My Paper Heart

"I really don't like fighting with you," she continued. I felt her face forming a frown on the other end. We never really did enjoy talking about this crap when we weren't in person.

I shook my head. "I don't like fighting with you either," I sighed, running my hands through my hair. My ponytail had gotten tugged down while I was sleeping.

"Uh, well I guess that was all I wanted to know," she admitted after a minute. "Oh, wait! Wanna come over and have a birthday party?" she added quickly. I smiled and nodded.

"Yupp, I'd love to," I answered. She laughed softly on the other end.

"Great. I'll see you at my house after work, okay? I need to go, Sadie's hounding me to get back to work."

"Okidoke."

"Sasha says hi," she added quickly.

"Hey Sash," I said to him indirectly. I heard her relaying the message.

"Okay, I'm gonna go now."

"Okay. Love ya. I'll bring chocolate cake."

"Less than three you!" she said.

"Byee!"

"Buh-bye." I hung up before she could continue. We took forever to say goodbye.

I sighed, and flopped back on my pillows. I felt the knot in my stomach immediately dissolve, and I knew things between us were once again better. We only fought once in a blue moon, and this appeared to be one of those times. I felt stupendously tired, and I wouldn't need to go get cake mix or go get ready anytime soon.

I once again turned my phone off, and rolled over into bed, pushing my face into the pillow.

***

I put the truck in park and pulled the emergency brake up to keep it from sliding down Darcie's steep driveway and into the ravine across the street. I pulled the keys out of the ignition and shoved them into my jacket pocket.

I hopped out of the car, hiking my white mini-skirt back down my legs, and readjusting my black lace top. My hair was brushed -- for once -- and it fell neatly over my left shoulder. I hooked by bag on my elbow, and slammed my door neatly, readjusting my big rock star glasses.

I saw Cheddar's hulking form under the hood of the black Chevy. His face was smeared with oil, and he was stained with said liquid from fingertips to shoulders; since he insisted on working bare-chested. I smirked, and strutted up to him.

"Hey Cheddar," I said. He looked up from the corner of his eye, then stood up quickly, not knocking his head on the hood at all.

"Uh, hey Goldie," he said, trying to sound manly. He then proceeded to trying to impress me with his massively muscular physique, which I wanted no part of. I liked my boys lean and skinny like a rabbit, not bulky and wide like a rodeo steer. He stretched his arms above his head, and tried cracking his back, flexing his arms whilst he did so. I rolled my eyes on the inside of my glasses, but smirked like I was impressed. "So yeah," he continued, leaning forward, propped up on the cold radiator cap of the engine by his elbow, "How're you?"

"I have a boyfriend," I answered. I then turned around, and trotted up the front steps of the house. Once inside, I heard Cheddar cussing up a storm, then I heard the sound of a wrench smacking against a metal toolbox. The tools inside jingled like heavy wind chimes.

I smiled sweetly, knowing he was just horny and wanting into someone's pants, and walked right in the house.

Miss Carrie sat on the couch in a pair of jeans and a tunic shirt. Her husband, Aaron, sat beside her, napping with his mouth open and his head tipped back.

"Hi Miss Carrie!" I said fleetingly at her. She smiled and waved at me, then returned to her TV show.

I ran down the hall and burst into Darcie's room, striking a superhero pose; hands on my hips, chin in the air, and legs parted.

Darcie sat on her bed, still in her jeans and Wendy's polo. On her bed, Ant was trying to color, while Seth was busy trying to eat the crayons. I plucked the crayon out of his hand and his mouth, and he gave me this shocked look. "I know, I know, Seth, how dare I steal your crayon," I said. He looked at me and nodded. "But this will make up for it!"

I dug around in my bag and watched his eyes follow my movements intently. I produced the box of Devil's Food cake mix. Ant looked up, and his eyes widened. Both children squealed. Even at such a young age, Darcie's children had good taste in food. I handed Seth the box, and both toddlers crawled off of Darcie's bed, and ran out of the room, squealing for Miss Carrie, going, "Gramma, Gramma!" all the way down the hall. I smiled at them, and pushed my sunglasses up into my hair. I looked back at Darcie.

She got off the bed, and looked me in the eye. Something I admired her for. "I'm really sorry," she said. I smiled softly, and wrapped her in a hug, which she reciprocated.

"Don't be," I said.

