My cousin and I are a lot different. She likes big dogs, I like hamsters. She can party all night at raves, I sit on the computer talking to friends she says don’t exist. She flips her hair out at the ends and plucks her eyebrows one by one, I forget to brush my hair sometimes and take the scissors to my eyebrows. She’s twenty-five, and I’m fifteen. Out of all those things you’d think I’d be the one who loves the smell and sound of the sullen rain but no. The rain is cold, gloomy, and depressing. It brings back memories of being stuck inside and having nothing to do but play on the computer all day. I couldn’t go outside on a rainy day. I’d get wet and swept away into sewer drains if I did or at least that’s what mom to say.
But I guess I must have a lot of rainy days in my life because I always seem to be stuck inside, rain or shine. I sit and do nothing but stare at the computer screen hoping that one of my friends would be on at the same time so we could chat and talk about things we could never say in public. Words are easily typed, but not easily spoken.
I think it’s because you can’t see their face. Or maybe because you have time to think about what to say so you always sound smart and clever while in real life you’re quiet and never make sense no matter what you try and say. Life would be a lot easier if we just typed to each other instead of talking, a lot easier.
“Excuse me. Are you with the party in ballroom two?” A man in a white suit and a tray in his hand asked me from down the hallway. His hair was grey and his mustache was curled at the tips like in fairy tales and children stories.
“Um, yes, sorry, did you need me to leave?” I stuttered. I came down from the window seat and patted out my bridesmaid dress. “I’ll leave right now, sorry.”
“Oh, no, you don’t understand. I was just wandering if you could inform them that they’ve already gone over their party hours. They were supposed to be gone by midnight.” The old man murmured. He was obviously a very timid man, because if he wasn’t, he would have already told our party to scram. Instead he came and found me, a lonely-looking girl in a window seat staring stupidly into the dark, rainy night.
“Midnight, what time is it now?” I asked. It couldn’t have been that late, I had school the next morning, I thought.
He slid back his sleeve and checked the shiny silver watch on his wrist. “It’s almost two in the morning right now,” he informed me.
“Seriously? Okay, I’ll go tell them right now. Thank you, sir.” I rushed down the hall, passed the old man who was probably relieved not to have to bust into the ballroom and be the party crasher.
I tried to run, but my heels threated to trip me, so I walked hastily down the elegant hallway. My cousin and her fiancé, now husband, rented out a beautiful ballroom at the Winter Crest Country Club for their after party. The country club was amazing. The building held three ballrooms and two banquet halls and so many other types of fancy rooms. It was surrounded by a golf course and outside the ballroom my cousin rented was the most magnificent fountain and lake I’d ever seen. And to top all that off, it was overlooking a cliff that you could see the entire town from. To be married in a place like this must be like a dream with the extravagant décor and sophisticated service.
I cracked open the giant doors to the ballroom, being careful not to let in too much light and weaved myself through the empty tables. Everyone was on the dance floor with an exception for some older couples who thought it’d be uncool if they left too soon and some young women watching everyone dance because they feel too lonely on the inside to dance with everyone else. And then there was my mom, sitting at a table with some other older couples she could talk too. She seemed to be the center of attention at the moment telling the story of when I tripped down the stairs into her and how we both ended up in the hospital. That wasn’t a fun experience at all, but somehow, my mother can get anyone to crack up while listening to her story.
While they were all laughing their butts off at the joke, I tipped toed around the table to where my mom was sitting.
“Hey mom, it’s really late and a man outside told me we need to start packing it up,” I shouted into her ear, hoping she’d here me over the deafening music. She spun around fast, accidently whipping me with her hair. I must have surprised her, I thought.
She gasped, but when she saw me holding my whipped cheek, she caught her breath and laughed. “Oh my God, Sage, don’t sneak up on my like that. You almost killed me,” she coughed out, still chuckling. “But, that wouldn’t have been the first time,” she joked.
Everyone at the table broke back into another laughing fit, but her comment just irritated me. “Come on, mom. We have to go now. Whoever owns this place says he wants all of us out, I guess we’re over our party time,” I tried to explain.
“If you wanted to go that bad, Sage, you could have just asked. There’s no need to make up stories just to get us out of here.” She told me a-matter-of-factly. I don’t think she understood what I was saying. She picked her purse off the ground and excused herself from the table while giving them all a general goodbye. She giggled and hiccupped and seemed higher than life as she did.
We started weaving our way through the tables staying away from the dance floor where everyone was still partying the night away. All I could imagine in my head was the manager of the place coming in and everyone would be passed out on the floor. The image was a bit weird.
While I was stuck in my own little imagination, my mom managed to knock a few chairs over and smack a wine glass off its table. The sound of the glass smashing against the floor snapped me out of it.
