Falling Awake

by T. A Richards Neville

  Mellissa however, was less than thrilled when I told her about the trip as she waited for me outside of homeroom, and stormed in after me demanding an explanation as to why she hadn’t been considered to come along.

  I explained everything that happened yesterday to her on the ride home to my house, and we now sat in my bedroom, her on the window seat and I lay across my bed on my side with my head propped up in my hand.

  "I can’t believe it, I really can’t," she gaped at me. "That jerk. I swear I could kill that animal right now," she said with a scowl. She had pretty much gone on like this since we arrived home about forty minutes ago. “I mean, I always thought Nathan was a bit of a chauvinistic creep, but this? Even for him it’s bad. His mother broke the mould when she gave birth to him, I’ll tell you that. I think she needs to jump back in her time machine and seriously re-consider ever having sex with his dad.” I cringed at the thought, scrunching up my face.

  She leaned forward grinning at me. "Get you though, having Caleb save your ass like that. He is so hot he should come with a flammable warning."

  "God you did not just say that,” I said laughing. "He is hot though." I agreed, smiling back at her.

  "So how did it go with Mr Kelly anyway?" I asked, changing the subject. Caleb was a rocky subject for me. He unhinged me every time I thought of, or spoke his name.

  "Well, I told him I wasn’t happy that he didn't think enough of me academically to invite me on his smarty pants vacation, and he practically implied that I could come along as an under achiever and get some tutoring," she said highly irritated, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I pictured the hilarious scene in my head.

  She looked at me unimpressed. "Come on, let’s go downstairs and eat. I’m starving." She arched her back and rubbed her perfectly flat stomach. I was starving too I realised, remembering I hadn’t eaten much today or yesterday, and my stomach growled in agreement.

  After searching the kitchen, I fixed us frozen pizzas and salad. While we were eating, the front door opened then slammed shut and my dad walked into the kitchen.

  "Hi girls." He ruffled my hair and planted a kiss on my cheek.

  "Hey dad," I said in between chewing. I reached up a hand to straighten out my hair. I wasn’t expecting to see him home so early.

  "Hey Mr Jensen, how you doing tonight?" Mellissa asked, smiling at him seductively. I hated it when she sweet-talked my dad like that. I swear if he gave her the opportunity she would pounce on him quicker than a lion in heat.

  He was thirty-five but he looked twenty-five with his rugged good looks as Mellissa would say, and physically, he was very fit. His hair was an unusual dull shade of grey with hints of the odd silver streak.

  "I'm good thanks for asking, how was school today?" We both looked at each other and just as Mellissa was about to open her mouth I quickly spoke first.

  "It was fine dad. Uneventful but fine." I swallowed my mouth full of cheese pizza. He scrutinized my face carefully and grabbing my chin, steered my face upwards towards the light.

  "What happened to your lip?" he demanded. Ah crap I thought, and noticed Mellissa suddenly become very interested in her once abandoned pizza crusts.

  "This little thing, it's nothing. Jenny threw a wayward ball during volleyball yesterday like she had butter in her hands and it hit me right in the mouth," I lied. He would go crazy if he knew what had really happened.

  "It looks nasty; did you put some antiseptic on that?" He released my face and went to wash up at the kitchen sink, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

  "All taken care of dad, don’t worry about it. It'll practically be gone tomorrow. There’s a plate in the microwave for you." I looked at Mellissa. She was sitting there shooting me daggers.

  "Stop it," I mouthed.

  "Great," he said, removing his flannel shirt and throwing it across the counter. "I’m starved."

  His white t-shirt underneath was streaked with black grease as usual. He took his plate from the microwave and sat on a stool opposite us at the kitchen island.

  "I have to go back to the garage shortly. I’ve left Caleb on a job that really needs to be finished up tonight." He shoved a slice of pepperoni pizza into his mouth. I was still struggling to get my head around the fact that my dad would actually consider letting someone else into his self-built man fort.

