I lie in my bed staring at the slowly circling fan and the thin crack in the ceiling that runs from the center of the room all the way to the door. He left over an hour ago to make it to an early morning practice but I can still catch his scent on my sheets and it’s awesome. I roll over and bury my face in the pillow and just… breathe. I’m full of this incredible feeling. It’s like laughter caught in my chest.
“Ugh. You are pathetic. You know that, right?”
Exhaling, I turn my head, push the hair from my face, and see my sister leaning against the doorway. She’s holding a bottle of nail polish remover and some cotton balls in her hands.
“What are you talking about?”
Mara rolls her eyes. “Don’t try to hide it, Aimee. I saw you sniffing that pillow like a lovesick fool.”
“I’m not—”
“Pathetic? Lovesick?” Mara finishes for me. She’s smiling now but she also looks a bit worried. “You are a pathetic, lovesick fool. Really and truly. It’s the worst case that I’ve ever seen, but I think it’s alright.”
“Enlighten me. How is it alright if I’m pathetic?”
“Because…” She shakes her head a millimeter. “I think that he might be just as pathetic as you are.”
***
I balance the brush on the edge of the paint can and stretch out my fingers. They’re coated in purple latex paint. When I rub my skin together, the dried paint pulls into little balls and scatters to the drop cloth like candied confetti.
“Yuck!” I exclaim. “My fingers are so stiff that I think they might fall off.”
Jodi turns to me, a slow smile spreading until her whole face is lit up. She’s got purple paint flecked through her hair and her shirt and jeans are ruined. “Have I said thank you?”
“Only about fifteen times in the last hour.” I roll my shoulders and pick up the brush. I’m on trim detail which means that I’m going around the edges of Jodi’s bedroom with a thin, angled brush. Jodi and Kyle are following behind with two rollers coated in the purple paint.
Somehow I let Jodi talk me into painting her apartment. Actually, that’s a lie. I know exactly how I ended up here. It was self-preservation.
Cole’s gone this weekend. He’s at some kind of clinic that’s supposed to make him faster, better, stronger. I knew that if I didn’t get a project going, I’d get sucked onto the couch for a Law and Order marathon and I wouldn’t get up for two days. On Friday afternoon I could almost hear my mother’s voice blaring in my head. Not healthy, Aimee!
Jodi mentioned over a text message that she was going insane looking at the boring masking tape colored walls of her place and the light in my head started to strobe.
We started in the kitchen with a tangerine backsplash. After a taco run, we painted an avocado green accent wall behind the couch. Two vinyl albums later—because she insists that everything sounds better on vinyl—we moved to the bedroom. The shade that Jodi chose for this room is close to a ripe eggplant. Basically, it looks like a produce stand exploded in her apartment. Jodi loves it. And though I have my doubts, she swears that her landlord will love it too.
When we’re finished with the bedroom, the three of us stand back to admire our work. I’m disgusting—sweaty, speckled in paint, high on the fumes—but at least I feel accomplished.
Jodi claps and does a little bouncing on her toes. She’s all about vivid displays of enthusiasm. “So… what do you guys think?”
“It’s different,” I say and then I worry that my comment isn’t positive enough. “And fun.”
Jodi nods, looks at Kyle.
He sets the roller down on the tray and rubs his palms on his jeans. “It’s bright.”
“Of course it’s bright.” She stands on her tiptoes, kisses his chin and hooks her fingers onto his elbow. “Don’t worry. It’ll grow on you.”
Kyle grins and tells her, “It doesn’t need to grow on me. I like it, babe. I love… color.”
I can tell by the way that he’s fingering the blue chunks of her hair that he’s referring to something more than the color of paint on the walls and I suddenly feel like I need to get going. “Hey! I’m going to text Mara and ask her to come get me.”
“No way,” Kyle says, cracking his knuckles against his palm. “After you just wasted your weekend painting this place, I’ll give you a ride.”
I try to argue but it’s useless. Jodi walks us toward the door where she hugs me tightly and says, “Aimee, you’ll have to think up a way for me to pay you back.” She points a thumb in Kyle’s direction. “I’m rewarding him with sexual favors later but I don’t think that’ll work for you.”