Even If No One Believes Us
three.
My mom thinks that I am crazy.
When I was painting the inside of my door I had the radio blasting and on came the song Smack That by Akon. I’m not really a person who listens to rap but the song was kind of catchy. So like any teenage girl alone in their room, I started dancing. My pants were dirty so all I had on were my panties and a tank top that was long enough to go slightly past my butt.
Singing along to the words, I danced around wiggling my butt like crazy while I was singing about how I wanted to smack that. Then, because she doesn’t know how to knock, my mom walked in and looked at me like I needed some major help.
“Lilly, honey, what are you doing? I thought you were supposed to be painting your door and then you and your father were going to go get more paint tomorrow? And what on earth are you listening to, Lilly. This is not the normal country music you listen to,” her voice was laced with concern as if I was going to start wearing insane clothes just because I was listening to rap. “Why don’t you have any pants on?” Now her voice was horrified like she was afraid that I was going to become a hooker because I had no pants on.
I stood there in the middle of my room, my hip jutted out to the side a bit and my mouth open in mid-words and the paintbrush, that was dripping orange paint all over the hard wood floor, in my hand. I stared at my mom like she was the one insane, because she should have known I was over country music ever since I turned eleven and I listened to a song about saving a horse or riding a cowboy and decided I did not want to ride a cow boy.
“Ma, I’m just dancing and this is just a song that came on the radio. I haven’t listened to country since I was eleven, Mom. We are going to get paint tomorrow. I don’t have any pants on because they are all dirty,” the words came out in one breath, so needless to say I had to take a deep breath in order to be able to say anything else. It was then that I noticed she was carrying a basket of my clothes. “Oh, thank god. It’s getting a bit cold in here.” I reached over and grabbed a pair of leggings from the top of the pile.
“Lilly, Hon, why don’t you start unpacking all of your stuff? Your room looks like a big mess of boxes.”
I looked around my room and smiled. My bed was pressed up close to the window where I could look out and see all the plain boring houses on the rest of my street. I decided that this, our house, was the only house on the block that was various colors.
I ignored my mothers question and turned back around to face her. “Mom, when is dad painting the house?”
“Tomorrow, sweetie. Now unpack your things and go wander around the neighborhood. Maybe you can ask that nice Ryan boy to show you around.”
That’s when I decided that my mother was completely clueless. She didn’t understand that I didn’t want to be in Rhode Island, let alone meet new friends. I sighed and nodded so she would leave and thankfully she did. When she left, I took my place on the floor and began unpacking my books and placing them on my bookshelf when the phone rang.
“Lilly, Megan is on the phone!”
My head snapped up and I quickly ran down the stairs, nearly slipping on the last one and landed into my brother who handed me the phone.
“Megan,” I yelled, giggling into the phone. My brother rolled his eyes and walked into his room, slamming the door behind him. “Chill, Adam. You act like you have a burr up your ass. Anyway, Hi, Megan! I missed you so much!”
“You were just here, Lilly. Well, okay so it was about twelve hours ago but whatever,” I could almost see her laying on her bed in a tank top and shorts smiling at the ceiling. “How is your new house?”
“It’s completely insane. It’s like, three freaking colors. Purple, pink and green! Them, when I was screaming in the front yard about how clowns lived here, Rye Bread decided it would be funny to tell me that I was disrespectful which I am not disrespectful to dead people because that’s just wrong! Then this crazy girl decided I was her new best friend and asked me to come over to her house to play with her and her dog and by the way she said it I wasn’t sure what she meant by play!”
“Whoa, Lilly, slow down! Wait, did you just tell me that bread was talking to you?”
“No, there is this kid whose name is Ryan and I decided that it sounded sort of like Rye Bread,” I sighed and plopped down on my bed and looked out the window just as it was about to rain. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, I’m just,” her voice faded away for a second and I heard shuffling around and giggling. “Lilly, I have to go.”
Before I had a chance to say anything she hung up which kind of made me wonder why she was giggling in the first place. I closed my eyes and listened to the rain dance on the roof.
I sighed and open the window and stuck my head out, wondering what would happen if I climbed over to the garage roof and sat in the rain.
I suppose since I was already crazy, I could try it. So, I pulled off my socks, checked to make sure my leggings wouldn’t rip on anything in the process of climbing. Throwing my leg over the edge of the window, I gripped a hold of the edge of the house and, some how, I made it safely to the roof of the garage.
I let the rain beat down on my shoulders and legs, soaking into my clothes.
The irony of sitting on the roof reminded me of how my boyfriend back home said goodbye.
As if slicing through my memory, I heard Rye Breads very unpleasant voice in my mind.
“Don’t jump,” he laughed, looking at me through my bedroom window which made me wonder why he was in my house in the first damn place. “Don’t have a cow, your mom invited me over. She said you seemed lonely or some shit like that, so she is forcing me to show you around.”
“Lovely,” I groaned and swung my leg back over and gripped the window frame. I felt like Spiderman. “Help me, you asshole.”
He just laughed and took my hand, tugging me inside my bedroom which resulted in me landing on my face.
“Ryan, honestly, if I wanted to face-plant the ground, I would have jumped off the fucking roof but honestly, I don’t want my face to look like yours does.”
