Crazy

Nicole takes my bags, and we walk out of the airport and into her red convertible car.
“So…tell me a little bit about yourself, Jess,” she tells me.
“For one thing, my name’s not Jess…” I say. “It’s Tess…”
“Oh, big difference.”
\ She takes out her pack of cigarettes, grabs one, and lights one up.
She inhales and exhales.
“I thought you didn’t smoke…”I say, confusion showing through my voice and facial expressions.
“Honey,” she begins telling me. “Since when did you even know who I was? It’s your uncle who doesn’t do any drugs…anymore. He still smokes though…and drinks.”
I sigh. I don’t want to live with a bunch of smokers, and alcoholics during my vacation. I don’t want to be here.
I listen to my iPod on the way to Uncle David’s house.
We don’t speak a word to each other for the rest of the ride…

When we arrive at Uncle David’s house, I get out of the car. So does that Nicole girl.
We walk towards the house. We walk inside.
It’s a white house. It’s pretty big. It’s a lot bigger than I expected it to be. I should have expected it though. I mean, he is a writer, after all. A famous one, too.
“You live here too?” I finally ask Nicole as we just arrive inside, hoping her answer would be a ‘no’.
She nods, giving me a nasty little look.
“Dave,” she calls out to my uncle. “Where the fuck are you?”
“I’m in the bathroom, wait right there,” he tells us.

About five minutes later, I see him walk towards us. He sure, really had to go…..
“Hey, Tess,” he tells me.
“Her name’s Jess,” Nicole butts in with a devil-ish smirk on her face.
I sure do want to punch her in her ugly face right now. I don’t though. I’m too weak.
I just smile an evil smile back at her.
“No…” my uncle tells her. “Her name really is Tess.”
Then, he turns to me.
“Right, Tess?”
I nod, not taking my eyes off of Nicole and not taking the little evil smirk off my face.

I talk to Uncle David for quite a long time. We get along real well.
All of a sudden though. While we’re talking about my social life and my dream of becoming a famous rock star and all that, Nicole pulls me away by the air.
“Come on,” she says, laughing. “I need to tell you about something cool, in private.”
Uncle David has a confused look on his face, but he doesn’t seem to worry too much about what Nicole’s going to do.
I have no idea what she’s going to do either, but I am worrying about it. That’s the difference. Because it’s her that’s pulling me away, I know it can’t be because of something good.
I go with her anyway though. Only because, it’s not much of a choice. She’s pulling me by the arm. She’s using violence to drag me to the kitchen so we can talk about something private.
We’re in the kitchen now. She opens her mouth to talk but I interrupt her.
“What is this going to be about?” I ask. “I hope it’s not about something negative, because if it is, I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s not,” she says, smiling her little fake smile. “I swear.
Then her whole expression changes from a freakishly fake happy one to an angry, evil, mean one.
I’m about to run away as fast as I can, when she pulls me by the neck of my shirt.
“DON’T YOU EVER,” she yells. “DON’T YOU EVER STEAL DAVE AWAY FROM ME!”
“What the hell?” I ask.
“I JUST TOLD YOU! I KNOW YOUR MOTIVES! I KNOW HE’S BEGINNING TO LIKE YOU BETTER THAN ME! I SAW YOU HAVING NICE HAPPY CONVERSATIONS WITH HIM.”
“Um…no…come on, I’m his niece…” I tell her when I hear my Uncle David’s voice.
“What the hell is going on here?” he asks, walking towards the kitchen.
Nicole lets go of my shirt.
“Oh, nothing…” she tells him. “Just having a little talk, that’s all.”
She smiles at him showing him her perfectly white shiny teeth. It makes me sick to my stomach. That crazy, lying, bitch!!!
“Oh okay,” Uncle David replies before turning away and walking back into the living room.
I feel like letting all the words that I want to say come out of my mouth. I don’t of course, though. I don’t know what’s stopping me…I guess it’s because I’m afraid. Yeah, that’s it. I’m afraid of what Nicole will do to me once she hears me tell Uncle David everything I want to say. Everything I want to say about her. By looking at her, you’d think she would be this weak defenseless little slut, but in reality, once you get to know her, for even ten minutes, you realize she’s got a tough personality.
I want to tell him how he needs to break up with her…how much of a bitch she is, and everything. This thought hasn’t crossed my mind before she pulled me away though…

Later, we order pizza. I order pepperoni because that’s my favorite kind. It always leaves a great spicy taste in my mouth.
Uncle David walks downstairs, smoking a cigarette. But it doesn’t smell like any normal cigarette. It smells worse...
“What is that?” I ask.
“Oh, this?” he asks in reply, taking another drag. “You’re telling me you never smoked weed before?”
I gasp.
He smokes weed? I thought he didn’t do any drugs…
I give him a confused look.
“Weed isn’t a drug,” he explains to me. “I don’t consider it one anyway. It’s just a plant. A plant that you can smoke. A plant that can make you feel better!”
I don’t know what to say. I’ve never even considered smoking weed before. The only drug of my choice was music.
“I don’t do smack anymore,” he goes on. “Or crank, or ecstasy, or acid, or coke, or crack or anything. Just weed, cigarettes, and sometimes, alcohol.”
Oh. My. God. What have I got myself into?
“Do you want to try it?” he offers, but I shake my head.
“You sure?” he asks again.
“Sure.”
Then Nicole walks down to grab her slice of vegetarian pizza. She smells the marijuana.
“You should smoke it,” she advises me. “It’s good for you, I swear. It’s a real good mood stabilizer you know?”
I’m confused. Is weed THAT good? Is it so good that Nicole is actually going to be nice to me if I try it?
I think about it for a second, expecting myself not to go along with it either way. But the more I think about it, the more I want to try it. And that’s exactly what I do…
After all my life is boring, how much could a little fun hurt me?