  “I never knew you were hiring,” Mellissa said with a smirk on her face, looking at me sideways. She knew fine well Caleb worked for him. I’d not long ago filled her in on all the details and I wondered what on earth she was playing at.

  "I didn’t have a choice. I’ve got too much on lately for one person."

  "Well I think it's a great idea dad. Maybe you'll be able to spend more time at home now." I added quickly.

  "That's the plan.” He nodded, chewing on a mouthful of food.

  “Or-” Mellissa said, with a look on her face that I knew all too well. “You could spend more time at the garage Pria.”

  She cried out as I kicked her hard under the counter, and my dad looked between us with a frazzled expression on his face. He was obviously missing what was going on here.

  "So, what's this person like? I mean is it someone we know?" Mellissa asked, rubbing her leg and shooting me a look of disgust.

  I was seriously going to kill her.

  He shoved the last bit of pizza into his mouth then wiped his mouth and hands with a paper napkin. I looked down at his plate.

  "Dad, your salad." I stabbed my fork at the untouched green pile sitting on the side of his plate.

  "Honey, you know I can’t digest that stuff. And to answer your question... You might know him, he’s just enrolled at your school, and I’ll tell you this. I had a string of women turn up at the garage yesterday wanting their cars fixed. I had to turn them away because I couldn’t find a single thing wrong with them.”

  I grimaced at the thought of them throwing themselves at Caleb, and I pushed my almost full plate away. My appetite had all but disappeared at the turn of the conversation.

  “And these women,” he continued, and I wished he would just shut up and get back to work already.

  “They had like twenty and thirty years on him.” There was definitely admiration in his voice.

  “That’s strange,” I said, folding my arms in front of me. “I found him to be quite rude and unfriendly. Not great customer service if you ask me. Maybe you should consider finding someone else for the job.” It was a low blow, but I couldn’t stand the idea of Caleb using the garage- the garage that had been my hideout for most of my life, as his new spot to pick up women. He obviously didn’t give a crap about my dad’s business.

  “Well I know about ten or twenty women who would disagree with you.” He gave a satisfied nod of the head and I pulled my eyes into slits, drowning him with the blackest look I had in me.

  “Okay dad that’s great,” I said, before he shattered my soul even more.

  “Listen, I have to go and pick up a few things, then I’m heading back out to the garage." He stood up, throwing his plate into the sink.

  Thank god for that.

  "Okay. Mellissa and I are going to head out to jets tonight.”

  It was Friday night and I would soon be meeting the elusive Drake who had my best friend so smitten.

  “Have fun then, but not too much. And don’t stay out too late, got it?" He kissed the top of my head. “See you girls later."

  "Not if I see you first!" Mellissa shouted after him as he left the kitchen and the front door closed marking his exit.

  "What is wrong with you?" I asked her.

  "Nothing’s wrong with me, I was just enjoying the view. And seriously who is Jenny?"

  I took our plates away and dropped them into the dish. Turning to her I said, "It's not Tamara that bites it's you."

  Just Friends

  “So," I said to Mellissa as she sat at my dressing table and I ferociously sprayed her ruby red hair with hairspray, occasionally turning my head away to gulp some fresh air
. "Are you excited to see Drake tonight?" She looked up at me through the mirror in front of her.

  "I'm practically shaking I’m so nervous." I bent over her setting down the can of hairspray. "I've never heard you say anything like that before," I said to her. She shrugged her shoulders. "I told you, he’s different. He makes me feel…sort of special." She smiled as she spoke and I could tell that this wasn’t just any ordinary guy. This one might actually be good for her, and believe me, she’d had her fair share of losers.

  "So how do I look?" she asked, standing up and giving me a seductive twirl. She was wearing a black elasticated mini skirt, short enough that I could probably see the pizza she’d eaten for dinner if I looked hard enough and a green chiffon cami top with black strappy stilettos.

  "You look great," I told her.

  "What about my hair?" Her hair rested on her shoulders with her bangs brushed over to the side covering most of her left eye.

  "Great also. Drake won’t know what's hit him when he sees you," I reassured her.