When I was painting the inside of my door I had the radio blasting and on came the song Smack That by Akon. I’m not really a person who listens to rap but the song was kind of catchy. So like any teenage girl alone in their room, I started dancing. My pants were dirty so all I had on were my panties and a tank top that was long enough to go slightly past my butt.
Singing along to the words, I danced around wiggling my butt like crazy while I was singing about how I wanted to smack that. Then, because she doesn’t know how to knock, my mom walked in and looked at me like I needed some major help.
“Lilly, honey, what are you doing? I thought you were supposed to be painting your door and then you and your father were going to go get more paint tomorrow? And what on earth are you listening to, Lilly. This is not the normal country music you listen to,” her voice was laced with concern as if I was going to start wearing insane clothes just because I was listening to rap. “Why don’t you have any pants on?” Now her voice was horrified like she was afraid that I was going to become a hooker because I had no pants on.
I stood there in the middle of my room, my hip jutted out to the side a bit and my mouth open in mid-words and the paintbrush, that was dripping orange paint all over the hard wood floor, in my hand. I stared at my mom like she was the one insane, because she should have known I was over country music ever since I turned eleven and I listened to a song about saving a horse or riding a cowboy and decided I did not want to ride a cow boy.
“Ma, I’m just dancing and this is just a song that came on the radio. I haven’t listened to country since I was eleven, Mom. We are going to get paint tomorrow. I don’t have any pants on because they are all dirty,” the words came out in one breath, so needless to say I had to take a deep breath in order to be able to say anything else. It was then that I noticed she was carrying a basket of my clothes. “Oh, thank god. It’s getting a bit cold in here.” I reached over and grabbed a pair of leggings from the top of the pile.
“Lilly, Hon, why don’t you start unpacking all of your stuff? Your room looks like a big mess of boxes.”
I looked around my room and smiled. My bed was pressed up close to the window where I could look out and see all the plain boring houses on the rest of my street. I decided that this, our house, was the only house on the block that was various colors.
I ignored my mothers question and turned back around to face her. “Mom, when is dad painting the house?”
“Tomorrow, sweetie. Now unpack your things and go wander around the neighborhood. Maybe you can ask that nice Ryan boy to show you around.”
That’s when I decided that my mother was completely clueless. She didn’t understand that I didn’t want to be in Rhode Island, let alone meet new friends. I sighed and nodded so she would leave and thankfully she did. When she left, I took my place on the floor and began unpacking my books and placing them on my bookshelf when the phone rang.
“Lilly, Megan is on the phone!”
My head snapped up and I quickly ran down the stairs, nearly slipping on the last one and landed into my brother who handed me the phone.
“Megan,” I yelled, giggling into the phone. My brother rolled his eyes and walked into his room, slamming the door behind him. “Chill, Adam. You act like you have a burr up your ass. Anyway, Hi, Megan! I missed you so much!”
“You were just here, Lilly. Well, okay so it was about twelve hours ago but whatever,” I could almost see her laying on her bed in a tank top and shorts smiling at the ceiling. “How is your new house?”
“It’s completely insane. It’s like, three freaking colors. Purple, pink and green! Them, when I was screaming in the front yard about how clowns lived here, Rye Bread decided it would be funny to tell me that I was disrespectful which I am not disrespectful to dead people because that’s just wrong! Then this crazy girl decided I was her new best friend and asked me to come over to her house to play with her and her dog and by the way she said it I wasn’t sure what she meant by play!”
“Whoa, Lilly, slow down! Wait, did you just tell me that bread was talking to you?”
“No, there is this kid whose name is Ryan and I decided that it sounded sort of like Rye Bread,” I sighed and plopped down on my bed and looked out the window just as it was about to rain. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, I’m just,” her voice faded away for a second and I heard shuffling around and giggling. “Lilly, I have to go.”
Before I had a chance to say anything she hung up which kind of made me wonder why she was giggling in the first place. I closed my eyes and listened to the rain dance on the roof.
I sighed and open the window and stuck my head out, wondering what would happen if I climbed over to the garage roof and sat in the rain.
I suppose since I was already crazy, I could try it. So, I pulled off my socks, checked to make sure my leggings wouldn’t rip on anything in the process of climbing. Throwing my leg over the edge of the window, I gripped a hold of the edge of the house and, some how, I made it safely to the roof of the garage.
I let the rain beat down on my shoulders and legs, soaking into my clothes.
The irony of sitting on the roof reminded me of how my boyfriend back home said goodbye.
As if slicing through my memory, I heard Rye Breads very unpleasant voice in my mind.
“Don’t jump,” he laughed, looking at me through my bedroom window which made me wonder why he was in my house in the first damn place. “Don’t have a cow, your mom invited me over. She said you seemed lonely or some shit like that, so she is forcing me to show you around.”
“Lovely,” I groaned and swung my leg back over and gripped the window frame. I felt like Spiderman. “Help me, you asshole.”
He just laughed and took my hand, tugging me inside my bedroom which resulted in me landing on my face.
“Ryan, honestly, if I wanted to face-plant the ground, I would have jumped off the fucking roof but honestly, I don’t want my face to look like yours does.”