Demons

Chapter Seven

When I got home it was like a brick hit me as I fell on the bed. I barely had enough time to shut my eyes before I was asleep.

My eyes are closed as the light turns on. A finger prods my side and shakes me from side to side, then leaves me alone.

“Wake up sleep head,” Lauren throws me the leather jacket I left downstairs in the kitchen. “We’re going out to eat.”

I stand up, smoothing down the skirt part of my dress. “Where?”

She searches through her closet for something new to wear and settles on a pair of red skinny jeans, a white shirt and a cardigan that has all different colors including the matching red of her pants. She holds it up in front of her, subconsciously asking. I nod an approval, and she smiles. “Dennis, everyone’s there on Friday,” She searches the bottom of her closet for a pair of shoes and settles for a black pair of converse.

“You gonna change?’

I look down at my clothes, “Nah, I’m okay. I’ll just brush my teeth.” I walk out and go to the bathroom.

“Five minutes,” She says from down the hall.

“I’ll be down in two,” I yell back and grab my tooth brush.

Walking into the crowded diner, it reminds me of how much I love this place. Small town, but a variety of people. The town band that goes to our school is sitting in the last booth in the back playing a song they must’ve just made. I haven’t heard it before. The jocks and their cheerleader girlfriends sit near the entrance, families and other people on dates sit in the middle.

“Where ya wanna sit?” Lauren asks walking down the hall, clutching her huge purse like a puppy.

I spy a booth open near the back but close to the middle too. “There,” I say walking over to it.

As soon as we sit down Lauren starts the conversation I hoped she wouldn’t “So, Zandor is kinda hot right?”

“No,” I say sarcastically. “He’s just average, leaning more to the ugly side. And those lips, they would make any girl run away screaming, I don’t want to-”

“You don’t want to what?” Comes a voice from overhead. Of course it’s him. Of course of all the times for someone to catch me when I’m talking about them it would be now and it would be him. Why can’t I just evaporate, just boom! You know, explode right now and have my ash float away and sink into the sea somewhere. No, I have to live and be right here as he waits for an answer.

He flicks his hair in that sexy way I love... then he smiles as if he heard what I just said. Weird. “Um, we were just... uh...” I look at Lauren for help and she snickers a little before answering.

“We were talking about this Zandor that we met a few days ago,” She explains... lies. “He hit every branch of the ugly tree on the way down. Trust me.”

We stand there in awkward silence for a seconds, he rakes a hand through his soft golden locks of hair. I look at my hands, making sure they’re still there, and Lauren takes peeks at us, back... and forth and then back again.

“Well, I’ll just find another table,” He says and starts to walk away. Lauren gives me the face that says, “Don’t you dare let him walk away!”

I sigh. “Come sit with us,” He smiles and comes back over. Lauren sets down her purse beside her, leaving Zandor with one other option... me.

I slide over, and lean my head against the wall. Lauren shoots me one of her motherly looks telling me that I’m being rude. I sit up.

“So what are you guys gonna eat?” She asks, picking up her laminated menu.

“You already know what I like,” I say to her.

Zandor smiles. “I don’t know, I’ve never been here before,” He picks up the menu, asking with his eyes if I need it. I smile and nod an okay. He opens it and his eyes skim over, I even love that about him, the way his hazel eyes glide back and forth over the page, and the delicate way his hands hold the menu. I realize I’m staring and look away.

“Would you all like to order later or start with drinks,” The waitress asks. “or would you like to order now?”

Lauren asks us with her eyes and we nod an okay. “Now would be fine,” She looks at us and then decides.

“I guess I’ll go first, I’ll have your lemonade and the chicken salad, grilled with the chicken on the side.”

“Um, I’ll have the BLT with a Sprite,” I say.

“You want your bread regular or toasted?” The waitress asks.

“Toasted please,” I say.

“I’ll have your home style breakfast and water,” Zandor says after studying the menu for some time..

“Bacon or sausage for you, honey?” The waitress asks.

Zandor look at me and smiles, “Bacon,”

“Would like your eggs scrambled or sunny-side-up?”

“Scrambled,” He replies.

“Is that all for you folks?” She asks looking up from her pad.

“Me might get dessert later,” Lauren says and the waitress walks away. “So is Zandor short for Alexander?”

“Nope, just Zandor,” He says.

“What’s your last name?” She asks, invading his space. I shoot her a look, but she ignores it.

“Why?” He asks.

And without even as much as a pause, she says, “So I can add you on f*******:,”

“I don’t have a f*******:,” He smiles.

