Anna lived with Bucky and his parents for a few weeks, but then everything suddenly took off, and a Saturday afternoon she was laying on the floor of her new apartment, painting the panels. Or, it was much rather a rented room, but there was a small kitchen and a balcony.
If it was up to Diane, she would've lived with them for years to come, but Anna wanted to live for herself. She had decided that she didn't want to return back home, as long as her idiot father tyrannized everything. She had told her mother that, her mother had started crying and said it was best if she moved out, then.
But in their little part of town, cheap rooms weren't exactly hanging on the trees, and Anna was preparing herself to just put up a tent on a field, when she saw the small ad in the morning paper. Room with balcony, small kitchen and access to bath for rent for nice young girl. Rent; house and garden keeping. Anna was overjoyed the moment she'd read it, and immediately wrote a letter in her prettiest handwriting. She wrote loads about how she was calm and loved cleaning, and made sure to use the word 'calm' a lot of times.
The following day, she visited Mary, who didn't look like what she had imagined at all for a landlord. She had some idea that it would be a total snob with curlers in their hair who looked through your drawers and visited at night to see if you had manly visitors. Mary was a lovely older lady, who had made coffee and offered a piece of home baked cake. She asked if Anna had a boyfriend, because the two of them were more than welcome to come down and watch television, when they wanted to. And they were of course allowed to paint the room, and she could just move in when she wanted to. The cleaning part Anna had to administer herself, so it fit her schedule and school.
Nat was green with envy when Anna called and told her the big news. But both Nat and Bucky were kind enough, as usual, and since Saturday morning, they had helped Anna paint the floral wallpaper and the boards white. They worked quick and effectively, and as afternoon arrived, Nat was on a ladder, painting one last coat of paint on the boards, while Bucky was seated in the window, painting the panels. He had a cap pulled down around his ears, the paint-splattered pants he was wearing were ripped in the back, the temptation of tickling the back of his thigh increasing every time he would move.
"You two are a sight for sore eyes." Anna giggled as she plopped down on an old stool.
"You too." Bucky whistled sarcastically and looked her up and down. She was swimming in James Sr.'s old pajama pants Bucky had brought for her. Anna laughed and flicked her paint brush at him, hitting his shirt. Bucky jumped from the window and charged at her with a laugh, smearing the contents his own paint brush on her cheek.
"Way to go Bucky! That's what she deserves!" Nat laughed and clapped. "If you aren't careful, she'll rule your mind. When are we drinking coffee and eating cake?"
"Now. If you're willing to go to the bakery, we'll make coffee." Anna said and kissed Bucky.
"Stop kissing! You'll get herpes, I've told you that a million times!" She covered her eyes as she descended the ladder.
"Mhhmmmm." Anna mumbled as she and Bucky's kiss intensified, just to annoy Nat.
"Okay, that's definitely too much! I don't want to be third-wheeling, so grow some social abilities or I'm out of here!"
"Aw, you're just jealous." Anna giggled, but realized soon after she'd hit a weak spot.
"And so what? Is it alright if I buy the grossest most nauseating cake they have?" Nat said as she pulled Bucky's sweater over her head.
Nat left for the bakery, and Anna strode into the small kitchen and found the small kettle, she had been gifted by Mary when she said yes to the room. While she waited for the water to boil, she walked over to the small window in the gable, tilting her head. She admired the well-kept gardens and even spotted the corner of her mother's backyard. In one of the gardens, a man was burning off weeds, and somewhere in the distance, the noise of kids playing football resonated.
Even though she was happy about moving out, she found it strange that she now lived for herself. Now she had to be all adult and stuff, and decide when, where and what.. She could eat cereal for breakfast and play rock music at 5 am, if she wanted to.
"What are you thinking about?" Bucky asked and approached her.
"That it's cool that I've moved out. And a little weird."
"Do you regret it?"
"No, I can practically wave home from here" Anna said with a smile and pointed to her mother's garden. The water was boiling, and Anna made three cups of coffee just as Nat's loud footsteps echoed you the stairwell. She threw the bag from the bakery on the kitchen table.
"Nauseating-cake-express!" she said and threw her arms out, like she was about to preform a great circus number. "And now how about throwing me some cash?"
"But I don't have any." Anna sighed and cut the cake.
"Then you better earn some, you spoiled brat. Do as Sam, get a job. By the way, BS is hiring."
"Oh really? You really want me to make a fool out of myself at the BurgerShack while being harassed by Tony?" Anna huffed and carried two of the cups into her bedroom. Bucky grabbed the last one, and Nat brought the cake in.
"Why not? You need to earn some money, or do you wanna live off your fathers' capitalist fund? Or of your mothers' housekeeping savings? That's just childish."
