Not Me: Post Time Skip, Part Eleven
Mandy was sure that she had misheard Mimi. “Pardon me?”
Mimi spoke as if she were trying to convince a five year old that a stove was indeed hot and would hurt their hands if they touched it while it was on. “We need to slut you up. You’re too good.”
“Um..” Mandy followed Mimi out of the bathroom and they started walking down the freakishly long hallway. “No offense, but I don’t really want to be a slut…”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mimi said with a shake of her head, “Have you ever been a slut?”
Mandy blinked. “No…”
“Exactly. Then you wouldn’t know whether you like being a slut or not so you don’t know if you want to be one or not.”
This logic failed to convince Mandy that she needed to be ‘slutted up’ in any way. She had never been a heroin addict before either, but she was positive that she did not want to be one.
“I’m sorry, but… why would I want to be a slut?”
“So that you can loosen up and have some fun.” Mimi explained, “You don’t actually have to have sex with anyone to be a slut.”
“You.. don’t?” Mandy asked. That did not seem quite accurate, from what she knew of sluts.
“Nope,” Mimi said, “You don’t even have to kiss anyone or have even one boyfriend. It’s all in the attitude.”
“It’s all in the attitude?” Mandy repeated slowly.
Mimi nodded. “Yeah. Would you stop repeating me? That’s kind of annoying. But yes, it’s all in the attitude.”
Mandy did not have the opportunity to ask any more questions about her apparent misunderstanding of the term slut because they had reached the living room again. Mimi gave Mandy a look that clearly said ‘You know what to do’ and sat down on the couch again. Mandy smiled at the group of girls, trying to make it look as real as possible.
“Sorry about that,” she said, “I was talking and looked down and saw this huge stain from pizza sauce on my shirt. I was just horrified. Like, what if you guys saw it, right? Or it ruined this shirt? It’s not my favorite but it’s not like I want to be losing perfectly good shirts left and right. So I had to go try to get the stain out.” She sat down, amazed that no one had called her out on being a liar yet, “And Mimi came by with that amazing stain removing pen she keeps in her purse. So it’s all better now.” She gestured at the wet spot on her shirt as evidence. “Anyway, what did you all want to know about before that little interruption?”
The group blinked at her, but seemed to accept her story without any questions or suspicions.
“We were wondering what really happened that night,” Kelly reminded her, “It was Valentine’s Day after all.” She gave a horrible attempt at a wink. “So, what really happened?”
“Like I said, we were driving looking at snow when he hit the ice. But…” she gave an entirely fake smile, “Before that, there was something that… happened….”
The girls are stared at her expectantly, and Mimi clapped excitedly.
“I knew it!” she giggled.
Mandy gave her a thankful smile. Mimi’s playing along would definitely help the story maintain its credulity. “It was Valentine’s Day, right? And he was being all sweet and romantic…” She batted her eyelashes dramatically and tried to blush visibly. “He could be so romantic when he wanted to be, you have no idea. But, anyway, we were going to… you know…”
There was silence as everyone listened eagerly, awaiting further explanation. When it became clear that they would not receive said explanation, Mimi let out a faux frustrated, “No, we don’t know! Tell us, for god’s sake!”
Kelly sighed and glared at Mimi, “Calm down, Maria. Let the girl tell her story at her own pace. Go on, Mandy.”
Mandy swallowed. “Well, we were planning on,” she switched to a loud whisper to ensure that everyone could still hear her, “Do it. Have sex, I mean. But, once we were in bed and naked and he was on top of me and everything, he suddenly goes ‘Oh, my god, nothing is hotter than sex in the car in the snow!’ Which is, obviously, weird, but I wasn’t going to question his sexual preferences. It sounded kind of sweet, with the snow and all. So we got dressed again and got in the car, and that’s why we were really driving. He wasn’t really paying too much attention because he was still turned on and it’s hard to drive with an err-“ she corrected herself to use slang, in an attempt to sound like she was telling the truth. “boner, I guess. But then we hit the ice and he lost control and we crashed.”
Everyone had pathetically sad expressions on their faces when she finished her story.
“Wait,” Lindsey said, frowning, “So you didn’t get to have sex with him?”
Mandy sighed, “No,” she pouted, trying to look extremely upset about that fact.
“Oh, that really fucking sucks,” added a girl whose name Mandy could not think of, no matter how hard she tried to remember it. “He was so good at sex. He did this thing where-“
“Mary!” Kelly scolded in a horrified sounding voice. Oh. So that was her name. Mary. Mary is the one with blonde hair and an obviously padded bra who had sex with your boy-your ex boyfriend and has no clue when to shut her mouth, Mandy told herself. She hated how angry she suddenly was at Mary. Stupid slutty bitch who seduced poor Mark. She mentally rolled her eyes at herself. No, Mark probably enjoyed every second of it, because that was how he was. Mary was definitely his type. Blonde, check. Big boobs, semi-check. Dumb, check. Good teeth, check. Cheerleadery, double check. Mandy was fairly certain that Mary actually was a cheerleader.
