Best Friends
One day…
“What?” Malu draws out the vowel as she grins up at me, “Don’t be so serious, Moredecai.” I swat her stomach and she laughs, bringing her hands up to block me. I sigh loudly, a signal that the joke was over, or at least no longer funny, but it had only seemed to egg her on.
“I already told you not to call me that, dirtbag,” I replaced my voice with one that is annoyingly high-pitched, resembling that of a woman with a stick far up her ass, “It’s just Cai, okay, ma’am? Cai.” She laughed more, her mouth opening to respond, but there were only noisy breaths coming into her mouth.
Malu is the sweetest person I know, but she can get damn annoying when she teases, because she’s relentless with it. Insufferable.
I switch back to my normal voice, continuing, “You know what? Call me Mordecai again. Watch how I’ll start calling you Emma,” I threaten, knowing that she hated her middle name. She felt it wasn’t compatible with who she was. She said ‘Emma’ was a girl who dyed her dry, burnt hair green and wore black and red striped shirts with baggy jeans with a single silver chain. ‘Malu’ was the girl who let her hair grow down past her shoulder blades, and wore long, green skirts with brown tops and shoes. She said that ‘Malu’ was who she was, and ‘Emma’ was who she never wanted to be.
I can admit that ‘Emma’ would have never stood a chance standing next to Malu, but I can also admit, much more willingly, that I could not give a single fuck about what Malu’s name was. Had it been Ophelia or fucking Betholomew, I don’t care. But she does.
Her eyes open wide, as she begins her dramatics. He brings her hands up to wave them at me and she shakes her head with a pout, “Okay, okay! I’ll stop.” She smiles again when I flick her stomach one more time.