“Mom, what are you doing?” I turned around towards my mom who was clumsily trying to pick up the broken glass.
“I think I dropped something, dear,” she said senselessly. She looked as hopeless as it gets as she tried gathering all the pieces to the glass.
“Mom, come on. The people who work here will clean it up, don’t worry about it.” I told her.
She looked back and forth between the shattered glass and me, but finally stood up. “Alright, but before we leave you need to say goodbye to your cousin. Say bye for me too, my head hurts so I’ll be in the car,” she ordered as she wobbled off towards the door.
I sighed. I really didn’t want to say goodbye, I just wanted to get out of there. But I guess it was my cousin’s wedding, I had no choice. I shoved and maneuvered my through the drunken dancers looking for my cousin, but the crowd was ruthless. I knew my cousin was pretty popular, but she didn’t have to invite the whole town.
“Sage, where are you going?” My cousin’s voice shouted. She grabbed on to my arm and spun me around towards her. “You seem in an awful hurry. Come on, dance with me.”
“Um,” I stood awkwardly on the dance floor being bumped and nudged every few seconds, thinking of what to say to her. She looked beautiful in her big, white princess dress. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail now, but she still kept her diamond studded tiara on from the ceremony. “My mom and I are going to go ahead and leave now. I kind of have school tomorrow,” I said pitifully.
“Aw, that’s too bad.” She put on an over exaggerated frown, as she squeezed my hands. “I wish you could stay longer.”
“Yeah, I wish I could too,” I lied. “My mom says bye, she went ahead already.”
“Okay, thank her for coming, and thank her for the coffeepot too,” she said giving me a tight hug.
“Alright, I will. I’ll talk you later, Leigh,” I said as I started to back away into the crowd. But I don’t think she heard, because she was already being pulled away by her friends. I quickly rushed out of the ballroom. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but somehow, I was embarrassed.
I slid out the door and into the hallway and to my surprise the old man was still there, waiting. “Thank you very much. I hope they aren’t too disappointed,” she said relieved.
“Um, yeah,” I mumbled. “I hope they aren’t too disappointed . . .” But I trailed off as I disappeared down the hallway. I walked quickly for the entrance to try and make my escape and painless as possible. I kind of felt bad for the old man, but he’ll realize they aren’t going anywhere soon.
When I got out to the car, my mom was sitting in the driver’s seat dozed off. I don’t know why it even crossed her mind that she was going to drive anywhere. I walked around the car and opened the door.
“Mom, wake up. You’re not driving,” I whispered, shaking her a bit. Her eyes blinked open and she made odd mumbling noises that sounded like she was trying to call out my name.
I helped her up out of the driver’s seat and around to the passenger. She was completely drunk and no one at the table she was sitting at even noticed? That wasn’t the problem at this point, but I couldn’t help but wonder. I sat her down and took the keys out from her purse.
I didn’t have my driver’s license yet, but I had my permit and drove my mom everywhere half the time. I got in the car and started down the winding hill.
__________
“What, you’re going where tomorrow?” I asked as I dropped the knife in my hand on my plate. “When did you find out you were leaving?”
My mom sighed. She held an icepack to her head while she poured coffee into both of our mugs. “I’m just going to Marina Bay. And my boss told me two days ago, I just didn’t want to say anything yet until I was sure on whom I was getting to take care of you.”
“Take care of me? I’m fifteen, why can’t I just stay here?” I pouted, taking a bite into my toast.
“Sage, it’s not like I’m going to be gone for a weekend. We’re talking about a whole two months here!” She sat down in the chair across from mine and dropped her head to the table. “Ugh, my head hurts!” She complained.
“You were pretty wasted if I do say so myself, mom,” I snickered, but I was still thinking of how my mom was going to be gone for two months. Her business trips take her everywhere, but there’s never been one longer than a week. And who exactly was it that she got to take care of me? I wondered.
“Watch your tongue little girl, you’re going to be just like me when you grow up, just wait and see,” she threatened. My mom, like my cousin, liked to party. My mom’s strange partying habits really kicked up after my dad died at war three years ago. That’s when the clubs and alcohol and men started pouring into our two bedroom apartment.
I gave her a smug look, but I quickly wiped it from my face. “Wait, so who am I going to be staying with anyways?” I asked. We didn’t live near too many family members because most of my mom’s side wasn’t involved and my dad’s parents still lived in Italy.
“Your cousin, Leigh. I already asked her last night and she said it was fine for you to move in for a little while. She and Travis aren’t taking their honeymoon until summer, so you may hear some bumps in the night,” My mom joked.
