for "mini_nanowrimo" hence no friends lock 14
meh, i don't know. this started off pretty good. i tried to make a story about one simple act and then it turned all crazy and siblings got involved and whatever... potential. it has that, at least.
He picks up the bottle. He throws it up in the air and catches it once, then again for good measure. It is light, hardly anything in his large hand. It's just a little bottle of cool glass containing a thick, black varnish. It is hardly anything but he is shaking as he sets it down on his computer desk. He flicks on the bedside lamp for better lighting and roughly shakes the content of the bottle up. The lid sticks a little, makes him second guesses his plans, but then it comes away and he lifts the little brush out of the well.
It smells really bad. He wasn't expecting it to smell bad. He has only ever seen women paint their nails in movies or on television, he wasn't expecting a smell. He is starting to freak out. He stands, opens his window a crack, stacks some pillows against the crack at the bottom of his door. He's seen his older brothers do that a hundred times when they are smoking weed in the house. One deep breath, he calms.
He starts with his left hand, his thumb, brushes the highly polished black over the tiny nail. It is messier than he imagined but it covers all right. Working on his right hand is harder, his left shakes with the effort not to slop nail polish over his whole fingertip. He gets the job done but is unimpressed. He rips of a page from some guitar magazine and uses the glossy page to wipe the excess away. It works . . . mostly. But he's happy now and full of nervous energy.
It takes awhile to dry and he's hoping to be the last one out of the house but it doesn't go as planned. He gallops down the stairs into the family room and heads straight into his middle brother.
"Watch it!" he pulls his hands into the sleeves of his black hoodie. There is a fluster of noise but it is an everyday occurrence, he blocks it out.
"Mom? If I drop you off at work, can I take the car today?" his older brother, the favourite, asks.
"Mom? I'm taking five dollars out of your purse for lunch."
"I just gave you money yesterday!"
"Mom? The car? Come on, mom."
"You know I had to pay back Maggie!"
"Oh yeah, how many blow jobs didja get with a five?"
"Boys! Yes, you can take the car. Yes you can have five dollars but it's coming out of your allowance next Friday!"
"Aww, mooom."
"Thank you!"
He has stolen an apple and is out the door, completely unnoticed in the morning chaos. He has never minded, he is finding himself with less and less to say to anyone in his immediate family now.
He is standing on the corner, waiting for the light to change to green, when a car pulls up. The driver, an older male, looks him over. Self-consciously, he brings his hands up to tuck his bangs away. He driver blinks at him. Knowing the light is about to change, he sticks his tongue out and darts across the street, away from everything, laughing the whole time.