O5 Short Tempered and Abrasive

"SHORT TEMPERED AND ABRASIVE"

After the world's most tension fill dinner of pizza and cheesy bread, I didn't leave my room for a week. Only sneaking out when I was absolutely sure I wouldn't run into my mom.

The night of the fight, my parents talked until the sun came up. Since no one bothered to cut my power back on until breakfast, it was all I had to listen to. They whisper-shouted back and forth about responsibilities and discipline and me and Sabrina.

My sister left the state two years ago, right after her high school graduation, with nothing but a one way ticket to Minnesota. We had a cousin out there who was more than happy to take in Sabrina.

But before that, Sabrina had a rough time with my mom. They butted heads more often and more violently than my mom and I did. It all came to a head when Sabrina got pregnant.

My mom officially gave up on Sabrina and focused all her rage on me. The leash she had me on was shorter than my temper. While I took my dad's humor and laid back energy, Sabrina had our mom's.

I could make a joke and move on, but when those two went at it, it lasted forever. Sometimes my dad would physically have to remove one of them, just to shut them up. My grandma, my mom's mom, always said they were too much alike and that's where all the tension came from.

Two bullheaded women who didn't know when to back down.

Unlike Sabrina, I wasn't interested in yelling back and forth with my mom. I think my silence annoyed her more than anything. Fighting was the most exhausting thing and I didn't have the energy for an all out shouting match.

I was still in my room, waiting for my mom to leave for work when the doorbell rang. Opening my bedroom door just a little, I heard my dad open the door. Then I heard Peter's voice.

He'd been messaging me all week about the daycamp stuff. But I didn't want to talk to him or anyone honestly. Even Cherry couldn't reach me. I wasn't expecting him to show up my house, though.

"You'll have to go up there." I over heard my dad saying. "She's been in a mood."

Slowly, I closed the door and did a quick scan of my room. It was worse than it was the other day. Dirty plates and cups littered my desk. There was a mountain of laundry in the corner. Crumbs in my bed. Soda cans underneath it. I wouldn't let Cherry in here, let alone Mr. Perfect.

I found my old school bag and dumped dishes in it. Haphazardly threw my lilac comforter over my messy bed. Shoved old soda cans in my closet. I had just slid my closet door shut when someone knocked on my door.

"What do you want?" I shouted as I looked over myself in the mirror. I quickly redid my pony tail and straightened out green sundress that I threw on because it was the only clean thing left in my closet that was also comfortable. I spritz some perfume around the room just in case it smelled funny.

"It's Peter."

Satisfied with my quick clean up job, I opened the door just enough to see his clear blue eyes. His curly hair was fluffy across his forehead and today's shirt was Motion City Soundtrack.

"That's not what I asked," I corrected him. "What do you want?"

"You forget about the piano lesson today?"

"Achoo. I'm sick. It's contagious."

He leaned in, lowering his voice. "Are you okay?" He gazed at me through the small crack in the door, full of concern.

"Never better."

"Cherry's worried about you."

"You talked to Cherry?"

He nodded. "She says she hasn't talked to you all week."

"That's a lie. I sent her a thumbs up emoji just yesterday."

"She needs a more conclusive proof of life." He looked down at me through his long lashes. "Come hangout at the daycamp. Fridays are pretty slow so you don't have to worry about the kids."

The last thing I wanted to do was ask my mom if I could step out into civilization. I hadn't said a word to her all week. There was no way she'd say yes. Not even to Peter Conway.

He leaned his head on the door jam. His unruly curls creeping into my room. I couldn't pinpoint the scent of his shampoo, but I liked it. "Please?"

"My mom will say no."

"She already said yes."

I met his eyes. Full on shocked. "You asked?"

"Before coming up here," he confirmed. "She said the sun might brighten your gloomy puss mood."

My face scrunched up. "She didn't say that."

"Those were her exact words."

What was it about Peter that turned my mom into a cheese ball?

He stood up straight, talking at normal volume. "So, what do you say gloomy puss? We got Otterpops."

"You should've led with that."

***

I hadn't been to the elementary school since graduating in fifth grade. The swing set looked new and they removed the sandbox. The sandbox was basically a giant kitty litter box for the strays, so that was a good call. So many kids ended up with ringworm from that thing. Myself included.

