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Chapter Two: Strings of Innocent FeelingsSylvie woke up alone on the grotesque carpet, only to find the apartment completely empty -- Liz was still out. Sitting up, she groaned miserably at her cramped body; lying on her back she winced, thinking of possible places Liz could have run off to. Her immediate suspicion was that Liz had run off to Basil's house... her boyfriend of a year and a half -- she then dismissed this idea and thought it more likely of Liz to have bumped into yet another old pal on her way home, finding out that they had an overwhelming slumber party planned - and was instantly invited. 'Of course that would be just like Liz to ditch me like this...' Sylvie grouched, not quite convinced. Though as Sylvie realized she needed to stop thinking and start getting read for class, the "conspiracy" escaped her mind, and she began frantically racing about trying to find all of her homework.
English, math, and art all went as usual; except for math, that was never normal, something always happened to the boy who sat behind her... That day he got up to sharpen his pencil and tripped on his feet, cracking his kneecap on the floor. Sylvie had once told him that he was "accident prone" and thought it best for him to wear headgear wherever he went, along with knee and elbow pads, shin guards... the works. He actually seemed to agree slightly.
As lunch finally rolled around, Sylvie was famished and spent. Entering the cafeteria, she spotted Liz sitting at a table reading a book on Sudan Husain. Sylvie rushed in and out of line, before making her way towards Liz.
Without lifting her eyes from her book, Liz spoke. "So... did you talk to her last night?"
Sylvie let out a nervous laugh, but didn't answer. Instead, she turned her focus to the freeze-dried rehydrated tuna salad that lay, woe-begotten, in front of her. "I thought college cafeterias were supposed to be better than this... I liked the high school food better. They had these really crazy buffets all the time... they would announce them as gourmet `buffets', you know, over-pronouncing the T... we thought it was the funniest fucking thing ever. So we'd sing `Easter, Easter buffet... king of the wild frontier..."
"Answer the question."
"Well... I DID talk to her, but we didn't really ever get to the subject at hand." A smile played upon her face as she thought back to their conversation.
"You didn't start making out with her again? Because, if you did, just don't answer. I don't wanna hear it." She set her book down and picked up her bottle of V8-Splash.
"No! We didn't... we were on the phone anyway, we couldn't." She took a bite of her tuna-salad, flavorless... stale... crunchy... Crunchy? "Eew my salad's crun-"
"Are you telling me you had phone sex?" Liz asked in disbelief.
"Stop putting words in my mouth!" Sylvie spat rather irritated.
"Well... knowing you, my assumptions are justified... DID you have phone sex?"
"No! We just talked about relationships, and her boyfriend not knowing she was bi, and how she's afraid he won't accept her... she didn't seem too remorseful about our little 'ordeal'." She picked around her salad, meticulously sorting the good from the bad from the crunchy.
"That doesn't mean she won't be. Just wait `til her boyfriend gets back... then she'll see him and feel guilty and then she'll confess to him, and you'll end up getting your ass kicked. You should break it off with her. Like now." She opened the Sudan Husain book again, but set it down as Sylvie was not about to let Liz win.
"Oh, well thanks for taking my feelings into consideration... did it ever occur to you that I might LIKE Kaylie?"
"Well, obviously. You wouldn't've... if you hadn't. And I AM taking you into consideration... your physical well-being's gonna suffer if you don't end it with her." Sylvie knew Liz was right about this, but... Kaylie?
"But...well... what if I told her I just wanted to be friends?"
"Not a good idea."
"Liz! You've never MET Kaylie! She's fucking great... really smart and cute, and she's literary. She LIKES to read... last night we were talking about Salinger and Holden Caulfield and his identity crisis, and how depression messes with your judgment, and the messages he was putting out... she's so insightful... and that tangent reminded us of Six Degrees of Separation. You know, with people who know people who know people... did you know Will Smith was in that movie?"
"He was?" Liz sounded very unenthralled.
"Yeah... him, and Stockard Channing, and Heather Graham too. She was only a minor character, but still! Heather Graham... in a movie about class differentiation!"
"That's weird... you know, she's kinda gone downhill since that movie about Jack the Ripper... we probably should've seen it." Liz said thoughtfully.
"Just like we should've seen Scream 3, right Liz?" She looked at her watch and realized it was almost time for her next class.
"Oh shut up... how was I supposed to know it was gonna suck?"
"Because Scream 2 sucked!" Sylvie got up from the table and was about to ditch her tuna-salad with Liz, but was not so slippery.
"Well... it sounded like it was gonna be better...wait... SYLVIE!" Liz called, realizing that her friend was about to get away without a final confrontation.
"Damn." Sylvie sighed.
"Sylv... promise me you'll end it with her. If I have to come with you to Rave and WATCH you break up with her..." Liz gave her a pleaful look.
"We're not dating!" She emphasized once again.
