Honey, this mirror isn’t big enough for the two of us
Zane had been debating with himself all afternoon, when he finally made up his mind and decided to invite Rome to hang out with his friends on Friday.
“Sure; Hunter is going out with his workmates, so I don’t want to spend the night by myself.” She smiled pleasantly.
“Who’s Hunter?” Zane asked out of curiosity. Did she live with her boyfriend?
“It’s kind of a long story… He’s my brother’s best friend. Sort of. Ex best friend, maybe.” Her brows contorted.
“I get it,” He smiled this time. “You slept with him and your brother doesn’t talk to him anymore.”
Rome began laughing hysterically. “No way! I’ve known him since I was born!” She composed. “He moved here from California eight years ago, and he’s the only person I knew on this side of the country, so I came to crash at his place for a while.”
“Why’s that?” Zane’s curiosity never ended. He had been asking questions about her all day long.
“I… ran away?” Rome smiled sheepishly.
“No shit!” He raised his eyebrows in bewilderment. “That’s huge, baby girl!”
“Baby girl! What the fuck is wrong with you?” She broke into a fit of giggles.
“Well, almost everything.”
Hunter wasn’t very fond of the party. “But you barely know the guy.”
“He is your friend’s cousin or something like that, isn’t he?” She countered once Hunter was sitting at the table to have dinner.
“He’s not my friend,” He corrected her the same way she had when they were talking about Tanner.
“I’m sorry, your boyfriend.” Rome teased and served him Diet Coke. “I’m seriously gonna start buying regular Coke, man. You can’t drink this shit!”
“I like it! Besides, it’s not like you do the grocery shopping, so shut up.”
Rome looked up from her plate and found him smiling. “You’re so weird.”
“You’re so annoying. If you don’t like Diet Coke, then drink water!”
“I don’t like water. I feel like drinking Orange Juice. I will buy some tomorrow,” She decided with a beaming smile.
“Right, because now you have a job and stuff… fuck off!” Hunter teased and sipped his glass. “Seriously, Rome, I don’t want you to go there by yourself.”
“I’m going with Zane. C’mon, daddy, let me go!” She pouted her lip teasingly and rolled her eyes at last. “C’mon, I was escaping my parents and now I have to escape you?”
“That would be good,” He teased again. “You’re just so short you need to be taken care of!”
“Jerk,” She smiled. “I’m going, so leave me alone.”
“Speaking about your parents… have you called them yet?”
Rome grimaced. “No… I’ve got like five thousand missed calls from my mom…”
“You should. I told them you were going to ring them back soon,”
“Well, that was none of your business.” She smirked sufficiently. Everything was about teasing.
“Seriously. Ring them.” He stated at last, leaving no place for more joking.
“I will.”
Someday.
***
Zane could feel the bubbles all over his body. They were colorful, bright lights in circles that exploded at the very touch. Rome was blowing the bubbles, and they were everywhere!
Archer’s house was full of people, some Zane didn’t even recognize. They had found the bubbles thingy in Archer’s little sister’s bedroom and now most of the guys were expectantly looking at the girls blowing the bubbles. It looked so endless.
“They keep fucking growing!” She gibbered, mostly because she wanted to finish speaking before the laughter took over her again. “Like those blind guys…!”
“Blinding lights!” Zane screamed correcting her at the top of his lungs, bursting into laughter a second later. The music was just so loud he couldn’t listen to anything else but his thoughts. He had already blocked the sounds coming from the speakers, because they made him want to smash his head against a wall. But now everything had gone deaf, and nobody was speaking anymore, but moving their lips at the unbearable beat of the inexistent music. Rome was just another shining light, surrounded by colorful bubbles and drowning on her own sounds.
It had been so long since she had felt that way. Rome had only tried pills once before, and they weren’t even close to this overwhelming feeling. She hadn’t expected to be in such a euphoric state. The beating was back again, and she just felt like spinning in circles with her arms extended, closing her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to deal with the bubbles anymore. And just when it seemed it was the end, the sound increased and her ears wished they never existed.
