VIP (2 page)

I didn’t
fuck them though. My first encounter of sex made me never want to do that
again. I avoided my mother’s Johns at all costs after that night. Taking care
of myself became my motto, and my way of living. I saw very little of my mother
after that. I often wonder if she even realized I was gone. I try not to think
about that. I try not to think about a lot of stuff. Except, at night when I’m
in my bed, the lights are off, and all I am left with are my thoughts and
memories, I can’t help but wonder…what if?

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S
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Lifelong-
lasting or continuing through all or much of one's life. That was what Julia
was to me. I knew she would always be in my life. I knew that all my life. I
don’t know how to even explain it. I just knew it.

One
could say that growing up the only child would be difficult, especially if you
were a boy. You need someone to rough house with, play video games, talk to
girls about, climb trees, and build stuff. You know, typical boy stuff.

My
parents didn’t really want to have any children, and my mom likes to say that I
was an amazing surprise. I wasn’t, I know that I was an accident. Don’t get me
wrong, they are great parents. Always gave me what I wanted, extremely
supportive, very loving and caring people. My home life was wonderful. My mom
was a registered nurse, and as soon as she had me she quit and became a stay at
home mom. My dad was a doctor. They actually met in college, my dad was a
senior, about to get accepted into medical school and my mom was a freshman. My
mother realized she had a love for healing people when she met my dad. They
worked together for two years before I ‘surprised’ them.

They had
lots of friends, given that my dad was an active member of the community. He’s  one
of the top rated cardiologists in Miami, people would fly from all different
states just to see him. I look a lot like my father we both have
blonde hair that we keep in a messy hairstyle, blue eyes,
slender yet distinguished facial features, and a boyish Colgate smile, like my
mom calls it.
My parents’ best friends lived in our neighborhood. Beth
and my mom have known each other since high school. Her husband David is also a
doctor, and my dad actually introduced David to Beth when he and my mom started
dating.

David
and Beth had baby girl named Julia. Naturally, Beth stopped working when they
had Julia; Beth and my mom were always on the same wavelength. I am two years
older than Julia, and have known her since the day that she was born. Obviously,
I don’t remember it, my parents said that the day she was born I was one of the
first people to hold her, and that I gave her our first kiss right on the lips.
I called her my baby and from then on everyone just nicknamed her, Babygirl.

One of
Julia’s first words was my name, she couldn’t say Sebastian, and ended up
saying Sebby. She has called me that ever since. Julia and I did everything
together, and when I say everything I mean everything. From taking baths
together,
to sleep overs, lemonade stands, Sunday
school, playing house (which she insisted), summer camps, swimming, playing
board games, Legos;
you name it we did it. She was like a boy only she
smelled good and had long hair. She was my yin to my yang, the peanut butter to
my jelly, the milk to my Oreos, and the hot fudge to my ice cream.

I love
to take credit for teaching Julia everything she knows, no seriously…I showed
her how to walk, ride a bike, swim, color in the lines, read, catch bugs, make
mud pies and cuss.
What? I was a boy.
She loved to think that she is the
reason that I am understanding, sensitive, loving, smart, witty and funny.
Babygirl is a lot of things, and witty and funny are not one of them, I always
laugh at her for trying. She still hasn’t got onto the part that I’m usually
laughing at her and not with her.

We had a
pretty normal upbringing, like I said before, my parents only wanted me, now
Julia’s parents were another story. After they had Julia, they tried to have
another child almost immediately. Being so young I never understood what was
going on, as I got older I would overhear Beth crying to my mom that her
‘friend’ came again. I wasn’t sure what that meant at the time, only that it
usually happened once a month.

Growing
up together seemed normal to me. Our parents were always doing things together;
barbeques, vacations, dinners, birthdays, every celebration was spent together.
I pretty much saw Julia everyday. Her parents were like my second parents and
vice versa, our parents had a running theme that we would end up together. Our
mothers were practically planning our wedding from the day she was born. 

When she
was six and I was eight our dads built us a tree house in her backyard. It had
taken them almost a month to finish it. I had brought over lots of toys and
games for us to play with one afternoon. I had climbed the last step of the
ladder before I abruptly stopped from all the pink and purple splattered everywhere.
A pink comforter with fluffy pinker looking pillows were in the corner, a table
with a purple cloth and tea cup set was on the opposite side, her play kitchen
was set up in the middle, and a weird fuzzy looking rug was right at the
entrance. She even went as far as putting  her dolls and stuffed animals in
random places.

“Surprise!”
Julia yelled. “Do you love it?”

“Wow, what
did you do?” I questioned.

“I made
us a home. Isn’t it lovely?” She sighed contentedly. “Why are you looking at me
like that?”

“Babygirl…why
did you do this?”

“What do
you mean…I’m nesting.”

“What
does that mean?”

“I don’t
know, my mom said that’s what I was doing, I thought you would know.”

I could
see how excited she was, and I didn’t want to ruin it for her, but this was not
what I had envisioned.

“I
thought we were going to do this together?” I suggested.

“I know,
that’s why I said “surprise!” She shouted with her arms in the air.

“You
don’t like it?” She whispered, bowing her head.

“I
didn’t say that, it’s just I thought it was going to be more like a fort. You
know, a place where we could hang out and play. Not so much “this.” I explained
pointing around me.

“We can
still do all that, we can just scoot some things over. We can make room for
your things and mine. You know I’ll share with you.”

“Okay…how
about we do that right now. And, maybe, we can tone down the pink and purple,
maybe some black and blue?” I pleaded.

She
shrugged her shoulders, “okay.”

