I was sitting in the main living room, a steaming cup of tea set to the side and a book in my hand. After the stressful week of trying to get Lincoln to co-operate for this English project I felt I deserved to treat myself.
The background noise of the t.v soothed my mind as I flipped through the pages, reading every word carefully. I never failed to take forever while reading. I always made sure to reread the page in case I missed something. My attention to detail was a little obsessive, but that's who I am and will always be.
Setting my book in my lap, I took a sip of the tea. The smells of cinnamon and apples danced around my face, before I set the delicious drink down. Just as my hand struck the book, my phone began vibrating on the end table. I didn't bother checking the caller i.d as I couldn't be bothered.
"Hello?," I yawned and stretched out my arm.
"So you want to have a sleepover?," Lennie's voice was abrupt but I was used to her blunt questions.
"A sleepover? Wow what are we six?," I laugh through the receiver, sure that my voice sounded like a concoction of an old man and a witch.
"I think we're six at heart," Lennie laughed back, amused by my answer.
"Yeah sure," I wiped away the tears that had formed from laughing. "Parents are away this week so it'll just be us and Marie. But she leaves around six," I sighed and set my book onto the coffee table.
"Wonderful," Lennie shrilled, clearly pumped for this evening.
"What time were you thinking of coming over?," I grabbed my tea and walked through the french doors to the kitchen.
"Like maybe four-ish?," Lennie coughed, causing for her voice to be slightly muffled.
"Four-ish?," I repeated what I had believed I heard through the receiver.
"Yeah. That work for you?," I heard the noise of the several people and that's when it registered she was working.
"Shouldn't you get back to work?," I laughed setting my tea on the counter.
"Oh hardy har har," Lennie laughed dryly through the phone. "See you soon," the line went dead and I set my phone onto the counter beside my tea.
"Marie?," I called for the housemaid, who was more truly a mother to me than my own.
"What's wrong?," Marie rushed to the kitchen, her dark hair had being pulled back by a handkerchief.
"Nothing. I just was going to let you know Lennie's coming over," I laughed at the state of Marie, who seemed to have been dusting the entertainment room.
"Leanna. Okay," Marie huffed and took out a glass to pour herself a drink.
"I'm sorry if I frightened you," I leaned against the counter, the coolness of the marble numbing my arms.
"Oh no. I just thought something happened," Marie took a sip of her water. "Like your tea spilt or something like that," Marie waved her hand as if it didn't matter.
"God I'd be dead if I had spilt tea," I chuckled, but thought about how much crap I truly would have been in.
"Don't worry. I'm fantastic at removing stains," Marie laughed with me. "Having two kids does the trick," Marie planted a huge smile on her face, showing off her pearly, white teeth.
"How are they? School has been keeping me busy. I haven't had a chance to visit," I attempted to relax my body, which had tensed when I spoke the dreadful word, school.
"Maybelle and Tanner are great. Couldn't be better," Marie nodded but kept her eyes focused on one of the cabinets. "Miss their dad though. Maybelle is always writing to him," Marie wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye.
"He'll be back before you know it," I walked over and pulled Marie into a hug.
"Thank you sweetheart," Marie rubbed my back in return. "I best be getting back to work. Your parents don't pay me for having chats with you," Marie threw her hands up in the air and made her descent back to the entertainment room.
"They surely don't," I whispered under my breath before going to set up for Lennie's arrival.
"So what's new?," Lennie wiggled her eyebrows as we sat in my bed snacking on candies we had threw into bowls.
"What's new? Nothing's ever new," I laughed and took a handful of smarties.
"Come on? Any gossip? Boyfriends I don't know about?," Lennie snickered as she took a bite of her snicker bar. How ironic.
"Gossip? The most gossip either of us hear is from Gina and her friends," I took a sip of my milkshake that we had made earlier. "And boyfriends?," I whacked Lennie on the leg and she simply rolled over, laughing in hysteria.
"Whatever," Lennie rolled her eyes and got up from my bed. "I feel like we need to do something. We always suck at planning what to do at our sleepovers," Lennie began twisting at her curls.
"I heard someone was planning on having a party," I bobbed my head up and down to the beat of the music we had turned on earlier.
"A party? Whose?," Lennie immediately became intrigued.
"Gina, but it's not at her house. It's being held in the outskirts of town," I took another sip of my milkshake, finishing it off.
"Over the tracks?," Lennie tilted her head, still playing with her hair.
"Yep. Out in the bad end of town," I wiggled my eyebrows, thinking maybe that it might scare Lennie off from the idea of actually going to the party.
"A bush party. Oh we've so got to go," Lennie jumped up and down before she began raiding my closet.
"No. I was joking," I got up, setting my empty glass onto my dresser.
"Too late. We're going," Lennie spun around holding out two sparkly dresses she had bought last year. "And we're going in these," Lennie began to shake the horrid dresses back and forth, allowing for them to shimmer in light.
"No way," I shook my head in disbelief.
"Yes way," Lennie's mouth curved into a smirk before she began walking closer to me.
Somehow I had ended up in the middle of nowhere, with booming music, too sweaty teenagers and the smell of alcohol. The tight fitting dress Lennie had forced me into was far too cold for the weather, even though the snow hadn't even come yet.
I held a plastic, red cup in my hand pretending to occasionally sip it. Lennie had disappeared into the crowd of people and I was left standing by myself, hugging my arms to my hips in an attempt to stay warm. How Gina thought of having a bush party in the beginning of December was beyond me, but it was happening and there was no turning back.
