Little Baby Pines

There was a girlish cackling exploding from Mindy and Kim’s room. The laughter was far too high-pitched and joyous to Mindy. She had been depressed lately. The girl moped around the sorority house, hiding in the library with her iPod and textbooks. There was typically a cheer up party by Kim to lift her spirits but Kim had become too preoccupied. Preoccupied laughing at a boy’s snarky comment. “He is still gloating over his victory?! Oh my Lord, that Patrick Kane. He is a piece of work.”

“Yeah, well, we would have won if you didn’t keep walking off the ledge and accidentally killing yourself. You have been at our bi-monthly tournaments for how long, now? Two sessions? You should be better at the video games we play.” His voice was warm and soothing. It made Kim grin to herself. One of her weaknesses was the sound of someone’s voice. She loved listening to people talk. Boys with rich voices like dark maple syrup made her go weak in the knees. Listening to Jonathan made her dizzy and take a seat so her legs didn’t give out from underneath her. “Honestly, how many times did you manage to perform suicide before I could walk back into the room and wrestle the controller from your death grip?”

Kim kicked her foot, banging it against the wall. “Ouch.”

“Did you just hurt yourself now? On purpose?”

“Accident!” She shouted. “I am accident prone. And seriously, I am sorry. I told you when you left to take that phone call that it was a bad idea. I hate that scenery. Why is it hovering in space? And it is so foggy. I couldn’t tell where the ground was.”

“So you off-ed yourself. Well, that is endearing.” A pop noise echoed in her ear when he cracked open a can of coconut water. “Well, sorry for leaving you to the mercy of Kaner. I had to take the call. It was my mother.” His mother who grilled him about who was at his place yet didn’t manage to get out the information that a girl was there. Jonathan prided himself on alluded her from that. Then his pride was crushed when he went back into the living room to see that Kim killed their character almost twenty times by walking off the edge. “Well, we play tonight. And Kaner celebrates whether we win or lose so I am going to be fucked. That kid drinks like an alcoholic when someone else is buying.”

“Lock up the mini-bar!”

Jon covered his mouth as he laughed. It came out muffled, louder and softer at differing variances. “You are so cute to think that would stop him. Would a chained mini-bar stop you?” Her giggling was a good enough answer. “Yeah, see, that is what I thought. It isn’t going to stop him. You should know how he thinks, Kim.”

The girl knew what he was playing at. Patrick must have told Jon that even though he and Kim were never really close friends they got along really well because they were a lot alike. They had big and bright personalities, easiness in social situations, and were snarky, witty, and devilish. Kim would never say it out loud to Jon, but she found it cute that he was pursuing a girl version of Patrick.

Kim rolled over on her bed, knocking off books. “Where are you guys playing tonight? Anaheim?” Jon makes a grunt that sounded like a ‘no’. “Good because, don’t hate me, but that is my team. Those were my boys every since I was little. So if you hit any of them I am going to have to lay the beat down on you.”

“The beat down?” He was choking on his drink. “What the hell? What part of California are you from? Compton?”

“Yeah bitch. Straight outta Comptom!” And she then proceeded to rap the rest of the N.W.A. song until she caught herself in a fit of giggles. “Compton, bitch!”

His laughter was a beautiful sound to her. From what she knew of the young captain he took things seriously and always looked grim. It warmed her whenever she made him smile or cackle like a schoolyard boy. “You know that rap? That is very surprising.”

She rolled over again, knocking off even more books. There were more books on her bed than there was space. Now most of them were lying on the ground opened with their pages getting bent by gravity. “It shouldn’t be. You do know who one of my best friends is kind of a popular indie rapper, right? Sully is pretty beast. And one of the reason we became best friends is because I am that chick that can just bust out Juvenile and the Beastie Boys at the drop of a hat. It is a hidden talent. Shhhh.”

“Will I get to learn of your other hidden talents?” Kim answered with a hushed yes. Her sudden quietness caught Jon’s attention. It made him picture her as a little girl on a vast bed being playful and coy. He enjoyed that she was showing him her different sides. She seemed more complex than he originally imagined. The ability to uncover her like this made him drawn to her. “Kim, what are you doing two days from now?”

Her face scrunched up as she conjured up a mental calendar. “Wednesday. I am not at the library, but I have two classes. Sci-fi literature and remedial math. I should start writing one of my essays that day, but I probably won’t. Why? What’s up?”

“Can I hang out with you that day?”

“Yeah. Sure. Totally. Of course.” Bashfully, Kim covered her face. “Oh my fucking God! I sounded like such a dumb blonde just then. Just forget I talked. Ah. Bye Jon.” She quickly hung up and cowered underneath the nearest book, Frankenstein.

A smirk was on Jon’s face. His roommate for road trips, Kane, walked into the hotel room with a bucket of ice. “She is so cute, man.”

“Who?”

“Your mother. She is a cute woman, Kaner.” Jon rubbed his eyes, shaking his head. “I need to take a walk. Call me if something happens.”

Back in Kim’s room the door swung open. A sad looking Mindy walked in. Her shoulders were dropped forward. The purse in her hand dangled an inch off the floor. “I—I can’t even think right now. School sucks. Boys sucks. Why have you been avoiding Sully?” She dropped her purse onto the ground and kicked it over to her bed.

“Huh? What?”

Mindy curled up on her own bed, tucking a stuffed animal under her head. “You have blown him off for like the last couple of weeks. Did you break up with him?”

“Sweetie. To break up with him I would technically have to be in a relationship with him. Yet, I am not. I am sort of with someone else.” Kim shook out her hair. “I knew this thing with Sully would get stupid,” she muttered to herself. “Wait, why is he talking to you about me?” Mindy didn’t say anything. She pretended to go to sleep. The girl’s cheeks were a bright pink. Kim ignored the embarrassment since her friend clearly didn’t want to explain. “I love you, Mindy.”

“Okay.”