Where I Lay My Head

Ten o'clock came, and I was thinking 'Wow, it must nice to be able to sleep so late. Eleven passed, and by noon I was beginning to wonder if the boys were still alive. I had never known anybody to sleep past noon, but I could surely say the same about various other aspects to Cecil's life.

A blunt sound filled the apartment, buzzing in my ears as I lay in bed leading a dictionary that I had found under the mattress. I quickly realized that someone was knocking at the door and nervously trudged out of bed to answer it. More new people, great.

I opened the meager oak slab and in the hallway stood a beautiful girl, in her very young twenties and tailor made to suit the wild image condoned by our modern genaration. She was very petite without an ounce of fat on her but looked healthy all the same. Besides the bright rose color to her cheeks, she was fair skinned with shoulder length sprigs of bleach blond hair teased around her head to fluff out like a feather duster. As for her eyes, they were a deep shade of blue that danced with black and made me very envious of her beauty.

"Hi," I spoke in a friendly way and turned my upper body to peer behind me into the living room. I figured she was there because she had taken fancy in one of the boys, selfishly hoping for my sake it was Sebastian and definetely not Rachel. "I'm afraid they're all asleep right now."

"Oh, but I'm here to see you," the heavily glossed pillows of bubblegum pink stretched around her teeth to make a smile. "Cecil says you need clothes? I've got plenty!"

She hooked arms with me and yanked me from the apartment, leaving no time to think. Two steps were taken before I realized we had reached out final destination.

She opened the door directly across the hall from Cecil's to reveal a layout that was identical but the interior made me feel like I had ventured to a completely different building. It wasn't until the sweet floral aroma of her apartment flooded my lungs that I realized Cecil's house smelled positively awful, like rotten garbage. Pale shades of pink and purple decorated as far as I could see, making me feel relaxed and at home although my home in Mullica compared to this not the slightest bit.

"I'm Geneveve, by the way." she said while dissapearing into what was most likely her bedroom.

Geneveve? Are you kidding me? This girl was perfect; This girl was absolutely gorgeous, seemed to have a great personality and to top it off had the most romantic name I had ever heard.

"You can call me Jen." she chirped while gracing my sight again, her arms busy mangling clothes as she approached.

"I'm Adeline," I responded, taking the bundle of garb from her and setting it on the polished cherry oak table to my left.

Now that we had met, I was amazed that I could even fit into her clothes. I was a true corn-fed carnivore and probably had fifty pounds against her.

"I picked out a one-piece bathing suit for you, since Cecil told me you're a bit shy."

"Bathing suit?" I inquired ,finding the modest electric blue garment in the mess of clothes before me and holding it in front of my face.

"Yeah... aren't you going to the beach today?"

My brows furrowed and I stared at the ground for a minute. Cecil hadn't mentioned the beach but I wouldn't have been surprised if it had slipped his mind.

"Oh, right..." I murmered, giving her access to speak again.

"You can change in the bathroom at the end of the hall." she directed me in that general direction but I already knew my way. This apartment was identical to Cecil's as far as the set-up goes. Other factors, not quite...

Over that basic swimsiut she gave me to wear an acid washed pair of cut off jeans and a baggy lylac t shirt with a shoop neck that drooped around my right shoulder to reveal the glistening blue strap of what hid beneath.

Looking normal has always been something taken for granted by younger people, my generation in particular. They all strived to be different, meanwhile the genuinely different ones like me strived to be normal. Normal was something I had never been and now that the fear of exposed skin had passed, I was anxious to publically sport myself in a way that didn't earn constant staring. It was exhillarating like you couldn't believe.

"So why don't you have clothes, anyway?" Jen rose her voice to speak to me from the living room as I changed.

She didn't know? Jen was the first person I had met who was oblivious to my "disorder" and I played along just for the rush of it. Normal? Not yet, but a girl should be able to pretend and for the first time in my life, I could.

"I... had to leave my house quickly." I responded dumbly, thankful that she would leave that end of the conversation open to begin another one.

By the time I had left her apartment, she had taught me things that I had never thought about, like how it was good to put sliced cucumbers on your eyes at night or to use hair conditioner and leave it in for at least two minutes before rinsing. She also introduced lotion to me, which I had only came across before when it was medicated to treat poison ivy. Her kind was different. It smelt strongly of warm vanilla cake and was a milky, off white liquid that you could rub on your skin to make it soft. She let me keep the bottle because my reaction to the subtance it held was so entertaining.

"You act like you've never used lotion before!" she exclaimed, and I bit my tongue before she realized that I truly hadn't.

Once I was at Cecil's again, everybody was awake and sitting in the living room, except for Cecil and Sebastian who were digging around in the kitchen for something. I had a constant grin on my face, thinking of the new friend I had made and realizing how great it could be to adapt to English life.

"Well didn't she fix you up nice!" Cecil chimed, dissapearing into the refridgerator and letting Sebastian have a grab at me. My nostrils flared and I clenched my jaw awaiting the inevitable vile comment that surely accompanied his presence.

"Is that lotion?"he quizzed, and for a minute I thought that perhaps we would have a nice conversation, maybe about how sweet it smelled or how he'd like some for his calloused hands. But then that goofy grin bent his lips again and he turned to the group of lounging boys in the living room. "Guys, Jen gave Addie lotion!"

In an instant, they were all covering their mouths sstruggling to contain unexplainable laughter. Cecil stood upright, letting the fridge door separating us slam shut as a contradicting beam influenced his mouth.

"What? It makes your skin soft. " I whimpered, nervously running my fingers along the vessel I held in both hands.

"She didn't... put it on you, did she?"

"Just on my back... why?"

At that, the entire population of Cecil's apartment had gone hysterical with laughter. Besides me, of course.

"Addie," Sebastian finally spoke once his tormenting roars let in a few words. I was looking helplessly confused and leaned forward, anxious to see what his next worlds would be. "Geneveve, well.. she's lesbian."

At that word, he was in tears and doubled over with his hands clutching the little stomach he had. The word was familiar to me but I couldn't quite match it with a definition.

"That means she's sexually attracted to girls, Addie." Cecil cut in, loud enough that I could hear him over the escalating applause.

At that statement, my brain was working at a thousand miles per hour. I had never heard of such a thing. Was it real? Why on earth would Jen feel attracted to girls, and how? She was so pretty and dainty... my mind was blown.

"That's impossible!" I cried defiantly as my eyes flicked to all six of the men while they loudly barked at me. "She's a girl!"

"Sometimes... girls like girls." Cecil spoke slowly as if he had so intricately worded it.

The first thing that came to my mind spilled out in a very serious manner but only contributed to the entertainment of my audience.

"That sounds illegal! What if all women started liking women? Then the population would die out!"

Soon, for my sake, Cecil put that conversation to rest and suggested we head to the beach. I was quite keen on that idea so it wasn't long before we left his apartment empty.