"She lives!" Cherry rushed over to me, wrapping me in a huge hug. Her siblings, Audri and Austin were bickering over a shady spot on a bench.

"Sorry, I haven't been around." Seeing her in person, I felt so guilty for ignoring her all this time.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, touching my shoulder to look me in the eyes.

"Do I ever want to talk about it?"

She giggled. "I'll take that as a no."

Peter, who'd politely stood out of ear shot, led us to the first activity of the day. Like he said, there weren't many kids in the class. Just Audri, Austin and two other kids.

The kids played a spelling game with chalk on the black top with another volunteer while the three of us sat at a picnic bench.

My mom was right about the sun. I tilted my head back, basking in it.

"You heard about Daniel's party tonight?" Cherry asked, her pink and red hair styled in two low pigtails.

"The one I'm definitely not invited to? Yeah." I said, taking a lick of my red Otterpop.

"Are you the bad vibes, the crazies, or the Taylor Swift wannabe?" Cherry questioned. Her tongue dyed blue from her own ice pop.

I posed with my hand under in my chin, fluttering my lashes. "Three for three, baby!"

"What if we snuck in?" Peter hadn't said much since the drive over and this was definitely surprising.

My brows rose. "Why?"

"To get your notebook." He said simply.

"Daniel has it?" Cherry asked, looking between the two of us. There was a lot I had to fill her in on.

The bruise on my arm started to fade, but I still felt Daniel's grip around me. "Maybe. It make sense. He's pissed about my music video."

Cherry considered this, biting into to her ice pop. "I don't know. Was Daniel even at school on the last day?"

That was a good question. Most seniors were absent on the very last day of school. But some showed up after last bell to get people to sign their yearbooks. Daniel could've been among them.

"I still think it's worth a look," Peter mused, sipping water from his reusable water bottle. He turned to me. "I can go alone if you don't want to run into Daniel after what happened in the field."

"What happened in the field?" Cherry questioned, eyes trained on me.

Guilt washed over Peter's features. "Sorry. I thought she knew."

Of course he'd assume I told my best friend what happened. I should've told her. But my head hadn't been right since losing my notebook.

"I ran into Daniel after I left your house the other day," I said, focused on getting every last drop of juice from my ice pop tube.

"And?"

"And he grabbed me. Hard." I pointed out the faded mark on my arm.

The fury in her eyes rivaled Peter's that day in the field. "Oh, we're definitely crashing that party."

***

As fate would have it, my mom had a little too much wine with dinner and was out like a light by eight. My dad was probably awake, binging some cop show in their bedroom. That meant sneaking out was going to be pretty easy.

I took my time getting ready for Daniel's party. Swapping the green dress for a denim pleated skirt and a shirt I made my self with iron on letters saying "I Don't Wanna Dance With You". It was perfect for tonight. I left my hair down and actually took some time on my make up. I finished off the look with my trusty black Converse.

Tip-toeing down the stairs, I snuck out through the garage. I cut through my neighbors backyard and I hopped the fence into the Conway's yard.

The first thing I noticed when I landed was all the gym equipment. That explained why Peter was so fit.

The second thing was Peter himself, waiting for me like we'd agreed earlier.

He wore the same thing he had on at the daycamp. Which was probably why he stared at me now. He was probably confused about why I changed my outfit. His questioning gaze had me doubting my look. Maybe I was doing too much? We, specifically me, were supposed to be under the radar.

"Is it too much?" I asked, tugging the hem of my skirt.

Peter's eyes slowly looked me over. Head-to-toe. With a shake of his head, he said, "You look...It's not too much. It's...Yeah."

A smile tugged at me lips as relief flooded within me. His reaction was unexpected but entirely welcomed. "Yeah? That the adjective you're going with?"

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, eyes still focused on me. "You're the yeah-est girl I've ever seen."

I laughed, tucking hair behind my ear. "I'll take it."

"Right. So. We should go pick up Cherry." He whipped around so fast, I had to run to catch up to him as we went around the house to his car. Okay. Weird.

Once we were settled in his car, he started it up and pulled out the driveway. When we pulled up to a stop sign, he asked, "Are you cold?"

