"I can feel it Gabbie," I gushed,"I can feel it all falling in place." I glanced over to see her reaction. She raised her eyebrows as she pushed her fork through the rice of her Chinese take-out.
"What's it called?" she asked glancing at me before she shoved a mound of rice in her mouth.
"The Albertane Tour. It was Zac's idea basically. I wasn't too keen on it, but you know what happens when Zac gets an idea in his head, he will never let it go." I reminded as I pushed my beef and broccoli around on the tray.
"Tell me about it," she nodded before shoving a fork, with a demented piece of food on it, in my face,"Try this, it's really good."
I surveyed it for a minute before looking past, whatever it was supposed to be, and at her,"What is it?" I asked cautiously.
"Orange Chicken," she replied,"taste it." she urged with her green eyes.
How ironic was it that she happened to have green eyes while her last name was Green? Even when I was younger I thought it was rather odd. I remember that sometime after I knew here I had decided that my favorite color was green. After all, she was my favorite friend, why not be my favorite color? I never told her that though. I never was too good at sharing my feelings.
I hesitated before biting into the piece of chicken on her fork.
She pulled the fork away and watched me expectantly to see my reaction to my first taste of Orange Chicken.
I chewed slowly trying to get a taste for it in my mouth. Well, that didn't take too long. My mouth was instantly burning from the spices. I swallowed quickly and reached for my Sprite.
Gabriel giggled quietly,"Spicy?" she asked nocholantly.
"Like the fires of hell!" I informed her before rubbing my tounge on the roof of my sore mouth in an effort to stop the burning.
She popped another piece in her mouth and then talked around it,"I probably should have warned you. Sorry. It's just that it is usually sweet, but today it's spicy. The rice is pretty bland today too." she informed me.
I watched in disbelief as she picked up another piece,"Ugh, how can you eat that?"
She grinned,"I love spicy food, it speaks to me."
I chuckled,"It speaks to you?"
She snickered at herself and grinned,"Yes."
"Well," Isaid picking up a piece of broccoli from my beef and broccoli,"so does mine. Mine even has a name."
"Oh really?" she giggled,"What is it? Mr. Broccoli?"
"Of course not. Give me some credit here, I'm not that unoriginal. It's uh," I glanced around the food court. It was then that a kid sporting a Puff Daddy shirt walked past me. I looked back at Gabriel who was watching me expectantly,"It's Puff Broccoli!" I declared.
I sat in the little waiting room at the doctor's office and glanced around. No one in here looked sick at all, but then again, neither did I.
My mother nudged me,"Gabbie, stop staring at people." she lectured.
I rolled my eyes and then delibrately stared at her putting a stupid look on my face. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. She snickered and put her arm around my shoulders,"So how was lunch today? Did you and Isaac have fun?" she whispered.
"Mom, don't call him that! It's Ike! Isaac sounds so old." I reminded her,"And yes we had fun. We had Chinese."
She smiled,"That's good." she said taking her arm away and patting my knee.
A nurse came out,"Gabriel Green." she called reading my name off of a chart.
My mother stood up and walked over to the nurse and I followed her lead. I hated doing this. I hated it everytime I came here. It was always the same, stupid nurse who smelled like body odor. She led us into a small room and told us to wait for the attending nurse.
My mother took a seat over in the corner,"Well, at least we got a different room this time." she said.
That was my mom. Always trying to look on the bright side of things, always trying to be happy. I could tell that she was worn out though. I knew just by the way her body slumped when she sat in a chair. She used to be so beautiful, and then daddy died of cancer. I think that's when mom gave up. She tightly clutched her purse, that sat on her lap, in her hands. Her blonde hair showed streaks of gray here and there that framed her face. Her make-up desperately tried to hide the dark circles under her eyes from all those long hours at work and sleepless, tear-filled nights.
The nurse walked into the room,"Well hello there Gabriel. And how's my favorite patient?" the smelly nurse asked.
"Fine." I muttered just wanting to get this over with.
The nurse smiled as she wrapped the rubber strip around my upper arm,"Last time you were here I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
One could only be so lucky. I thought to myself, but forced a smile to keep the old bag happy.
She prepared the needle,"Maybe we'll get lucky and strike oil this time." she attempted to joke.
"Maybe we'll finally get to know what's wrong." I snapped.
The old nurse gave me a look of distaste as she approached me with the needle,"Maybe."
I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the pinch. It never got easier with time. I tired to think happy thoughts, what in my life was happy? Well lunch was fun today, with Isaac.
I felt the needle pinch my skin and I opened my eyes to see the blood pouring from my vein and into a little tube. Isaac, he didn't even know.
"I showed the broccoli thing to Tay and Zac, they cracked up. They thought it was really good." Isaac told me.
All of a sudden I heard a wrestling sound and then Taylor's voice rang through the phone,"It was funny like the first three times, then it got old!" he told me. I laughed as I heard Ike screaming in the background that Taylor laughed everytime. Then I laughed even harder as Taylor protested to laughing. Then I heard Ike grabbing for the phone and warning Taylor that if he knew what was good for him, he would hand the phone over. Taylor laughed and ran from the room with the phone,"She wants to talk to me!" he yelled over his shoulder.
"Oh I do?" I asked giggling.
"Of course." Taylor replied before I heard a thump and a bunch of laughing and screaming.
"Sorry about that," Ike's breathless voice came back on the phone,"I told mom not to let him out of his cage today."
"No problem." I said still giggling.
"So," Ike said changing the subject,"how was your cousin's house this afternoon?"
I frowned,"Oh well," I stalled trying to come up with a good lie,"you know them. They're brats alot of the time."
"You sure go over there alot." he pointed out.
"So what? They're my cousins, am I not allowed to spend time with them?" I said becoming defensive.
"No, I didn't mean it like that, I was just commenting." he said obviously confused at the way I was acting.
"Gabriel! Dinner!" I heard my mom call from the bottom step.
"Ok Ike, I'm sorry for snapping, but I have to go and eat dinner now." I informed him.
"It's ok, so do you want to come over tomorrow? We're having a barbeque and my mom invited you and your mom." he told me.
"Gabriel, I mean it!" I heard my mom call again.
"I'll have to ask her, can I get back to you later?" I asked.
"Sure, let me know tonight okay?" he asked.
"No problem, bye Ike." I said.
"Gabbie! Don't make me come up there!" she screamed.
Ike laughed when he heard my mom,"Bye."
I hung up the phone and bounded down the stairs and ran into the kitchen. My mother spooned some vegetables on my plate,"It's about time," she sighed,"sit down."
I took my usual seat,"Mom? Ike's mom invited me and you to a barbeque tomorrow, want to go?" I asked.
"I'm sorry sweetie, I have to work." she said sitting down at the table,"You can go though."
"Okay." I said reluctantly as I reached for my fork. I looked at the piece of cotton stuck under a band-aid on my arm. Looks like I'm wearing long sleeves tomorrow. I thought.
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