"I should've not opened my mouth. I know you still like Hunter, and I guess he's okay, and I mostly overreact--" I cut her off.

"Shut up already, you're ruining the moment! I don't want this turning into Seventh Heaven, Crissake!" I barked, shoving her away from me. She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"God damn, I was only trying to be nice, Goldie," she grunted. I nodded.

"I know, but nice doesn't suit you, remember?" I reminded her.

"Ah, yes, I recall it now." She turned around and stretched. "So what're we gonna do with the brats?" She always referred to her kids as brats. It wasn't being mean, it was a term of endearment, honest.

"I was planning on taking them to Shrek 3, then going out for pizza or something, then coming back, making them cake, and then making the go to bed." She raised a brow. I held up a wad of money that I had taken from Dad. She nodded.

"What time frame do you expect them to fall asleep after all that sugar?" she asked skeptically.

"About nine o'clock. Plenty of time for us to have Darcie and Goldie time," I said.

"Nine?" she questioned.

"Yes, nine. Excitement will tucker them out."

"My dad says that," Darcie informed me arbitrarily. I cringed.

"Thanks for telling me that," I grunted. She smiled.

"You're welcome! Well, I'm going to get ready since we seem to have such a big night ahead of us. I presume we're taking your truck?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yes, sadly," I sighed.

"Nope, we aren't. We're taking Nate's Durango. You're still driving."

"That's nuts! Nate let you use his car?" I asked, shocked. Nate was her second oldest brother. He was in Iraq for the time being. It tore everybody up because he was in a combat situation. But we knew he would come back okay.

"Yep, he said I could drive it once I got my license back." My face dropped.

"Good god Darcie," I moaned.

"What! I don't have my license, you do, and your truck is too tiny for the kids and us. Besides, his truck has a CD player." I sighed and shook my head.

"Okay, okay," I grunted. She smiled triumphantly.

"Good! Now, be gone, I must change!" She ushered me out of the room. I sighed, and walked back into the living room where Seth and Ant were babbling to Miss Carrie in excited voices. Seth's fractured speech made me smile. He was only just learning how to talk. His first word shocked the hell out of everyone.

"Ho."

Yes, that was Seth's first word. That pissed everyone one off. Especially me, since I taught it to him. But don't tell anyone.

I sat on the couch between Aaron, who was still sleeping, and Miss Carrie. I told her about what we were planning on doing while I pulled Seth onto my lap, pulled his shoes on, and for about twenty minutes I watched TV with her, while she put shoes on Ant. After the twenty-four minute line I craned my neck over the sofa and shouted, "Darcie, hurry the hell up! We have a schedule!" I heard a muffled retort from her room, and grunted. I waited for another ten minutes before I got up, and started for her room. When I got there, she was standing in the hallway, closing her door.

"Nice outfit. Major hot. Totally worth the time," I said sarcastically. But, I had to admit, she did look good. She had on a plaid mini-skirt and a black camisole, and loads of black and purple liner. She dropped a pair of plat formed black sandals on the floor, and slipped them on, elevating herself about three inches.

She smirked, and did a little twirl. "I know you like what you see," she said, devilish smirk still in place. She put her white rock star glasses on the end of her nose, and struck a pose. I rolled my eyes.

"Gorgeous, can we go now madam? Like I said, we sot of have a schedule to hold," I reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she huffed. She marched out into the living, and scooped up the biggest handful of keys on the table next to the front door, and dropped them in my hands. Seriously, it must've weighed like, two pounds, and had like eighty keys on it. I had no idea what key belonged to the Durango. I would just have to guess or make Darcie find it for me. I dumped the pile of metal into my bag, and put it over my shoulder. Ant and Seth were ready quickly, Darcie putting Seth on her hip, and myself walking Ant down the stairs. They were a good bunch of kids, once you got passed their looks.

They piled into the backseat of the large silver truck, and Darcie buckled Seth into the baby seat, and Ant into his car seat.

While the kids asked Darcie what we were going to do, I sifted through the mass of keys, trying them in the ignition until I finally found one that worked. I fired up the car just as Darcie crawled into the front seat, buckling herself in. The kids squealed as I drifted the huge truck down the driveway. Ant waved at my little red truck as we passed it.

