Love Among the Pizza Boxes

“Shayla…?”
Whaaaa?
It’s early.
Go away.
“Shayla!”
GO AWAY!
Didn’t I already tell you that?
“Shay… I’ve got a question.”
My eyes pop open and I see Zermine standing over me. It’s dark in the room except for the dim lamp. “…Mmmmm…What?” I groan and rub my eyes. “What time is it?”
“The time is of no importance. I have a question.”
A question in the middle of the night I’m guessing. Great.Thanks, Zermine.
“What…?”
“Do you have a vibrator I could use?”
“…A what?”
“Do. You. Have. A. Vibrator?”
What?
No.
No I do not.
“…No!” I hiss. “I do not have a dildo so get out of my room.”
Zermine pouts. “You’re no fun…” And then she leaves the room.
Good lord.
Who does she think I am?
Her?
I look around for my alarm clock.
It’s on the other side of the bed.
I look over.
Riku’s laying there, snoring softly.
…
Riku?
He spent the night.
Yeah.
I smile at that and then I carefully get up on my knees and look over at the alarm clock.
It’s 4:00 AM.
Awesome.
Great, Zermine.
You woke me up because you wanted help masturbating at four in the morning.
Thank you.
So I lay back down and get under the covers and snuggle up to Riku.
It feels so foreign to do this. To have someone else in my bed.
And I actually want him here.
And I don’t feel bad either.
This is a new bed.
I bought it after… That happened.
And now I don’t plan on getting rid of it. The other one went to a crematorium in the middle of the night with the help of Zermine.
I smile at the thought of the flames and the smell of a smoking mattress and Lance’s cologne disappearing into the night.
Then I sigh and try and think about baby dinosaurs or something so I can get back to sleep.
…
I wake up later on to find that Riku is awake.
He’s humming.
And the song he’s humming is ‘You Are My Sunshine’.
He’s looking up, deadpan, at the ceiling.
“….Good morning….” I mumble and stretch real big.
Ah, yea. That’s the stuff.
He looks at me suddenly. He seems a little spooked. His humming stops abruptly. “Oh. Good morning.”
I stretch again, this time not so big. “Sleep well?”
Riku nods. “How about you?”
“Good, good…” And then I think about Zermine’s visit earlier this morning. “…’Cept I had a rude awakening around four in the morning.”
Riku’s eyebrows raise. “Zermine?”
“Oh yeah. She wanted… Yeah.”
I hope he didn’t notice that.
Please don’t ask what.
Riku knits his eyebrows together. “Uh. Okay…?”
I’ll tell him anyways.
“She wanted a dildo.”
…
“Uh.” Riku kind of clears his throat. “Um. Okay.”
“…Well. It’s not like I had one to give her because I don’t… Have…One.”
He nods slowly.
…Awkward…
I slap my thighs. “So…! What time is it?” I try and look over at the alarm clock.
Riku sits up and runs a hand over his face. “It’s almost ten.”
And it’s then that I realize that he’s wearing nothing but boxers.
Oh that’s a lovely view.
“…Since when did you take off your pants?”
And shirt.
But oh well- technicalities.
“Well my clothes were wet from the sprinklers. And I woke up in the middle of the night. And they were still wet. So I took them off.”
I nod and sit up too. I bet my hair looks just awesome.
Riku’s looks fine. As usual. Perfectly coiffed.
I wonder why he has long hair.
I wonder why his hair is silver.
Is it prematurely graying or something?
So, being half asleep, I start messing with Riku’s hair. “…It’s such a strange color…” I muse, kinda tugging his head back.
“Yeah, I know…” He kinda chuckles. “My dad has the same color.”
“It’s so pretty…” I rake my hands through it.
He laughs some more. “Thanks?”
“You welcome.”
I sound gangster.
That’s cool.
“So, uh… I should probably go home to feed Ginny.”
Poor puppy…
She’s probably starving.
“Yes.” I nod. “Feed your Virginity.”
Hehe…
Riku snorts in amusement and slides himself off the bed.
I follow behind without any apparent grace, though I am a complete swan in my mind.
So we go out into the living room where the basement door is open and we can hear Zermine yelling at my television.
“..Stupid…Bleep…bleep…bleep…” I’m bleeping it out in my head. It’s like a rap song on the radio.
Riku peers down the steps into the basement. “What is she doing?”
I shrug even though he can’t see. “Probably playing video games.”
He nods and begins to walk towards the front door, his clothes in a wad in his right hand.
He should probably put on his clothes before he leaves. What would the neighbors think?
…
Eh. Nah. Who cares?
I’ll have a fun time watching him leave.
“Well, bye.” I wave to him at the front door.
“Bye…” But he goes nowhere.
We are so bad at goodbyes.
But I’m used to it by now.
So I get up on my tiptoes and kiss Riku quickly. “Give that to your Virginity for me.”
Hehe…
Riku crookedly smiles. “Okay?”
He’s so cute.
Love that boy like a flower loves the sun.
“Alright. Get outta my house.” I wave a hand at the door. “Feed Ginny.”
“Fine then.” Then he leans down and steals another quick kiss before heading out the door. When he gets to his car, he waves.
I feel a movie moment coming on…
Don’t do it…
Don’t do it…
…I run out of the house and practically smash into Riku. And I hug ‘im like the big ‘ol teddy bear he is. “I know I’m going to see you in a few hours, but I… Don’t really know what I’m doing.”
Riku hugs me back. And he laughs. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
Me neither, bucko.
So I smile and back away. “I’ll let you get going now…”
He smiles back with that beautiful crooked smile of his.
He opens the car door, and just before he gets in, he kisses me one last time.
Then he sits in the seat of the car and closes the door.
But the car doesn’t move.
I laugh and I toss my head back and then I look back at Riku inside of his car. “Leave!” I shout, laughing. I point to the road.
Riku’s shoulders are quivering with laughter. He shakes his head slowly as the car’s ignition turns over.
Then he backs out of my driveway and drives off.
I wave even after he’s gone. And then I sigh and go back into the house, twirling around a few times along the way.