Special K

The cup of coffee held in between my hands was hot against my already warm skin, causing my hands to break out in a mild sweat. Ignoring my body’s warnings, I brought the drink to my lips and sipped, biting down as it burnt the delicate muscle of my tongue. Coffee was one of my favourite drinks, mainly because I started everyday with it.

Today especially I had drank a lot of coffee, waking up at 5am was unusual to me and my whole mass had protested against the thought of being conscious so early. My mind still felt slightly foggy, and the coffee was something I needed to clear away the sleep still sticking to the corners of my mind.

Although I would like to have slept on the plane, I knew I would end up leaning on someone’s shoulder or do something to make uncomfortable. So for the sake of dark haired teenager next to me, I forced myself to stay awake with coffee and moderately loud music. I often made myself stay awake this way when the inspiration to create hit me late at night. If I left it till the morning I would forget it- the spark would be gone. I would work myself deep into the night to complete it.

The mornings after-wards my room would be covered in empty, coffee-stained mugs and all my art equipment would be scattered around my desk and on the floor around my desk. Sometimes it would take me weeks to clean up everything, seeing as I’m generally lackadaisical about my room- though I constantly told myself that when I had my own place I would keep it tidy.

“Gustav?” I looked up from my iPod screen and to my smiling sister who stood in the aisle gripping onto a nearby seat.

“Yeah. You?” She nodded and carried on her way to her seat, calling out to Jonathon- her best friend, as she went. Jonathan had been Hayley’s friend since Primary School, they weren’t inseparable until the end of High School when Jonathan came out as gay and had a hard time. Hayley had instantly supported him and since then he’s become her best friend, and what every girl wants, her gay best friend.

Jonathan was nice, and I liked him. Not like that, though. Jon was quite tall, with light brown, long, hair and a set of very friendly brown eyes. He wasn’t all out gay, but he was nice enough and most people got a long with him. Haley said he was cuddly, but despite them being best friends I hadn’t been around Jon enough to become close enough to hug him at all.

Our parents were just the smallest part homophobic, and found Jon’s sexual preference weird. For that, Hayley always went to his house. When they went to university nothing really changed in the household. Only there was one less mouth to feed, and one less reason to talk.

I’d never tell her, but I missed her when she left. She was one of the only things that reminded mum and dad I was still alive, and I loved her so much.

<Hello America>

I was exhausted.

The bags under my eyes seemed heavier than the bags in my hands, and every muscle in my body seemed to ache and complain- practically begging for real rest in the form of sleep. Sitting down for the past god knows how many hours also led to a bunch of bodily complaints, and all together I just felt like hell on earth.

Hayley, however, who’d slept on the plane, was bouncy and painfully enthusiastic, jabbering on to Jon how excited she was and how cool everyone’s accent was. Jon, while not as enthusiastic, seemed a little more awake than me and nodded and smiled along with her words, eyes scanning the outside of the airport for the car that should be arriving for us any minute now. Hayley’s friends were picking us up to take us to the big city, a friend of hers, Harvey, has a apartment in New York where everyone would meet up, stock up, then move onto to touring the country.

Leaving me behind in the confines of a big city. A big city full of art and culture and everything I loved- while refusing to go on the tour with them, I knew Harvey from when I was younger and he trusted me enough to knight me as ‘Carer of thy kingdom’ in other words- I was to look after the apartment while the others went travelling.

In my opinion, it was well worth the year of collage to see New York in all its artistic glory, and maybe to make a few positive relationships that would help me on in later life when I tried to join the art community.

“Here they are!” Hayley’s voice struck me in the ear and I winced, unable to muster the energy to raise a hand to my ear and make any such gesture that suggested that, maybe, she should turn the volume down.

Coming towards us was a beaten up looking red land-rover – four of the seats already filled with over-enthusiastic looking young people ready to burst with energy. Hayley jumped on the first person to exit the vehicle- a dark haired female, and began raving at her how the trip was, and how nice she looked. The others escaped the vehicle and went over to greet Hayley and Jon, while a smirking Harvey came towards me.

“Gustav, how was the flight?” I looked up at him with drained, tired eyes and yawned widely.

“Long. Very, very long” He chuckled then drifted off to greet Hayley and pounce a joke onto Jon, leaving me to wallow in my lack of sleep and wait for all the greetings to be over so I could get to that god-damn apartment and get some sleep. Jon shot me a wink while hugging Harvey and I pulled up a weary smile for him.

He was only like this when a lot of his energy had been sufficiently drained. Like first thing in the morning, or after he’d been shopping. He’d collapse down on a kitchen chair – usually when my parents were out- with a cup of coffee and tell me about how obnoxiously happy my sister was, and that I was obviously the sane one in the family. I liked it when he was like that; he went more along with my pace rather than his usual high-speed happy pace which matched my sister perfectly.

After a while of hugs and loud words, we dragged- or rather I dragged, they sort of...bounced- our bodies into the car and set off. The car was full of the sound of fast beat music and chatter- the sun beat down on the vehicle and it became warm inside, causing the windows to be rolled down and a few heads to be poked outside. It was crowded and I held one of my bags on my knee, gazing out the window at the passing features.

I felt almost over-whelmed at all the sudden senses- new sights, new temperatures, new smells, new sounds- and it had all struck at once leaving me feeling rather empty and shell-shocked. Though still enjoying the scenery, while not so much enjoying the noise and the heavy smell of sweat and bubble-gum. Hayley’s friends all seemed exactly like her- overly cheerful and just generally pleasant people with little negative to say about anyone. They were very out there, and more than a few times I had sat down and wondered where their confidence had come from, and more precisely, where Hayley’s confidence had come from.

For the others I could write it off as having a very supportive family, but with Hayley I couldn’t do that, because we were raised the same and for some reason she’s always had it easier than me. She knew how to handle people, and she could do a presentation in front of the class without blinking- while I would blink more than a few times, and maybe cough and stare at the ground till the teacher said I could do a private presentation after school.

Introverted was what most people thought me, and they were right. People weren’t my strong point, I preferred to be draw and paint, and capture things on my camera- with a cup of coffee in my hand and whatever biscuit was available at the time. Because of this habit to always have a biscuit while doing art, I’d been constantly teased for being ‘chubby’ or with some people just plain fat- which did wonders for my self-esteem. Hayley had quickly seen to whoever said that, and I hadn’t even thought about dropping the habit of eating biscuits while working- in private. To do it in school would just bring back all the jeering, and Hayley wasn’t there anymore to protect me- I sound so weak- but to be honest, being bullied wasn’t high on my agenda and I just wanted to get through life.

So, yeah. Not a people person.

“Hey Gustav, want to play I-spy?”

How long did Hayley say the car trip was again?