travis
after larry had dyed my hair his mom couldn't recognise me, and neither could his friends.
"my god travis, you look so different. i love it."
ashley had already started putting her hands in my hair, but i didn't really care since it wasn't causing me any harm.
"it matches your eyebrows."
ashley never seemed to understand personal space since she enjoyed getting really close to me and the others, obviously without malicious intent, but it still confused me how everyone else never said anything about ashley getting up in everyone's space. larry was the only one who was uncomfortable.
"ashley, leave him be. i don't think he likes that. you're going to poke him in the eyes with those talons on your fingers."
i hadn't even realised she was wearing extensions, and her fingers were inches from my eyes. they weren't like normal straight nails, they were flared at the ends and honestly looked quite ugly.
"talons? i have better nails than you'll ever have!"
she flicked her nails in his face which made him impulsively shove her out of his face. he clearly regretted it but i don't blame him. i think ashley took the hint and left him alone.
"sadly todd isn't here tonight, so it's just us three."
ashley nodded and frowned sarcastically, setting down her bag and pulling out some alcohol.
"so, i think maybe we should do something fun. i don't know what, but we should."
larry grimaced and folded his arms.
"that's a good idea. so you have no idea what you want to do?"
she sighed impatiently and nodded.
"typical. what do you have in mind sal?"
he shrugged and went over to larry's room.
"well i guess we'll figure it out."
everyone else followed so i did too, sitting beside larry on the edge of his bed. larry was clearly not in a good mood presumably because of ashley.
"what's wrong with you?"
she bent down to his level and mocked his expression.
"huh? nothing. can you stop please?"
she frowned sympathetically and moved away, sitting on the floor beside sal.
"what do you want to do travis?"
being asked the question threw me off guard and i said the first thing that came to mind.
"get high!"
everyone looked at eachother and back at me.
"excuse me?"
"i want to get high. off.. weed."
larry immediately handed me a joint and pulled a lighter out from his pocket.
"now?"
he impatiently nodded and lit the joint. he inhaled first, handing it to me after without saying a word. everyone else just sat still and watched us pass a joint back and forth. by the second inhale i was already coughing and unable to breathe.
"sorry! i took it too fast, i was just excited."
larry took my inhaler that i had stuffed in his drawer out and into my mouth, putting out the joint on an ashtray. after a few presses i was okay but everyone else looked appalled.
"i'm sorry, i really should've gone slower. i forgot you had asthma."
he put my inhaler back in the drawer and put his arm around my shoulder.
"i'm okay. really. you don't have to apologise. but i'm not smoking again."
ashley stood up, grabbing my cheeks.
"did you almost die?"
her nails digging into my face pissed me off enough for me to kick her onto the floor by the ankle. i didn't mean to do it hard, but she ended up falling over and landing on her ass.
"what the fuck!"
everyone laughing made me feel better about what i did, and larry clearly seemed happier.
we didn't really do anything, except for lie in larry's bed, watching tv. larry's bed was massive and he had hundreds of blankets so we didn't exactly have to share anything. me and larry were sat by the wall, luckily beside the heater so i wasn't freezing. i lied about not having any of my own clothes so i could wear some of his.
"i'll be right back. my eye is irritating me."
i was confused by what sal meant.
"oh, he has a glass eye. you don't mind that do you?"
i shook my head, reaching into the popcorn bucket that me and larry shared.
"soo.. larry.. are you and travis dating perchance?"
he scoffed and lent his head back against the headboard.
"no! he's just my close friend. what's wrong with that?"
"nothing! you just seem.. a bit too close?"
larry shook his head violently and continued watching the tv, when sal came back in.
i almost couldn't believe my eyes. it wasn't disgusting, or ugly, it just caught me off guard. sal had taken his prosthetic off and clearly forgotten to put it back on. maybe he was used to not wearing it at home or maybe he forgot i was here. half his cheek was missing and i could see his teeth. his face was covered with mostly pink and white scars, some being slightly red for an unknown reason. he had a large scar on one side of his face, covering the majority of his eye. part of his left nostril was missing, possibly used to cover some of his missing cheek. the right side of his face was barely, but visibly burnt. he only had an eyebrow on the left side presumably due to the scars on his face. it was shocking to see, but in no way was he ugly.
"sal! you forgot your.."
he slowly moved his hands to his face, quickly covering his mouth and nose.
"sal it's okay.."
i sat up, walking over to him slowly. he didn't move, staying frozen in shock, embarrassment, and fear.
"please don't.."
i reached out to the hands that covered his face, uncovering his face gently.
"there's nothing wrong with your face. i promise."
he held his hands to his chest, sniffing and wiping the tears from his face.
"why aren't you looking away?"
i looked down at him and wiped some tears myself.
"because there's nothing wrong with you."
i continued to watch the movie with them, sal
still slightly shaken up. he didn't wear his prosthetic or his eye infront of me. with his mask off and hair down, he looked different, and honestly a lot better. suddenly, ashley paused the tv.
"hey travis, did you know todd is missing half a finger on his left hand?"
ashley smiled and looked over at me, giggling.
"what? why are you asking me that?"
she shrugged and drunk from the bottle beside her.
"no. i didn't. and i don't particularly care."
larry snatched the remote from her, turning the movie back on. although ashley was quite irritating and weird, she was my friend and i still really liked her. i loved all my friends. and larry.