Pretty & Perfect

Chapter Four

"Oh, no, no, no. Sorry, don't, no. Christa, Luke is fully dressed. He never came in the house. He just stood outside all night playing "In Your Eyes" on a boom box." She said to me quickly. I laughed and then checked the time and gasped as I realised how late I was.

"I have to go. If you find the book, bring it to Friday-night dinner, okay? Go back to your dirtiness." I ordered her before I hung up the phone. I grabbed my keys off the side table and ran out the door. As soon as I enter the common rom of our dorm, I froze. I saw Paris looking after some men who were leaving but my attention was on a large wooden structure which dominated the main room.

"Thanks a lot. I photographed it before you moved it, so if there's any damage, you'll be hearing from my lawyer." Paris called after the men who had apparently helped move the wooden thing. She turned to me and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi. Introduce me to your friend." I said as I mentioned to the wooden thing. Paris walked closer to the wooden thing.

"This is a Blou printing press, 18th century." She told me, as if that meant anything to me.

"And it's here because?" I asked her, getting irritated.

"It's Asher's. He left it to me. It's beautiful, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Think it goes great with the entire width of the room."

"I know it's a little cumbersome, but we don't have to leave it right here. We could move it about six inches in any direction."

"Paris, we can't just leave it here." I told her annoyed.

"I have nowhere else to put it."

"But –" I started to protest but Paris cut me off.

"You have to think of the benefits of having it here."

"Like?" I asked her. I was actually curious as to what she would suggest you do with this monstrosity.

"No one else will have one, which means it's unique, which makes us unique. Kids our age do crazy things to make themselves unique - piercings, blue hair, Kabbalah. It will be a great conversation piece. We'll be the talk of Branford."

"I believe we will." I muttered to myself as I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the doorframe.

"We can print our own newsletter, if you'd like."

""The Eccentric Gazette". I love it." I said dryly as I started moving towards the door. I decided to talk to Rory about this later since I was still late for class.

"It's from Asher. Just try it for a while. I promise if it gets in the way, we'll get rid of it." Paris pleaded with me and she looked so sad that I neared relented. I looked down at the ground and sure the strap of my book bag. I reached down and started to pull on it, trying to get it unstuck.

"Paris, it's on my book bag. I'm late for class, and you put a printing press on my book bag?" I asked her, raising my voice a little. When I was unable to get it unstuck, I unzipped it and removed my books. I sighed when I saw the textbook that I had been looking for.

"Well, sorry. It's from my dead boyfriend, okay? I apologize if my grief is inconveniencing you. Maybe I'll just put myself on an iceberg and float myself out to sea so that no one will have to deal with my suffering."

"Well, just get that thing off my bag before you go." I snapped at her as I left the room in a huff.

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Later that night I was sitting with Rory on the couch talking about her getting back with Dean and how he was coming over tonight and Paris was polishing her printing press. Earlier, I had complained to Rory about the damn wooden thing but she had talked me into letting her keep it for a while. She had reminded me that he used to belong to her dead boyfriend so I had begrudgingly let her keep it. For a while at least. There was a knock on the dorm door and Rory went to open it. I watched as Paris tried to reach a tall part of the print press and shook my head at her.