“Ew, mom, that’s so gross. Not only that, but I have to live with them! Leigh and I barely get along, and I really don’t like Travis. He seems like one of those guys who dates teenagers then rapes them behind schools and leaves them there to rot until the other students find the body!”
“You’ve got quite the imagination there, Sage. You should really put that brain of yours to work and start writing or drawing or something,” my mom said, taking a sip of her coffee. Her mouth puckered and she reached out and grabbed four packets of sugar and a cream.
“That’s not what we should be worrying about at the moment, mom. The real problem is I really don’t want to stay at Leigh’s house. It’s too . . . big and scary. Yeah, the hallways are huge and it freaks me out just being there during the day. Imagine it at night!” I fussed, but I could tell I wasn’t getting through to my mom. She kept a bored expression glued to her face.
“Oh, please, Sage. I know her house is big, but it isn’t that big. She’s just rich, and I’d find that a bonus if I were you. Plus, I can’t just leave you here for two months. I’d have to leave you with two months’ worth of food and cash. You’d probably end up staying at one of your friend’s houses or throwing a teen party. Or worse, you’d just sit on the computer all day talking to those non-existent friends of yours,” she claimed.
“I would not-”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” My mom asked. She nodded toward my binder on the table.
“Oh crap, mom. You’re going to make me late,” I said stuffing the rest of the toast in my mouth and rushing for the door. But all I heard from my mom as I left was her silent giggles and an annoyed groan.
_________
I rubbed the bags under my eyes trying to pay attention to what Mr. Grayson was even saying. I didn’t feel that tired until I finally got to school, then all of a sudden I was totally fatigued.
“Yo, Sage,” a voice whispered for me. I picked my head up from the desk and looked around unthinkingly, but to my surprise it was just Brandy, the girl who sat next to me.
“Um, hey,” I said dumbfounded. I’d talk to Brandy before, but that’s because we’re lab partners for Chemistry. We never really talked too much, but she did make the effort to be kind to me.
“Why are you all wet?” she asked honestly confused. She was kind. I never said anything about being bright.
“I kind of forgot my umbrella today. So, I walked here in the rain.” I whispered.
“Oh, that sucks. You look really tired by the way. I heard the wedding went late,” she said, but I never remember telling her anything about the Leigh’s wedding.
“Err, yeah, it did actually.” I paused for a second thinking of what to say to her. “Sorry, but I don’t really remember telling you about the wedding.”
“You didn’t. I know Travis Blakewood, Leigh’s new husband, and a guy in my math class told me you were a close relative of Leigh. So I assumed you went to the wedding,” she stated blandly. Hearing Brandy say this made me think of why they were both talking about me in the first place. Some things are better left unknown.
I exhaled. “In that case, it was a really long wedding. The ceremony was really touching and the kiss was cute, but the after party didn’t want to end,” I complained. I hadn’t noticed that Brandy was no longer paying attention to me until I finished. I must have looked like an idiot.
But, just in time, the bell rang saving me from another awkward moment in my life. I grabbed my things as fast as I could and rushed out of the room. I ran straight for the girl’s bathroom and locked myself in the farthest stall, pulling out my cellphone.
I dialed the number and waited. “Hello?” Leigh’s voice came sweetly through the phone.
“Hey, it’s me, Sage,” I said urgently.
“Hey Sage. Aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?” She asked. She obviously knew I would be calling, why would she act so innocent?
“I am, but its lunch right now and I need to talk. Did my mom say anything to you last night? You know, about maybe, I don’t know, moving in!” I said angrily, but all I heard in response was a sigh.
“Yeah, I know how you feel, but come on. You can’t make your mom let you stay home all by yourself. Besides, how bad can it really be, Sage? It’s only two months out of your whole life, you’ll live.” Leigh was going to be right no matter what I said. She was an amazing persuader and seems to always make sense. That’s why she’s living the way she is.
“Ugh, so you’re going to side with my mom too, huh?” I scowled.
“You seriously need to stop being such a downer, Sage, especially around your mom. You shouldn’t try her like you do, you know she’s frayed woman. God, Sage! Sometimes I wish you’d just act like a normal person instead of such an angry little bitch! You need to go out and get some friends or a boyfriend or at least some manners! You need to get over yourself!” That’s when she hung up.
As irritated as I was, Leigh, perfect Leigh, was right. Complaining about having to stay at a mansion house in the hills of Winter Crest Heights wasn’t such a good tactic. I was staying at Leigh’s if I liked it or not.
I sat down in the bathroom stall the rest of lunch like I usually did and watched the rain slide down a tiny window in the corner. I watched as each drip slowly slid down to the sill making a small puddle into a tiny pond scattered with dead flies and dust bunnies.
That's all I really have to say. Nice job.
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