1994 (TATE LANGDON FANFIC)

Three

My feet work faster than my head and like a clockwork robot, I move towards her. To once again stare open-mouthed at her face. 

She looks up at me inquisitively, batting away what might've been tears at the first scent of me. Then she holds up her cigarette lighter and rolls her eyes. 

"I burnt myself trying to light a cigarette," she says with a slight tone of humour in her voice. She raises her wounded hand to show me.

I sit myself down behind the table, next to her and out of immediate view from anyone. I enjoy how her ruffled dress is sprawled around her in such a clumsy way as she sits like a doll with her back to the table's seats.

"I can light it for you" I offer.

Jodie smiles through her painted eyes. She slides the lighter across the concrete so our hands remain untouched. Like magic, she reaches into one of the many folds of her creased dress and reaches for her cigarette box. I study the way her tongue balances on her bottom lip, while she makes her crucial decision of which cigarette in the box to light. 

To put it bluntly, the way her fingers trace the cigarette tips up and down is provocative and I'm tempted to ask her why she chose the cigarette that slides slyly between her fingers. Although I wouldn't dare to show my interest. 

"Will you light it?"

Her lips part slightly. 

"Yes, I will." 

My voice is calm and steady to my delight and without a moment's hesitation, I switch on her lighter. 

Have mercy on me, Jodie. Her rhythm as she slithers her upper body down like a snake to my outstretched and awaiting hand will play forever in my mind. It's not a figment of my imagination I swear but our eyes are fixated on each other and our minds listening to one another. A chain that must never be broken. 

I count the colours that pass through her eyes. 4 shades of Violet, green, blue and silver blend together and after what seemed like a minute inside a second she pulls away from me. Jodie breathes the cigarette smoke, in the same way, I'm inhaling her. With a rabid excitement. 

I go without a simple thank you which I don't particularly mind. Her enjoyment is more rewarding.

"What's your name? I was wondering" she asks the exact second the smoke is parting from her open mouth. 

"Tate Langdon. Yours?" 

I've thought about her answer many times. I've also seen it covered in blood.

"Jodie Conley," she replies as she invites me to shake her hand. I take it with a grin.

"What are you doing skipping lessons Jodie?" I  say it in a fake patronizing tone. 

"I've not missed a lot. Only a few lessons. But no one cares because it's Geography" she lets out with a sigh.

Innocently, she tilts her head to the side like she's about to ask a question.

"You can't talk anyway. Why aren't you in class, Tate?" she laughs.

"I'm not putting up with school bullshit anymore. It's so tiring." 

I peer over at her nodding head. 

"Do you agree?" I question. The more questions, the more I get to hear her speak is my theory. 

"Yes, of course! That's smart and my thoughts exactly. It seems that the only way to have a good high school experience is to be a cheerleader or dating a jock. My chances are already screwed so your right. Why should I have to put up with this charade any longer."

 She speaks like the feminist's Larry drools over on the Television. Wiseley and clearly. I couldn't put it any better myself. 

"Exactly! I've been fucked up since the second I left my mom. Then my dad left me with a cocksucker and now she's on to her 5th boyfriend. You can blame the person but when it comes down to it, it's because of the life you were given."

She looks back at me intrigued.

Did I just find out she's a die-hard for conversations like these. I'm sure of it. The way her lips purse together with a smirk is my green light. What I've been yearning for ever since her sudden arrival into my life. I wish Jodie knew that it's not a sin to smile though.

Then at once, she lights out her cigarette, so briskly that this time I don't get the chance to take in all its glory. The structure turns to ashes all in one breath.

"I guess we both grew up on the wrong side of the American dream," she says with finally no resistance between us.