Chapter 3 - Doing What She Likes

The noise.

The STUPID f*****g noise.

It was beautiful, different, nice... But annoying.

The sound of music and smell of food fully got be to wake up. I took a long glance around the room, keeping my eyes away from the open window to my right. Does she always do that? I never liked being in the sun so I always kept my curtains closed. I moved the covers and stood from the bed before walking down to the kitchen. But then I saw a full body mirror showing everything that I was wearing that night.

An easter pink nightgown with blue shorts. My eyes widen in confusion. I don’t remember changing last night... Well... I don’t remember anything after going into the lake with Lizzabeth. “These must be her clothes.” Mumbling to myself, I can hear the T.V downstairs and her laughing along with it. I walked on down to see her in the kitchen cooking. The T.V was on some movie I don’t recall seeing before.

“Oh! Hayz, I was just about to wake you up. I thought because we might not be back in town til noon, I’ll make eggs and french toast for us. You’re plate’s at the table.” She said with a smile. I shuffled my way into the kitchen and sat at the table.

“You look a lot like a southern belle.”

Lizzabeth laughed and came to sit beside me with her plate. “Being a southern belle is in my family.” She giggled slightly but then went quiet, “Hayz? What’s up, why aren’t you eating?” I blinked and snapped back to earth.

“I-I’m sorry. There’s nothing wrong. I just got a little caught up in the smell.” I laughed it off. To tell the truth, I don’t remember why I spaced out or even what I was thinking about. It just happened. I picked up my fork and started eating. We started chatting about what we could do today and where we could go. She’s knows so many places out in the country and even suggested we head a little bit south of Virginia.

She looked over at me but not to me. Her smile faded to more a scared looked. “Oh s**t...” Lizzabeth mumbled, “Get up, get up, get up. You need to hide.” She started running around, putting the plates in the sink and cleaning up.

I jumped up but wasn’t sure where to hide. But now I’m not sure why I need to hide. “What? Why? What’s wrong?” The door knob shook then a knock on the door. I got a little scared and hide in the first thing I saw; this big ottoman that sat in the middle of the living room. I lifted the top and stepped inside and closed hood. She opened the door and I can her dad walking in.

“Hey Liz. I just came to check up on ya. You didn’t call last night, I got just a bit worried.”

She laughed, “Worried about what? I’m just sitting here watching movies and eatin’ stuff, I’m okay.”

“I know, I know. It’s just you’re all the way out here by yourself...” It got real quiet. I laid in the ottoman trying to breathing down, though it was hard,. There wasn’t much air getting inside this thing. “Did you make food for two? A little bit much for a bitty girl like you.”

“I... Yeah, I didn’t eat anything last night, really. I got real hungry when I woke up.” Lizzabeth said. I can hear him walking around ask her questions about the backyard and the breakfast. Soon the footsteps that echoed on the wooden floor stopped. I held my breath just a bit.

I couldn’t hear anything. Like, they just stood there looking at each other or something. I wanted to jump out from the lack of air and complete silence. “You didn’t come all the way out here because of the fuss with that girl from across the street, right?”

“Dad... It’s not... I just wanted to get out here and take breath of fresh air. This is place and I know you said will be down here in a couple of weeks but I just wanted to ride down the roads and stay for the night.” Her voice filled with joy she tried to change the subject. I don’t know how much longer I can stay in this ottoman...

“I just want you to know that I really care about you and that people like her is the kind of people you really shouldn’t be around.”

“Dad.”

“But I also know that you really don’t like that girls on your cheerleading team.”

“Dad!”

“JUST... Just take this. Your mother and I chipped in and... Here. See you at home sweetie.” He mumbled before walking to the door and leaving. I can hear the front door shut but I was still wasn’t sure if I should come out. After a moment of silence, I lifted the top and sat up, taking in loads of fresh air.

Lizzabeth was standing in the middle of the kitchen looking down at a small box. I guess that’s the thing her father gave her. I moved over to her, “Lizzabeth?” She let out a sigh with the most dead look I’ve ever seen from knowing this chick. “Lizzabeth, are you cool?”

“I’m okay... I know my dad means well but he just forgets a lot of things...”

“Forgets?”

“These are tickets, Hayz. Tickets to a sign up tonight. It’s one of the worst events I would ever want to go to.” She sat down on the sofa as I followed, sitting with her. Lizzabeth opened the back and took out both the tickets and just stared at them. I took a look myself, of course.

My eyebrow rose in confusion, “The Lenet Event?” I asked. I’ve never heard of this event before. She nod her head slowly to my question. Holding both slips in her hand, she tears them apart.