But Reagan helped her. The girl with the short black hair and light brown eyes was smacked, probably more than her, and still she found a way to comfort her. Reagan took Rome’s head between her hands and held her steadily, until the beat stopped shaking Rome’s world and she thought she was safe again.
“Moving always makes it better… or worse. Never let it take over you completely. I almost jumped from a moving car once,” Reagan confided in her as the music changed into some quiet mess and they giggled. But Rome couldn’t get a word of what she said. She couldn’t understand what the girl meant; she just wanted her to keep holding her head, because she knew it was going to fall out of place if she didn’t.
“Don’t . Let. Me. Go…” Rome half whispered, half yelled. But Reagan seemed to take it as a deep secret which she should be loyal to. She didn’t let her go. She tightened her grasp and looked into Rome’s eyes.
“Fly with it, don’t let it drag you down. Go with it… follow it…”
The girl was rambling, but Rome liked it. She liked words. She liked rambling… and moving to the sides, ever so slightly. Because the music told her so… she needed to move, even if it was almost unnoticeable.
“…else?” Was all she understood from a guy’s words, but she stood up anyway. Stood up from another world, because she had been on her feet for long now. Reagan let her go, although she had promised she wouldn’t, but Rome was in another pair of steady hands this time. And they smelled so good…
He wanted her to follow, and she wanted things to make sense.
So she followed.
“…job?” She heard him at last, but why was he asking about her job?
“I’m California,” Rome forgot the words that should be in the middle, and that was even funnier than the guy standing in front of her. “I am… Music Exchange Store?”
She laughed loudly again. Too loudly, maybe. The guy found it amusing, because his mirth echoed in her brain for a while until the music took over again. And although the bubbles were long gone, she was still blowing them.
“So…”
What was she doing with this guy? Where was Reagan? Why did he keep talking?! Didn’t he understand she would never understand what he was saying?
“…ay?”
“What?” Rome asked as she let her head crash onto the man’s chest. Why did it make so much sense for her not to understand her surroundings? “…Reagan. Where’s…?”
“…me now.” The man always spoke, but she never got more words than the last ones. “…like it. You’ll see.” He said with a devilish smile, and she just frowned.
Reagan had said to go with it. Go with the flow. Let it happen around you… and she gave up.
Just when she gave up it all became better. It never did make sense, but it didn’t matter anymore. Rome only opened her eyes again when she felt something against her lips. It was pushing to get in, but what was it? She would’ve let it in if she knew what it was… but she refused, again, and again, until something pressed her head from the back, and she didn’t want to go with the flow anymore, because her hair was falling from her head… but how? She was just kneeling, and the grasp tightened again.
Reagan was there. She hadn’t left. But it wasn’t her who was holding on to her. Reagan helped her… and she was on her feet, now watching some guy’s face. He looked angry, just not at her.
“She’s my girlfriend,” She heard Reagan speak. Why could she listen to what she said, but not what the rest did?
Rome’s thoughts were suddenly clouded when a pair of lips crushed against hers, and she couldn’t deal with the fire anymore. It was spreading down her body, and she longed to feel it.
Feel what?
Feel fucking what?
The man was out of sight, but as everything was every once in a while, she still wasn’t sure. Reagan was there, though, apologizing for something with a devilish smirk on her face. Her light brown eyes were so bloodshot and narrowed they were almost closed.
“What you say?” Rome finally used her voice, startling herself. Where were the bubbles?
“I’m sorry I kissed you. It didn’t really look like you were up for a blow job…”
“Blow job?” She interrupted Reagan. How would she do her a blow job if she had no-“But how would I…?” She couldn’t think things through, speaking her mind was all she could do.
“You really don’t see a shit, do you?” Zane’s voice spoke this time. It came from her back. “It’s okay now.”
“I can hear you again, I don’t just listen to the end, but the whole thing… I can hear it.” Rome slurred, and Reagan’s shrill laughter boomed in her ears as the fire that had built inside her before…
“Maybe I should just take her home,” He thought aloud, and Reagan smiled.
“Yeah, maybe you should.” She laughed again. But where were the bubbles?