Fallout Dreams

mia 02

"ava!" mia called, her breath warming her chin behind her sanitary face mask. "get your ass in here!"

no reply.

shit.

mia wanted to stay in bed too. she wanted to hide from the sick smell of skunk and to revel in memories of last night cuddled in bed with a beautiful boy. she didn't have that luxury, but apparently ava did.

while her sister slept through the morning, mia had already researched the best way to remove skunk from their furniture and walls (hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, NOT tomato juice). she already dropped gari at her sorority and dean at his fraternity (both promised to help clean when they weren't red-eyed and bushy-tongued). she already stopped at walmart for rubber gloves and face masks and air freshener and tomato juice (just in case).

nolan offered to stay... mia WANTED him to stay... she wanted him to hold her every night so her mind wouldn't spiral with fear of murderous woodland creatures or memories of the biggest social disaster of the semester. she wanted to feel his simultaneously firm and soft body when she woke up sweaty and screaming from nightmares about grizzly bears tiptoeing through her bedroom, dragging her outside, and shredding her to bits on the front lawn. she wanted to lose herself in his tenderness that somehow made her feel CONTENT despite blowing it with the sorority.

but part of her—the obnoxious, rational part—still had to process the mixed-up feelings that came with a guy her mother would call "a keeper."

now she was wearing rubber gloves, hunched over the toilet, scrubbing the splattered remains of dean's technicolor yawn. "ave!" she yelled again.

"i'm up." a single pink eye peered through the seam in the bathroom door.

"it's two pm."

"i've been awake."

"doing what?"

"painting."

"OF COURSE you've been painting." mia dropped the sponge in the toilet and pushed herself from the floor.

"you're pissed," ava said.

"get some scrubs and help."

"what stinks?"

"maybe you'd know if you didn't disappear last night."

"i'm not really in the mood to clean."

"christ, ave. you're not the only one who's hungover."

ava weaseled inside and sat on the counter. "it's just so... mundane," she said. "trying to focus... trying to have a conversation... it's just..."

mia cocked her head and glared. "just what?"

"that sounded mean. i just feel... lackluster."

mia began to put the pieces together: ava's pink eyes, her despondence, her i'm-hiding-something demeanor. "o... m... g..." she exclaimed. "you ate dean's mushrooms, didn't you? you were trippin' balls last night and now you're coming down!"

"i'm sure YOU abstained..."

"i did."

"sure."

"seriously. i didn't want to make nolan uncomfortable."

"since when do you..." she stopped.

"since when do i care about other people?"

ava relaxed her shoulders, glanced around the bathroom, and hopped from the counter to the floor. "got another mask?"