"Well you're SOMETHING... and you're gonna end whatever that is."
"Alright... I'll go tonight and talk to her. But if she comes onto me, I can't promise you anything!" Her eyes widening, smiling internally at the thought.
"You want me to come?" Liz offered.
"No..."
"I think I should come."
"I don't think so..." Sylvie began to argue.
"Okay it's settled. I'm coming. Ooh! I've got a class!" She picked up her book and drank the rest of her drink before recycling it in a nearby designated bin.
"Wait... Liz," she turned and looked at Sylvie, about to open her mouth and tell her she didn't have time, but Sylvie grinned. "Where were you last night? And yesterday..?"
Liz just smiled, "Don't you DARE go to Rave without me! I didn't find a denim skirt yesterday, and I want to get one today."
"Life is such a mystery..." Sylvie preached. "It's brainless to make promises because you never know what may come up!" With that she grabbed her backpack and jumped out of the cafeteria, bumping through crowds to her next class.
Of course not before Liz yelled an exasperated, "SYLVIE!"
Sylvie mused about how she could have possibly anticipated college during high school, and middle school... "All work and no play..." Sylvie sighed exhausted. Now she had two choices, since classes were done for the day, she could either go back to the apartment and do homework, or she could go down to Rave and see if Kaylie was there... lie to Liz later saying she was avidly discussing what good a example homeless people are for recycling.
A coy smile jumped upon her face as she imagined the Mission Impossible theme song playing, faint and distant to most, loud and throbbing to Sylvie. She slipped carefully through the streets -- a feeling of childhood surfacing, like some kind of game she would play when her mother was ignoring her; powdering her pale face in preparation for some mystical party that Sylvie was never invited to. Slinking down the street, she thought of different personalities, characters, she could pass as: A burglar, a mobster, a serial killer, an escaped convict...
A man dashed past her, knocking her in the shoulder and allowing her backpack, which had been loosely slung over one shoulder (what escaped convict would wear both straps?), to drop to the ground, spilling contents onto the busy sidewalk. Luckily, the man wasn't quite so blind as his glasses suggested, he spun around, seeing Sylvie squatting on the ground picking up books and papers.
"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!" The man emphasized, "here le'me help..." He bent down next to Sylvie, catching the papers before they were carried off by the breeze. "I need to start watching where I'm headed... that's kind of what glasses are for, but I can be really clumsy sometimes."
'He's not half bad...' Sylvie thought, giving him a once-over. 'Cute face, nice hair, pretty eyes...' "Sort of like a modern-day Batman," she said thoughtfully.
He smiled, eyes twinkling a little. "Yeah, exactly." He laughed, "Except my car's not so cool."
"Well I don't even HAVE a car, but I guess that's a plus on behalf of the environment." They smiled at each other, and for a moment, Sylvie forgot why she was in such a rush.
"That's a good way to think of it."
Silence. They stood up and looked at each other.
Sylvie coughed uncomfortably, "Well, thanks for helping..."
"Elijah."
'Elijah... cute name.' "Elijah..." She let the name sink in, it was so classy she considered naming her future son after this moment. Or maybe just a goldfish. "I'm Sylvie."
"Well it was nice to meet you Sylvie."
"Yeah, nice meeting you too."
Elijah continued to walk down the sidewalk, Sylvie picked her backpack off the ground and slipped her arms through both straps before heading off to the mall once more. Her mind floated between thoughts of Kaylie and Elijah, she was much calmer than before and began taking her time... soaking in the beauty of the humanity that surrounded her. The sticky children in shorts and t-shirts, sucking the remnants of Snicker bars off their small fingers; mothers fighting hopelessly to keep their hands out of their mouths; mother-in-laws commenting to them about how to raise their children... 'Typical,' she thought.
Sylvie sighed to herself, thinking of her starched mother who was more like a mother-in-law than any of the young picture-perfect moms there; holding green and red birthday balloons in one hand, and a child's hand in the other. Divorced by the time Sylvie turned four -- maybe this was the reason she was attracted to both sexes. Lacking a father, lacking a mother(sort of) ... so why not want both?
Soon, she arrived infront of Rave, hesitating in walking through the door, but the thought of Liz coming up behind her was enough to force her inside. Kaylie sat behind the desk reading, Sylvie half turned to tell Liz, but soon realized once more that she was by herself. 'Damn,' she thought. 'She's always here when I don't want her, and never here when I want her!'
"Sylvie?" Kaylie asked suddenly, breaking her silent curses.
"Hi," she swallowed her fear and took a deep breath. "What are you reading?"
"The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton. What are-"
"Is it any good?" Sylvie interrupted.
Kaylie shrugged, glancing down at the green and black cover. "It's really technical..." Her slightly-past-shoulder-length redish-brown hair fell into her face a little, her mouth curved into a smirk, and her brown eyes locked with Sylvie's. "What are you doing here?"
