“Where is my rouge lipstick, Madison?!” Phoenix shouted to her from their bathroom, rummaging like a mad woman through her make-up case, mascaras and eyeshadows leaping from the black marble counter to the pink-tiled floor like freed fish.
“You don’t have rouge lipstick, Nix,” Madison informed her blandly, chomping away on pasta drenched in pesto sauce, relishing in her comfy bashe slouch socks and a re-run of ‘Spongebob Squarepants’.
“Yes I do, Mad!” Phoenix begged to differ, dropping to the floor to pick up her spilled make-up, her red Dickies getting lost in their magenta fuzzy floor mat, “I bought it the other day from CVS.”
Madison paused her eating binge, biting her lips nervously, “Was it Revlon brand?”
Phoenix rose slowly from the floor, shoving the make-up back in her case, narrowing her eyes at Madison, “Yes…Why?”
“I think I kind of…” Madison began with resistance, putting her bowl on the coffee table and turning in her seat to face Phoenix, a forced smile plastered across Madison’s face, “Gave it to Joel by mistake?”
Phoenix stared at her perplexed, raising her hands as to ask ‘Why?’ “I don’t even want to know,” Phoenix said sternly, shaking her head, ripping the white towel off her dry, crinkly hair, whamming her hand into the glass shower door, a yelp of pain shooting from her mouth.
“Chill, girl!” Madison scolded her lightly, trotting into the bathroom and investigating the wound, “We have enough crippled people in this apartment.” Phoenix chuckled a little, reaching for the black hair curler with her good hand.
“Why are you all antsy pantsy tonight?” Madison asked, scavenging through her make-up case for new lipstick and eyeshadow to compliment it.
“My dates these past 3 years consisted of Scrabble nights and Ethan cooking instead of me, Madison,” Phoenix reminded her, watching her hands go to work in the mirror, lights outlining the mirror like those famous in Hollywood dressing rooms. “I don’t know how…I’m just nervous, Mad.”
“You’ll be fine!” Madison told her, placing a ruby red lipstick and dark gray eyeshadow on the counter for Phoenix’s usage, “I promise, not only will you live through it, you may actually, get this, have a good time.”
“Easy for you to say,” Phoenix sadly mumbled, whiping the newly, curled tendril of hair behind her ear, “You found your Prince Charming already.”
“Maybe if you stop fighting your inner dragon,” Madison whispered, giving her shoulder a squeeze before clasping Phoenix’s red choker with garnet-colored stones adorned to it against her neck, “You will, too.”
~*~
“Benji,” Phoenix stated a little shakily, not feeling comfortable about being blindfolded and lead up rickety stairs, scared that a frosty gust of wind would send them both to their deaths, “Where are you taking me?”
“Now, this may sound predictable,” Benji began, opening what sounded to be a door or gate, “But if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Men,” Phoenix complained jokingly, sensing Benji’s hand slipping under her leather jacket and against her black ‘MADE’ Baby Tee, Phoenix taking baby steps forward, her hands groping forward for a railing or something, feeling the November air dancing ballet over her face.
“Alright,” Benji whispered, reaching behind Phoenix’s head and unraveling the bandana and his plans for the date. “You can look.”
Phoenix’s eyes laid upon such a sweet gesture; a baby blue knitted blanket big enough for two surrounded by a few extra blankets and pillows, a big bowl of popcorn, a plate of Oreos, a thermos of hot-chocolate, a bottle of red wine and a bottle of Code Red Mountain Dew on top of an abandoned apartment building, all this in comfort and delight of a Drive-In movie across the street, the opening credits to “Grease” beginning to roll across the giant screen. “You thought of this,” Phoenix commenced, taken aback by all this, “All on your own?”
“You’d like me to say yes,” Benji began with a smirk, taking her hand and leading her to the mountain of blankets, “But the guys helped me out, too.”
“How modest,” Phoenix beamed, reaching for an Oreo without a second thought.
Benji fixed his stare on Phoenix’s profile, her curls bouncing in the breeze and with every crunch of her jaw, “Did I tell you how…phenomenal you look tonight?”
“Well…” Phoenix started, rolling her eyes to think up and licking crumbs off her pouty lips, moving towards him as he dragged a green flannel blanket over legs, “You told me I was breathtaking when you picked me up, then I looked extraordinary when you blindfolded me, then how ravishing my hair looked as you helped me out of the car. So I think you used enough synonyms, yes.”
“Amazing,” Benji simply said, Phoenix tucking her head comfortably on his right shoulder as he scooted closer, both of them half-paying attention to the movie…
~*~
“I may have two left feet, but would you mind taking a chance and dancing with me?” Benji asked gentlemanly, offering Phoenix his freehand, Phoenix already holding onto his other, Sandy beginning to helplessly sing about being ‘Hopelessly Devoted.’
“Of course,” Phoenix replied, smiling ear-to-ear, “But only because of that honest offer.” Benji helped Phoenix to her feet, Phoenix almost as tall as Benji’s 5’7 in her 4’ platform boots. Phoenix linked her arms around Benji’s neck as tight as a neck tie and Benji laced his hands snugly around her waist like a belt. Both of their heartbeats drumming in rhythm with Sandy’s mournful call to Danny.
“I never thought this day would come,” Benji confided in Phoenix, his breath sending goosebumps down her spine.
“What do you mean?” Phoenix whispered back to him, eyeing him from the corner of her eye, playing hard-to-get.
“I never thought the day would come when I would willingly slow-dance with the girl of my dreams,” Benji said, his sultry voice clinging onto her ears.
‘Is this a fairytale, or what?’ She wondered, swining her head lightly to the music. “You’re too much,” Phoenix replied with a secret smile, reflecting on the last part of his previous statement, not trying to read into it, “Too much of everything.”
Benji felt tears leaching into his camoflauge jacket and bud against his skin. “Phoenix,” Benji called suddenly, reaching for her cheek and bringing her face to his, “Why are you crying.”
Phoenix closed her eyes and let Benji brush away her tears, “I feel bad for being happy…here with you.”
Benji gazed at her all-knowingly, nodding slightly like he understood everything she thought, even though sometimes, he didn’t. He leaved a hand through her mounds of curls, Phoenix looking up at him longingly, wishing for some words of wisdom. “I bet you he doesn’t feel bad.”
Benji felt more tears grace his shoulder, but Phoenix’s cheeks were bone-dry. They both looked up simultaneously and saw droplets of rain plummet from the midnight sky, Benji shrieking in a girly voice as Phoenix laughed, running over to the blankets and tossing one over her and Benji like a tent, Benji and Phoenix subsiding their laughter as they rose their arms like supports. “Well, that didn’t ruin the mood or anything,” Benji joked, his face alive with excitement, drops clinging onto his hair. “We can go if you want.”
“What?” Phoenix said in misbelief, feeling like she was 6 again and playing “Explorer” with Madison and Ethan underneath her bed covers, “I feel like I’m in a movie, dancing in the rain! Don’t you know I need to get out more?”
Benji’s mystical expression with a delay flipped to one of sereneness, reaching for Phoenix’s cheek , and running his thumb across her red lips as if to commit to memory every contour of her body. Benji then licked his lips, and with a gentle touch, pulled oenix’s face to his, the spark jumping from the contact of their lip rings and their kiss warming their bodies and futures without hot chocolate or blankets.