Reconvening

Kyle

What about her pleasure? Will keeping her be a pleasure to her as much as it will be for me? Why do I keep seeing her face in my thoughts? What has she done to her hair? Why does she feel the need to hide behind everyday formalities like that? I can't stop thinking about her, and I think she’s finally beginning to notice me. But I have screwed up too much. It is yet too early to be considering taking her. I don't have proper habitat for her to dwell in. My beautiful will only be treated with the best, and she can't have the best right now.

I’ve yet to even ready my room for her. I must go and buy the paint now. I know she has seen me – I know she has felt me. Now I will let her forget about me while I ready myself. She must feel safe again before I can move.

Julie

I made it home relatively early. Mom and dad were finally awake, at home and reading the paper. Dad was sitting in my seat – with a clear view of the door. As I walked in, he choked and spit out his coffee.

"Jesus girl, you look like you got run over by a blender! With purple in it!”

"Thanks Dad. Really…I love you too.” I replied, throwing my skateboard in the corner.

"What happened?” Mom asked, not even looking up. She was used to me coming in looking like road kill. She flipped the page on the newspaper and continued reading about…I squinted…War in Iraq.

"Well, I got my hair dyed by Steve. And then I ran into a dog. On my skateboard.”

"How can you miss a dog? They are pretty big, they aren’t like the pebbles you usually run over…” Dad grinned at me, but I could tell he was slightly concerned. I stripped off my top shirt so the wife beater was showing. My arms had a little dried blood on them, but I was fine. Dad poked mom, and she looked up. Dad went to comment again and I cut him off.

"Shut up. It was a golden retriever and he was running, fast may I add. I didn't see him.” I glared at dad.

"Alright; alright! Did you break anything?" Mom said, silencing our bickering. Ray popped his head in from the living room and looked at me, up and down. Almost too cute for his age, he shook his head just like an adult would and went back to his television.

"Of course not. Your daughter doesn’t break. I'm gonna go clean my cuts out though. This fall hurt more than just my body – got at my pride too."

I was thankful they didn't ask why I wasn't looking out for the dog in the first place. I couldn't tell them that I thought some dude was stalking me – they'd write me off as insane!

I climbed up the stairs and turned into my room. Cringing, I collapsed on my bed and kicked off my shoes. Not even 11, and I already had my physical appearance altered, I'd almost been chased, I'd fallen down and gotten scratched up…

I stretched out on my bed, feeling the soft fleece blanket beneath me. It rubbed on my sore arms – my right one mostly. After what seemed like an eternity, I rose, and went into my bathroom. I took the washcloth and set it in the sink, turning on the hot water. While waiting for it to warm up, I reached into my cabinet and took out the Rubbing Alcohol. I set it on the counter and shut off the hot water

Flinching, I gently picked up the washcloth and began cleaning the blacktop off of my left arm. I reopened one of my cuts and picked out a tiny stone. The pain burned right up my arm as I rubbed it unsympathetically with the washcloth. Finished, I took the rubbing alcohol and leaned over the sink. Brutally, I poured some of it on the open, bleeding cut. It stung more than when I had purposely reopened it, but I bit my lip and waited for the stinging to go away.

I reached into the cabinet, putting away the alcohol. I searched for my Band-Aids. Second shelf, above the aspirin. I took one out and opened, my hands shaking as I peeled the white paper pieces apart. I picked off the little white sterile papers and put them next to the sink. I put it on my left forearm, covering the cut well. It would stay.

Sometimes, after a day of skating, I would have a contest with myself to see how many Band-Aids I could put on perfectly. By now, I had gotten rather good at it. I was extremely proud of my skill in putting Bandaids on my own hands. That was always one of the hardest spots, but I managed.

I wondered if Adam was awake yet? He should have been by the time it was – it was nearly 10. He was usually up at 7, though he may have spited me and stayed in his bed longer. I was in no mood to go back outside though. They were going to ask me what had happened.

