I stuffed my face at the restaurant. My inner fatty truly
came out and satisfied herself. I ate like I was in a daze, holding the burger
in one hand and a fist full of chili cheese fries in the other. I took
alternating bites. I vaguely remember being stared at. When the food was gone
my right hand was covered in condiments, my left hand was covered in chili and
cheese. I took a napkin and began to wipe what I could off of my hands. After
wiping I looked down and noticed that I still had smears on my hands, Oh
well, I thought good enough. I took the tray to the trash can threw
away the wrappers and drink cup, placed the tray on top of the trashcan and
walked out to my car. I glanced at the meter, there was 23 and a half minutes
left. Why isn't there a return on these things, I wondered to myself. I
got into my car started the car, it took a couple of cranks, and putted off
back to my apartment.
As I was driving I
started thinking about the meter and how it would work with returns. It made me
wish I knew how to really invent things and make them work. Eventually my mind
drifted to Mr. Kawaii and my odd interview with him. His dazzling smile, his
relaxed demeanor. Would you do him, is the real question, my inner freak
said. I thought about it, cocked my head to the side, he isn't bad looking, I'd
never been with a guy of his ethnicity. I wonder what it would be like. I
couldn't help but think of the stereotype. Would it or would it not be small?
There would obviously be one way to find out, but the probability of that
happening was slim to none. He did ask me if I wanted to be his girlfriend,
the village idiot said uninvited it. That was a joke, the rest said to
her while the fatty replied with, chocolate brownies covered in cheesecake
ice cream smothered in chocolate... You just ate! I thought back at
her. She stalked off to pout on her couch and turned on the tv. I wonder if everyone's mind is like this?
I ask myself YES, the others all yell back at me.
My car dies three
times on my way home, each time I manage to get it to sputter back to life and
I finally make it back to my apartment. My apartment is in a white building
just outside of the downtown area. It isn't necessarily on the best side of
town, but it's at least a place to stay. There's my neighbor, Lavern standing
in her front door as I pull up to the apartment. She's yelling across the
street where a guy is walking away “Yeah, you keep walking, See if I ever let
you back in here, you just can't handle this body; it's too fine for you,” she
turns to the side presenting her booty and gives it a little slap. “Take a good
look cause you ain't never going to see my ass again!” She slams the door. I
must have missed and interesting day, I observe.
I walk up to my
apartment door and go inside. “AH-CHOO!” I hear from Nay Nay's room. “Is that
you Shay Shay?”
“Yeah, I just got
back.” I reply while setting my purse on the table.
“Did the interview
go well?”
“I guess it did,
what was with the weird questions? I felt horrified after asking them,” I
grimaced as the memory invaded my mind.
“I'm writing a
piece for a magazine, did Yoshi answer all of them?”
“Yoshi?” Oh!
No! I think I interviewed the wrong guy... but that was Mr. Kawaii and
she said Mr. Kawaii and he knew who Priscilla was...
“Mr. Kawaii, His
name is Yoshiyuki Kawaii” She says stopping my thoughts in my tracks. I should
really stop listening to the village idiot.
“Oh, sorry, I
should have known that.”
“It's okay, you
were probably nervous anyway.”
“Yeah, I kind of
was. What was with asking him if he was gay anyway?” I ask as I walk towards
Priscilla's room.
“He like, pink,
purple, fuzzy, fluffy things, so out of curiosity I had to ask.”
“You know about
that?” I ask, I'm now at her door frame. Priscilla sits on her bed. She looks a
lot better and doesn't seem to be sneezing or coughing as much and there's
significantly less mucus.
“Yes, I know about that, It's on his 'about
me' on his facebook page.”
“Mr. Kawaii has a
facebook page?”
“Who doesn't these
days, besides how else do you think I got the meeting set up?”
“I thought maybe
you hounded his PR people until they granted you audience.” I replied simply
“You're funny,”
she says giggling “Things don't work like that anymore, that's the beauty of
social networks.” She says with a big smile
“I'm glad one of
us thinks I'm funny.” I say scowling
“Shay? What's on
your face?”
“What are you
talking about?
“There's something
on your face, brown, yellow, red, all around your mouth.” She says while
squinting at me.
“There is?”
“Yeah, your face
is a mess, Shay Shay.”
“Well, I did go to
a fast food restaurant after the interview,” I guiltily say.
“Chili cheese
fries?” She asks
“Chili cheese
fries, double bacon cheeseburger, and a slushy.” I say looking at the floor.
“No,” Nay Nay says
in horror, “Please tell me you didn't.”
“I did,” I mumble
hanging my head in shame.
“How are you ever
going to get a boyfriend when you insist of gorging yourself on food like that,
then you don't even clean yourself off. You could have at least cleaned
yourself up when you were done.”
