A Step to Love

It always surprised me how cool the parents were about letting a bunch of teenagers stay alone for a month in a house. We arrived to Virginia a bit after six o’clock in the afternoon. We stopped just in front of an open area where in exactly the middle of it, a house stood; a beautiful house, to be clear.

The windows were made out of crystal, the house’s soft yellow color made it look even sweeter, it’s big and double, wooded door… Well, you get the picture. The house was pretty majestic. I still couldn’t believe Joe’s grandfather had agreed on giving it to us for the month.

After a while of unpacking, settling in, Alex was sitting quietly next to Jake on the sofa while I watched cautiously the back of his head. I have to do something, I thought, but my body refused to react.

What was it that I needed to do? I wasn’t sure, but I felt this gigantic urge to talk to Alex, The Thing.

I waited patiently.

Not only did I want to make sure I was going to do it, but I waited for Jake to leave, so I could.

If I wasn’t caring about his ridiculous relationship with The Whore, I had to at least try and be friends with him. Well, I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. The curious thing was, every time we did try and talk, we always ended up arguing.

Whatever. Even if it my insides got turned out as a price, I was going to have a word with him.

Now…pick a topic. Any topic.

…

What the hell did Alex like to talk about, anyway? Video games, I’m sure. I don’t know much apart from Naruto, wrestling games and Spyro.

Maybe if I tried complimenting him… “What shampoo do you use?” I blurted, before thinking. “It gives you nice hair.”

Ha, I could see Jake and Alex turning now, staring like complete morons at me.

Maybe staying silent is a better option.

Just then, the kitchen door flew open and Joe stepped out with Brittany not too far behind. Brit held a semi-transparent bag on her hands. “Hey, guys. I have some balloons here we can fill up.”

Alex nearly jumped from the sofa to get the bag. “Ah, awesome, sis, water balloons! We can have a fight.”

“Or a contest,” she said, smiling slightly. I loved seeing her talk again. “The one who hits everyone first will get to choose where each and every one of us will sleep for the night.”

“But we’re only six people,” I pointed out.

“True, but that’s what makes it interesting. No groups, each and every one of us is alone during this game.”

“All right, then,” said Joe, while staring at Brit. “Everyone get ready and we’ll meet up in the backyard area to settle in.”

So, that was still another plan I had in mind. My goals for this summer were somewhat small, but important. I had to talk to Alex (still didn’t know why), I had to find out what happened between Joe and Brit (though I’m not expecting much), I had to win this contest (there might be a small chance I can with wimpy man-ladies, but then there was Brit… She was always a good thrower, even in her mega girly stage) and I had to get Brody something for his birthday, which was coming right after our “summer vacation”.

I think I’ve pointed out several times how much I babble interiorly.

I was minutes later, standing with my bare feet on the recently trimmed grass, feeling uncomfortable in my one-pieced dark blue swimsuit. Everyone else looked so at ease with no shirt, and Brit standing almost naked in her (still surprisingly) bikini…that wasn’t pink. It was yellow. That bothered me a bit.

She…wasn’t obsessed with the color…anymore. I sighed.

“Ready?” she asked everyone, everyone nodded. She started handing everyone balloons and balloons ready to be filled. Then, as weird as this may sound, we all stood in a cheap tiny circle, and at the count of “three”, we all ran like five year-olds, to the nearest sinks, or hoses, to fill up our balloons.

The fight—contest went for hours. We didn’t really notice it until Alex started whining about how his “tummy was pushing him”. Yeah. It became the perfect time for me to throw a water balloon that slapped the middle of his right eye. I didn’t exactly mean to, but he was the only that was left for me.

I won the competition then, but I think Alex pretty most lost his eye.

I laughed behind him, of course. The image presented to me was in slow motion…and funny. I did feel sorry for him, though and hugged him afterwards, even though he was partially against it. Then everyone laughed along with me and we waited outside until Brit came inside the house to dry herself and to make us some sandwiches. I think she was looking for an excuse to distract herself.

I entered a bit later with her, just to help her.

“You hit him pretty hard,” she commented, as I closed the crystal door behind me.

I laughed. “Not hard enough, trust me.” I walked up to her and tried to organize the ingredients as much as possible.

She laughed along with me, but then became serious as she spread some mayonnaise over some sliced bread. “He told me I was being a lousy girlfriend.”

I was pretty sure we weren’t talking about Alex anymore, so I prompted, “Joe?”

She nodded. “Apparently he didn’t like the fact that I was so…happy.”

“What does that have to do with being a lousy girlfriend?” I asked. “Happiness is—was part of your personality.”

Brit finished putting mayonnaise and went to help me cut vegetables for the sandwiches. Right after, I went to clean them under the sink. “I don’t know, I mean, he told me that it bothered him the fact that I was always so careless about things. You know…life itself.”

I pushed my eyebrows together as I cleaned the cut pieces of freshly green lettuce. “He’s mad that you don’t want to think about the negativities that surround us as human beings?”

“You can call it that, he calls it ‘immaturity’.”

I stopped my movement after closing the sink’s handle. “…he called you immature?”

She just rolled her eyes and half smiled.

I scoffed. “Have you noticed how you’ve grown in the shortest amount of time?”

“Yes, but that only happened because of S…” There was no need to finish that sentence. We both knew exactly what and how it happened. Poor Brit Brit.

I continued my steps, and started placing the vegetables in the sandwiches, as Brit placed the ham, leaving one sandwich without it; Alex’s sandwich.

“I seriously don’t know why you didn’t want to talk about it before.”

“Sorry…”

“Just so you know, Brit; I don’t go outside and kill him right now because we’re in his grandfather’s house, and it wouldn’t be fair to his grandfather, maybe. But if you don’t go and talk to him about it, I will do so, even if I have to tie myself up to forbid myself from touching him.”

The cutest and smallest smile poked up to her face. “Thanks, Annie.”

“You don’t have to thank me for being your friend,” I said, sticking my tongue out a little. “It comes with the whole package of my existence.”

She finished putting the lids of the sandwiches. “Weirdo.”

I laughed and helped her take the meals outside for the guys. Everyone took theirs, including myself and we sat on the grass, and talked about what we were going to do for the rest of the summer.

I simply couldn’t help staring several times at Joe. More like glaring, really, but nobody actually noticed it. I tried to play it as normal as possible, just because I didn’t want Brit to feel worse than she already felt. The poor girl kept getting so overwhelmed over everything that destiny decided to throw at her.

We agreed on letting the carnival for the middle part, and spend the rest of the month seeing places and shopping, and visiting Virginia itself.

The month shouldn’t be too hard, but I bet it was going to feel slow without really communicating with Brody. He was spending some time with his own friends and family over Colombia, which didn’t exactly bring joy to either of us.

And I was tempted to spend some time solving out The Thing.

I looked over Alex, which still held his eye with his hand.