"You smell like hamburgers," I laughed into my boyfriend's chest as we greeted one another. I looked up into his positively gorgeous blue eyes that swam with insight. Reaching up, I gave him a quick hello peck and ruffled up his choppy black hair.
"Sorry. I didn't have time to shower after work," Davey replied with a chortle back. He had a smile that reached all the way up into those mesmerizing eyes of his. I couldn't help but smile back. I wanted to kiss him again, but I wanted to keep going with our game more.
"At least you changed." I rolled my eyes. Davey gasped in mock-surprise.
"And just what, might I ask, is wrong with McDonald's chic?" He popped his collar in pretend anger, imagining he was standing up for his uniform and oh-so- glamorous 'occupation'. "That is just a shocker, especially, coming from someone named Chicken!"
Now it was my turn to fake an emotion. I crossed my arms and made a pouty face. "I thought I told you not to call me that. It is not my preferred name."
"Come on, Chris," Davey said, throwing his arm around my waist, "Let's go see the movie."
Right now you are probably thinking something along the lines of 'Did he just call that chick Chicken?' And the answer is yes. And no, it is not a nickname I got from eating a bunch of McNuggets when I was little. What happens when a wasted seventeen-year-old allows her three-year-old son to name his sister? You get Chicken Marie Thomas.
Needless to say, I was not too thrilled with this arrangement after my first day of kindergarten. So I unofficially changed my name to Chris, instantly severing any chances I might have had at becoming friends with another girl.
"Chris?" Davey's voice brought me back from my lovely trip down memory lane. "The movie's gonna start soon."
"So tell me again why we are watching Spider Man Three?"
"Because, Spidey rocks. And besides, I heard Peter goes totally emo in one part." I wasn't convinced, so he added with an eye roll, "Just imagine that Toby Maguire is Jake Gyllenhaal."
"Well, it won't be the same...but Okay I guess I can do that!"
"Shhh! I think it's gonna start now." Sure enough, the opening credits began to roll. It held my attention for a little while, but soon my mind started to wander.
In between my Jake fantasies (that was one thing I loved about our relationship-we had no problem with each other having crushes on unobtainables), my worries were slowly surfacing. Was Johnny okay? Even though I would never forgive him for naming me what he did, (after all, he was three) I missed him and wanted him home safe. He had joined the army right out of high school. We most certainly couldn’t pay for him to go to college right now, but this way we still got a small but steady income and he could still go to college someday. He left to go to Iraq last month, and his sporadic phone calls weren’t enough for me.
My mind switched again to the current absolute mess ‘our’ house was in. The woman was thirty-two and had two kids in or already out of high school, and still she had no job. Still she went out and partied all night and slept her hangover away all day. Still she went away for weeks at a time, screwing the hell out of her current boyfriend until they got sick of having sex with each other. If it wasn’t for my brother’s army check and the child support my mysterious but somehow responsible father sent us, I don’t know how we would have our apartment. I had been handling the money for four years now. If I didn’t hide it, my mother would take it and waste it on some slutty outfit or worse.
I sighed and tried to concentrate the best I could on the movie. No matter how much crap I had to deal with, at least I had Davey. He may be the only positive thing I have at the moment.