“The Lenet Event is a pageant for cheerleaders and I hate it. I’ve hated it since I was little but I couldn’t tell my mom and dad that. It was fun when it was fun but, in a blink of an eye, it became a competition with the parents and then the people in the pageants were b*****s.” Another hard sigh filled the air of the room. “I stopped going a couple of years ago.”

“I see... Strange, you seem like the chick who would be into that stuff.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was! I was only in it for the fun but when fun turned into depression and stress, I stopped.” She laughed, the only time she smiled in this conversation. Though, it wasn’t as bright as it’s always been. I don’t blame her.

Lizzabeth got up and threw the box with the torn papers inside. She turned back and smiled, coming to sit beside me again. “I should go and wash up... Do you have anything I can wear? Like, white shirt and blue... Dark blue jeans?” She laughs and walked with me upstairs.

Another hour went by as I took a bath and dressed. Lizzabeth waited downstairs for me, since we have nothing planed to do, we was just going to fix up the place and drive around for awhile. I could have just called it a day and told her to take me home but then what am I going to do for the rest of the day? Plus, my mom’s home and I’m not up for her asking why I wasn’t at school.

I waked to the living room, it was dim and silent. Nothing was on and Lizzabeth was out in the back yard on the boat. She looked back at me and smiled, waving for me to come over. I smiled back and ran up to the dock before getting on the boat.

“This leads out to another huge lake.” She says, “We can ride out there if you want. My father has a pontoon at the other lake.”

I giggled, “It’s fine. Just being here is great... Though, I wouldn’t mind riding out a bit further.” She smiled and came to sit beside me.

“Well, I wish I could drive this thing on out. Father hasn’t taught me how to steer his boat yet. Maybe I should have thought about that before bring up driving to the other lake.” Lizzabeth laughed as I nudged her, laughing alone with her. “Also, Hayz... I don’t know if my father would be back or anything. We should probably head out. Besides, I feel like heading to the mall.”

“The mall? I don’t know, I hate the mall...”

“How? There’s so many places to shop and hang out at. Coming to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at the mall.” She sighs as she lays her head on my shoulder.

“Because It’s not my thing. Malls have so many people there and it’s loud most of the time. I just like being home or at my friends house... Or a cafe.”

“You sound like a grandma.”

“Shut up.” She laughed again and it sounded really cute this time. Well, she has the cute little laugh that most bubbly people have... But it seemed different from her normal laugh. We spent a walk talking about nothing before finally driving away in her truck. I still had her clothes even though my clothes were clean to wear now. I just didn’t want to change, I guess... Maybe.

Again, she had the radio on and the windows down. She seems to like it that way and, if I lived out here, I would too. We were both having a meaningless conversation until I found myself singing along with her and the music. I don’t know most of these songs but because of her, I was able to remember the lyrics. Now if only I remember how the rest of the car ride to the mall went. All I can recall is just us singing and dicking around... And then the mall.

My mood might have dropped seeing our huge a*s mall in front of me. In our town, we have two big malls and two other smaller ones. Still, there’s no need to make these malls more than one stories. It’s f*****g wide enough as it is! We don’t need three Best Buys in one mall and two more in the other!

She got out before me and started pulling me along right away. The only thing I can hope is that, as big as this mother f****r is, we won’t run into people we know.

To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure if we shopping or just hanging out. Lizzabeth went to every store that sold clothes, even the guys stores. I guess those plaid button-ups were a bit big after all. It took awhile before we started going into shops that seemed okay too my taste.

“How about this dress Hayz? Do you like it?” She asked, stepping out of the fitting room in an easter pink sun dress that came over her knees. It was cute but it made her look too childish or like she was about to go to church.

“It’s okay. What about something a little demmer, not so long, and won’t make you look like you’re four all over again?” Lizzabeth laughed and picked up a honey yellow dress from the rack before going back inside.

I sat there trying on boots and eating the snack we still had from being in this mall for about an hour or so. After a short time she walked back out and smiled, standing there. I wasn’t expecting her to look this... Um... Cute? The dress had dark green vines coming from the bottom and a couple of flowers. It fit her so well...

“So?”

I blinked, “U-um, what?”

“Do you think I should get flip-flops or sandals with this dress?” She asked, sitting down beside me and held up the two opinions of shoes. I took a glance at them then back at her dress. Both the shoes where light brown, a wood kind of color, so they both would have worked.

Still, I smiled and pointed to the sandals. “These look it would go great with the dress.” Lizzabeth put them down and slipped her feet into the sandals and stood, walking around the small fitting area in the back of store. I couldn’t help myself from giggling. It was like shopping with an adorable child.

After she found her outfit and I found my boots, we choose to wear them out the store. We still went from store to store shopping and buying more snacks. When we got to sit down at a table we had five bag for each of us. Hers had mostly clothes while I had shoes and a, like, two video games that didn’t break the bank.

