Great Girls(Victoria Pedretti)

C. 11🕰

After I finished my shift at the museum, I packed up my things and headed to the parking lot where Luci was waiting for me on her red metal bicycle that had a basket in it. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was making flower deliveries to the residents of Brown.

My heart sank in despair that she had stayed for an entire hour, waiting for me to get off of work.

"Did you sit here for an hour?" I inquired, strolling closer to her as she lifted one leg off of her bike and met me halfway. "Yes," she answered. I widened my eyes in shock and guilt. With my hands, I palmed my face and sighed.

I felt a soft touch against my inevitably clammy hands and the touch brought on a force that compelled me to bring my hands down to my sides. "Sallie, you've got to lighten up. Life's too short to be serious. I was only joking, I went to Al's around the corner, and I got a soft pretzel."

Al was the equivalent of Auntie's Anne back in the 2020s. It doesn't exist anymore hence why Al's has taken over and became a huge success.

She continued, "Besides, I'm a ball of energy, a jumping jelly bean. I cannot be contained nor can I stay in one place for a long period of time." I felt reassured and relieved by Luci's response. Her way of calming me down reminded me of the time my first year as Albie comforted me when I fell off my scooter. He kissed my boo-boo, as my nine-year-old self would say, and he told me, "Sallie, just take a deep breath. You're going to be fine."

"You know what, how about we go somewhere fun to let out any jitters that we've been holding in this week."

"Like right now?" I asked, slowly putting my hands down to the sides of my thighs while Luci pulled me in the direction of her bike.

"Yes, right now. If not now, then when?"

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"You didn't have to pay for my Coke. I could've paid for it myself," I tell Luci, who had finished her beverage with seven big gulps. I was astonished at the pace that she was going. At one point, I was afraid that she might choke.

"Sallie, it's no big deal. It's just pop," she replied in a flat tone as she held onto her glass bottle.

We were parked next to a small bridge and both of us were leaning on the arm of the bridge. It's funny, you'd think that the one place where fatalities occur, one wouldn't step anywhere near the edge of the structure. Yet, we were fearlessly kissing the exterior of the elevated platform with our bodies.

The sun hadn't set yet, and the wind wasn't too strong.

"Look, I appreciate you taking me here to see--" "Wait, finish your drink first," she requested.

Confused, I grimaced, but I didn't question her statement. I finished the last few droplets of my caffeinated drink that had no place in my mother's heart.

Luci stepped away from the arm and left me standing there, swallowing the brown liquid. As I perfected my bottle, I let out a loud burp and Luci snapped her head back. I froze and she did the same. While we stood on the dirt road in silence, with nothing but the streams of the water stirring up against each other.

"God, you're on a roll today!" she yelled, cackling as I gave her a small smile. "Yep, that's me. Just rolling on the river, no pun intended," I say, pointing the bottle in the direction of the Challey River.

Luci's eyes pop out as she puts her hand over her heart. "Oh, God! You know what, Sallie!" she yells, turning her back to me. "What, " I answer with a clueless smile, having no idea that Luci's next movement would make my mouth hang to the floor.

"Sometimes I just feel like..." Without completing her sentence, Luci turns around and runs up to the edge of the bridge where the road and smashes the bottle. I watched as glass shattered everywhere along the thoroughfare. 

"That," she pointed at the brown glass while admiring from where she was standing. 

There was no emotion on Luci's face and I was worried that I walked into the life of an apathetic sociopath until she glanced at me and laughed. 

There she goes again, exposing her gums and large central incisors that I was beginning to grow fond of. 

"You know what, sometimes, I feel the same way," I say, slamming the glass on the ground, startling both me and Luci. I was a hundred percent certain that the sound has scared me more because I had never smashed something before. I never realized how impactful breaking something would be. I could feel a whirl of endorphins spiraling out of control, flying in the air like a swarm of blackbirds on a dusky Halloween night.