“Alright everyone, by a show of applause, who takes home second?” Our announcer spoke. “Let’s hear it for ‘My Couch Pulls out but I don’t!'”
The crowd cheered, jeered and yelled. We too applauded, though softly.
“How about ‘Save a Tree, Eat a Beaver!'”
The sound of clapping grew the cheers intensifying.
Our announcer chuckled, turning his hand to us.
“And last, ‘Ass is the New Vag!'” he said, but was cut off abruptly by the roar crowd. A dozen or so were on their feet, including the party of Frat Boys who cheered louder than the rest.
“There you have it! The tie and second place go to ‘Ass is the New Vag!'” He cheered causing us to laugh and high five each other.
Our emotions were high, adrenaline kicked in.
“That was fucking awesome!” Kelly shouted leaning across the table as the crowd still applauded. Mom and I were nothing but smiles.
“And finally, in first place; ‘What’s Trivia Night?'” He called out turning his hand to a seated group of wide-eyed elderly individuals, mouths agape and staring at the bar in disgust, shock, and disbelief.
The announcer brought over a fresh pitcher of beer, the rewards for second place, then walked away laughing, though not before giving me a knowing slap on the back. We were only able to finish half of it, before we decided to call it quits for the night. We paid our tab, filed into the car with Kelly getting behind the wheel. Mom and I fell into the back, me on the far right and her in the middle. She brought her feet up to rest on the seat as she leaned into me, closing her eyes and thanking me for a wonderful day
I leaned against the door and wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her close. I could feel Kelly’s eyes from the rear view mirror staring back at us for a moment before I caught her gaze. She smiled, winked, and pulled out of the parking lot.
As we drove down the road, my eyes couldn’t help but travel down our mother’s body. Her dress had ridden up her thighs, and though I had seen more of her only a few hours ago, I found my vision fixed to the pale orange beams from the street lights as they traveled up her exposed flesh. I closed my eyes, feeling her weight as she snuggled closer, the scent of sea salt lightly drifting from her hair. This day was over, our first photo shoot done. And though my thoughts turned to hungered anticipation for my day of editing, I would later find out my scheming sister had already been planning our next shoot.
Chapter 4.0
I awoke to a quiet house with a pounding headache and the feeling like all the water that was in my body had been sucked out in the middle of the night. My tongue felt thick, my skin dry, and my thoughts felt like they had to wade through a dense fog to become actions. Somehow, I was at least able to sit up and put my feet on the floor.
I was in my room, well what used to be my room at least. It had been converted to a guest room or sorts. All the furniture had remained the same; the bed, dresser, shelves, all those had been mine all through high school. Everything else in the room that had given it personality was gone. No posters or photos; all had been replaced with generic books and oddities you might find at a Home & Garden store. Though it looked different now, it still had the same feel I remembered. Perhaps that’s why I was able to navigate it so well in my drunken stupor last night. But, who knows?