Benches

Chapter 2 - Snakes and Making Out

"Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court?"   

~Duke Senior, As You Like It. Scene 2, Act 1.

        "That's not an acceptable answer," Liz frowned, drawing her eyebrows together disapprovingly.

      "Of course it is," Leo said, affronted. "Black is by far my favorite color. All others pale in comparison. Literally. Get it?"

        It was a good thing her dad made the same bad jokes, or Liz might have made the mistake of politely laughing, thus encouraging horrible puns.         

      "Still, black can't be your favorite color. Black is for bats, goths, and legit vampires. It also happens to be the color of my soul. How could you like that better than anything else on the rainbow?"

       Smiling to himself, Leo didn't answer, just looked at his shoes. Taking the hint, Liz to looked down, just in time to keep herself form tripping over a discarded soda bottle. They were almost back to the bench where they had sat a week ago.

        "Alright, I can play along. Let's change the subject. Most bad-ass prank you've ever pulled?" she questioned, running a hand through her hair. She had unfortunately forgotten to brush it after getting home from school, and was suffering the results as her finger snagged on a knot.

        "Wow, that's a hard one. Let's see . . . I've done all the standards, like warm water on the hand, watermelon seeds out of the bellybutton, and making vomit out of oatmeal. But the best was definitely last year, when my best friend asked her girlfriend, Annie, to junior prom."

        At Liz's intrigued expression, he continued. "So my buddy's dad is a cop, right? Well, when Annie was coming home from work one day, she gets pulled over for speeding, even though she was going like 5 under the limit.

        "So my friend's dad gets her out of her car and walks her over to his cruiser, pretending she was being arrested. I should probably mention that she was hysterically crying. I don't think she's ever been in trouble a day in her life."

        Liz gaped. "That's positively awful!" 

        "I know, I tried to tell her. Anyways, the door opens, and she gets pushed into the back, behind the bullet-proof glass. And waiting inside is my best friend, Cecilia. She's grinning and holding flowers and's all like, "SURPRISE! PROM?"

        "What the hell? Who does that?" Liz demanded, feeling awful for Annie.

        "I told Lia at least 50 times it was a truly terrible idea, and Annie wouldn't think it was clever, or funny at all. What happened next was expected: Annie flipped, refused prom, and didn't speak to Cecilia for two weeks."

        "I would've just broken up with her completely," Liz snorted.

      "God I miss them," Leo said, eyes facing forward. He was somewhere else, drowning in nostalgia. Liz decided to dive in and save him.

        "Well I'm not to great with pranks. I either go way to hard or way to soft. Once I sprayed sunscreen into my cousin Jeff's lemonade, and sent him to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. My aunt still hasn't forgiven me, even though it was his sister Jess's idea."

        Leo smirked and let out a grunt of laughter. "Did he get back at you?" 

        "Did he? Of course. He and my brother, Kade, took me and Jess out on a canoe ride. It was a very nice offer, before they tipped our vessel, climbed back in, and left us stranded in the middle of a lake for a few hours before we finally reached shore."