A nervous rush flooded over Sylvie, "Well... I, uh, just... came to see you, really." They smiled at each other, and Sylvie felt overcome with emotions ranging from happy, silly, nervous, and like people were really staring at her and not the clothes they were thinking of buying.
Kaylie sighed, "Sylvie I-"
Her heart sank, "I know, I know... You've got a boyfriend, but-"
"No, no... I mean, I do, but that's not what I was about to say."
"What... were you about to say?" Sylvie asked unsure.
"I..." she stopped, racking her brain for a moment. Kaylie laughed and picked the book up from the counter. "I don't know why I'm even reading this! It's slow and boring..."
"That's too bad... Hey! Um... so, when do you get off work? I mean, would you like to go over to Ben and Jerry's or..." Sylvie trailed off, wondering if she was being too forward.
"I'd love to, I'm off in fifteen minutes." The girls grinned and began talking about different things until Kaylie's shift was over.
Long Beach was fortunate enough to be home to two Ben and Jerry's shops, not quite ten locations like San Fransisco offered, but good enough for Sylvie's liking. Kaylie ordered a White Russian and kept insisting to Sylvie that she absolutely HAD to try it -- after much persistance that she wanted Cherry Garcia and nothing else, she agreed to a taste... which ended in a double scoop cone.
Together they walked down the street, taking pleasure in the cool ocean breeze and the day not being scorchingly hot. Kaylie confessed that her main attraction to her boyfriend was the fact that he owned two dogs, whom she was crazy about.
"My apartment won't let me have animals... and I don't exactly have time to volunteer at the shelter."
"I've never really liked dogs too much, I like cats."
"I hate cats... but that's probably because I grew up with them and I would always pull their tails when I was little... then they'd scratch me and hiss." Kaylie scowled and Sylvie smirked.
"Cats rule, dogs drool."
"Dogs rule and they don't scratch," Kaylie smiled. "As long as you don't mind a little slobber."
"Yuck..." Sylvie remarked disgustedly. "Saliva all over your clothes... shoes! They eat your shoes!"
"That's what shelves are for, my dear."
'My dear,' Sylvie smiled and giggled internally. 'I'm her dear!' "Yes but... on account of them being deprived of such a delicacy, they'd eat them off my feet -- like shiskabobs, bento, y'know."
Kaylie laughed and shoved her playfully, "You're too much!"
Grinning, Sylvie replied, "I'm serious!" Smiles danced across each girls' face, as they stared into one-anothers' eyes; Sylvie was almost sure they would kiss right then, she was sure this was what the day had been leading up to... This moment where quiet overtook them, so first-date-doorstep-kiss type of thing; but within this particular moment of quiet, it was realization. They clicked perfectly. This type of thing rarely ever happened within the whole of humanity, where two people were able to understand the other so completely -- you would have never believed the length of time they'd actually known each other.
As perfect as the night had been, there was no kiss to top it all off. Which was probably for the better, seeing as Liz wasn't very pleased with being ditched, or with Sylvie for not 'breaking it off'.
"Sylvie what did you do?!" Liz shouted as soon as the door was closed.
"I went out with Kaylie... and talked." She replied truthfully.
"No! Sylvie, tell me you didn't!"
"If I did I would be lying," she kicked off her shoes and headed towards her bedroom. Liz followed in hot pursute.
"What else did you do?"
"Had ice cream, walked around," she picked up a nightgown from her designated basket of clean clothes, and begun twirling towards the bathroom, humming some song Liz had never heard before.
"That can't be all..."
"Well it is," Sylvie walked into the bathroom and shut the door, Liz stood outside and continued talking to her while she undressed and put on her nightgown.
"I don't believe you... can you look me straight in the eye without flinching and tell me nothing else happened?"
The door opened and Sylvie's head poked out, staring Liz straight in the eyes she replied, "Nothing, else, happened."
"Dear god..." Liz murmured. "Nothing happened?"
"No! Liz! For gosh sakes! Nothing happened!"
Liz smiled, "Sylvie! You're finally becoming responsible!"
She stared at Liz in disbelief, "I'm going to bed..." Sylvie walked passed her, to her bedroom. "Hasta manana."
"Buenos noches, Miss Responsible For Her Actions!"
"I lied!" Sylvie called back irritated, "We really did have phone sex!"
"Did not."
"Hey! You get to pay the phone bill this time!" Sylvie hurried into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Leaping into bed happily, she fell asleep almost instantly; however, she woke up around 2:30 in the morning to the realization that she hadn't done any of her homework. "Awe crap..." she groaned, sitting up and turning her bedside lamp on before shuffling through her backpack (which always slept next to her bed in case of emergancies). "Responsibility is a gift that I was not blessed with..." she mumbled tiredly.