"Do I look cold?"

He glanced at me, his gaze lingering on my exposed legs. He quickly turned back to the street. "Just asking."

He was definitely checking me out. Normally, I'd have a something sarcastic to say, but I was coming up blank. That was a first. "I'm fine, Conway."

"Cool." He tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel. His gaze flicked to me every few seconds.

"What?" I asked.

He looked like a kid getting caught sneaking candy. "Oh! Uh, look, there's Cherry."

He came to a stop in front of Cherry's house and she climbed into the back seat. She wore a cherry print dress and flip flops. Her bright pink bathing suit peek from underneath it. Her hair was still in pig tails.

"So, do we have a plan?" She asked as Peter headed to Daniel's.

"Find the notebook," I declared.

"That's a plan I guess." She sounded unsure. "How are you going to search for it? What happens if Daniel catches you?"

"We'll search with our eyes and Daniel can never catch me. I'm the gingerbread man."

Cherry rolled her eyes but still laughed. "Seriously, Faye. You gotta have an escape plan."

"The most important part will be keeping Daniel from seeing Faye," Peter said. "One of us will have to keep an eye on him. Keep him distracted."

"I volunteer as tribute." Cherry raised three fingers like she was entering the hungar games.

I turned to her. "You just want to get in his pool."

Cherry spent about eighty percent of her life in water. She was definitely a mermaid in a past life.

"I can multitask." She shifted in her seat, kicking a bag. She picked it up. "What are the snacks for?"

"The party," Peter answered.

Cherry and I shared a confused look. "Why?" I asked.

"It's rude to show up to a party empty handed."

I snorted. "You've seriously never been to a high school party, have you?"

His cheeks flushed. "What? Is that wrong?"

Cherry giggled. "That's actually really adorable."

His face reddened even more from Cherry calling him adorable or general embarrassment, I didn't know. But he'd never been cuter than in that moment.

And oh my god, what was I saying?

Peter parked his car a block away from Daniel's house. The three of us walked down the street, going over our game plan one more time.

"So," Peter said, clapping his hands together. "Cherry, you make sure Daniel doesn't come looking for Faye. Me and Faye will search the house. Starting with his bedroom."

Daniel's bedroom. The scene of our unceremonious break-up. It was right a week before graduation. We were in his bed, messing around. I'd just had a fight with my mom and I wasn't entirely in the mood to make out. He didn't like that I was distracted and asked me why I came over if we weren't going to do to anything.

All I wanted was to be in the same room with him. To have this guy I was crazy about hold me and showed me he cared. But it was clear he only cared about one thing.

I straight up asked him if all he wanted from me was sex. He told me to "chill" and to "stop being so sensitive". Like an idiot I apologized and told him about the fight I had with my mom. He interrupted to tell me he couldn't do it anymore. That I was too intense and living in a fantasy if I thought any guy would want to sit around talking feelings.

He dumped me then and there. Kicking me out of his room, his house. His life.

I might've kicked his car a few times before leaving. It barely left a mark. Just like I barely left any trace on Daniel after two months together.

I wrote "I Don't Wanna Dance With You" later that day. A song about a girl who was done with boys who only wanted the good times and none of the bad.

I don't wanna dance with you if you don't wanna love me too.

When we got to Daniel's house, music that was mostly bass thumped from inside. The front door was closed. I grabbed Peter's hand before he rang the doorbell.

"That's unnecessary," I said before opening the door to the party inside.

The music got louder and it was like walking into music video. Girls in bikinis and shirtless guys as far as the eye could see.

Cherry started bobbing to the music as soon as we stepped in. "I'll find Daniel," she yelled over the music before elbowing her way through a throng of people.

Daniel's room was at the end of the hall on the second floor. The stairs were blocked off with duct tape and a hand written sign that said "beware of dog". His french bulldog, Dozer, was the sweetest, laziest, little thing. So I wasn't worried as I ducked under the tape.

Peter followed close behind, constantly checking over his shoulder as if any of these inebriated people were paying attention to us.

"Relax, Conway." I said after he bumped into me because he was too busy looking behind himself to see that I stopped.