***

As we came home from Shrek and pizza, I nibbled on a slice at a red light. It was eight thirty, and as I predicted, Ant and Seth were as asleep as you could get without going into a coma. Darcie sat in the front seat with her legs tucked up to her chest, and her hair pulled into a bun behind her head. She had eaten too much, and when she ate too much she got sleepy. I found it kind of funny; but I knew once we got to her house and tucked Seth and Ant into their room, she'd be wide awake and ready for whatever mental idiocy we had planned, or could cook up.

Once we got back home, we picked up both the babies and set them on our hips, carrying them inside. I had shut the truck off and locked it before we got out. I trotted up the front walk, carefully dodging scuffing the toes of my flats on the rocks in the walkway. Darcie was already inside by the time I caught up with her, making her way down the hall into the kids' bedroom that was converted from a big walk-in closet of her parents'.

She tucked Seth into the bottom of a bunk bed after switching him into his footie-pajamas, putting the blue and mesh wire wall up so he wouldn't roll off. I patted Ant's cheek until he woke slightly up. I helped him out of his clothes, and into his pajamas, and I helped him into bed, tucking him in, and kissing his cheek. Darcie kissed his cheek, and ruffled his hair.

We both exited the room after turning on a blue lava lamp nightlight.

We ran into the kitchen after kicking our shoes off and immediately started making the cake. My eyes went wide, and I smiled brazenly. "Oh, oh, oh! Camera!" I squealed. I darted into her room and picked her camera off her nightstand, then ran back into the kitchen. With a giant squeal I realized she had already smeared cake batter around her lips, making her look like she had a moustache. I stuck two fingers in the mix and gave myself a French moustache and a soul patch. We took many pictures as we let the cake bake. For personal reasons and for myspace. Yes, we have myspaces. Sue us.

We washed the batter off our faces, and changed into our own pajamas -- a Led Zeppelin t-shirt for me and satin chili pepper pants -- and returned to the kitchen to fetch the cake out of the oven. Darcie set the blue Pyrex dish on the stove top to cool some while she dug around for the icing in a cabinet next to the fridge.

"Holy crap, Darce, look out!" I snapped, trying to grab a bottle of blue raspberry ice-cone syrup from falling on her head. Instead the top came off, and streaked both of us blue. I shivered, and wiped some out of my eye. Darcie gaped at her red silk night dress, her mouth wide open, and her eyes equally big. I thought she would just about die.

We both grunted, and made our way to the bathroom. I washed my bangs out in the sink, along with my face and neck, and Darcie washed her hair under the bathtub faucet on her knees. She walked into her room and changed into a Tweetie Bird t-shirt and some dollar sign boxers. She wrapped her hair in a towel, and grabbed the now cooled cake off the stove, a knife, and the icing, and walked back to the room.

I had been booting up her laptop, pulling up youtube and myspace. She set the cake down, and cut a chunk out of it, and smeared it with icing. She then proceeded to stuffing it in her mouth.

"You know, this is really good cake. Fantastic, even, if I do say so myself," she mumbled.

"Is that so?" I asked. "I'm gonna search for perversion on youtube, any specifics?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Nah, let your dirtiness run free." She cut another chunk out and offered it to me. I took it graciously, without icing, and stuffed in my mouth with very little finesse. She reclined on her bed.

"Pull up iTunes. Youtube bombs anyhow," she said. I did so, and put on some Sum 41. She gave this great heaving sigh, and rolled over onto her side. "I really like Nick," she admitted blatantly. This wasn't an uncommon confession from her. In fact, she spouted it quite frequently. I often told her that he liked her too, but she didn't believe me. Nick didn't believe me when I told him that she liked him either, so I guess they brought it upon themselves.

"So you've said," I muttered. I started Googling pictures of Jared Leto. I think that man is fabulous, provided he's not fat.

"I really, really like him, Goldie. I love him," she whispered. My eyes went wide, and I looked down at her. She had never confessed that much.

"Oh wow," I muttered. She nodded.

"Yupp," she said tiredly. I leaned over and rubbed her arm. She smiled sadly. "Oh well. What's the deal with you and Hunter?" she asked.

"I'm actually going to go out with him Friday. Wanna help me with an outfit and makeup and such?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, su--"

"OH MY GOD! LOOK!" I squealed cutting her off. I pointed at the screen at a picture of shirtless Jared Leto. We were kind of obsessed. She lunged across the bed, practically onto my lap, to look at him.