Perfect

Perfect: Chapter 2

The smell of peppermint gum and laundry detergent filled the air around Tarina. She closed her eyes, smiling, and breathed it in. She was in Woodbury. But how? She didn't care- she was actually THERE.

A fragile hand tapped her shoulder- it was Audrey. "Hey, Tari, look at this one I just got of Lilly! It's gorgeous!" she giggled, waving a Polaroid in front of Tarina's face. Slowly, she grabbed it, feeling unreal. She was back in her favorite place.

Tarina grabbed the Polaroid and studied it, admiring Lilly's beauty. "Yeah," she whispered. "It's really pretty."

Audrey turned her head to the side, confused, and stared at Tarina. "Why are you whispering?"

"Oh, was I whispering? Um, sorry. Didn't realize." Tarina said loudly in realization. Suddenly someone from behind her reached for her hand. She jumped, whipping her head around, sighing with relief and happiness when it was only Wesley.

Audrey laughed. "Why so jumpy today?" she asked, skipping over to the sink and washing her hands. Tarina stood up straighter, suddenly realizing that she was in her old house. The TV, which had been blaring in the background, shut off abruptly. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Nathan and Lilly get up from the couch and walk her way.

"Where's Isabel?" Tarina questioned, twirling a long strand of golden-brown hair around her pointer finger.

Wesley shrugged. "I think I heard her say something about going to her grandmother's house."

Lilly piped up from the living room. "Yeah, I heard that too," she said, making her way into the kitchen with the rest of them. She stopped and looked back at Nathan. He had turned the TV back on and had his eyes glued to the screen.

"You coming?" Lilly asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure, just one more play..." Nathan murmured.

Tarina craned her neck to see Lilly switch off the TV for the second time.

"LILLYYYYY!" Nathan wailed.

Lilly laughed. "Don't be so immature, Nate."

Nathan frowned. "But the Cowboys were about to score on the Patriots!"

"Congratulations," Lilly said, raising an eyebrow.

Audrey shifted her weight to her left foot. "Can we go outside?" she whined, obviously bored. "I need to take some candid shots for my scrapbook."

Wesley burst out into laughter as he took Tarina's hand and led her to the door. Everyone followed. "Scrapbook?" he asked, grinning.

"MEMORY BOOK!" Audrey screamed. Tarina smirked; Audrey had always hated people making fun of her scrapbooking obsession.

Audrey sighed in defeat. "Whatever. Let's just go outside."

Wait. Tarina's thoughts stopped. All of this was familiar. De ja vu? No, it was stronger than that. It felt so REAL! But she was sure the past 5 minutes or so had happened before.

They walked outside, Audrey skipping, Lilly cartwheeling, Nathan looking angry, and Wesley twirling Tarina around as if they were dancing. Tarina laughed as Wesley picked her up and spun her around.

CLICK!

Audrey's Polaroid camera had just taken a picture. But everything went black. Suddenly, she heard bad 70's music playing faintly. A toddler was whining. These obnoxious sounds got louder, and louder...

Suddenly, Tarina woke up with a jolt. It had all been a dream.

ALL OF IT.

But it hadn't just been a dream. It had been a memory.  A rerun of one of her favorite days. Where everything had seemed to be perfect. But here she was, back in reality. The rain was pounding on the roof of the Porter's Toyota Camry. Her sister Rileigh pleaded and begged for a potty break.

"Where are we supposed to stop, Rileigh? Do YOU see any gas stations?" Tarina's dad said angrily.

"George, calm down. Ri, we'll find something. Look George, isn't that a McDonald's off that exit?" her mom's gentle voice said.

Her dad mumbled. "What do you know." He jerked the car into the far right lane and pulled off the exit.

Her mom shifted in her seat and turned her head slightly. "Nice of you to join us, Tarina. You missed 4 hours of driving. Did you have a nice nap?"

4 hours?? It had felt like 5 minutes!!! "Yes ma'am," she replied, surprised at how tired her voice sounded.

The car came to a halt at the gas station. The whole family piled out and she heard the familiar 'click' of the car keys locking the car doors. Funny, it almost sounded like Audrey's Polaroid...

Tarina walked inside, holding the door open for the rest of her family. Her dad handed her a 5 dollar bill. "I'm going to the bathroom. Can you get me a pack of gum?"

"Sure," Tarina said. "What kind?"

"Um, Orbit peppermint or something."

Tarina's jaw dropped in awe.

ORBIT. PEPPERMINT. GUM. That was EXACTLY what Wesley chewed!

She staggered over to the gum rack, grabbing the peppermint gum her dad had requested, still shocked at all the de ja vu.

Tarina made her way to the register, slid the pack of gum and the 5 dollar bill to the cashier, and waited. A long, tan arm extended towards her. She looked up and gasped.

WESLEY.

It couldn't have been.. could it? It WASN'T... WAS IT? Her vision went blurry until she forced herself to focus on the nametag.

Peter Gregory.

"Is everything ok?" Peter asked. "I just wanted to give you your change.."

"Keep it," Tarina whispered, grabbing the gum and sprinting out of the gas station as fast as she could.