I walked out of my bathroom and jumped on my bed, collapsing. The soft fleece of my blanket comforted me as I lay there. I yawned – even though I shouldn’t be tired, I was. My hips were grinding uncomfortably into the bed, so I turned over, facing my ceiling. Just this year, I was allowed to decorate my room however I liked. I took full liberty with that over the summer – my walls and ceilings were littered with things that my friends had written on the walls.

I laid there for a few minutes, just looking at my ceiling. In dark green marker, someone had written an interesting statement. They wrote, probably one of my shorter friends, "I can reach!" as if it was an accomplishment. Next to that, when I had been in one of my philosophical moods, I had written in red and black, "To die for someone is nobler, to live for someone is nobler." Nothing in particular that I could remember caused me to write that.

I felt a thump on the bed, and I sat up halfway to look what had invaded my privacy. Sitting on the edge of the bed, was the lump of fur that I supposed could be our cat, Daniel. I poked it with my barefoot, and sure enough, the cat peered at me. His dark green eyes shown through his tuft of fur. He was a calico cat, but not that short haired. He didn't have terribly long hair, but he wasn't bald either. He looked at me funny, and I looked at him back.

"Hi, cat. What do you want?" I asked him, reaching down to pet him. He purred, molding to the contour of my hand as he stood and climbed up to me. The little patch of white fur on his chest was vibrating, he was purring so loud. I lay back down and he climbed onto my chest, purring and sitting so his claws were by my throat. It was like he was claiming me. I tried hard not to laugh, feeling the cat vibrating on my chest. Whenever my hands went down by his tail, his tail went up. At one point I got his butt to be all the way up in the air, his head angled down and rubbing against my collarbone. He was an amusing cat.

"So what'd you do all day Daniel? Sleep? That's what I should have done, but no…oww! No clawing me!"

In Daniel's infinite happiness, he had begun the popular practice of kneading. He dug his claws into my skin just enough to hurt but not enough to draw blood. I removed his claws from my skin, but let him stay there. Love could hurt sometimes, unintentionally. But I think he did it on purpose.

I lay there, petting him, again wondering if Adam was awake. I missed him – we didn't really get to talk at all yesterday, and he's usually the one I have semi-serious conversations with.

Is that the only reason you miss him? Taunted my mind. I pushed the thought out of my head, and at the same time shooed my cat off of my bed. I sat up and looked around my room. Outside, the sun was shining brightly and I smiled, feeling the warmth leaking in through my window.

I stood, feeling my carpet between my toes as I looked around. My room was relatively clean – not worth cleaning yet. There was barely any cat hair at all, though Daniel spent most of his time in my room.

Deciding my time in seclusion was over; I walked out of my door and down the stairs. My brother was relaxing in the recliner, eating some trail mix, and I stopped going down the stairs for a moment, deciding whether or not to bother him. Deciding on yes, I crept down the rest of the stairs quietly and across the brief threshold to the recliner. I reached down over his head, and ever so lightly brushed my finger on top of his scalp, then ducked underneath the top of the chair.

"Mom!" Ray called after a moment.

"Don't yell Ray! What do you need?"

"Julie's bothering me!" He called out. I stood up, looking down at him. He grinned up at me.

"Traitor." I hissed, grinning evilly. Ray took on a look of slight fear as I closed the distance around the recliner to the front. He cuddled into a little ball in one corner of the chair, clutching his trail mix to him.

"Mom!" he tried yelling but I covered his mouth with my left hand, tickling him with my right. He squealed and I laughed. I heard mom get up in the kitchen, and taking my chance, I fled to the couch. I was sitting perfectly, watching…Spongebob? When mom walked out into the living room.

She glared at me, her graying hair shaking as she shook her head at me. Her blue eyes showed nothing but laughter as she attempted to tell me not to bother my brother.

"I wasn't doing anything!" I protested, hiding my triumphant grin. Ray looked at me and smirked as mom walked out.

"Oh this isn't over." I declared valiantly. Mom popped her head back in and I made over my face as one of complete innocence. She furrowed her eyebrows at me and I shrugged, holding my hands up to show I was innocent. She went back into the kitchen and I snickered.

