the ballad of DRUMS and POET GIRL...1st time writer
thought i'd get on the LJWRITERS train and see where it takes me. promise its not tooo bad...xoxfeedback would be much fantastic...
Title: Drums and Poet Girl
Summary: An afternoon of concentrated estrogen
Rating: PG (foul language) may contain homosexual characters
About: 1667 words
Disclaimer: if it sounds like someone you know; it isn’t. this is an original piece with original characters. Awesomeness
“Do you wanna tell me what’s going on with you?”
Lesego found a spot on the wall and stared at it wordlessly. It was getting harder and harder to fight back her tears.
“Lesego?”
There was a cold silence in the room and Kelly was beginning to choke on it as she tried to make sense of it all. What was happening to them? It seemed as though they were drifting further and further apart. It was all too much to bear. A world without Lesego would be agonizing. And at the same time a life like this was beginning to seem ridiculous. Kelly’s eyes furrowed as she found herself getting angry just thinking about it all. She sighed tiredly and watched her girlfriend fall apart.
“Come on Poet Girl, talk to me.” She was careful to make her voice sound as tender as possible. “Please?”
Lesego turned her teary eyes towards her finally after a long pause. She took a deep breath before she spoke.
“Yes?”
“What’s happening to us?” Kelly was embarrassed to hear how desperate she sounded. But it was no time for pride so she went on. “You haven’t looked me in the eye in three days. In fact you haven’t looked me in the eye since you got back from your tour with the crew. Is there anything you want to tell me?” She took in a deep breath before she said, “Is it me?”
There was a long silence. Kelly felt a lump form in her throat and realized how close she was coming to breaking down. She glanced at Lesego who was now tugging nervously at the sleeve of her oversized woolen jersey. There was something about her refusal to cooperate that made Kelly feel helpless.
Suddenly a wave of rage came over her. She grabbed the bowl of half-eaten cornflakes that had been on the coffee table since morning and threw it against the wall. The rage slowly gave way to a sorrow so great Kelly didn’t even hear the loud crash the bowl made as it broke into a million pieces. There were tears flowing down her flushed cheeks as her eyes went between the milk streaming down the blue wall and the panicked expression on Lesego’s face.
“Talk to me!” she found herself shouting at Lesego over and over again. “Please!”
Silence.
“Lesego...Please?” her voice was going lower until she finally sat on the floor with her face buried in her palms.
There was a long silence and the sound of life going on was ever loud. Traffic in the street. Television in the neighbor’s house. Life.
“I’m not her.” Lesego’s voice was almost inaudible.
Kelly’s face shot up. A mixture of confusion and sorrow was all she could display behind the stream of tears and liquid eyeliner.
“I’ll never be her.”
Kelly wiped her face with her shirtsleeve. Her voice was rough. “Who?”
Lesego turned her face towards her. There was an unnerving disappointment in her deep black eyes. “Sarah.”
“Sarah? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your ex. ‘The love of your life’. Your muse, Kelly.”
There was something about the way she spoke that made Kelly feel like a suspect being grilled by a detective for some gruesome crime. She had a feeling she was guilty.
Lesego’s voice was steady as she went on, “The girl you wrote all those songs for?”
“Come on, Lesego. I told you already. That was years ago. I was in high school for chrissake. It’s over now. You know that.”
“Cut the bullshit, Kelly.” Kelly couldn’t do anything but stare at her girlfriend in amazement. She’s heard Lesego swear before but it never sliced her like now. This was serious. “When I got back from the tour, you weren’t home so I thought I’d check my e-mails on your laptop. To pass the time till you got back.” Her voice was getting less steady as she spoke, “And you were still signed in on MSN.” From the expression on her face she could tell that Lesego’d realized Kelly knew were this was going. “All of a sudden her name pops up on the screen and she says ‘Hey, baby, is the ole ball and chain back, yet?’” She took a deep breath as she visibly tried to steady her voice. Kelly watched in silence. “So I was curious, you know. I typed, ‘no, not yet, why?’” She sniffed hard before she said, “Then she went, ‘oh, I don’t want her to ruin our fun’” by now Lesego had given up the fight and was crying into her palms.
Kelly instinctively moved towards her and tried to embrace her. Lesego pushed her off violently and yelled, “Get off me!”.
There was a long silence as none of them spoke for what seemed like an hour.