Mary shrugged. “I’m just saying, it’s a shame. He was an amazing lover.” All of the other girls, except Mandy and Mimi sighed in unison and gave Mary dirty looks, which she easily ignored to smile sweetly at Mandy. Mimi gave Mandy a sympathetic look, and Mandy tried to block out everyone’s looks by staring at the pillow that had fallen from the couch to the floor a few minutes ago.
“Thanks for rubbing it in,” she said, trying to make it seem like she was teasing. “That makes me feel so much better about it.”
Apparently, Mary was not very bright, or maybe just not very good at reading people’s expressions and tones, or detecting when they were lying because she continued smiling at Mandy. “See, she didn’t mind, guys. You’re welcome, Mandy. Glad to be of assistance to you.”
Kelly shook her head in frustration with her friend. “Mary, you have got to get some social skills. It’s a miracle that you’re even popular with the way you act. Anyway, what else is new, girls?”
The next hour was spent gossiping. The girls took turns babbling about what they had heard and what they thought had actually happened and what so and so had did to them… It was all rather annoying and Mandy completely took back her desire to be part of the group of friends. This was not friendship, it was mutual using of one another, which was just about as far from friendship as you could get without being enemies. After everyone had apparently been gossiped out, Mandy made up a story about having to go babysit for her little cousin, who did not actually exist. Everyone pouted and whined about how much her aunt and uncle sucked for making her leave movie night early to babysit, and then she stood up and walked out of the house. She was free. And she never planned to go back there again, under any circumstances.
When she got home, Mandy went straight to her bedroom, where she promptly collapsed onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She had never taken down the glow in the dark starts her parents had put up when she was a toddler. They had long ago lost their ability to glow, but they still stuck to the ceiling, providing Mandy with something peaceful to stare at when life sucked.
After a few minutes of staring, she heard a quiet tap on the door. That was probably Samantha. And even if it was her mother, what else could possible go wrong, really? So she mumbled a “Come on in” without moving from her bed. Sam walked in and made her way over to the bed.
“Can I sit down?” she asked, gesturing at the space next to Mandy on the bed.
Mandy smiled and nodded. “Yeah, of course, Sam. You’re always welcome to sit here. You know that.”
Sam joined Mandy on the bed and positioned herself so that they were lying side by side with their heads line up and touching. “Yeah,” Sam whispered, “But you seemed like you had a pretty bad day and I didn’t want to intrude if you needed space.”
Mandy laughed softly. “Aw, Sam. First of all, intrude is a very good vocab word, I’m impressed. And, thanks. You’re the best little sister in the world. Have I told you that recently?”
“Not recently enough” Samantha teased.
“Hmm. Guess I’ll work on that.”
“Were they bitchy to your or something?” Sam asked innocently.
Mandy’s eyes widened. She had never heard her sister use language like that before. She was not actually aware of the fact that Samantha knew such words.
“Samantha Clark!” she scolded, trying not to let the little bit of amusement she was feeling show, “That is not impressive vocabulary at all. Don’t let me hear you say that again.”
Sam smiled. “Don’t let you hear me say it again, or don’t say it again?”
“Don’t say it again,” Mandy rolled her eyes, “Don’t let me hear you say that again only applies after you turn thirteen.”
“Ohhh,” Samantha said, “So, is there a time when I’m allowed to say it in your presence?”
Mandy considered that seriously, knowing that Sam would remember her answer and use it against her if need be. “Yes. When you turn sixteen.”
“Are you serious?” Samantha whined. It was unusual to hear her whine. This was her play whine, which was slightly more common, but still not something that Mandy would hear more than once a month or so. Sam had always been mature for her age. “I can’t say bitch in front of you until I’m sixteen? That’s so far away!”
“Do I need to wash your mouth out with soap, young lady?” Mandy said with mock seriousness, “As long as you live under my roof, you’ll follow my rules.”
“But, Mandy, we rent. It’s not really your roof at all. It’s our landlord’s.” Samantha argued.
“Are you talking back to me, Samantha Clark?” Mandy demanded, still faking complete seriousness and parental anger.
“No, ma’am!”
“Good,” Mandy laughed, giving up the game. Sam joined in on her laughing, and they laughed for a good five minutes, until their sides hurt too much to laugh any longer. Mandy loved moments like this, with her sister. They helped her to forget how much life may suck, because she had this amazing little sister who could cheer her up after even the shittiest of days. She was lucky for that and she tried to always remind herself to be truly thankful for it and appreciate it. Not everyone had a sister who loved them so much.