“Really,” She says, shock all over her face. “That is... interesting,”

“You can say it,” He smiles. “I know, it’s weird to most people,”

Lauren smiles. “Yeah, most... normal people. Dawn doesn’t have one either,”

The waitress comes back with our drinks that I nervously suck down. After that there’s mostly silence, the weird kind that needs to be filled but has no easy way of doing it. So we keep sucking down our drinks and then our food comes which gives us a good reason to be quiet. I bite into the crunchy layers of my sandwich - the flavors still amaze me after the billionth time - the lettuce, the bacon, the mayonnaise. I moan at how good it tastes and then realize what I just did, looking up at Zandor and Lauren.

Zandor just smiles, then Lauren cracks a little giggle, then an all out laugh and then both of them are laughing.

“I guess you really like BLT’s,” Zandor says.

“You bet,” I say taking another bite. “Bacon is like... my everlasting love,” I say and nod my head in assurance.

He smiles. “Everlasting huh?”

I laugh a little. “Yep, well maybe I’ll have to slow down a little when I get older because of all the fat and grease in it. And I sound like a total girl... sorry, I’m not usually like this,”

“Don’t be sorry,” He says smiling. “You are a girl... right?”

“Yes, that I am sure of,” I take another bite of my sandwich but in my peripheral, I can see that his eyes are on me.  

He spears a piece of egg on the end of his fork, and Lauren spears a piece of lettuce on the end of hers. I start on the other half of my BLT, a strip of bacon falling out. After taking another bite, it is like a river made it to my “dam” because I have the sudden urge to pee. I guess drinking all that Sprite can do that to you.

“Sorry, I’ll be right back,” I say, and then. “Bathroom,” to Lauren’s pleading face.

The walk to the restroom is fast and awkward, starting off with the cheerleader-less jock, Jesse. “You look hot, Dawn. I’m cold, come warm me up will you?” He winks and pats his lap, I guess that would be called... seductive. I give him a smile and then the middle finger. “Well, you’re ugly anyway.”

I laugh at him. “Of course I am, that’s why you wanted me to ‘warm’ you up,” I walk away, purposely sashaying my hips even more, showing him exactly how “ugly” I am. I open the swinging door and step into a stall, using it and then going out of it.

Walking up to the sink, I don’t sense anything wrong. I pump out a little soap with one hand and turn on the cold water with the other. I look up to see if my makeup has smeared any, but my face isn’t there at all. No, it’s Lauren, but she’s not the way I left her with her red pants and her white shirt and her colorful cardigan. She is dressed from head to foot in black lace. The dress whips around her but there is no wind, there isn’t even an open window. The dress shows her thin waist which is even thinner now, and then I look at her face. Her cheeks are hollow as if she hasn’t eaten in months, but she is surviving off of something else. The crooked smile on her face scares me and the... eyeliner, no. Those are demons surrounding her eyes. They wisp and float around them making the darkness within come out.

Procurator Diaboli, she says, but it is said in my mind and with a voice that isn’t hers but many others. Demons.

I close my eyes, tears escaping them and clinging to the eyelashes. I think to myself, when they open she won’t be there. And when I open them, she’s not there, just me and my makeup that’s fine. I wash my hands and then wipe my eyes with the paper towel, then my hands. I take a few deep breaths, pulling myself together before going out. I smooth down my skirt and then walk out back to the table.

“So, why were you crying?” Zandor asks me as Lauren takes care of the bill inside. I pull my jacket closer around me, more out of protection that coldness. But not protection from him.

I look up at him. “How’d you know?”

“I know a lot of things,” He says easily.

“You wouldn’t understand,” I say confidently. “I assure you,”

“I assure you I understand more than you know,” I look up at him as the cold breeze pushes his hair back and forth a little. Then Lauren comes out.

But the question I really have is why didn’t she see? Or worse yet, maybe she did.

I hear something whisper in my mind, it’s going to be alright.

“Well,” Lauren comes up smiling. “We’ll see you at school,”

“Yeah,” He says smiling that cute half-smile he has. “See you girls later. Dawn.” Then he walks away, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“You wanna go to a movie?” She asks walking to her car.

“No thanks, I’m tired,” I say. “But I won’t be mad if you go,”

“I’ll just stay with you,” She says smiling, but I can see the darkness hovering behind it. “We can watch a cheesy chick flick,” She turns her back. When I look back to catch a last look at Zandor, he’s gone. Almost as if he was never there in the first place.