Short Story: Finally

The sky is painted black meaning the nightlife on the streets of Melrose has begun. The moon is a speck in the sky and the smell of weed and cigarettes overpowers the smell of gentrified coffee shops.

16-year-old Simone slowly rides down these streets in her brother’s Honda with her glasses on her nose and a hoodie covering most of her jeans. Her best friend Taylor had begged her to come hang with her, and Simone reluctantly agreed to meet her crazy friend. Really Simone would rather be snuggled on her couch watching youtube videos on how to style her head of curls, but Taylor was adamant about them hanging out before the start of their junior year.

Taylor was always the outgoing friend between the two, and ever since they met in elementary school her number one goal was to break Simone’s tight shell that she only opened up for her.

After 15 minutes that included being extra cautious behind the wheel, Simone finds a parking spot right in front of where Taylor stands on the sidewalk. Completely opposite of Simone, Taylor is dressed in a little black dress with her passion twists flowing down her back. Her face was beat with tons of makeup to accentuate her chocolate skin tone.

“Hey Tay,” Simone says as she steps out of her car. She begins to approach Taylor with open arms asking for a hug, but Taylor crosses hers and scrunches up her face. “What’s wrong with you?”

Taylor throws her passion twist over her shoulder. “You and them clothes. What did I tell you about those hoodies.”

“It’s cold,” Simone argues while shoving her hands in her pockets.

“Girl it’s August,” Taylor says and starts walking down the graffiti streets with Simone trailing behind her.

“What are we doing anyway?” Simone asks. Taylor turns to Simone and a smirk flutters on her face. A smirk Simone knows all too well as it had gotten Taylor into some trouble before. Taylor’s favorite word is spontaneous, and Simone knows they wouldn’t just be window shopping today, and Taylor had something else in store that Simone hopes isn’t illegal.

“We’re going to have some fun,” Taylor shouts. The pair walked a little more, before they turn down the street and stop in front of a small blue house.

“Who’s house is this?” Simone asks as nerves build up inside of her. The house looks pretty old with cracked paint and a brown lawn that is similar to all the other houses. Simone could hear voices inside and that made her stomach turn even more.

Without hesitation Taylor grabs Simone’s hand and leads her to the front door which happens to be wide open. Inside are a bunch of guys and girls much bigger than Simone and Taylor. Music flows through the unfurnished house where guys are surrounding an island with bottles of liquor.

Nobody seems to notice the young girls' entrance except a tall girl with cornrows who saunters over to the two. She’s in a black oversized shirt and jeans, and she completely disregards Simone and plants a kiss on Taylor’s lips.

This is not surprising to Simone as Taylor has been openly gay since middle school, and has been with many girls since. This being said, Simone doesn't budge as the girl and Taylor furiously make out like the other couples on the worn out couch. When all of Taylor’s lip gloss is smeared they separate and the girl begins to look at Simone.

“Who’s this?” she asks and turns to Taylor. Simone could feel her olive cheeks boiling as the smell of weed and liquor becomes more apparent.

“This is my best friend Simone, Simone this is Kelsey,” Taylor says with a big smile. Simone plasters a smile on her face and is about to stick out her hand, but Kelsey grabs Taylor’s hand and leads her to the back of the house. Taylor flashes a smile to Simone and Simone resists the urge to scream at her as Kelsey leads her to the corner of the room where they continue their makeout session.

Simone was used this, and as much as she wants to follow Taylor around she just finds a place to lean against the wall and gaze down at her phone. Taylor is her best friend, but in times like these the only thing she can feel is loneliness, and this feeling has grown over the summer that Simone spent with her nose in books. Opposites were supposed to attract, but as Simone scrolls on her instagram, she can only feel like a complete loner.

“Aye Shorty come over here,” a guy in a gold durag yells. Simone looks up and instead of being her usual self she walks over to the counter where the guys and the drugs are.

“You got a name?” the same guy asks while the other guys continue conversing. The guy is tall and his caramel muscles bulge in his white beater as he hovers over Simone.

“Simone,” Simone practically mumbles.

“Well Simone, I’m Ryan, take some henny,” he says and hands her a red solo cup filled with black liquor.

Simone takes the cup and stares down into it. She’s never taken a drug in her life, but with all her nerves from the current environment she figures there is no problem in changing that. As Ryan keeps his almond eyes on her, she takes a sip from the cup and immediately puts it down when she feels a burning sensation in her throat.

“Ahh can’t handle it,” Ryan says as Simone wipes her lips. It was just a sip, but she could already feel her small body changing. To make the feeling worse Ryan begins to smoke his blunt and lets the smoke go right in her face. “Want some?” he asks.

“No thank you,” Simone mumbles as the music seems to get louder. Ryan hands his blunt over to another guy, and minimizes the distance between him and Simone.

“Mhmm I know what you want.” Simone can’t even raise her eyebrows before Ryan grabs her hips and smashes his lips into hers. Simone’s eyes widen as he shoves her tongue into her throat. It could be the alcohol, or the smell of Ryan’s hot breath, but it all feels horrible. Not to mention this is her first kiss, and it isn’t the fantasy she expected.

With no help from Ryan, Simone successfully pulls away from Ryan and pushes past him. She doesn’t try and hear his antics and she instead goes to the corner where Kelsey is planting kisses on Taylor’s neck.

“Taylor,” Simone hisses. Taylor doesn’t hear her, and instead lets out a little moan. It takes Simone two more hisses before Kelsey looks up from Taylor and scolds the hell out of Simone. Taylor turns around and looks at Simone, whose cheeks are all red. Taylor does love the feeling of Kelsey’s touch, but she’s known Simone for most of her life, and those red cheeks of hers mean she’s not okay. Not letting Taylor speak, Simone grabs her hand and leads her out of the house. When they reach the light brown lawn, Simone faces Taylor and makes sure there is no space between them.

“What are you—” Taylor begins to speak, but before she can finish Simone places her hands on her cheeks and presses her lips against hers. The giddiness Simone wanted to feel on her first kiss runs through her as Taylor kisses her back. There is only one thought in Simone’s mind as their tongues intertwine, Finally.