The Cycle

Talk of Shame

June 22nd, 2013

 "What did you mean 'something like that'?!" Reese asked, bursting into my room.

 I reached to grab my headphones and tune him out but he was on me in a flash. He tackled me, knocking me onto my bed and wrenching the headphones from my hands. He dangled them in the air tauntingly with a smile on his face.

  "Come on. Spit it out, Chrysanthemum."

 "Fine then, Maurice!" I stressed out his full name for effect. "I just met this guy, I gave him my number, and said I'd go out with him sometime. Stop being such a control freak." I snatched my headphones back.

 "There's a difference between being a control freak and trying to control the freaks that wanna get in your pants. I'm just fulfilling my duties as your big brother. They include, but aren't limited to, annoying you, eating your food, beating you up, making sure to tell you those pants make you look fat, and last but not least, protecting your innocence. Speaking of protecting innocence, this guy you met, is he bigger than me?"

 "Did you say these pants--"

"Yup, they do. I thought you were Gabourey Sidibe for a minute." He smirked. "But come on Precious, back to the guy, bigger than me or smaller than me?"

I actually looked at Reese for the first time in a while.  Standing there, in the middle of my room, fresh from his morning 'ritual', his eyes were half-open, and he had a dumb smile on his face. His long dirty blond hair hung randomly around his face, some of it sticking to his shaggy beard. He was tall, 6 foot 2 last time I asked him, but he seemed to have grown taller, which served to make him seem even more lanky. It was almost comical, him standing there hoping to intimidate any  potential boy interest of mine while looking like a complete hippie.

Then I pictured Carter, in front of me by the pool last night. I remembered that I had only came up to his neck, which is where the aroma of the heavenly cologne came from. He was slim,but not in the lanky almost-awkward semblance of Reese. His was more in the classic slightly toned sense, akin to the body of a runner. His choice of attire seemed to compliment his appearance even more; he had somehow managed to look intelligent and fashionable in a cardigan. I wonder if he where's glasses?

 "Why are you looking like that? He can't be that big."

 I had forgotten Reese was even in the room, not to mention talking to me. "He's definitely shorter than you." I rattled off quickly, hoping he couldn't read my thoughts.

"And he's not Asian right?"

"I'm sorry," I snapped at him. "Since when did you become such a racist?"

His eyebrows lurched with surprise. "Racist? I don't mind you dating an asian. I'm just saying if he is that changes my whole approach completely."

Still not satisfied with this explanation, I motioned for him to continue. "And how does that not make you racist?"

He slapped his forehead in exasperation. "No, I mean, I won't be able to intimidate him if he's Asian because he probably know some secret form of ancient martial arts and can whoop my ass! See! There's nothing racist about that."

"You're an idiot. And that's at least semi-racist. But, no, he's not. He's black."

He opened his mouth in shock. "Oh but I'm the racist! You know the term is African-American."

I was about to sit down and have a serious talk about Reese regarding cultural diversity and stereotypes when his face spread into a large smile. "I'm just kidding sis, you know I'm down with the briz-zown."