A Stack of Pillows

An orange tint dyed the walls of a teenage girl’s cramped room. It blended with the beige wallpaper as the passing rays of the sun sneaked through my jalousie windows. The neighborhood was quiet save for the chirping of the birds and the whistling of the trees. There were neither loud cars nor motorcycles zooming through as it was a peaceful Sunday afternoon. People were most likely enjoying their naps. How enviable.

Students from our school would usually spend this time working on their homework or catching up with their studies. Some would enjoy their last hours of relaxation before the clock would strike midnight and Monday would officially begin starting another week of suffering.

It would have been another silent day of mine where I could comfortably be caressed by fluffy pillows surrounding me along with the warm embrace of newly replaced bed sheets, accompanied by a fan I could keep to myself. It would have been perfect.

It would have been.

“What are you even doing here Paz?” I dramatically asked, stretching my arms across the bed, my head falling off the bed cushion as I looked at my friend upside down.

“I’m spending some quality time with my dearest friend,” said he who had been playing with my console for the past couple of hours as he raised the controller to point out which friend.

“Don’t you have your own?” I glared at him, “I remember auntie saying how you’d stay up all night playing.”

“Apparently you’re not allowed to play games when you haven’t finished your homework. So, I told mom that you were looking for me and went here instead.”

He paused the game for a quick second to grin at me and gave a thumbs up. Exasperated, I slid out of bed and tumbled to his side. I rested my head on his shoulder causing him to move a few inches away from me. I fell to the floor.

“Paz.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you gay?” I sincerely asked in an accent referring to how he would keep distancing himself at the slightest physical contact.

“Who says I’m gay?” He responded with a similar tone.

“You are gay.” I coughed, fixing my voice. “But seriously, every girl in class is skeptical of you since you’ve neither gone out with a girl nor shown any kind of interest towards anybody, at all!”

His gaze was still glued to the screen.

“Paz? You listening buddy?” I moved closer. “Upper right, on the window. Footsteps behind you. Dude, how could you miss that shot? You should’ve just knifed him.”

“You were distracting me.” He continued playing. “Following that line of logic, then you’re probably gay as well. You’ve been single for just as long, A-me-thyst.”

“You’ve got a point, however, unlike you, I’ve actually already fallen in love with someone.”

He dropped his controller, acting out a dejected expression.

“Oh no. You’re a normie now. The person you’ve fallen for must be an extremely misfortunate boy.” His last words before brutally being hit with a pillow. He did not hesitate to hit me back.

“What are you doing?” He asked me monotonously, trying to retain his balance.

“I’m stacking pillows on your head, what does it look like I’m doing?” I claimed, acting as if it was the most common thing in the world. “This is a challenge, my dear friend! Surely you must be curious as to who I am attracted to as a childhood friend of mine!”

“Actually, I’m not really–”

“Hush now my sweet summer child, your curiosity must be burning you up.” I added more pillows. “If you can maintain this amazing tower on your head no matter what I do, I’ll tell you! But if you lose, you’ll have to do anything I want!”

“You’re going to hit me again–”

“I am not going to hit you with a pillow!”

As I placed one of my last two pillow cushions atop the stack, I took the thinnest one I had and waited for him to finish his game.

“So, what are you planning this time?” He drowsily asked having a straight face despite having a stack on his head.

I asked him to hold the last pillow to his face, as close as he could. Perhaps he was already too tired to ask why as he did so willingly and quickly.

“Let’s get this over with.”

“As you wish,” I whispered as I went on all fours and went up to the pillow, closing the distance between it and my lips, where I assumed his was on the other side.

He fell. He took the cushion away, surrounded by my pillows. My dearest friend had turned red.

“You lose.” I grinned. “Now do your homework.”