"You know you're supposed to drink it," I heard an unfamiliar voice greet me, looking up I was met with his cocky grin.
"How do you know I'm not?," I immediately hammered back the contents of the plastic cup, which I regretted instantly.
"Didn't think you had it in you princess," Lincoln wiggled his eyebrows, his grin seeming to grow.
"What did you just call me?," I was taken aback, what in his right mind did he think it was okay to call me princess.
"Princess?," Lincoln drawled. "What's the matter don't like the nickname?," Lincoln gave me a sympathetic look, but it was apparent it was done in sarcasm.
"No not really," I huffed, already annoyed by the conversation.
"What happened to you by the way? Go through a car wash?," Lincoln eyed me up and down before nudging me.
"It's called style. Maybe you should get one," I felt my body beginning to vibrate with rage.
"Ouch. Wow look who has all the comebacks tonight," Lincoln snickered, but his was far more devious than Lennie's.
"Who invited you anyways?," I nudged him back, trying to force him to slowly back away.
"You see princess this is a bush party," Lincoln slung his arm around me."And at bush parties you don't need an invite. Especially when it's right behind your house," Lincoln squeezed my side before dropping his arm to its original place.
"Great," I grumbled, as I began to grate my teeth back and forth to stop myself from shouting in an outrage.
"Oh come on lighten up," Lincoln hiccuped, which gave me a thought as to why he was acting the way he was. Especially to me.
"How much have you had to drink?," I asked absentmindedly, focusing on a group of teenagers dancing. Who were in reality just "dry humping" one another.
"I don't know," Lincoln scratched his head before swigging back the rest of his drink. "Maybe like ten," Lincoln shrugged before throwing his cup into the ground.
"Ten?," I went wide eyed, looking at the scrawny boy before me.
"What? I hold my liquor well," Lincoln burped slightly, but thank the heavens nothing came up.
"Do you really?," I crossed my arms, now intrigued by our conversation.
"Yep," Lincoln bobbed his head up and down.
"So you'll remember this conversation," I began smirking.
"Course," Lincoln laughed. "I'd remember anything about you princess," Lincoln flashed me a smile before dragging me into the crowd of people to dance.
Somehow I had fallen asleep on my floor and Lennie had sprawled herself on the bed. Pushing myself up, I rubbed my shoulder. The sensation of my blood returning to my drained arm tingled.
"Lennie," My voice was nothing but a dull whisper, as if I had screamed my head off last night.
"Mmm?," Lennie's voice was barely audible.
"Len," I got up this time and began to shake her.
"Pheìmteim h̄̂ā mæ̀ nāthī!," Lennie's words were quick as she slapped my hand away. "Oh you're not my mom," Lennie laughed at me as she stretched out her arms.
"Oh so that's what you were shouting in Thai?," I giggled and joined her on the bed.
"It's a phrase I use on a regular basis," Lennie smirked. "Sleep is valuable and mom never seems to respect that," Lennie rubbed her eyes before slinging her arm around me. Just like Lincoln had done last night.
"So what happened to you?," I yawned as I looked at Lennie's hair, which seemed to be sticking in every direction.
"Don't really remember. Except that I came here when I got tired and crashed on your bed," Lennie patted down her hair, as she watched my eyes staring intently at it.
"You called me before you went to sleep," I laughed thinking about the actions that took place last night. "You were like. Shh have to go to sleep," I nudged Lennie and all she did was burst out laughing.
"Well at least I informed you," Lennie slapped her knees before getting up to rummage through her duffel bag. "Mind if I shower?," Lennie looked at me and I shook my head for her to go. "Also you need to either get out of that dress. Or put your boob back in it," Lennie squeaked before she closed the door to my bathroom behind her.
Quickly I got out of the wretched dress and threw on a pair of sweats and a loose fitting shirt. God had my boob being out all night? I hope not. Placing a hand over my heart, I said a little prayer in my head, even if it did nothing I felt reassured.
Listening to the beating of the water from the bathroom, I pulled out my laptop and set it on top of my knees. Opening it, I began responding to comments that people had let on my blog, I had never felt so happy. Even if I would never meet half of the people on my blog, I felt like I was as close as I was with them as I am Lennie.
At the sound of the water turning off, I closed my laptop and stuck it away before Lennie exited.
"Let's say we go for some Mcdonalds? I could use a Big Mac," Lennie rubbed her stomach as she twisted her towel to sit on the top of her head.
"You want to go out looking like that?," I smirked, pulling my knees to my chest.
"For your information I look fabulous," Lennie grabbed one of my pillows and whacked me with it.
"Oh sure," I rolled my eyes, sarcastically. "Hurry up and dry your hair then," I got up and put my own hair into a ponytail.
"Stop nagging," Lennie whacked me again, this time with her hand.
"I'm not nagging," I whacked her back, laughing.
"Sure you're not," Lennie began and just as she turned to close the bathroom door once more she shouted one last thing. "Mom!"
•••
I'm too excited about this book. If you can't tell from this lovely 'lil' gif.
Also let's be joyful for the fact that I am ridden of the godforsaken place that is high school! Hell's to the yes! Now that I am finished with that awful place, I have time to write to my hearts content.
Oh and a fun little side note I am working on another novel called, I Know Where The Summer Goes. Maybe some of you guys remember when I had posted up a few of the chapters, but then because I am just the worst. I took them down. Well good news it will be returning better than ever (It even has a plot this time)!
Questions: What do you think of Marie? What about Zelda and Lincoln's friendship (princess)?
Don't forget to vote and leave me a comment <3 (they just make my heart happy).
Check ya later,
Issie