Bruises in Miniature Form

Ronnie stared at me long and hard with a contemplative look on his face before he burst into laughter.
Was it supposed to be that funny?
I opened my mouth to retort another reply only Max cut me off by taking the seat on my other side and leaning over to hand the food and pop over to Ronnie who graciously took it.
Ronnie stifled a few more laughs before looking down at the skiddles and suddenly ripping them open to spill across the theatre floor.

“Oh! Ronnie! What the hell!?”
“Damn... looks like you’ll have to get me some more Max darling”
With a quick glance to his friend Max stood up and held a hand out, “Then pay up, dick”
Ronnie chuckled reaching into his pocket to retract a five dollar bill and slapping it into his friend’s hand.
I watched Max stomp off not even looking over his shoulder as he jumped a few steps and disappeared around the corner.
“Avoid Max, don’t go near him” Ronnie suddenly cut in, leaning forward with his elbows rested on his knees and chin on knuckles.
My head snapped around quickly, staring with curious eyes at him, “Why?”
“It’s just a warning, doesn’t mean you have to take it seriously though...”

As my head swam with thoughts Max returned, rather quickly this time and took the seat beside me again.
Quiet filled the theatre as the movie started and I put the ‘warning’ as Ronnie called it aside for later.
I found myself hardly paying any attention to the movie in fact, instead I stared between the two friends before excusing myself to the bathroom.
The male species have a habit of screwing with the female species brains, and this is a prime example.
Inside the washrooms I splashed a little water on my face and washed my hands, looking around at the marbled walls and white floors.
Seems the people who decorated this bathroom went a little over board.

“Hey, what did Ronnie say to you?” A male voice spoke.
Spinning around I spotted Max with his arms crossed leaning against the closed door, “This is the girls bathroom, Max, that doesn’t mean you can just walk in here!”
“I don’t see a sign that says ‘No males allowed’ on the door,” He shrugged and moved towards me more, “So what did he say?”
I didn’t want to get Ronnie in trouble since he seemed nice enough so I shrugged haplessly, “Just about living in Vegas and Rick, that’s about it”
“Right, so why did he make me leave?” His eyebrow rose dangerously as he moved forward again.
“He spilled skiddles...”
Max scoffed and moved forward, “You suck at lying”
“I wasn’t even lying” I snapped back now stepping forward, having enough with letting him step all over me.
“Did you know you back down from fights easily?”
“Why do you hate me, Max?” I think I caught him off guard, his footsteps moving backwards a bit until his back collided with the wall.

His skin got white like a sheet and eyes bulged from their sockets.
Silence set in around us and it felt like the atmosphere was crushing my lungs.
I stared helplessly, waiting for my answer to a question I felt needed t be answered above all.
If Max had resigned himself to not liking me then I at least wanted a reason for what I had done wrong.
Taking a step forward I watched him gulp and the Adam’s apple in his throat bob lightly.
He acts like such a scared child sometimes....

“Max? Please, I just want to know why you hate me so much”
The answer I got was not one I expected or wanted since it left me with practically nothing, “GOD, YOUR SO STUPID!”

I stared after him as he bolted out of the restrooms, the door moving slowly back to its closed position.
I think I just figured it out.

----

“DAD!! DARYL!!!” I screamed happily waving my hands above my head as I stood on the airport benches.

I couldn’t see them yet or rather all I could really see was Daryl’s bright pink hat which he wore almost everywhere.
I watched his bobbing hat around the sea of people until it suddenly vanished and my mother began tugging on my leg pants to step down and wait patiently.
Complying I jumped down to the floor and looked to Rick who seemed a little nervous upon meeting my father and a bored Max who had chosen an act of silence ever since the movie.
I wasn’t complaining.
My mother placed a comforting hand on Rick’s shoulder as I began bouncing happily in my bright yellow converse shoes.
They were all I had to remember that vacation my father took me on four years ago.

“Where are they?”
“Don’t be so jittery Tea Cup, they’ll be here” My mother chuckled in a comforting manner and moved to stand beside Rick who was now fidgeting with his tie.
Sucking in a sharp breath I began to look again still not seeing anyone in the resemblance of my father.
Max coughed behind me and pointed his skinny little finger in the direction of the bathrooms, “Think I could talk to you about something?”
“Can it wait?” I didn’t mean to snap at him in the tone I did but I really just wanted to see my missing in action father, “Alright, sure”

He gave a weak smile and reached out to grab my hand, lacing his fingers with mine and tugging me through the floods of people who were surely making their way outside.
Our feet picked up pace when he started running making the weight of my arm heavier.
I followed his lead through until he came to a stop inside the clean sanitary bathrooms.
Glancing around it was easy enough to tell this was the male’s bathroom and not the female’s; I should have known that though by the sign on the door...
Standing in silence I began tapping my foot impatiently on the floor until a shoe came down lightly and held it in place.
Quirking an eyebrow I looked at Max who stared down at our shoes, his overlapping mine to keep it from bouncing up and down on the cool floor.