"What do you mean Bucky?" Anna asked, when they had settled on the floor with their cups and the cake in between them. Bucky shrugged and sipped his coffee.
"Well I can't take care of you yet" He said, "and you keep insisting that you don't want anything to do with him."
"Yeah but the BS!" Anna squirmed at the fact that they were absolutely right. Money was the problem. Even though she didn't have to pay to live with Mary, she needed money to live for. And when she had spent the rest of the money she had saved up, she didn't have a penny.
"The BS isn't worse than much else! Would you rather clean? Or be at the bakers' at 6 am? You know, Annie, sometimes you're really demanding!"
Bucky kept his mouth shut, but Anna could feel him agreeing with Nat. They sat there, smart as hell, apparently. Just because Nat worked a few shifts down at the diner and Bucky cleaned by those goddamn cows, they weren't exactly heroes. And flipping burgers wasn't exactly what she had imagined herself doing with her newfound freedom. Not the slightest. But after they had finished their coffee, she still agreed to go down there and ask.
"You can't be sure you even get the job." Nat said, teasingly.
"Of course I will." Anna said, and hoped to god they already had hired someone else. For the rest of the afternoon they worked intensely on finishing up in Anna's new room, getting high from the chemical fumes seeping from the paint buckets. When night fell, Anna's room was white as paper. The sunset painted the walls a beautiful shade of yellow, orange and purple.
"And now I think the young lovers should take a walk in the neighborhood," Nat said, when they agreed to stop for the day. Anna was skeptical, but agreed, realizing she needed some fresh air, and being with Bucky without feeling like she let Nat down. Once, at a sentimental moment at three in the morning, with a few bottles of empty wine bottles scattered around them, they had sworn an oath to each other, that they would never be unfaithful to each other. Even if they met a guy who was the eight wonder of the world, they would stick together no matter what.
When they returned from the walk in the neighborhood, Nat had painted a rainbow on the ceiling. She had brought small cans of red, yellow, green and blue paint in a plastic bag, which she had hidden under her jacket, so Anna wouldn't notice.
"Isn't it pretty?!" Nat said proudly and watched Anna intensely.
"Well..." Anna trailed off. It was pretty. Really pretty. But now she had just... loved the white. "You couldn't have asked first?"
"You would have said no! You're so boring, why are you always so scared of having fun? Just wait until you lay there alone, being all sad. Then, when you're staring into the ceiling, you'll be really happy that you have something to stare at!"
"I think having a rainbow on the ceiling is terrific!" Bucky chimed in. "It's something new!"
"It's just a gift from me to you, alright? I can paint it over again, if you don't like it." Nat offered, and dipped the paint brush into the white paint.
"Of course you're not painting over you bitch! I love it!" Anna threw her arms around Nat. It wasn't even intentional, hurting Nat like that. Shortly after, a soft know sounded at the door. Anna expected to see Mary's soft features, as she'd said she would bring up a tray of cookies, but it was Anna's mother who stepped into her room with an apologetic smile.
"Hey mom!" Anna yelped, surprised.
"Sorry about me just barging in. But I thought you might've needed a little something for good spirit!" She said and handed Anna a plastic bag. Inside were two bottles of red wine and a bag of licorice. Red Vines, Anna's favorite.
"Wow! I'm so glad to see you! But how did you get away from home at this time on a Saturday?" Anna asked, and her mind quickly filled with pictures of lamb chops, chicken and beef. Suddenly, hunger washed over her. Saturday evenings were always special, they would drink red wine and light candles around the house. Her father used to say that they once a week should feel like they were a normal family, since he was away days at a time.
"I'm home alone. Liz is at a party and your father is in Maine doing business. I have the house all to myself. This place is very lovely!" She said as she walked over to the window, opening it slightly, poking her head out.
"He's away on business on a Saturday? Damn, these architects are busy as hell these days! Have you seen my rainbow?" Nat tugged on her mother's sleeve like an impatient child.
Anna felt worried for her mother, while she walked downstairs to borrow a bottle opener from Mary. Maybe it was because she had been away from home for a while she noticed how her mother's appearance had changed. Her eyes looked tired, her skin was dull and she didn't look happy. She had lost weight as well. Maybe she was sick? But the other nurses at the hospital would have noticed that. And wouldn't the doctors had noticed if something was wrong? Maybe her mother just had to get used to the fact that both her children had soon left the nest. She felt sorry that her mother had to live with that idiot. Anna made a mental note to visit her mother when her father wasn't home.