I let myself indulge in the mindless Spongebob cartoon for a few minutes, letting my mind wander. This particular episode was an odd one, and I actually despised Spongebob. They kept babbling on about Alaskan Bull Worms. When I couldn't take it anymore, the little cartoon squirrel had just dived into a cave looking for the worm thing.

I looked out the window, rising off of the couch. Adam was walking up my driveway, blades around his neck. He looked tired.

I walked over to the door, opening and lounging against the doorframe. Adam, seeing me, smiled but didn't increase his pace at all. I waited patiently for him to finish the walk up my driveway. Ray stood up behind me to see who was coming, and then walked over and stood by me, starting to get excited. Out of all of my friends, Ray's favorite was Adam. Adam looked down and patted Ray on the head. Ray, satisfied, resumed watching Spongebob.

"Hey." I said to him, getting out of the doorway, and motioning for him to come in.

"Hey." He sounded half-asleep."Rob called looking for you. He said you left and he didn't see you anywhere uptown, was wondering if you had come over to my house and woken me up. I decided to come over here and see if you were here. Here you're."

He smiled impishly. I rolled my eyes."Yeah, here I'm. Sorry I didn't come over to get you. I was busy doing something else."

"I see. Falling off your board again? What happened?"

"Let's go up to my room, and I'll tell you then." I said, turning to go upstairs.

"Mom, in case you hadn't noticed, Adam's here. We're going upstairs."

"Alright." Mom said. She didn't really care, but I told her anyway. I turned to make sure he was following me, then skipped up the stairs to my room.

"So what happened?" He asked as he shut my door behind us. I sat in my computer chair.

"Well…"

"Nice hair, by the way."

"Oh, thanks." I said absentmindedly."So, anyway, I left Steve's and I went up to the canal and I was sitting there for a moment and…call me crazy, but I saw the dude that was chasing Rob and I last night on the other side of the canal. So I wasn't too worried, and I started to skate away, and I look back and he's staring at me. So I start to get a tiny bit freaked out and I take off and me, the dumb ass, I run into a golden retriever. My board landed in the bushes, and I ended up on the ground. That’s why I have the scratches on my arms. And the person whose dog it was, she didn't even ask if I was ok! She just took her dog and like, glared at me!"

I realized I had just said that in two breaths. Adam looked at me.

"Holy shit girl. Calm down. Take a breath. Now, start again. From the beginning…and do it slower. I can't understand you like that."

I glared at him and he shrugged. I took a deep breath."Okay. I woke up this morning. I went and got my hair dyed. Left Steve's and went up to the canal. With me?

"Yeah. I got that. Continue…"

"I get up there. I sit down on the bench. That guy…"

"What guy?"

"The one from last night. He was across the canal, sitting and reading a newspaper."

"You sure it was him?"

"Pretty sure. It looked like him."

Adam crinkled his eyebrows together."Right…and…"

"And so then, I went to skate down the path. I was paranoid, so I looked back, and the guy was staring right at me. While I was looking back, I saw that he got up so I took off and this lady's golden retriever ran in front of me. With me?"

"You're dumb." He said, finally."Why did you keep skating? What if you had landed in the water or something? Or even worse – if your board had!"

"Well I wasn't exactly planning on falling when I looked back." I said sullenly. He reached out and patted me on the head.

"I know. Hey, you wanna go over to Steve's now or chill here or what?"

"I don't care. I don't feel like leaving the house for a bit. My arms hurt."

"Poor baby."

"Yeah, have any weird dreams last night?"

"Nothing unusual. Why do you ask?"

"I don't remember what I dreamt, which is odd. I woke up shaking and sweating though."

Adam raised his eyebrows, grinning at me."Oh…well, you might not know, but I know what you were dreaming about…"

I punched him in the arm and he flinched."It was a bad dream. I wasn't…yeah…when I got up."

"Mmhmm." He said, nodding and smiling at me. I punched him again.

"So what did you dream about, oh clean one?"

"Nothing." He said, averting his eyes.

"Uh-huh." I said, settling down onto my bed for a long argument.

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