How To Save A Life | bryson tiller.

nine

Trav

We sat at the back of the theatre with the best view. The  advertisements were on which always took forever to end .

"Can I have your popcorn? I don't like the taste of mine." Blue asked.

"We have the same flavour though." I didn't know if she was being serious or not.

"Listen I'm the disabled one here. You're supposed to pity me ."

I chuckled and surrendered, swapping our popcorn around. Her blank face was replaced with a smile as she had won .

"Are you scared of thrillers?"

I shake my head.

"I find them funny." she grinned.

We were watching The Purge: Election which I found creepy .. not funny. But Blue was weird anyway and it would take me some time to get used to her ways.

"How comes you didn't get me a drink?" she asked, looking at my cup drink.

I breathed heavily not even bothering to remind her that she specifically said 'I don't want a drink' earlier on.

"We can share  mine." I put mine in between both of us.

"What if I don't want to share your saliva?"

"Well you enjoyed sharing it at the pool party." I smirked.

She shut up immediately and sipped from the drink. I wanted to laugh at her reaction but the movie was finally starting and the theatre was quietening down.

•••

Blue

"That was okay but the second one was better." Trav says as we were making our way back to my house.

"I haven't watched any."

"I guess you don't get out of your house much do you?" he rubbed his chin slowly, looking over at me.

"Nope. Unless I'm going to Pink Diamonds ."

"When was the last time you ever went to a theatre, excluding today?" he asks.

"When I was 14." I look out of the window, realising I was talking about my past. A topic that I'd rather keep buried.

"How old are you?"

"10." I reply.

He laughs. "Nah, how old are you ?"

"23. And you?" I ask.

"25." He winks at me .

"Don't wink at me before I tell Mariah." I joke.

He smacks his lips. "Ain't in the slightest worried about her. She's stressing my life out. "

The rest of the car ride was silent until we finally arrived to my house. I went to my room where my phone was charging.

I had two missed calls from Charm. I called her back.

"Where have you been?" she yells.

"I was at the theatre." I reply. I took of my sweater and shoes.

"Theatre? Since when does Blue go to the theatre?!"

I chuckled. "Since Trav decided to take over my life and look after me. "

"Oh yes! I heard about what happened to your foot, Queen told me. That's so kind of him to look after you."

I groaned.

"Lighten up Blue! Be nice to Trav. He isn't obligated to be there for you, so atleast be grateful he is . Okay I have to go Mario is calling me . Bye, I love you." she hung up abruptly.

I dropped my phone onto my bed and thought about what she said. I had to admit Trav was being generous by leaving his perfect live to deal with my uninteresting one.

I walked into the living area and saw him watching Love & Hip Hop.

"You like it?" I asked.

"I don't know man but seeing you watch it all the time has made me interested. "

He faced me and his eyes looked straight to my chest.

"You're in a bra if you didn't realise?" he coughs.

"Yes, I'm in my bra but this is my house and you chose to be here so get used to it. Plus everyone's seen me in a bra at the strip club." I walked over to the kitchen and took out a root beer.

His eyes left my body and went straight back to the television. I sat beside him and watched  Moneice laughing at Brandi .

All I really cared about was Jessica Dime and Joseline. They had both left stripping and were doing big things. They had come up of men but my goal was to come up by myself .

The show went onto the commercials .

"So, what's your explanation for why you barely go out anymore?"

"I don't have the time. "

"But you had time today." he stated. "If I wasn't here , would you have gone to the theatre today?"

I thought about it before shaking my head.

"Why not?"

"I just don't like leaving my house. Socialising isn't my thing unless I'm at work. I just feel like when I'm outside everyone looks at me weird, like they recognise Blue from the strip club, not Renee." I blurt out.

He smiles. "Your name is Renee?"

I close my eyes annoyed, realising I had told him my name. "Yeah."

"It's nice. Can I call you by your real name?"

"No one calls me by my real name . No one knows my real name. Not even Charm."

"What's so bad about it?" he questions.

I sigh. "It has a lot of history and I don't like anyone using it. "

The room was in an eerie silence except from the small sound of rain outside. I wanted to take my anti-depressants but Trav would only go and prevent it.

"Care to go into detail?" he offers.

"No thank you."

He sighs and gives up as the show comes on again. For the next hour or so we sat in silence watching episode after episode of Love & Hip Hop until we both became sick of it.

"I'm going to sleep. Thanks for taking me out today. It was a nice break from this house. You can sleep on the couch , I'm not mean enough to make you sleep on the floor. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. "

I went to my room and took out my pills from the pocket of my
sweater. I took one with a sip of my root beer then take out my photo album from underneath the bed.

I close the door and sit on my bed . I opened the album and prepared myself for my usual routine of tears .