They convinced Anna's mother to stay and drink a glass of wine with them. After a few glasses she relaxed and Anna relaxed when the strained smile disappeared from her mothers face. Bucky charmed her mother like a true Casanova, he made her blush and giggle like a schoolgirl. For a few moments she looked young again, and Anna wanted to protect her from all the evil in the world, even though that had always been what her mother wanted to do for her.It was their mother who had fixed their scraped knees, reminded them to orient when crossing the street and dressing them in warm clothes during winter.
Nat did a one-woman-show about the time she took a trip to Las Vegas alone, where she was hunted around the city by sinister men, she had to hide out in hotel lobbies and sought refuge with a few drag queens behind a bar.
"I'm telling you! It was the mafia or some sex trafficking organization! They hunted me for three days, day and night and they finally annoyed me so much I went home."
"Nat! How could you go to a place like that!? You were barely 15!" Annas mother gasped.
"It was because I'd met this guy, Quentin, at a bar in Los Angeles. He bought me a beer and we had the best time, and when he asked if I wanted to come visit him in Las Vegas I just thought it was awesome. I just had to travel there during summer break, and I could live at his place. I could sleep in his sister's room, of course, because he certainly wasn't up to anything. Well, I left two weeks later, and I boarded the wrong train so I ended up in Phoenix instead. Well, I spent a few days just walking around and when I finally got to Las Vegas, he wasn't home. I'm not actually sure he ever was home. The old lady that opened the door at the address he had given me wasn't exactly excited to see me. She threw a fit when I asked about him and I fell back onto the pavement because I got so scared" She laughed.
"Nat." Anna's mother sighed, "I would never sleep if I had a daughter like you!"
"My own mom was way worse! Do you know where she met my father? At a bar in Sacramento at 5 am! Do you know how she was? 17! And do you know when she got me? Nine months later!" Nat said triumphantly, while the others laughed.
When Annas mother had left, the three of them threw their collected fortune in the middle of them, doing a round of rock, paper, scissor to vote on who'd go to the BS to get burgers and more wine. Bucky lost, and after a long while of wild protest he surrendered and borrowed Nat's bike to fetch dinner.
"He's really a good looking guy" Nat said as soon as he'd left the room.
"Yeah." Anna said, "He's sweet. And lovely to talk with. We can lie on his bed for hours on end and just talk about everything and just hold hands."
"But don't forget about me, okay? Don't go move in together and get all civil and shit. You have to remember, you promised me we would move into a circus wagon together." Nat laid her head in Anna's lap and Anna stroked her cheek.
"Of course I won't forget you, you monkey!" She smiled and chewed the last piece of licorice in half, and dropped the other half into Nat's mouth.
Bucky returned with burgers and two bottles of wine and apparently some big news, as he'd called it.
"They haven't hired anyone down at the BS yet, so you better get your ass down there tomorrow, Anna." Anna rolled her eyes and held out her glass for another pour of wine. The red wine was some cheap stuff they had given a fortune for; the BS sold it undercover. Everyone knew about it though, but the police didn't do anything about it. They probably shopped there themselves.
"We're bound to get sick from this shit." Anna said and raised her glass.
"That's alright, as long as we get wasted first." Bucky said and poured wine into Nat's open mouth.
They got drunk. Very drunk. Sung and danced. Mary had to either be deaf or very patient, because she never complained. At last they fell in a heap on the floor.
"You girls really are something else" Bucky said and watched as Anna and Nat cuddled up beside him on either side. "I will now recite a poem! For love is as strong as death; jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol... Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.."
"Where's that from?" Anna asked, falling even more in love with him by listening to his velvet voice.
"the Bible. Song of Solomon. 8:6. If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. I would lead you and bring you to the house of my mother who taught me..."
"Can I?" Nat asked, and leaned in and kissed him without waiting for his response. "Can't we just be together, all of us?" She asked afterwards.
"It's fine by me!" Bucky said, willingly letting Nat kiss him again.
"BREAK!" Anna pushed them apart, but Nat grabbed the collar of her shirt and kissed her just as lovingly as she had kissed Bucky. For Anna, that was the forbidden fruit. They had always been close, very close, but they had never kissed in such a way, that clouded her thoughts with lust. Lust for more.
"That's enough!" Bucky rose and dumped down on top of both of them.
"I'm being crushed!" Nat yelled and poked his sides, but he stayed completely still until Anna tickled him. He prayed for mercy and surrendered, moving to lay between them again.
"Okay, Annie, let's be nice to him." Nat said and stroked his hair. Anna lifted his shirt and kissed the skin of his stomach, before laying her head comfortably under his ribs. Nat cuddled into his side and they fell asleep like that, under the rainbow, looking like an old dutch painting of the holy family.