We spent
the next hour moving things around to make room for my stuff. We agreed that
the comforter and rug could stay, however, the kitchen and teacup set was axed.

“Are you
upset with me?” I asked.

“No, I’m
not upset. Just, sometimes, I wish I had a sister.”

“I
know.” I hated to see Julia upset; I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. I know
she put a lot of time and effort to make our fort special. I cheered her up by
playing house that afternoon. Julia loved to play house, she was the mom and I
was the dad, and her baby dolls were our kids. There wasn’t anything that I
wouldn’t do for her, even at the young age of eight.

You
could say that it was a little strange that my best friend consisted of a girl.
I mean, I was a boy I still needed to hang out with other guys. I hung out with
Andrew Jones sometimes, only when Julia was away with her family. On the rare
occasions when I wasn’t with her, I would hang out with Andrew.

Andrews’s
friendship and mine abruptly ended one afternoon when I was pushing Julia on
her backyard swing. I had slipped and called Julia, Babygirl in front of him.
He made fun of my pet name for her. The older I became, the more aware I was
about calling her Babygirl around people. I couldn’t help it. She was my Babygirl,
always and forever.

The best
and most memorable times were when she would smile; I loved Julia’s smiles.
She’s beautiful, her blue eyes, long wavy blonde hair, thick eyelashes, and high
cheekbones with delicate facial features. There’s a tiny beauty mark on the
right side of her nose, and her bottom lip is thicker than her top.

You
could definitely tell that Julia's best friend was a boy. She was tougher than
nails. If Julia cried, she had reason to cry. If she did cry, it was because
she was hurt, like the time she stepped on a bee, or when she was running too
fast down the stairs and tripped and broke her arm. That was a good one; she
milked that injury for everything it was worth. I spent the next month catering
to her every want and need; from playing Barbie dolls to dress up.

Now don’t
think Babygirl and I didn’t have our spats. She could get mad over the
stupidest stuff. I remember once when she was maybe eight and I was ten. I was
over at her house, because I didn’t want to get groceries with my mom. She
wanted to watch The Little Mermaid for the tenth time and I wanted to watch
X-Men. I was only joking. I turned it to X-Men and she screamed at the top of
her lungs.

Her dad
came in, and asked what was going on. Julia lied. She told him that I pushed
her, and I had to sit on the steps for ten minutes. Every time I looked over
towards her, she stuck her tongue out and smirked. I wasn’t going to be her
friend anymore. I was going to find a new best friend.

As soon
as her dad had finished lecturing me about hitting girls, and told me that I
could go play. I made sure she knew it.

“I’m not
your friend anymore. You’re a dumb girl, I hate you” I said, quietly not
wanting her dad to hear me call her a dumb girl. I probably would have had
another timeout.

Julia’s
bottom lip quivered, followed by her big watery tears.

“I’m
sorry, Babygirl. You’re still my friend,” I promised, changing my tune. I hated
to see her cry. It did something to my insides that I couldn’t explain.

“Am I
your best friend?” she asked.

“Yes,
you’re always going to be my best friend.”

We
fought about other things too, mostly dumb things, like whether we were playing
house or cops and robbers, Connect four or Chutes and Ladders, swimming or
riding bikes. Needless to say, Julia usually won. It was hard for me to say no
to her.

Her
parents continued to try for a baby for most of our childhood. A few weeks
after Julia turned nine, she told me that they were going to get her a sibling
from a special place where parents went to get kids who didn’t have a home.

“I don’t
understand how they can do that, Babygirl? Do they buy a boy or a girl like you
buy groceries?” I asked curiously.

“That’s
not what daddy said, it was more like applying for one. It’s called adoption. I
guess they have to do all this paperwork stuff, and then we have to wait for
someone to call us, or something like that.” She replied.

“How
long does it take for them to call you?”

“I don’t
know, he said it took longer for a baby. I told them that I don’t want a baby.
I want someone close to our age so that they can play with us. What would we do
with a baby, Sebby? It would be boring. Oh, and that I want a sister.”

“Yeah,
that makes sense. What did they say?”

“They
said that it was my decision too, and that they also wanted someone to grow up
with us, now we just have to wait.”

Julia
and I continued in our normal routine for the next year. Julia and her parents
were thrilled. They had been scouting agencies to find the perfect one and they
had finally found one.

“Sebby!”
Julia yelled. “Sebastian…Sebastian…Wait for me! You’re going too fast. I can’t
pedal as fast as you!” She shouted. I slowed down my pedaling for her to catch
up.

“You’re
such a slow poke, Jules.” I teased her. “I’ve taught you how to go faster. You
need to hold your butt in the air and power your legs. I can’t keep your pace. My
legs are too long.” I explained.

She
tilted her head to the side. “Well…that’s not fair, Sebby. You’re a boy and I’m
a girl. I’m never going to be as big as you. What are we going to do when you
turn twelve next month? I just turned ten, and you’re only going to get bigger.”
She muttered. “Your dad is so huge it hurts my neck every time I have to look
at him.”

“Babygirl,
you know I hate it when you whine like that. We will figure it out like we
always do, stop worrying.”

She sighed.
“I’m not whining. You just don’t understand what it’s like to be a girl,
Sebby.” She argued, sticking her tongue out at me.
I swear that girl stuck
her tongue out at  me more than I could count.

“You’re
right, I don’t understand.” I retorted. “That’s why you’re getting a baby
sister. Now I’ll have two baby girls I’ll have to look out for.” I smiled and
looked back at her face, she looked upset. Ouch, I didn’t mean for it to hurt.
I was only teasing her.

“You
know you’ll always be my number one girl, Jules,” I reverted. She gave me a
huge smile. I hated to see my Babygirl sad.