  She always looked amazing. She was like a flamed haired buxom siren. Friday Harbors very own Jessica Rabbit.

  "Okay, now let me look at you," she said turning to me.

  "Why would it matter what I looked like?" I asked accusingly.

  “I hope this is not one of those meet my boyfriend things, where his not so good looking friend turns up who you have not so cleverly, secretly set me up with.” I pointed a finger at her finally having it all worked out. She was always trying to set me up and it ended miserably every single time.

  “Calm down. This is not a set up, but you want to look nice don’t you?” she said, wiggling her eyebrows. I assumed she was talking about Caleb and it hadn’t even crossed my mind we might bump into him. He would probably be at the garage enjoying the adoration of throngs of middle-aged women whilst they threw their underwear at him.

  I looked down at my plain outfit. I’d chosen to wear my long sleeved tight white V-neck top that my dad hated, saying it accentuated my um uh breasts. God he could be so awkward it was painful. I teamed it with my best fitting pair of bootleg jeans over my brown cowboy boots.

  “Here sit down," she said, guiding me by the shoulders onto the stool at the dressing table. She rummaged around in her make up bag and started applying mascara and blusher to my face.

  "Is there any need for all this?" I asked her as she emptied the contents of the bag across the table. “I mean, I’m not the one on a date here."

  I usually enjoyed getting ready to go out, but the conversation from earlier still lingered and I was festering from it. Damn Jealousy.

  "Hush will you? People still have to see you for god sake. Would it hurt to make a little bit of an effort? I don’t want Drake to think I brought along the local homeless vagabond.”

  I laughed loudly. “Okay calm down, Jesus. I’ll make an effort." She picked out a black tube of lipstick and opened it up.

  "Here it is. This colour will look amazing on you, what do you think?" It was a soft dusky rose. I liked it.

  I normally didn’t wear much make up. I was lucky enough that I inherited my long silky dark brown tresses and olive complexion from my mother who was of Native American descent. People were always telling me how my beautiful hair and flawless skin were my best qualities.

  My hair now spilled over my shoulders and settled down my back in thick waves.

  "Fine. Yes, it's nice. Just hurry up will you?" She carefully applied the lipstick and then insisted on running the brush through my hair and fluffing it up with some hairspray.

  “It’s a shame about that lip, but you look hot Jensen," she said, eyeing me up and down. "Those jeans make your ass look amazing." She slapped my behind. I laughed and squatted her hand away.

  My lip had gone down a considerable amount, but the small cut was still a visible reminder of what happened.

  A car sounded its horn outside my bedroom window.

  "I wonder who that is," I said, walking over to the window. Sitting outside was a golden orange Pontiac G8. Mellissa hurried over to my side beaming.

  "Drake's here," she announced.

  "What do you mean Drakes here?" I asked confused. "How does D-r-a-k-e," I pronounced his name slowly, exaggerating each letter, "Even know where I live?" I was slightly annoyed at her just handing my address out to random strangers she had known all of two minutes, whether she was in love with them or not.

  "I told him where you live," she said, dragging me out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the dining room, where she picked up her black clutch from the dinner table and threw in our phones and her purse.

  "I'm not real happy about you telling him where I live Mellissa. God, does he even know where you live?" I asked, fully aware that I was acting a little uptight.

  "Keep you panties on will you? I promise as soon as we get out there I will make him swear an oath not to come back here while you are sleeping and cut your throat, okay?" she said mockingly.

  "Your hilarious you know that?" I told her, following her outside.

  "I do try," she said smiling, then ran over and climbed into the front seat of the waiting car. I locked the door behind me and headed over to the car, getting in the backseat. A rock song I'd never heard before thrummed quietly from the radio.

  "You look gorgeous tonight," Drake said to Mellissa, smiling like a lovesick puppy as she stared back at him with the same soppy expression. Twisting his body around from the driver’s seat giving me the once over he said, "You must be Pria."

