Paint it Happy

Just the begining of a story I had in my head :) enjoy

“Hey babe.”

Clammy wet hands covered Avery de Luca’s eyes. Hot breath warmed her ear and slim arms wrapped around her from behind. The person behind her deepened their voice as they said in her ear, “What’s a fine girl like you doing all by herself in this part of town?”

Avery laughed as she fell out of the loose grip and turned to face her best friend. “Took you long enough!” she accused. “The movie’s almost over.”

Olivia made a face as she flipped the purple fedora off of her head and twirled it between her fingers, thoughtful. “Uh, not my fault. Traffic.”

“You don’t drive, Liv.”

Olivia raised her eyebrows. “And your point is?”

Avery shook her head, knowing any argument with Olivia was pointless. Olivia always had plenty of material to work with in an altercation, even if she had to make it up. “Besides, you can’t be mad at me on my birthday.” Point proven.

Avery sighed in defeat. “Whatever, Liv,” she said, not mentioning that Olivia’s birthday had been three months ago. “Since the movie’s obviously out, how about we head over to your uncle’s place and get something to eat?” Olivia’s uncle owned a little café around the corner across the street from the high school Avery and Olivia went to. It was practically the school’s second cafeteria since the school was open campus for juniors and seniors. And they had the best desserts ever.

Avery pulled the collar of her jacket tighter around her neck as the wind picked up along with the autumn cool. The street lights flicked on, and she watched as the dust particles under the light swirled in sync with the pattern of the wind. They looked like they were dancing. Glowing actually, different colors of moving, sparkling particles growing brighter. Avery squinted against the shine. Dust isn’t supposed to do that.

She jumped when something flew at her.

“Avery!” Olivia called, getting her attention. She turned her head to the sound of the other girl’s voice, surprised to be momentarily blinded by bright headlights shining in her face. Honks and shouts from aggravated drivers heading home as rush hour came to an end came at her from the traffic block she was creating.

Quickly she apologized and hastily ran over to Olivia on the sidewalk, her face flaming. She hadn’t even realized that she’d stopped in the middle of the street. Stupid stupid stupid! she scolded herself.

Olivia grabbed the top of her arm in an iron grip, her blond curls in disarray. “Are you crazy?!” she shouted in her ear, making Avery frown. Avery shrugged off her hand and rubbed her face. “I’m sorry,” she said, her words muffled against her hands. “I…I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Olivia shook her head like she couldn’t believe her. “Come on,” she said ignoring her apology. “Let’s go.”

Avery followed as Olivia walked ahead, not even bothering to wait for Avery to follow. She knew that Olivia was mad at her. But, in all that had happened, she couldn’t shake the thought that she’d seen a small, human looking creature flying at her. Like a fairy.

But that was impossible. Fairies didn’t exist, right? No, the logic in her spoke. Fairies do. Not. Exist. She nodded as if confirming her own thought.

The flashing open sign of Marla’s Eatery came into view and Avery hurried to catch up with Olivia as the glass pane door shut behind her. “Olivia, wait!” Olivia continued without looking back as if she hadn’t heard her. Avery let out a frustrated breath. Fine, if that’s how it was going to be. As Olivia found a seat at a table with some kids from school, not to mention taking the last seat, Avery made a face and searched the rest of the crowd. She knew that Olivia had intentionally chosen a table where there’d be no room for Avery. That’s just how she got when she was mad. Completely unreasonable.

Avery spotted a few people that she’d sat with before, but they were mostly Olivia’s friends. She wasn’t sure she’d be welcome without her friend, and she hated uncomfortable situations, so she opted for an empty booth in the dark corner of the café. It was mostly dark because the light fixture there was broken, but she liked to think that it was there to create a cozy mood in the “dim” lighting as she seated herself in the lonesome corner. She pretended like she wanted to be sitting there in the dark alone, trying to send off ‘stay away’ signals as she sunk into the hard plastic padding on the grey-flecked white seat. This is ridiculous, she thought as she looked over at Olivia, who, not surprisingly, looked like she was having the time of her life. Avery groaned inwardly. Why did her best friend have to have the rational sense of a three-year-old? Very few things could get Olivia angry, but when she got mad, it was like war. But, luckily, the longest her tantrums have ever lasted was roughly a few hours. A day max.

