Chapter 5

            Just like I thought, pop never came down to the police station to pick me up. At least Skimps didn’t have to go back to the home tonight. Just about everyone else’s parents came to get them. All except Jack’s, his dad had abandoned his family and his mom couldn’t take care of Jack and his 4 younger siblings. So Jack and I hung around while the crowd dwindled. Tom’s parents came in making a big fuss and threatening to sue, now I knew where he got his loud mouth from.

            They let Jack and I out around 12 in the morning. We split up at the park and went our separate ways. The truck was parked in the driveway still, pop was home. I walked up the steps and opened the door to the house. The door was never locked, nothing to steal. The radio was blasted, Skimps was reading a magazine, his foot tapping to the beat of the music.

“Hey Ren, thanks for-“

“No problem, I gotta take a shower and get down to the garage.” I was worn out, I can’t sleep in a jail cell, I’m weird that way.

“Okay, I’ll wait and go with you.” He said, settling back down on the couch.

            Pop stepped out of the bathroom, “Hey Ren, we got any aspirin?”

“Yeah, on top of the fridge.”

            And that was it. No, “Where on earth have you been?” or “Why weren’t you with Skimps like you always are?” Pop hardly ever questions our sporadic disappearances. It’s good that way, sometimes. Once Skimps and I decided to head down to New Orleans for Madrigal. We found a bar and got wasted, after that I don’t remember what happened, till I woke up the next morning. I was in a strange apartment, my clothes scattered all over the floor, and had the worst headache anyone could imagine. I put my clothes on and stepped out of the room. There were two girls making breakfast and listening to Skimps talk about something while the radio was turned up loud. To this day I still don’t know if I lost my virginity…Skimps and I haven’t said a word about it. When we got home, all pop said was, “You two were gone.” That was it.  There were still a lot of other things I was unsure of…

            I got cleaned up and went down to the garage with Skimps. He always sticks around me (more than normal) when I do something for him. It was a normal day to us, we fixed up cars and filled them with gas, that was basically it.

            Around 6 things start to cool down a bit, everyone’s home eating dinner, I hadn’t eaten anything since last night, or this morning.

“Want a soda, on me?” I asked Skimps as I wiped my hands on a rag.

“That’s never a question.” He said from under the car.

            I tossed the rag aside and went out to the cola machine, the sun had almost gone down. The sky was a pink and yellow and shined like gold. A beat up ’57 Chevy pulled in with its top down, spraying dust into the sky.

“Fill her up please!” a familiar voice called to me.

            I turned and saw Jenni, the sun made her brown hair almost red in its light. I took the pump and started filling the tank.

“Hey, it’s you, Ren.”

“Hi Jenni.” I said to her.

“So this is where you work.”

“Yeah.”

“You walked off when we were talking.” She said, “I don’t care if you’re a greaser.”

“That’s what the last soc said to me before he took a swing.”

“I’m not a soc or a greaser.”

            She was from the middle class, classy but not rich, that’s what they were. As far as I was concerned, greasers had no beef between them.

“You have a nice car.” I said, changing the subject.

“It was my dad’s, I had to work for her, but she’s mine.”

“It’s a girl?” I joked, “How can you tell?”

            She laughed, “It doesn’t rattle on and on, like guys do.”

            The tank was full, I pulled the pump away, “4.50.” she handed me a five.

“Keep the change.” She was about to start the car but stopped herself and turned to me, her blue eyes fixed on me, “Where can I see you again?”

“Um, it’s hard to get off work.”

“You know, you’re different, if it’d been anybody else they’d have said now and done everything they can to get me back to their house, no offence but boys are jerks.”

“Why would I possibly take offence to that?” I joked.

“I said no offence,” she smiled, “Nice talking to you.” She said before she sped off.

            For a moment my mind was still wondering, before I came to the fact that I had turned down an offer made by someone else. A very pretty someone else at that.

“Stupid!” I said to myself. I got the sodas and went back inside.

“Thanks.” Skimps said taking one from my hand.

            I was an idiot.

Reviews

[BBP]

I ignore grammar and spelling error, I'm not the authority on that either lol I just liking the story and would continue reading more. Good job chica!

[barleygirl]

This chapter starts out a little confusing. Second sentence: "At least Skimps . . . " not sure if you're talking about "the home" being where they live with pop, or a juvenile home? . . . and "So Jack and I hung around while the crowd dwindled" . . . it takes a minute to realize you mean the jail cell clearing out.

Also, when I read this very well-penned passage: "The sky was a pink and yellow and shined like gold. A beat up ’57 Chevy pulled in with its top down, spraying dust into the sky" . . . I started to consider how your writing doesn't paint the surroundings very often (would like to see more of this) . . . altho you do a good job of character development all along, mostly thru well-expressed dialogue.

Toward the end, you use offence a few times . . . I'm accustomed to this being spelled "offense" . . .

Other that that, good solid writing prevails.

[matpat]

Thank you so much for taking the time to review my writing!