He mumbled an apology as I opened Daniel's bedroom door. The stench if sweat and Febreze hit hard as we walked in. His room was tidy, only because his mom picked up after him.

The first time he told me that, I thought it was a joke. But on multiple occasions while I was over, she'd come into Daniel's room to pick up his laundry or dirty dishes like she was a maid service.

It's crazy how many red flags you can find about a person after the fact.

Dozer laid on Daniel's neatly made bed, barely lifting his head when he saw us. Some guard dog he was. I gave him a couple belly rubs. Dogs were my weakness.

"Okay, we probably don't have much time," Peter said, already shifting through stuff on Daniel's chest of drawers. "Let's hurry."

But I wasn't focused on Peter, though. I walked over to Daniel's nightstand. There was a picture of the two of us kissing, still framed.

I remembered the day vividly. It was a few days after we made things official. We were hanging out in his pool one unusually warm April day.

He surprised me with a printed version for each of us in matching frames. He was so sweet in the beginning. Or at least he pretended to be.

Why would he keep the picture, though? My copy was immediately burned after he broke things off.

Peter came up behind me, peering over my shoulder at the picture.

"Would you keep a picture of an ex you supposedly hate?" I asked him, tracing my finger over the edge of the frame.

I absolutely didn't want Daniel back, but it was nice to think he still had feelings for me.

"Not to be crude, but you are in a bikini. So..."

I paused. My gag reflex activated. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Daniel got off on the picture. I undid the back of the frame and removed the picture, tearing it in half. I left the half with him inside the frame and placed back where I found it.

"Let's find the book and get out of here." The whole room gave me the ick.

We started searching, Peter taking the left side and me taking the right. I searched his bed, nightstand and laundry hamper. Peter rifled through his closet and dresser. Both of us came up empty.

"Maybe he burn it," I said. That was honestly the best case scenario at this point.

"It could be in his car."

"Wait." I stepped closer to the window.

He immediately went on high alert. "Faye, what is it?"

I held up a hand to quiet him, glancing between the curtains. Below, Daniel's pool was full of floaties, beach balls, and kids from school. There was a DJ booth set up in the furthest part of the yard, away from the pool. Next to it, a white sheet with music videos projected on it.

The video, I instantly recognized as mine. The opening lines of "I Don't Wanna Dance With You" started. An eruption of cheers came from the crowd, mostly the girls. I flash of pink and red darted from the DJ booth. Cherry.

"Oh my god!" I squealed as I opened the window to get a better listen.

Peter came up beside me to see what I was freaking out about. When the chorus started and people shouted the lyrics, I was almost in tears.

"That's my song!" I cried, gripping Peter's shirt sleeve. "They're singing my song!"

"Who the hell turned that on?" Daniel's big voice bellowed from below as he rushed over to the DJ booth. The poor DJ didn't know what to do and Daniel kept barking at him. "Take it down, right now! Everyone shut the hell up!"

The chorus started again and I couldn't help myself, I shouted the words along with everyone else. Never in my life could I have imagined a moment like this. My songs were personal to me and I hoped others could resonate, but this went beyond my expectations.

Peter lightly touched my shoulder to get my attention. "We have to go."

"What?" I wasn't thinking about leaving, still caught up in the moment of hearing my song at a party.

He pointed to the crowd below. In the midst of people singing my lyrics, one of Daniel's buddies pointed up at Peter and me, Daniel right beside him. Daniel's face was red with anger, his eyes darker than his hair. "FAYE!"

He started pushing people out of the way as he made his way to the backdoor of his house.

"Let's go." Peter didn't wait for me to react, just grabbed my hand in his and ran.

We burst through the tape at the bottom of the stairs like it was a finish line and headed for the front door. Peter called out a dozen apologies as he shoved people out the way. We broke out into the cool night air. Cherry waited for us at the end of the driveway.

"Faye!" Daniel ran out of the house, a crowd behind him. "You crazy bitch!"

The three of us didn't stop or turn around. We just kept running into the night.

*******

What did you think of this chapter? We got to learn about Faye and Daniel's break up (and what a creep he is).

Plus Peter clearly checking Faye out !!

I'm excited to keep writing this! Please show your support by commenting and voting.

Also shouting out plum_blossom_1234 for always leaving comments 💖💖