Everything seemed fine for awhile until I heard Lizzabeth’s name being called. But no one walked up. I bet he looked like ideas just turning our heads around to see who called Lizzabeth. When we struggled it off as nothing that person called out again but this time she finally walked up to us. It was Bridget, a girl from Lizzabeth’s group of friends.

"Lizz! How's it going? You wasn’t at practice yesterday...” She paused, glancing over at me before making a disgusting face. “Oh. What’s she doing here... With you?”

I looked over at Lizzabeth who was already flashing her smile. “Because I like hanging out with real people once in awhile.” She giggled, I almost spit up my drink from laughing inside. Before Lizzabeth came here, Bridget was the most liked her in school. My friends and I didn’t understand why as her personality is nothing like Lizzabeth’s. She’s just a b***h. I would call her a s**t but those are just rumours.

She gave us both a weird look and smiled. “Lizzabeth, you know better than this. Think about what your father would say about using chilling it with a stoner.”

“The f**k did you call me?” A stoner? A mother thing stoner? I stood from my seat, thank god we weren’t around a lot of people. Just because my friends smoke doesn’t mean I do! The smile on her fucked up face grew.

“Your influence on poor ol’ Lizz here is just horrible. We all know that her father hates you but we never knew Lizz would become friends with a dyke who smokes pot every day.”

“Yo!”

“Hayz...” Lizzabeth smiled and stood up also. She grabbed her bags before turning to face Bridget. “I don’t know what your problem is with Hayz but she’s my friend, a cool chick and I rather not sit here and let you throw words out your mouth. Hayz, are you ready to go?” That smile. That f*****g smile, her expression never changed. I have to say it was kind of hot.

I snapped myself out of it and sighed, looking back at Bridget who was still giving Lizzabeth the stink-eye. “Yeah. I’m ready to leave. As if she wasn’t annoying in school, she had to show her face here.” I mumbled that last part but I think she heard it. Good. I wanted her to hear it. I grabbed my bags and started following Lizzabeth away from the food court and out the main doors.

“I’m sorry about that,” Lizzabeth whispered. “I’ve never really told my friends that the reason I’ve stop going to practice and staying after was to get away of them all. And to hang out with someone who’s a bit more real in life. More like you.”

“Real in life? I’m not fake but I’m not a person a preacher’s daughter to hang around.” I laughed, walking with her to her truck. We put the bags in the back and got in, driving away from the mall. As she keep driving I’ve noticed that we were leaving out the city again. At this point, I’m not complaining. Not sure if I really want to go home right now anyways. It wasn’t that long before came across a lake with a small boat on it. “Really though?” I asked, letting out a slight giggle.

She laughed as well when she nodded to my question. “It’s also my dad’s but I know how to work this one. Plus, we’re not really going anywhere. Just cruising for awhile since we’re still out.” Lizzabeth parks the truck near the lake and gets out, she looked overly excited to be honest. But I didn’t think twice about it. This girl was always overly excited about one thing or another.

I followed her to the dock as she helped me get in the boat. This wasn’t something I was used to, I’ve never done this when I was little. My parents thought it would be dangerous for my age and then we moved to the city. Holding both of my hands, we stood still on the boat until it was steady enough to sit down. Lizzabeth turned on the motor and we started drifting away from the dock.

Just looking around the sunset and the lake all looked beautiful. A dark purple shade and the orange-yellow sky fit the mood. W-wait, I’m sorry. What mood is this fitting exactly? It’s just two friends taking a cheeky like boat ride together... At sunset... On a perfect looking night. Did I really just...? Sighing, I just tried to let it pass my mind.

I looked down at my hand, Lizzabeth was still holding it and I wanted to move from her grip. But at the same time it didn’t really matter to me. Then again we’ve been like this just talking to one another without moving our hands. She just never let go of it and neither did I. We just kind of enjoyed the ride and the let it be. More to say, I just let it be.

On a night like this, I rather just forget that s**t that Bridget said and get away from it. Get away from all of it. Not just Bridget but my friends too... Maybe just life. “I’m just tired of people telling me I shouldn’t be with...”

“Huh?”

I blinked, no realizing I started talking out loud. “N-nothing... Just talking out loud. I think I was just singing to myself or something.” She laughs and leans against my shoulder. Out of complete silence she started singing, first mumbling but then it turned into full blown lyric. I smiled and started singing with her.

Coming to think of it, I don’t think it was really a bad thing having staying after school and riding home with her. I’m starting to become glad that I did.

Author's Note

Listen to Blake Shelton's Doin' What She Likes while reading this.