Kelly kept her eyes glued to the carpet they both sat on. “Its nothing.” her voice was barley louder than a whisper.
Lesego didn’t respond.
“The thing with Sarah. Its nothing.” Kelly spoke louder, thinking perhaps Lesego didn’t hear her the first time.
“For chrissake, Kelly, stop lying to me. I’m not some kind of idiot.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Really! Really, Kelly?” She shot up from her position on the carpet and stormed out of the room. Before Kelly realized it Lesego was back with her laptop in hand. She stood directly in front of Kelly before she pressed a few keys and thrust the screen in Kelly’s face. There on the screen was a huge picture of Sarah and Kelly smiling in each other’s arms. It must have been five years old. Lesego pressed a key and every two seconds there was a different picture of Sarah glaring at her. There must have been about a hundred because it was a while before the slide show stopped.
“Why do you have three billion pictures of her, then?” Lesego’s face was moiste as she glared angrily into Kelly’s eyes.
Kelly was speechless.
“WHY DO YOU HAVE PICTURES OF YOUR EX IF ITS OVER, KELLY?”
Silence.
“Why?!”
Kelly eyes shifted between the computer screen and her girlfriend’s round face. She buried her face in her hands and heard Lesego swear under her breath.
A few minutes passed. Finally Lesego left the room with the laptop. She came back with a bottle of vodka in her hand. She paced in front of Kelly’s bowed head and stopped only to take swigs at the 750ml bottle of Smirnoff. “Well?” She was relentless.
“I love you, Poet Girl.” Kelly said. “Only you.”
There was a loud laugh. The sarcasm in it cut to Kelly’s soul.
“It’s true.”
“Then why do you have her goddamn pictures on your laptop?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’m an idiot, Lesego.”
A laugh. “I think we’ve established that, darling.”
“I was feeling insecure, okay.” Kelly mumbled.
“What?”
“I was feeling insecure!” Kelly spoke louder this time. She did her best to avoid eye contact. She was the proud one. The one who took two weeks to say “I love you” back when she’d felt it the moment she’d met this dreadlocked poet. She was a fool. “I missed you-“
“Well I missed you too.”
Kelly wiped at her tears and looked Lesego in the eyes. “Let me finish. You were gone for three weeks. I needed you. You don’t know how it is to date someone as beautiful as you are. Everywhere you go, people go out of their way to impress you and I’m just the scrawny little white girl tagging along. I’ve given up on trying to show them we’re together ‘cause it doesn’t work, you know. I’m not sleeping with Sarah. I love you more than I ever loved her. I just IMed her once last week to check on her and I guess I got hooked on the feeling of being wanted, you know. I’m weak, okay? She was sweet to me, flirted with me. But it was nothing. Even after she and I talked I’d still miss you more than I could bear. I went to bed alone, every night. And pretended you were lying next to me. Those pictures are from years ago. I’ve had them in my laptop forever. I rarely look at them. Did you take a look at the thousands of pictures I have of you? No? Go ahead. Go check. There a literally thousands. I have pictures of you since fucking childhood. I have pictures I took when you were sleeping, or when you were looking somewhere else. You are my life, Poet Girl. Don’t you see? I love you.”
Lesego stared down at Kelly for a while, expressionless. Finally she got down on her knees and there was a clink sound as she set down the bottle. Leaning forward, she kissed Kelly softly on the forehead.
“You’re crazy, Drums, you know that, right?”
Kelly smiled and looked deeply into Lesego’s eyes. She touched her cheek and kissed her gently on the lips. They sat there for a while; kissing. They stopped after a while and Lesego pointed at the wall, “You know, you’re gonna have to clean that up, later.”
Kelly laughed, quietly, “Yah, I know, later”. Kelly leaned in to kiss Lesego passionately. She pulled her down until they were lying flat on the carpet caught in a deep embrace. They were like that for a while before Lesego paused to say, “You know I love you, Drums, but that taking pictures of me in my sleep sounds a little ‘sociopath-alert’ to me…its gonna have to stop.”
Kelly laughed, “What? No!” she feigned disappointment, “And you look so much better when your mouth is closed.”
Lesego opened her mouth in shock before she playfully smacked Kelly on the arm. “You’re horrible, you know that. Luckily I’m here to save your soul, Drums.” She kissed her lightly. “Without me, you’re doomed.”
Kelly smiled, “Well, now, I can’t argue with that.”
