Blue Fingers

Mom always tells me not to hang about stranger’s house, not to talk to strangers, not to invite strangers home. Because strangers are after all, strangers. You never know just what’s on their mind. They can either be good or bad, but you should never risk the chance...do you believe this?

Sounds.

Vera and I continued to talk about typical, unimportant things, just the way we used to. I stopped looking at her face, though, and continued my sketching. It was nice to chatter away, and looking at something other than her face made it so much more easier. Now and then she told me to look at her, which I did, but as soon as she got caught up in the conversation I would lower my gaze. The recess slowly but surely ended and classes began once again.

* * *
I followed the crowd toward my new form of transportation: the dreaded yellow bus. Without getting impatient I finally got to walk into the bus and chose a seat on the far back, near a window. It would be an understatement to say that the bus was much more like a zoo.

I had to duck my head from flying food and footballs, I had to have my belongings close to me without hovering over them, I had to avoid sitting with the really small chatterly kids that ask about everything. If I took this into account, I would survive.

The kids slowly skipped down the steps and walked to their house’s front steps or building and soon the bus was empty. I shrugged as I walked past the empty chairs, my backpack slung over my shoulder. I looked at the ground, careful not to step on the mayo sandwich pressed against the silver-colored floor. I mumbled a goodbye to the driver as I hopped off the bus, my house standing in front of me.

I dropped my backpack on the entrance, ate lunch quickly and all but skipped from the house to the park. The trees met me after an hour or so of walking. I embraced them happily after staring at the pavement while I walked. I bought my usual cone and sat on the bench, not thinking of anything but the creamy goodness.

The bench was cool against my warm skin, I smiled giddily as the coolness from the ice cream numbed the tip of my tongue. I heard a faint barking but I ignored it, the ice cream cone and the almost invisible white smoke that it gave away capturing my full attention.

The barking became louder, and it was now united with the sound of soft paws against gravel, and clumsy footsteps trying to go at the same pace. I didn’t realize I had my eyes closed until I felt the weight of the paws on my thighs and someone screaming in a very high and clear voice-

“Dali, don’t!”

By the time I had opened my eyes, half my cone was lying on the floor, being devoured by a pretty quadruplet. My eyesight was foggy for the first few seconds but then I recognized Dali.

A small buzzing in my hear made me look up and see Beatrix doubling up on not-so-silent apologies. I placed the remains of my cone on the ground for Dali to lick and stood up with a smile on my face,

“Hello Beatrix!”

I greeted her with a genuinely big smile.

The girl looked at me with something between fright and concern.

“H-hello Alexis...I’m s-sorry for your ice cream...so sorry!”

I stared at her with confusion. The sun blazed on the sky, making me squint as I gawked into her eyes.

“Ice..cream?”

I asked in confusion. Beatrix’s despaired look doubled as she nodded her head frantically and pointed at the cone lying on the floor surrounded my the liquefied ice cream. I furrowed my brow trying to remember if I had had an ice cream cone. I shook my head.

“No...it’s okay...”

I told Beatrix. I don’t think it was too convincing, though, because the preoccupied expression was still on her visage.

“Seriously, don’t worry about it. I was full, anyway.”

I said with a laugh. This seemed to calm Beatrix down so I sat on the bench and patted the spot beside me.

“Ugh, I can’t sit today. In fact...I think I’m running late already...they’re going to kill me for sure.”

“Who’s going to kill you and why?”

“Today...it’s my birthday. So the party is at my friend’s house...classmates from the university are organizing it for me...they say i’m too anti-social for my own good.”

“It’s nice to have people do that kind of thing for you, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, I guess so...I was actually looking for you before Dali stole your ice cream. Would you maybe...want to go?”

That was certainly unexpected. I grinned instantly and nodded my head. Beatrix gave me the address and her cellphone number just in case. She said goodbye and began walking away. I stared at her fingers as she did so and noticed one little thing that made me smile: there was a string uniting our fingers, before it had been so thin it was almost invisible but today it was shiny and noticeable.

“Hey Beatrix!”

She turned around.

“Happy Birthday!”

She smiled and mumbled a ‘Thank you’.

She smiled.

* * *
I slipped out of the cab’s seat after giving him the money. The music was so loud you could feel vibrations as you neared the door. I pulled at the violet long sleeves of my shirt , the long chain that dangled from my neck made a soft metal against metal sound as the charms were pushed against each other. I sighed and pushed the door open, thinking it would be useless to ring the doorbell.

If I thought the music was loud then I don’t know how I would’ve described the talking. Obnoxious, maybe? All I know is that everywhere I placed my eyes upon there were red and blue gigantic plastic glasses being swung around, their contents far too obvious. The relaxed-looking frat boys and girls were slung around the room, their poses non-challant and cool, their fingers usually keeping a cigarette in place.

I coughed, the irritating smoke bothering me. I got a few odd looks which I decided to ignore. I walked through the people, searching for Beatrix’s familiar face. It took me quite some time to discard the living room for there were nearly fifty people there, plus a lot of people entered and left it. I groaned as an hour passed and I was now in the kitchen which was full with as much people as the living room.

I saw an empty chair and walked towards it, relieved to finally sit down and take a deep breath- when a tall, thin girl with wispy blonde hair sat on it. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow,

“You were not planning on sitting here, right?”

“Er..no...It’s okay.”

I turned on my heels and heard soft giggling behind my back. Again, I ignored them. Made fun of was something acceptable for me, it would be a pain trying to get respect. Plus, who cared about this frat boys and girls? An audible gasp caught my attention and then the rapid movement of feet against linoleum floor.

A flash of black and wine read appeared in front of my eyes. A anxious-eyed girl stared at me, her clear green eyes scrutinizing my face. Then I recognized her, she was the girl at Ethan’s University. She seemed to recognize me as well.

“If you’re here I’m guessing he’s here as well... I didn’t realize you were his show-off now. I thought he’d keep you hidden from all of us. He’s always thought he’s better than all of us anyway.”

“You know her, Eva?”

Eva turned around to face the girl with wispy blonde hair,

“Not really, she’s Ethan’s girl.”

She explained, her eyes fixing on me again. No longer had those words slipped off her tongue that the entire room was gawking at me. I nervously looked down as the room quietened. I lifted my head when the people started circling me, all asking a thousand questions at the same time.

They were so loud, so loud that I couldn’t even hear my own breathing.

“I...I’m not Ethan’s girl...I barely know him...he’s just my friend’s brother...”

The chattering and the questioning doubled, I couldn’t hear, I could breathe. The room became blurry around me, the lights combining with the shadows, with the faces. A cold air went up my back and then my legs could no longer hold my weight and they gave away underneath me.

Everything was black.