"If I gotta I'ma wait in the rain. Girl, you don't know my pain—And my pockets gotta lotta cocaine. Girl, you don't know my name. If I gotta I'ma wait in the rain. Girl, you don't know my pain—And my pockets gotta lotta cocaine. Girl, you don't know my name"
_________

Today is Saturday and I don't have anywhere to go. Most kids my age are out partying or at least doing something social and I have nothing.

My parents are my best friends and that explains a lot about me.

I hopped down the stairs and landed on the cold wooden floor.

"Eve! my darling," My mother called out.

"Yo, momma." I stumbled like a drunk lady into the kitchen, following the sound of my mother's voice. I reached up into the cabinet and grabbed out a bag of gluten-free salt and vinegar chips.

"Chips for breakfast?" Debbie, my mother questioned. Her reading glasses falling to the tip of her nose, eyeing me curiously.

"At least they're gluten-free. You made sure of that." I mumbled the last part of the sentence, bitter that my mother makes the family eat her rabbit food, even though she's one of those self-proclaimed 'wine moms' and chain smokes Virginia slims like they're her oxygen.

"Yes, doll. You'll thank me when you're nearly
forty years old and look like me," Wow, modest much? There was a momentary silence before she began again. "Any plans for the day?" She took a drag off of her cigarette, then tapped the ash off in the decorative tray.

"Well, first I considered an hour of self-loathing, maybe sulk for some of the day. Not sure though." She chuckled at my dry, dark humor and sipped on her orange juice.

"Sounds like a plan, darling," My father announced his presence while stumbling into the kitchen much like I did moments before. My mother claims we're practically the same person, just in different bodies. I found myself relating more to him, anyway.

"So, about this friend thing—"

"Oh god, not again," I groaned and grabbed a handful of chips, shoving them in my mouth.

"Come on now, Evie. Anywho, is there anyone at school you could possibly become friends with?" Debbie attempted to pry.

"I've barely spoken one word to any of the other students there. Someone would probably have a heart attack if I opened my mouth." My dad chuckled under his breath next to me while making his morning cup of coffee.

"Well how about somewhere else? I could drop you off at the mall and maybe you'd meet someone there!" My mother suggested enthusiastically.

I rolled my eyes internally and sighed, shoving the chips back into their place in the cupboard.

"Fine. Fine. Let me go get dressed and we'll go." I broke, finally giving them what they wanted.

My father drove me to the local mall and there wasn't any conversation really, just mindless staring out of the window as usual. Thankfully him and I don't need to fill the void with mindless chatter.

I like him more because he doesn't feel like every silence is an awkward silence and feels comfortable not saying anything for hours on end. My mother swears she lives with mutes, but sometimes it's easier to just not talk.

She on the other hand absolutely has to be the life of the party, (or any situation really) so she doesn't really understand—which further confuses me about their marriage, but there's no doubt they love each other.

I sighed when my dad parked the silver Volvo in front of the Sterlingwood Mall.

"I hope you have fun, kiddo. Make some new friends, and call or text when you're ready to get picked up," I nodded. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. I groaned internally knowing he was gonna give me more money than I could actually spend in one day. Tom, my dad, handed me a crisp one-hundred dollar bill.

"Thanks, dad," I said earnestly. I opened the car door and reluctantly got out, not saying anything else. I watched him pull off and drive away and my stomach sank.

deciding it was probably time to go in instead of standing there randomly, I went through the revolving door—looking for a store to stand distracted in.

pondering heavily on what store would exactly probably be best for me to do that, I realized the mall was a lot quieter than usual which kind of put me at ease.

I found a store quickly, knowing it's exact location after visiting it hundreds of times. when I entered, I was greeted by the cashier and she asked me if she could help me find anything specific while tucking a piece of neon green hair behind her ear. I shook my head, thanked her anyway, and moved deeper into the store.

the wall of t-shirts was always my favorite because there were so many options, and it was extremely convenient because I loved band tees—refusing to leave my emo stage.

I plugged my headphones in and turned on a lil peep song, distracting myself momentarily.

apparently long enough for someone to think I needed something once again which resulted on a tap on the shoulder. I swiveled around on the heels of my feet and almost dropped my phone when I realized the face was more recognizable than I thought it would be.

"bexey?"

"you're Evelyn Woods, the art girl."

I was taken aback when he knew who I was.

______