Picturesque

Chapter 10: Holly

Holly was a shy girl at first, but as soon as she led me into her room, she became just as talkative as Marty. I walked into the room and felt a sort of punch in my gut. It was so different than the tiny, simple room I had as a kid. It was even bigger than the guest room I was staying in. She had a bed with white and pink floral sheets and a white headboard. The walls were painted ballerina pink, and the large windows were curtained with pink lace. The floor was white carpet, and it was littered with toys. There was a whole bin full of toys and a large dollhouse. Books and papers sat scattered across a white, kid-sized desk, crayons littering the top with some having fallen off onto the floor.

"These are my dolls!" Holly exclaimed, letting go of my hand to jump over to a large dollhouse where some dolls were laying discarded. She picked a blonde one up and turned to me, holding it out to me. "Do you wanna play dolls with me?"

Hesitantly, I reached out and took the blonde doll that was wearing a business suit. "Sure, I'd love to." I was never the kind of little girl that played with dolls, but Holly nearly squealed with excitement as she grabbed my hand again and yanked me down to the floor.

"This is Rosie," she said as she kneeled down beside me and picked up another doll. "She's a doctor, did you know that?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she asked me if I already knew her doll was a doctor. "No, I didn't know that."

"Oh! We should have a tea party!" Holly suddenly jumped up again and grabbed me, pulling me to my feet and yanking me over to a little table that was only as high as my shins. "Sit down." She said in a polite voice, and I saw that the five chairs sitting around the white table were just as tiny. I looked back at Holly, who was staring at me and waiting for me to sit.

"Alright," I chuckled, still holding the doll. Carefully, I squeezed down into the little chair, hearing the plastic squeak under my weight which it was not meant to hold.

"We needs guests!" Holly exclaimed before clumsily jogging over to a wicker basket that was filled with stuffed animals. Her long white hair was already starting to come undone from the pink bow in it as she started pulling stuffed animals out of the bin and tossing them all over the room. A teddy bear nearly smacked me in the face before I caught it and set it down gently. Finally, she had three large toys in her little arms, and she sprinted back to the tea table, nearly dropping them.

"This is Mr. Cat," she said, setting down a stuffed orange cat in a chair. She immediately started putting the next one in the other chair as Mr. Cat started falling over, but I quickly caught it and set him back in the chair. "And this is Matthew," she listed the dark green dinosaur whose mouth was open, showing fabric teeth and a pink tongue. "And this is my favorite. His name is Bunny Boob." She set a soft white bunny down on the last chair, and I had to hold back my giggle at all of their odd names.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cat, Matthew, and Bunny Boob," I politely said to the inanimate stuffed animals, feeling my cheeks burn a little at how stupid I sounded. Holly found it hilariously funny, letting out a screechy unrhythmic giggle as she started to sit down in her chair. Suddenly, she stopped.

"Wait! You need to-to dress up." She carefully clambered back out of her seat and ran to another area of her room where another bin was. "You need..." She hummed and tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully. "A necklace!" She pulled out a long string of fake pearls and ran over to me. When she got close, she suddenly got shy again. She was about to put the necklace on me until she remembered her shyness, choosing instead to hold them out to me.

"Oh, why thank you," I said as I took the fake pearls and put them over my head. I looked back at Holly who was smiling brightly at me, but then she had another idea.