Before the Summer's Out...

That night, I went over to Enid's house for dinner. I like it at Enid's house. When I go in, I feel like I've gone through a porthole to the sixties. But the great thing is that it isn't like the furniture is new from the sixties- everything is incredibly old and smells like velvet. I know that sounds kind of gross, but it's really not. Enid's parents are fluent in English, but her grandmother isn't. I've heard her speak Swedish to Enid before and sometimes when Grandma Suzanne is talking to me her grammar and syntax gets all mixed around and she slips in foreign words.

Today I walked in and Grandma Suzanne was making her away across the living room with her walker.

"Grandma Suz, you aren't supposed to be walking. You're supposed to be resting," Enid was in front of me and immediately began reprimanding her grandmother. Enid can be incredibly parental and it can be incredibly annoying. "The next time you fall you are going to break your hip," Enid went on, dropping her tote on the ground and marching up to her grandmother and putting her hands on her own hips.

Grandma Suzanne waved her hand, uncaring. "You worry too much Enadeana," she said. I love the way she says Enid's name. It rolls off her tongue soft and easy.

"Hello Ben!" she called to me. I don't think she's knows "Benj" is an actual name.

"Hello Grandma Suzanne," I responded, slipping my hands into my pockets.

"Have you and Enadeana been into the lake?"

"We were at the lake. We didn't go swimming though."

"Why? You and her are good swimmers," Grandma Suzanne insisted.

"Enid burns in the sun," I said and grinned. Enid shot me a look.

"She does she does. She is a good Swedish coloured girl. Very very white. Like porcelain. Huh?" Grandma turned to Enid and grabbed Enid by the back of her head and pulled her to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Except as soon as a UV ray gets a fraction of strength, I turn into a lobster," Enid said making a face.

Grandma Suzanne waved her hand, uncaring, again. "Blame on global warming sweetheart," she said. That made me laugh.

Enid and I went upstairs into her bedroom. As far as I know, I'm the only boy who's ever been in Enid's bedroom. Her parents don't get hung up about me being in her bedroom, maybe because they know I'd sooner try to fuck a cougar than Enid. Not that I have some sort of repulsion from Enid... I don't think. Well I don't know about any attraction to Enid. As far as I'm aware, I'm too comfortable around her and don't feel that stomach tightening, skin tingling attraction. Anyway, what I do know is that if I tried to pull a move on Enid she'd nail me in the balls and then fall on her ass when she couldn't keep her balance.

I was lounging on her bed while Enid was taping up paint sample chips on the wall. Enid was going to paint her room I guess. Such an excursion was going to take much pre-meditation, I could tell. Enid had about ten other paint chip samples on her wall already.

"What colour scheme are you thinking of?" I asked, polishing off the potatoes on my dinner plate.

Enid sighed and put her hands on her barely existent hips. "I don't know. Maybe purple and white and black," she said, indecisive.

"You should do blue. Like a dark blue," I don't know why I said that. Sometimes I think my love for Heather just blurts out from my subconscious whenever it gets the chance.

Enid shot me a look over her shoulder, frowning at me. "Why?? Dark blue is so masculine and boring. I'd feel like I was trapped in a boy's locker room," Enid said. Hm, I'd never thought about that. I apologize on behalf of Enid if you have a dark blue room. I have a white room, so I don't think she thought she'd be offending anyone.

"I just want something different. Something more dramatic. But versatile. Something that makes me feel like a different person, a better, newer person, but still sort of like my old self," Enid said, holding an arm across her stomach and propping the other arm against the horizontal one and pushing her glasses up her nose.

I snorted and craned my neck to look at her. "I think you might be bi-polar on the subject, dear," I said.

She looked at me over her shoulder, blinking, and then abruptly looked back at the wall. "I think I just haven't found the right colour to kick start everything. As soon as I find that key colour, I am going to have a fantastically visual room," Enid said confidently.

"Is this an artsy thing? What's wrong with the yellow?" Currently, Enid's room is a very soft yellow.

"It's the colour of a baby duck. I'm not a baby duck. It's my childhood colour and I don't feel like being a child anymore. If I'm going to be an adult and write serious work, I need to be in the proper, stimulating environment," Enid said. Makes sense. I said so. Enid smiled at me proudly. She took a swift swig of her Sprite and swished it around in her mouth and then swallowed it.

I put my dinner plate on the ground and rolled over on to my back and stared up at the ceiling. Heather appeared in a dream cloud, something straight out of a Disney movie. She smiled coyly at me and her waves of hair fluttered in a breeze that came from an indeterminate source. The day dream switched to the fond memory of Heather at the beach. She was lounging on her towel in that fantastic white bikini, her sunglasses glinting in the sun.

"Hey Benj?" Enid interrupted my daydream.

"What?" I responded.

"Would you paint something on my wall?"

"Er, like what?" I asked. Enid may be physically handi-capped, but she can paint her room.

"Like... I dunno. An orchid or something," Enid said. Ah, a specific graphic she wanted.

"Sure," I said.

I went back to the memory of today at the lake. I thought about what I'd worn, since Heather had said that she liked my board shorts. I'd looked good today.

"Hey Enid?" I spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to go to the mall tomorrow after work?"

"I can't. I have to go to Lenscrafters."

"What for?"

"I don't really want these million pound hounds tooth glasses for the rest of my life," The sarcasm again. She despised her glasses.

"Well how long will that take?"

"I don't know. Awhile. I could meet you after in the mall. Lenscrafters is near there," Enid suggested.

"Ok. Call me when you're done. I want to shop," I said. I have incredibly metrosexual moments.