standing on the side of the bed.

I could feel the sweltering heat rush to my face. I put my head down on the bed, feeling agitated. I wasn’t quite sure as to why I felt so uneasy; embarrassed. I am Nicole Freeman for fuck’s sake. I never feel this way. I would never let someone make me feel this way, regardless. Garrett somehow managed to make me feel dozens of feelings that seemed foreign enough to me. It was beyond me that I would ever feel this way, susceptible to anything, or feeling as vulnerable as I was. Although, he somehow made it easy for me to be around. I was unsure whether I liked it or not. In learning this, I realized that I never took the time to open up to someone this much in such little time, especially countering in the fact that that ‘someone’ had treated me so harshly under certain circumstances.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. He chuckled again. I felt his weight shift next to me on the bed, his breath tickling my ear. “You’re adorable when you get mad, you know that?”

I lifted my head up, glaring at him, also trying to suppress the small smile from appearing on my lips. “I hate you.”

Appearing rather smug, he easily replied, “No you don’t.”

“Yes, I do,” I nodded, putting my hair in a messy ponytail, smirking at him.

“No you don’t,” he said in a sing-song voice, shaking his head.

“Yes. I do,” I said again, this time sounding more adamant.

“Prove it.” he said, putting his arms behind his head, leaning back onto the headboard.

I mentally kicked myself in the head, annoyed at his coyness. I threw a pillow at him, whacking him in the face.

“That’s all you can do?” He then asked, scoffing, throwing it back at me.

I giglged, picking up the bowl of popcorn from the wooden side table, dumping it all over him. “Oops,” I snickered, putting a hand up to my mouth. “I didn’t see that coming.”

Garrett smirked, narrowing his eyes at me, brushing the popcorn off of himself. “And you call me an asshole. Look at you.”

“Aw, I’m sorry,” I apologized, in the same whimsical tone he used toward me a few minutes ago.

“You’re definitely gonna pay,” he said, now irritated. He furrowed his eyebrows, moving closer to me on the bed. I soon realized he was on top of me, tickling my sides. I laughed effortlessly, as I, unfortunately, had a weakness for this. The popcorn in his hair fell all over me as he continued to run his hands along my sides, wiggling his fingers as he did so.

“Okay, alright, I get it!” I laughed, trying to stop him, but it was no use. He grinned like a mad man, having finally felt successful for pinning me down. He then got off of me, saying, “I win, you lose. It’s a done deal.”

“Okay, Garrett. Whatever you say,” I replied, rolling my eyes, turning my attention back to the screen, . We were watching an infomercial on some Shamwow thing. It was excruciatingly corny to say the least, as it was of a guy rapping to sell the product.

“Would you buy that?” he asked rhetorically, putting his head in his hand, looking at the screen.

I scoffed. “No way. That shit’s a waste of money. Right?”

“I guess so,” he replied, his fingers trailing down my arm absentmindedly. “I’m bored.”

“It’s four-thirty, silly. Of course you are,” I said, smirking at him.

“Let’s do something,” he replied, sitting up, his face determined. He had bedhead by now. His hair looked quite insane, as it was pushed to one side, the other side flat.

“Like what?” I asked, yawning, rubbing my eyes. “I’m so tired, Garrett.”

“Want to go to 7-Eleven?” he asked, getting up. “It’s like, right down the road. We’ll be back in a flash, I promise.”

I hesitated. I was exhausted. He looked pretty tired, also, since there were bags underneath his bloodshot eyes. “No,” I replied stubbornly. “I’m exhausted.”

“Please? Pleeeease. Go with me,” he urged, knowing that his pleading would irritate the hell out of me.

I shrugged. “You’re such an ass. Have I not said that enough today?” I replied, getting up from the bed, putting my gladiator sandals back on.

He laughed, shuffling out of the room, into the hallway. I followed his pace, trailing down the staircase.

“We’re walking?” I asked as we then walked past their white van, parked crookedly in the driveway.

“Yeah…” Garrett answered, putting his hands in his pockets. “Is that okay? Or are you too afraid that the zombies will come and stab us?”

“I’m so afraid,” I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“Good,” he then replied, smirking at me, waiting for me to catch up to his fast pace. “You should be.”

Although it was muggy outside, at night, I still felt cold due to the everlasting breeze that seemed to wind past me. Shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself, following Garrett around the cul-de-sac, which led to the long, outstretching sidewalk that would lead us to a 7-Eleven. We continued to pass the more elaborate, sophisticated, suburban houses in Nick’s neighborhood., one after another.

As odd as this sounded, it was times like these, at night, in the peace and quite of a calm neighborhood, that I felt most at ease. I was, slowly but surely, getting accustomed to mine and Garrett’s new-found friendship; however, it would take a good while to adjust to this treatment, for a vulgar comment could slip from his mouth at any minute. Needless to say, I didn’t want to be unprepared when this did, or would happen.

I couldn’t seem to comprehend or make sense of why this still bothered me, but it did. It could be because of his uncharacteristic personality, or his piercing blue eyes. Sometimes, it felt as if they held such power behind them, or that maybe, just maybe, it was just pure truth behind them. Truth cracking at the hollow surface of fabrication that I held within myself.

I, however, found this rather intimidating.

And strange.