“I'm sorry, I
didn't notice that I had gotten my face dirty.”
“Well you should
have gone to the bathroom and looked at yourself. I feel embarrassed for you.”
“That makes two of
us who feel embarrassed.” I mumble “I'm going to go wash my face, then I have
to get ready for work.” I tell her as I walk away.
“Before you go
will you give me the recorder?”
“Sure, let me go
get it.” I walk into the dining room and take the recorder out of my purse. I
return to Priscilla's room and hand her the recorder. “Here,” I say as I hand
it to her.
“Thank you,” She
says taking the recorder smiling big.
I walk to my room
and go into my bathroom and look at my face. I have chili all around my mouth.
I look almost like a clown with all the food remnants that are on my face. I
must remember to look at my face after eating, I must remember to look at my
face after eating, I must remember to look at my face after eating. I tell
myself over and over. I change out of my old school uniform, take the
scrunchies out of my hair, comb my hair out and then dress in a solid color
t-shirt and jeans. I touch up my makeup and I'm ready for work.
“Bye! I'm off to
work!” I yell at Priscilla as I leave. I didn't hear a response back. She must be
asleep I think to myself. I get in my car and drive the two miles to my job.
It's not the best job, but it's a paycheck. I park towards the back of the
parking lot and walk into the building. As I walk in I'm surrounded by skimpy
outfits, dildos, dongs, plugs, oils, lube, novelty items and condoms. It took
me a while to get used to working here, but after three years I
was immune to the shock.
I walk towards the
counter, go behind it, go into the room behind the counter, put my stuff up,
and
clock in at the computer. “Bye,” the other clerk tells me as
she walks into the employee room, grabs her stuff and leaves. I stand at the
counter bored. There really isn't a whole lot to do. I've seen the inventory
hundreds of times, there is nothing that is sold here that I haven't seen
before. There are a couple of regulars, but for the most part, it's giddy girls
who have just become old enough to enter the store, or bachelorette girls
giving the bride one last night out before she's married. I get asked from time
to time what vibrator is best, or if I have a boyfriend. I usually tell the
former what I overhear others say and tell the latter I'm not interested. It's
company policy not to accept dates while working in the store. It makes sense
too because I've been asked out by some real creepers. One even followed me to
my house once.
I finish out my
shift, close the store and go home. I don't hear anything from Priscilla when I
enter. I make myself a bowl of ramen noodles eat, go to my room and sleep. I
dream of pinks, purples, and teddy bears.
The next morning I
wake. Priscilla is already up and listing to the recorder. She chortles at the
part where Yoshi mentions his penis. “Wow,” she say, “This interview is great!
I like the part where he asks you if you want to be his girlfriend.”
“I didn't find it
so funny,” I was embarrassed.
“You must have
impressed him if he asked you that.”
“I think he was
joking.” I reply blankly
“Maybe, but what
if he was serious?”
“He ended the
interview quickly after that, if he was serious he would have tried to spend
more time with me.”
“He did ask you if
you had any questions. Why did you waste in on the walls in the lobby?”
“I was curious.
You should have seen them. I've never seen walls look like that.”
“I've seen
pictures... speaking of which. I wish I could have gotten pictures.”
“I can tell you
how he looked.”
“No need, I know what he looks like, facebook,
remember?”
“Oh yeah. Well if
it helps he was wearing an orange shirt and black pants.”
“Okay”
I leave Priscilla
to write her article or whatever it is that's she doing. I have a while before
I have to go to work. I decide to study for my GED. I fire up the desktop
computer that is by the wall in the living room. It's old but it works well.
Sure, it isn't the latest apple model, but It's outlasted them. If something
breaks I just have a friend look it over and the part gets replaced. No
“genius” to deal with. I click on the program for my GED study and my phone
rings. It's my mom. I talk to her for a while. She asks me if I know that the
end of the world is coming, and she tells me that she's building a bunker and
stocking it up with supplies. She tells me that if we're bombed or an asteroid
crashes, or some other disaster happens that I need to find a way to make it to
her place so that I can survive. I worry about my mom. Before this she was
certain that aliens were coming and she did a lot of preparing for a first
encounter. I blame it on the desert. If she didn't insist on living in the
desert, semi isolated then maybe she would be more normal. That's what caused
me to drop out of high school. She decided the desert would be a safer place to
live over the city and moved. I told her I wasn't going to go with her. I then
found myself without a place to live and I had to find a way to make money. I'm
trying to fix all that now. Once I get my GED I can give college a try. I end
the conversation with my mom, telling her that I need to study and hang up. I
begin clicking around on the program and soon find the last place I left off.
I'm engrossed in
history when my phone ring again. This time it's my dad. I talk to him for a
while.