*____THE END____*
(this is the first short story i've ever completed so keep that in mind when commenting...thanx..:))
Title: Drums and Poet Girl
Summary: An afternoon of concentrated estrogen
Rating: PG (foul language) may contain homosexual characters
About: 1667 words
Disclaimer: if it sounds like someone you know; it isn’t. this is an original piece with original characters. Awesomeness
“Do you wanna tell me what’s going on with you?”
Lesego found a spot on the wall and stared at it wordlessly. It was getting harder and harder to fight back her tears.
“Lesego?”
There was a cold silence in the room and Kelly was beginning to choke on it as she tried to make sense of it all. What was happening to them? It seemed as though they were drifting further and further apart. It was all too much to bear. A world without Lesego would be agonizing. And at the same time a life like this was beginning to seem ridiculous. Kelly’s eyes furrowed as she found herself getting angry just thinking about it all. She sighed tiredly and watched her girlfriend fall apart.
“Come on Poet Girl, talk to me.” She was careful to make her voice sound as tender as possible. “Please?”
Lesego turned her teary eyes towards her finally after a long pause. She took a deep breath before she spoke.
“Yes?”
“What’s happening to us?” Kelly was embarrassed to hear how desperate she sounded. But it was no time for pride so she went on. “You haven’t looked me in the eye in three days. In fact you haven’t looked me in the eye since you got back from your tour with the crew. Is there anything you want to tell me?” She took in a deep breath before she said, “Is it me?”
There was a long silence. Kelly felt a lump form in her throat and realized how close she was coming to breaking down. She glanced at Lesego who was now tugging nervously at the sleeve of her oversized woolen jersey. There was something about her refusal to cooperate that made Kelly feel helpless.
Suddenly a wave of rage came over her. She grabbed the bowl of half-eaten cornflakes that had been on the coffee table since morning and threw it against the wall. The rage slowly gave way to a sorrow so great Kelly didn’t even hear the loud crash the bowl made as it broke into a million pieces. There were tears flowing down her flushed cheeks as her eyes went between the milk streaming down the blue wall and the panicked expression on Lesego’s face.
“Talk to me!” she found herself shouting at Lesego over and over again. “Please!”
Silence.
“Lesego...Please?” her voice was going lower until she finally sat on the floor with her face buried in her palms.
There was a long silence and the sound of life going on was ever loud. Traffic in the street. Television in the neighbor’s house. Life.
“I’m not her.” Lesego’s voice was almost inaudible.
Kelly’s face shot up. A mixture of confusion and sorrow was all she could display behind the stream of tears and liquid eyeliner.
“I’ll never be her.”
Kelly wiped her face with her shirtsleeve. Her voice was rough. “Who?”
Lesego turned her face towards her. There was an unnerving disappointment in her deep black eyes. “Sarah.”
“Sarah? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your ex. ‘The love of your life’. Your muse, Kelly.”
There was something about the way she spoke that made Kelly feel like a suspect being grilled by a detective for some gruesome crime. She had a feeling she was guilty.
Lesego’s voice was steady as she went on, “The girl you wrote all those songs for?”
“Come on, Lesego. I told you already. That was years ago. I was in high school for chrissake. It’s over now. You know that.”
“Cut the bullshit, Kelly.” Kelly couldn’t do anything but stare at her girlfriend in amazement. She’s heard Lesego swear before but it never sliced her like now. This was serious. “When I got back from the tour, you weren’t home so I thought I’d check my e-mails on your laptop. To pass the time till you got back.” Her voice was getting less steady as she spoke, “And you were still signed in on MSN.” From the expression on her face she could tell that Lesego’d realized Kelly knew were this was going. “All of a sudden her name pops up on the screen and she says ‘Hey, baby, is the ole ball and chain back, yet?’” She took a deep breath as she visibly tried to steady her voice. Kelly watched in silence. “So I was curious, you know. I typed, ‘no, not yet, why?’” She sniffed hard before she said, “Then she went, ‘oh, I don’t want her to ruin our fun’” by now Lesego had given up the fight and was crying into her palms.
Kelly instinctively moved towards her and tried to embrace her. Lesego pushed her off violently and yelled, “Get off me!”.
There was a long silence as none of them spoke for what seemed like an hour.
Kelly kept her eyes glued to the carpet they both sat on. “Its nothing.” her voice was barley louder than a whisper.
