I wake up with someone’s arm over my chest, her leg slightly over mine like lovers do. It is Ashley. Her eyes are open.
“Good morning, friend.”
“Good morning, Ash.”
“We tried to wake you but..there was no waking you. Were you passed out?”
“I hadn’t slept in a while.”
“Well you smelled like gin. You still do.”
I look over Ashley and see that there are four of us in bed, me, Ash, Purity, Clarity, sleeping short ways on my mattress like sardines, everyone holding onto everyone, half-under and half-over my down comforter, afghans drug in from the couch and people sleeping with their coats on.
“We couldn’t figure out how to turn off your air conditioner. Do you and Mike always keep it like this?”
“We like it cold.”
“I’ll say. We’re lucky Purity had her snowboarding gear in the trunk.”
“Purity snowboards?”
“Purity does everything. Except have sex.”
“Hey,” Purity says. “Can we not talk about my virginity it’s five in the morning.”
“Sure,” Ash says sardonically. “We’ll wait till seven. Then we’ll talk about your virginity.”
“Fuck! It’s five already!”
“So?”
“I wanted to leave by five. Matt. Hi. How are you? Can we be ready to go in half an hour?”
“Purity, I’m ready to go as soon as you say so. Shower’s all yours. Soap and all that shit’s in there.”
“Ok, let me wake my sister. Clarity. Clarity. Ashley, will you make sure she’s awake and dressed by five-thirty? I want to leave in half an hour.”
“Sure,” Ashley says, and she rolls back over on me.
Purity takes Ashley by her shoulder.
“I’m serious. This is a very important day for me.”
“I know it is, Purity. I know it is.”
So I see the lovely sight of virginal Purity get out of our sardine bed in flannel jammies, plump ass, frizzled hair, and half an hour later me, Purity, and Clarity are standing in front of my Nissan SUV on some anonymous street in Valley Village, California. I let everyone in with the key fob. Purity takes the seat up front; Clarity spreads out on the row of seats right behind us.
I pull out into nonexistent traffic and head for the 101.
“This is nice. Did you buy this?”
“No I’m just renting.”
“It’s nice to be up high over people,” Purity says as we merge onto the highway.
Clarity is lying on the seat with her eyes closed.
“Clarity put on your seatbelt,” Purity says.
“Mmm.”
“I’m serious. Do you know what the number one cause of death is among adults in America?”
“Heart disease?”
“Well after that it’s seatbelt deaths! Put your seatbelt on!”
“Can we go to McDonald’s?” Clarity grumbles.
“Yeah there’s one right before Six Flags,” Purity says.
So we drive through.
“You didn’t turn vegetarian, did you?” Purity asks.
“Why the fuck would I do that?” I say.
“Well you moved to California.”
“I’m not a vegetarian.”
“Good,” Clarity says. “No offense but I don’t want to be hanging out with some limp-dick vegetarian all day.”
“Well. Look who’s awake. Are we ready to order?” Purity says all Miss Sunshine to her sister.
I look back at Clarity. She has a cigarette hanging out her mouth, eyes half-closed, lighter in one hand.
“Do you mind if I smoke this in here?”
Purity presses down on the automatic window.
“Fine with me,” I say. And I almost ask for one. And I should have, ‘cause it would have broke the ice between me and Clarity a lot earlier than it eventually got broke, but I didn’t. I didn’t go with my gut. She was smoking Misty Rose 100s which is part of why I didn’t jump at the opportunity to smoke one. I mean, do I look like a guy who smokes Mistys?
Honestly, I judged her for the Mistys. To me they made her seem like even more of a primped-up girl than I already thought she was. What’s next, a stuffed pet monkey that she keeps in a white purse? A keychain that’s three feet long: two and a half feet of key rings and a measly six inches of keys? Did I get that right? Two and a half feet..six inches..it’s early, I’m diving, I got to keep my thoughts on the road. But you know what I mean. I don’t want to hang out with some super bitchy girly girl all day. I don’t even want to be doing this. I only said yes because Purity is a friend and more importantly Purity is a friend of Ashley and I would do anything for Ashley.
Ashley, who is still asleep in my bed, not driving to Purity’s job interview at six in the morning.
We eat our McDonald’s. Everyone’s mood improves. The sun rises to our right and we finally get to Six Flags. Purity directs us to the staff parking lot, which is unpaved and on a hill. We park way away from the entrance, on the edge, near a goddamn forest.
Purity says, “Wait right here. I’ll get us tickets.” She has that light in her eyes, that cheerfulness, those wonderful smiling cheeks and beautiful teeth that are why she is one of the few people in this world who actually has a chance at playing Wonder Woman at Six Flags in southern California—even the women playing Wonder Woman on Hollywood Boulevard, taking pictures with tourists for tips, would have no chance of ever getting this job.
Clarity gets out of the car. I get out of the car.
We wait for Purity to come back.
Clarity stares at her phone, texting or pretending to text somebody, somewhere. She never looks at me once.
She leans against the Nissan SUV.
I walk around, trying to give her space, trying to be polite.
We never say a word the entire time Purity is gone.