Avery sipped the green tea Marla, Olivia’s aunt, had brought over to her. She’d taken one look at Olivia and raised her thinly drawn in eyebrows, not needed explanation for the fake sounding laugh that only people closest to her could detect. “That girl… One day…” She walked away, muttering to herself and shaking her head. I agree, Avery thought, agreeing to whatever Marla had said.

Avery slapped the yellow sugar packet against her open palm then poured the small crystals into her hand. She swished the sugar back and forth in shear boredom. Throwing her head back against the top of the seat, she sipped on her tea until she could see the scattered black remains at the bottom of her cup. Making as if she could read her future from tea, she tried to make something up. That occupied her for about a half hour before she checked her phone for the time.

Livi, your two hours are up. Feeling like throwing a tantrum of her own, she looked up to where Olivia was sitting, only to realize that she’d left. Looking around, she saw that most of the café was empty. The only people left were Kyle, a senior that Olivia’s uncle had hired just last month, moping the floors and Marla, who she could hear humming to herself in the back. Avery felt like banging her head against the table. Had she really pissed Olivia off that much? She hadn’t really done anything that horrible, in her mind. An accident.

Deciding she should probably leave, she gathered her bag, but didn’t get up. She couldn’t gather the energy to. How could her best friend treat her like this? And it couldn’t be over what had happened outside the movie theater. Racking her brain of the past week or so, she tried to figure out what she had done wrong. After two minutes and a headache, she came up with nothing. Her face twitched, something that happened when she was angry. If this was how it was, two could play at that game.

She was about to get up to leave and plot her game, when suddenly the light above her table flickered. She looked up, surprised, but it was just a flicker and had gone out again. Unless she had imagined it. No time to wonder, her phone slid off the table and clattered to the floor. Eyes wide, she tried to catch it before it hit the hard tiling. It slipped past her fingers and the plastic casing shattered. Cussing under her breath, she bent down to inspect the damage. The screen was cracked, nothing that couldn’t be replaced.

While she was knelt on the floor, the something fell on her back, sending particles of salt and glass scattering to the floor. Tinkling laughter echoed from the booth. Avery didn’t know if she should be confused, scared or angry. Sure if someone asked her if she believed in ghost, she’d laugh and say that was ridiculous, but at moments like this, you couldn’t be too sure. Avery yelped and covered her head as a pepper shaker came at her next.

“Avery!” She looked up at the sound of her name, and the pepper shaker hit her smack in the forehead. She groaned and put her hand over the area that would surely be bruised. She heard the mop clatter to the floor followed by heavy footfalls. She didn’t want to look up, just in case something else flew at her.

Kyle shouted a string of curses as he slipped on the wet floor. “Kyle! Are you okay?” Avery picked her head up enough to get him in her line of sight then ducked when a streaming tea pot from the counter catapulted towards her. At the last second, it changed course and made a bull’s-eye for Kyle, who was still groaning and unsuspecting on the floor. She screamed as hot liquid doused him, catching her arm. Kyle shouted in pain and cursed more vividly. The door to the kitchen swung open and Marla stood there with a skillet held high in her hand. “What on earth is going on here?” Her eyes widened at the sight of Kyle laying curled on the floor and at Avery clutching her injured arm. Not to mention the damage done to the interior of the café.

“Marla watch out!” she shouted as the pan in her hand flipped over and hit her in the gut. The tinkling laughter was there again, and Avery wanted to scream. Then she heard Marla say a word that she’d never heard before. No, it wasn’t a swear word, she wasn’t even sure it was English. But it made the laughter stop. It choked off mid-breath, ending with a gasp, and a small, blue, winged creature appeared, falling to the floor. A fairy. Avery’s mouth opened in an O. It was more than she could take, and she fainted.