He's no longer with my mom. She left him before she moved to
the desert. Sometimes I wonder if he really noticed. I didn't ask him for a
place to live because he tends to be neglectful. My dad has a serious gaming
addiction. He's playing a game now as he talks to me. I can her gun fire and
helicopters in the back ground. He tells me about how he's beaten some game I
don't remember and what he thought about it. My mind begins to drift off. I add
an um hmm here and there and eventually there's no talking from him. I still
hear the game in the background, he must have gotten absorbed into the game
again. I hang up the phone.
I begin to read
the chapter I was on in history, and I glance at the clock it's time to go to
work again. My parents kept me on the phone for a while. So much for studying.
I get dress and leave the apartment. Lavern is at her door yelling at someone
else. At least there's never a dull moment. I smile at myself.
The rest of the
week goes by in a blur. Priscilla gets fully over her SARS, and I get some good
quality studying in. If this pattern keeps up I might be able to pass my GED
test in a couple more weeks. Nothing interesting happens at work, and very
rarely does anything note worthy happen. By Friday I'm noting that it's been a
week since I interviewed Yoshi. I think about his smile when there's a knock at
the door. I get up and walk to the door and there's my friend Owen. He fixes my
computer for me when I need it and he does some sort of boxer wrestling thing.
He's never competed, just chasing after a dream.
“Hi Owen,” I say holding
the door open for him so that he can come in.
“Hi, Shannon,” he
says with a big smile. “What are you doing?”
“I'm studying for
my GED,” I say proudly.
“You mean you're
not looking at porn?” He asks with a smirk.
“Why would I be
looking at porn? I'm around enough of it as it is when I'm at work” I say
returning his smirk.
“Is Priscilla
around?” He asks looking around the apartment. “I heard she had SARS this
week.”
“Yeah, it was
pretty bad, but she's all better now and she's here somewhere.”
“Is that Owen?” We
hear from the other room.
“Yeah,” Owen and I
say in unison.
“Hi, Owen,”
Priscilla says. “What are you doing here?'
“I thought I would
stop by and see if you all would like to watch a couple movies, drink some beer
and just hang out,” Owen replies.
“Sound like fun,”
I say.
“That sound
great,” Priscilla says as she enters the living room.
Owen leaves and
comes back in with a twenty-four pack of beer and two movies. We sit on and
around the couch and watch the movies. During the movies we chat a little bit
and catch up on the weeks events. Owen tells us that he finally got in on a
fight and wants us to come. We congratulate him and tell him we'll go. I used
to be interested in Owen at one point in my life. He was interested in my too.
We acted on our interests but the sex was terrible. I don't know if it was him
or me or the mixture, but it just did not work. We settled on being friends and
it works okay like this. I think he has an interest in Priscilla now, and I
think she might like him too. They might have already slept together for all I
know. I don't pry into her private life.
Owen leaves the
apartment and I settle in for a nights rest. When I wake up I do some more studying
and then go to work. I'm at work for two very boring hours when I hear the door
chime go off indicating that someone has entered the store. “May I help
you with anything?” I ask before seeing who's there. It's automatic, we're
required to ask everyone that.
“I was wondering
if you have anything fuzzy or furry,” Says the customer.
My jaw drops open
standing before me is Yoshi Kawaii. He's smiling at me and I smile back. “We
have fuzzy dice and furry handcuffs. We also have lingerie with fuzzy faux fur
on the edges,” I say calmly indicating each item as I talk.
“Very well then,
I'll take one of each,” He says.
I pick up the
items, “Would you like me to ring this up now or do you want to look around
some more?”
“I would like to
go ahead and ring them up now,” He says grinning at me. “Did your roommate get
better?”
“Yeah, she did,
thank you again for letting me meet with you Mr. Kawaii.”
“I'm glad you were
able to meet with me. It was very pleasant,” Yoshi replied happily.
“I'll tell
Priscilla that you asked about her,” I say as I scan the items one by one.
“That reminds me, she had said that she wanted pictures of you.”
“Oh, she does? He
asks staring at me.
“Yeah, that's what
she said.” I say as I bag the items.
“Here, this is my
card, give me a call and you two can come out and get some pictures, and when
you do please wear that uniform you had on, it was really cute.”
I take the card
from him “You think it was cute? That's what I was going for but I wasn't
sure.”
“Oh it was very
cute,” He bubbles.
“I'll let
Priscilla know that you're willing do to some photos, that will make her day.
That will be $80.69”
“Thank you,” he
says and swipes his card. He smiles at me after signing the receipt and leaves
the store.
Mr.
Kawaii thinks I'm cute I smile at myself. I've never been told I was
cute before. I revel in the memory until the door rings letting me know the
next customer has arrived. I decide that when I go on brake I'm going to call
Priscilla and let her know Yoshi will do some photos. She will be excited.
I think to myself.