“You’re really ADD aren’t you?” Somehow his voice sounded very serious in that sentence and I didn’t like it.
“Not that I know of, is that what you dragged me into the men’s bathroom for?”
“No, no, no,” He looked nervously at our surroundings before continuing, “Ronnie wanted me to invite you to our camping trip and I figured if I asked in front of your mother and Rick you’d get away with saying no”
“Get away with saying no?” I repeated.
His laughter met my ears as he dug his hands into his skinny tight pockets and leaned forward so his nose touched mine, “I figured any chance you had to get out of doing something with me you would take, so since I’ve asked you without anyone else around you don’t really have a choice”
I could feel the heat rising up to my cheeks and it wasn’t a blushing heat, more of an insulted heat.
Glaring daggers at his blue eyes I attempted to take a step back but found his foot still firmly in place, “You are a manipulative person aren’t you?”
His chuckle met my ears as he hung his head down, “We’re going camping when Rick goes on his honeymoon, so you’re coming anyway...”
Rolling my eyes I pushed back on his chest forcing him to take a few steps backwards, “Why do you want me to come camping with you though?”
“I don’t, Ronnie does” He answered simply and began walking away and right back out the door leaving me alone.

‘I don’t, Ronnie does’ what a prick!
Clenching my fists I stalked back out of the bathroom and cut over to where my mother stood laughing with someone in an overly large blue coat and pink baseball cap.
Blonde hair poked out from underneath the hat and blue eyes stared out with a twinkle.
I could feel a grin beginning to form on my face and all my anger for Max vanishing in an instant; I quickly picked up my walking pace and darted all the way over.
The tall skinny man standing with my mother glanced up when I was within reaching distance and opened his arms wide for me to jump into.
Laughing into his chest I tightened my grip, glad to see Daryl.

“Oh Newton darling you’ve gotten oh so big!”
I laughed and stepped back, “And you’ve gotten more colourful!”
Daryl laughed heartily and poked my cheek, “Aw you’ve gotten cheeky in your age, maybe Las Vegas isn’t as good as I thought!”
I cracked a huge grin and began looking back and forth, “So where’s my father?”
Daryl smiled innocently and bent forward so he was closer to my shoulder and pointed past my head to something behind me in the direction I had just come from, “Your papi is over there”

Turning on my heel I saw my father in all his glory, brown hair cut short and loose tie hanging around his neck.
His white shirt looked stained with different colors of paint and his jeans were a little holey, that and his sneakers looked like duct tape heaven.
He really did resemble a teenage boy sometimes.
Running away from Daryl I crashed into my father, wrapping my arms around his waist.
I heard my father greeting me and could tell he wore a smile matching mine.
Mother always said father and I had the same smile and I just loved hearing it.
Glancing up I saw my father’s long eyelashes batting against his big brown irises.

“You’ve gotten much too big kiddo” His voice was in a thick New York accent that just somehow matched his shaggy appearance.
“I missed you so much!” I whined still clinging to his waist.
“I missed you too kiddo” He grinned and patted my head, “Although my circulation is cutting off”
Laughing I released him from my vice grip and grabbed his hand, dragging him back over to everyone else, “When I phoned Daryl said you were in a business meeting, who with?”
“The Harrisons, they’ve been planning a new opening for their gala and hired me” My father responded easily grinning down at me.
“That’s great!”
He nodded and came to a stop in front of my mother, shaking her hand and smiling, “Jeez it has been too long, how have you been?”
“I’ve been good Clark, yourself?”
“Busy, and this must be the Rick I’ve heard about” He moved over to Rick who now shook his hand eagerly.
“That would be me. You’ve got a great daughter there”
“Well I’d have to sum that up to Elisa’s mothering abilities”
My mother coughed into her hand and pulled me over to her side, “So have you grabbed your luggage?”
Daryl answered this time leaning forward into the conversation, “We’ve already sent it to our hotel so we’ve got some free time”

Nodding we all moved out of the airport towards the minivan Rick rented to fit us all in.
Daryl was constantly making conversation with me and my father who wanted to know just how much I’d been up to since he last saw me.
I explained most of the boring things, leaving out the idiot who stalked behind me in a slouched position.