  He was good looking I would give Mellissa that. He wore his blonde hair brushed back into a short ponytail that sat on the crown of his head, and a small gold cross hung freely from his right ear. His eyes were the most fantastic shade of cobalt blue; they practically took my breath away. How unusual I thought to myself.

  "And you must be Drake," I said with a smile.

  "I must be," he said smirking and I got the strangest feeling he’d just shared a secret joke with himself at my expense.

  I looked away as Mellissa kissed him like he was a soldier just returned from war and told him how much she missed him, and then revving the engine loudly, he pulled away. Mellissa had never mentioned Drake’s age and I’d never asked, but I was guessing he must be older than us. He looked it anyway, and I wondered where all these gorgeous guys had turned up from all of a sudden.

  "That's not really a good idea to rev your engine like that," I said to Drake as he swung a right onto Spring Street. He looked at me with his eyebrow raised in question through his rear-view mirror.

  "I mean, it's fine if your only doing a few thousand, but you’re going way past the red line and that will cause valve damage over time," I said matter of factly.

  "Oh yeah? And what do you know about cars?" he asked dubiously.

  "Enough... I help my dad out at his garage sometimes when I’m bored."

  "Impressive," he said.

  "Hang on a minute," Mellissa interrupted, twisting back in her seat. "You've missed the turning for Jets. Its way back there." She pointed over her shoulder towards the neon lights hanging over the green building.

  “I thought we could go somewhere a little more lively,” Drake said, grinning more like a wicked hyena than a cat.

  ***

  We stood in the makeshift gravel filled car park, outside of what I can only describe as a dive bar, on the outskirts of town. I didn’t even know this place existed. It was nestled on a dead end street, secluded by the tall shrubbery that lined the road making it invisible to see if you were driving past. The light wooden structure sadly boasted the half-lit sign, ‘Sully’s’

  I looked over to Mellissa who just shrugged and followed Drake inside with great difficulty in her ridiculously skinny heels, and I was grateful I was wearing boots. Reluctantly, I tagged along; dreading what kind of people inhabited a dump like this.

  As we walked through the door, I was instantly greeted by a thick cloud of stale grey smoke that penetrated the dimly lit room, and I cough
ed as it became lodged at the very back of my throat. Apparently, you could smoke in a place like this. Great, I would probably leave here with acute lung cancer.

  “Come on let’s go and sit down,” Mellissa said, grabbing my hand. I looked at the people around me occupying the grubby wooden tables as we passed them. It seemed there was a certain criterion to fill to drink here, and it seemed to be male, dirty, and quite menacing.

  A group of longhaired bikers stared at me as we passed, and I quickly averted my eyes when one of them blew O’s with his cigarette smoke in my direction.

  Mellissa dragged me up a small set of about ten rickety stairs, over to an empty table on the second level next to the pool table.

  We sat down and I let my eyes wander over my surroundings. There was a gathering of men opposite, on the other side of the pool table, huddled around a small-overcrowded table. I let my eyes wander over their head's idly and I froze. I couldn’t believe it. Caleb sat there glaring at me from in the middle of a card game.

  “Here, I got us some drinks.” Drake set down a beer bottle and two small glasses filled with a clear liquid and ice.

  “It’s vodka and lemonade. That’s the closest thing Sully has to a cocktail,” he said taking a swig of his beer.

  “Thanks babe,” Mellissa purred, visibly impressed that Drake even knew what a cocktail was. I glanced over at Caleb and he stood up and stormed over to where we sat.

  “What the hell’s she doing here?” He barked at Drake, flicking a dark glance in my direction.

  “She’s with Mellissa man. Chill out.” There was a spark of amusement in Drake’s eyes and he didn’t bother hiding his self-satisfied grin.

  “Can I talk to you a minute?” Caleb turned his attention to me.

  “Uh, you two know each other?” Mellissa asked Drake in bewilderment. He ignored her and looked from me to Caleb waiting for the next move.

  “Go ahead,” I said, wondering what he could possibly want to talk to me about.

  “Outside?”

  “Fine.” I stood up and followed him to where he led me outside into the crisp night air.