Lesego didn’t respond.
“The thing with Sarah. Its nothing.” Kelly spoke louder, thinking perhaps Lesego didn’t hear her the first time.
“For chrissake, Kelly, stop lying to me. I’m not some kind of idiot.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Really! Really, Kelly?” She shot up from her position on the carpet and stormed out of the room. Before Kelly realized it Lesego was back with her laptop in hand. She stood directly in front of Kelly before she pressed a few keys and thrust the screen in Kelly’s face. There on the screen was a huge picture of Sarah and Kelly smiling in each other’s arms. It must have been five years old. Lesego pressed a key and every two seconds there was a different picture of Sarah glaring at her. There must have been about a hundred because it was a while before the slide show stopped.
“Why do you have three billion pictures of her, then?” Lesego’s face was moiste as she glared angrily into Kelly’s eyes.
Kelly was speechless.
“WHY DO YOU HAVE PICTURES OF YOUR EX IF ITS OVER, KELLY?”
Silence.
“Why?!”
Kelly eyes shifted between the computer screen and her girlfriend’s round face. She buried her face in her hands and heard Lesego swear under her breath.
A few minutes passed. Finally Lesego left the room with the laptop. She came back with a bottle of vodka in her hand. She paced in front of Kelly’s bowed head and stopped only to take swigs at the 750ml bottle of Smirnoff. “Well?” She was relentless.
“I love you, Poet Girl.” Kelly said. “Only you.”
There was a loud laugh. The sarcasm in it cut to Kelly’s soul.
“It’s true.”
“Then why do you have her goddamn pictures on your laptop?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’m an idiot, Lesego.”
A laugh. “I think we’ve established that, darling.”
“I was feeling insecure, okay.” Kelly mumbled.
“What?”
“I was feeling insecure!” Kelly spoke louder this time. She did her best to avoid eye contact. She was the proud one. The one who took two weeks to say “I love you” back when she’d felt it the moment she’d met this dreadlocked poet. She was a fool. “I missed you-“
“Well I missed you too.”
Kelly wiped at her tears and looked Lesego in the eyes. “Let me finish. You were gone for three weeks. I needed you. You don’t know how it is to date someone as beautiful as you are. Everywhere you go, people go out of their way to impress you and I’m just the scrawny little white girl tagging along. I’ve given up on trying to show them we’re together ‘cause it doesn’t work, you know. I’m not sleeping with Sarah. I love you more than I ever loved her. I just IMed her once last week to check on her and I guess I got hooked on the feeling of being wanted, you know. I’m weak, okay? She was sweet to me, flirted with me. But it was nothing. Even after she and I talked I’d still miss you more than I could bear. I went to bed alone, every night. And pretended you were lying next to me. Those pictures are from years ago. I’ve had them in my laptop forever. I rarely look at them. Did you take a look at the thousands of pictures I have of you? No? Go ahead. Go check. There a literally thousands. I have pictures of you since fucking childhood. I have pictures I took when you were sleeping, or when you were looking somewhere else. You are my life, Poet Girl. Don’t you see? I love you.”
Lesego stared down at Kelly for a while, expressionless. Finally she got down on her knees and there was a clink sound as she set down the bottle. Leaning forward, she kissed Kelly softly on the forehead.
“You’re crazy, Drums, you know that, right?”
Kelly smiled and looked deeply into Lesego’s eyes. She touched her cheek and kissed her gently on the lips. They sat there for a while; kissing. They stopped after a while and Lesego pointed at the wall, “You know, you’re gonna have to clean that up, later.”
Kelly laughed, quietly, “Yah, I know, later”. Kelly leaned in to kiss Lesego passionately. She pulled her down until they were lying flat on the carpet caught in a deep embrace. They were like that for a while before Lesego paused to say, “You know I love you, Drums, but that taking pictures of me in my sleep sounds a little ‘sociopath-alert’ to me…its gonna have to stop.”
Kelly laughed, “What? No!” she feigned disappointment, “And you look so much better when your mouth is closed.”
Lesego opened her mouth in shock before she playfully smacked Kelly on the arm. “You’re horrible, you know that. Luckily I’m here to save your soul, Drums.” She kissed her lightly. “Without me, you’re doomed.”
Kelly smiled, “Well, now, I can’t argue with that.”
*____THE END____*
(this is the first short story i've ever completed so keep that in mind when commenting...thanx..:))