Part 28 (1/2)
”Kind of There's nothing to do out here When we get back to shore, you wanna get lobsters?”
”Yeah”
”Sea roaches That's what lobsters are Roaches of the sea”
”Like tuna, the chicken of the sea”
”Chicken's a biological reptile, you know,” she said
”What do you ically, chicken is a reptile Instead of scales, they have feathers But they both co”
”shi+t I wish I'd res” She touched her earlobe ”I hate it when I forget so”
”Remember it all”
”Yes,” she said
The Lobster Pot was touristy The sign was a giant plastic red lobster wearing a bib It was our kind of place
”You need shoes,” the waitress said alked in the door She had frazzled blond hair with long dark roots Her lips rinkled She looked twenty going on fifty
”We lost thehtly She was better than uys,” the waitress said, eyes darting across the room to check her tables, ”I'm not allowed to serve you without shoes You have to wear shoes here It's like the lahatever”
I watched a small boy at one of the tables frown at his father and sulk into the back of the booth The father pointed at a napkin on the table; the boy shook his head no
”Look, we'll just sit down and nobody will notice,” Natalie said ”We'll give you a big tip”
The waitress was being ed away by her tables People wanted water and butter and extra napkins and their checks ”Okay, fine Just sit down”
Natalie turned to iven her some sort of authority ”It would have been a bummer if they didn't let us in”
”No shi+t,” she said, straightening her shi+rt
We had taken our shoes off in the
We took a booth near the door I slid in first and then Natalie slid in on the same side ”Hey,” I said ”Go sit on the other side” Natalie slid in on the same side ”Hey,” I said ”Go sit on the other side”
”I wanna sit here” She looked at me and fluttered her eyelashes ”Next to you, my honey”
I shoved her ”C'h rooainst ot like that She was in her fat ets into a fat hed so that I didn't give her the satisfaction of knowing she'd pissed me off ”C'mon, move your ass to the other side and let's order”
She sighed drausten doesn't want to sit next to his best friend in the whole world, Piggy Natalie” She slid out of the booth and sat across from me and I felt relief Then I felt depressed because she was all the way across the table ”Co the tops of her thighs on the underside of the table, and snuggled in against me ”That's better,” she said
When the waitress came over we ordered two lobsters and two cokes ”And a side of fries,” Natalie added at the lastto becoet fatter and go home and be depressed and e could throw it up and ”
”No, Iter ”Why do you always have to drag o on like this forever I mean, look at us You're seventeen, I'm sixteen and we're barefoot at a lobster place and that's basically all that's happening in our lives” place and that's basically all that's happening in our lives”
”I know,” she said ”We have to do sorow up? Are you still going to be a hairdresser to the stars?”
Without knohy, I answered, ”I' to run away to New York City and become a writer”
Natalie looked at me ”You should, you know You're the writer in your fa to be a writer I'd never even get into college”
”Sure you would,” Natalie said And the look on her face told htly sad that I didn't see it and believe it, too
”Well, thanks”
”You underestiht our cokes and we both slurped them without the straws ”How?”
”Because you've always been a writer For as long as I've known you you've had that pointy nose of yours tucked into some notebook You've lived withabout us God, it's spooky how good you are at i people”
”I can't be a writer,” I said ”I don't even write All I do is scribble stuff in notebooks I don't even knohat a verb is or how to type And I never read You have to read, like, Heway, he's just some fat old drunk man,” she said ”You just have to take notes Like you do already”
”Well, I don't know I'll probably end up as a hed ”Your ass is too skinny”
”Ha, ha If only I had your ass”
”If you had my ass, you could rule the world”
”So what about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?”
”Maybe a psychologist or a singer”