Three's not a crowd (on hold)

Chapter 2

Only in darkness can you see the stars. ~Martian Luther King. Jr.

There was still a week before school started. It was late Saturday morning about ten o'clock. Auntie made us a hair appointment for noon so I got myself out of bed and got ready.

I showered, dressed, and went down stairs for breakfast.

Shelly was out doing something for her restaurant. She had one built here and is getting everything set up and ready for opening night. which was the Friday the same week school started.

Pax was downstairs still in her pajamas watching YouTube on her phone.

"Pax, why aren't you ready?" I asked, slightly irritated. "We've got our hair appointment today."

"Ah shit! That's today?" She asked, jumping up.

"Yeah, genius! In two hours!" I smacked her on the back of the head.

"Stop hitting me!" She smacked me back. "God, you're so abusive." She sat back down and continued on with her phone.

"Go get ready!" I yelled, exasperated.

"Right!" She jumped back up and ran to her room.

"Did you have anything to eat!?" I asked, yelling from the kitchen.

"No!" She yelled back, probably from her bedroom.

"I'm making cereal!" I screamed and got back a yelled, "Ok!"

I grabbed two bowls, grabbed LuckyCharms and FruitLoops, grabbed the milk, then started pouring it all in. Once I finished I stuck a spoon in each bowl and grabbed my LuckyCharms before sitting on the bar stools.

Pax came in a couple minutes later, dressed and ready to go. She wore high waisted blue jean shorts and a white long sleeved crop top with a pair of white converse and her ugly aqua green hair was pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head.

I slid her bowl of cereal towards her and she dug in.

"What color do you want to dye your hair?" I asked through a mouthful of LuckyCharms.

"I was thinking maybe rose-gold?" She questioned. "I wanted a lighter hair color, you know? Something that wasn't so dark."

"Yeah I get it. The first time I dyed my hair it was dark dark purple. I wanted a dark color to reflect on how I feel inside," I nodded. "And know that I don't feel so dark I want a lighter color too."

"Which color?" She asked.

"I was thinking maybe silver," I said.

"OMG, Yes!" She squealed. "That will look so amazing! And we'd look so good together!"

"Calm your tits, honey," I told her. "No need to go all fangirl on my hair. It's just hair."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Come on its eleven." Pax grabbed her now empty bowl and put it in the sink. "Auntie won't be back till later so we need to stop by the restaurant for dinner."

I nodded and put my bowl in the sink following Pax to the garage. She got into the drivers side and I into the passenger, then started our way into town.

I leaned my head against the window, watching the scenery go by, the radio was on low with Pax humming along. We sat in comfortable silence. Sometime we needed this. Silence. Just us together, not talking, but knowing the other person was there for us.

"How you holding up, babe?" Pax asked softly. Sometimes she needed to be the one who talked first.

"I don't know," I answered honestly with a sigh. "It's all so familiar and all the same but so different. It feels good to be back but there's this underlying pain."