Cherry Land Chapters

Illustration by Nik Garvoille.

“This is like stoner 101 from 1973,” smiles Dustin, setting the needle on Pink Floyd’s album, The Dark Side of the Moon. He pulls his gray hoodie over his black hair, casts a glance to the window. “Look at that snow.” Amber cranes her neck over the back of his parents’ worn couch upholstered in a velvety brown zigzag design, peering through the thin basement window. “I’m chilly,” she confesses. He grabs a faded blue down blanket from an armchair and tosses it her way. The record begins – the sound of a heartbeat, a typewriter, sinister laughter.

“The whole album is an experience. Everything is crap compared to this,” says Dustin, sitting across from her, reaching for the parted book resting on the coffee table strewn with Euro coins, a gray iPod, a package of microwave popcorn.

It’s Saturday, 7:03 pm. The closed laptop she’s been using to research waitress and nanny jobs in Italy, Argentina, and Thailand rests beside the ceramic ashtray containing crinkled and torn cigarette wrappers Dustin attempted to roll, a skill he thought he mastered during his recent backpacking trip through Edinburgh, Madrid, and Paris. But he didn’t. Loose bits of tobacco still cling to the back of Amber’s tongue.

“I really got into The Wall for like two weeks after college,” says Amber. “Then I got really depressed. The film is terrifying.” She twirls a band of her blonde strands tight around her pointer finger, noticing her chipped purple nail polish, the dusty white layer of dry skin over her knuckles. “Didn’t the main singer kill himself?”

“Roger Waters,” says Dustin condescendingly. “You should know his name.”

“I was thinking Robert Plant. That was coming to mind, but he’s alive, right?”

“Yes – he’s alive. And no – Roger Waters didn’t kill himself. You’re thinking of Syd Barrett, who had a bad LSD trip and fried his brain.”

“Huh,” Amber exhales. “I feel like I’m going to space.”

“Yeah, they’re aggressive with the keyboard,” Dustin rests his socked feet on Amber’s lap, flips a page of Ender’s Game.

“Now this stuff is making me depressed,” says Amber. “This weather is making me depressed.”

Dustin closes the book and takes Amber’s foot in his hand. “Don’t tickle me.”

“Just relax,” he says pressing his thumb hard against the arch of her foot. “What do you want to listen to – Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, Prince? Want me to teach you how to roll a cigarette?”

Amber shakes her head and notices the snow clouding over the tiny window.

“Why don’t you just buy normal cigarettes?” she asks.

“This is dirt cheap, and awesome.”

“You’re a cliché,” Amber laughs. “Can’t your parents smell it upstairs?”

“You know my parents. They don’t care.”

“You have plans on Valentine’s Day?”

“I bet Melissa will want to hang out. You can hang out with us. She’s coming over in a bit.”

“I don’t know if she likes me. She’s just so rich, I don’t have anything to talk to her about. I think it’s weird you two hang out.”

“She’s fine for now – it’s winter.”

“That’s really sweet. Well you guys have a fun, romantic, meaningful Valentine’s Day,” says Amber. Dustin smirks and rubs his thumb against her heel.

“It’s okay to be single on Valentine’s Day, Amber. Now you’re the cliché.”

“I’m not a cliché. I’m going to wear bright red lipstick and watch Season 1 of Girls all over again.”

“Yeah, you’re a cliché.”

“Dustin!” a voice calls from upstairs.

“Yeah?”

“Melissa’s here!”

Dustin straightens up, pulls his hood down, tosses Amber’s foot to the side while pulling his feet towards him. Melissa’s steps sound throughout the room, complimenting Pink Floyd’s eerie instrumental track, “On the Run.”

“Amber, move over,” Dustin whispers.

“What are you two up to?” smiles Melissa, tossing her thick red curls over her shoulders before sitting between Dustin and Amber.

“Just hanging out,” says Amber, studying Melissa’s dainty fingers, smooth, tipped off with even coats of turquoise nail polish, resting on Dustin’s leg.

“Casey and those guys are going out tonight, so I think we should go soon,” Melissa says to Dustin.

“Yeah,” he smiles, setting his hand over hers. “Amber’s coming too.”

“I don’t know –” Amber protests, shifting against the arm of the couch.

“You’re coming and we’re singing karaoke and you don’t have a choice,” Dustin says.

Melissa offers Amber a tight-lipped smile, “It should be fun.”

“Yeah,” says Amber.

“What the hell are you guys listening to?”

To read previous Cherry Land Chapters, visit http://www.cherrylandchapters.com.