"Taylor, what are you doing roaming the halls?"
I turned around and faced Becca. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a tee shirt and a pair of boxers similar to the ones Zac was sleeping in. I blushed. "Oh, um... I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to wake Ike and Zac, so I came out here."
She nodded her head. "I can't sleep, either. I guess that's okay, though. I'll sleep on the plane tomorrow."
I nodded my head, not really knowing what to say and embarrassed that I got caught in the hallway shirtless and in boxers.
"Wanna come back to my room? Aunt Tam left this afternoon, so we don't have to worry about waking her."
I shrugged. "Sure. Beats standing in the hallway by myself."
We went to Becca's room and walked out onto the balcony. The streets of London were relatively quiet, with the exception of the drunk cluber ocassionally passing by. One guy with spiked hair stopped and leaned against a lamp post. He lit a cigarette. "Aha! Victim number one."
I became worried. "Becca, what are you going to do?"
She smiled. "You'll see."
What happened next caught me COMPLETELY off-guard. Rebecca launched a ball of phlegm. It hit the spiked-hair smoker right on his head. We ducked before we could be seen.
"Rebecca!" I hissed. "Are you nuts?"
She rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease. Zac told me how you got some old lady the day before I got here."
"Oh, yeah... um... yeah." I smiled sheephisly. I stood up and Rebecca followed. The smoker was gone. "Wow! You spit pretty far," I observed.
"It's all in the tongue."
"Oh?"
"No, seriously, my mom's a speech therapist. When she works with kids, they have watermelon seed spitting contests. The tongue's a muscle, and whoever spits the farthest has the strongest tongue. Plus," Becca's eyes sparkled, "it's helpful in other activities, as well."
I smiled. "You know, you're not exactly discouraging me from this behavior. Spitting off the balcony, that is."
Becca shrugged. "I'm under no obligation to keep you naive or anything. Besides, I doubt that anyone or anything could keep you from spitting off the balcony, with the exception of your parents."
"Too true," I agreed. "So, what did you and Ike do the other day? Zac and I wanted to ask you to go rollerblading, but Mom said you went for a walk. Where did you go?"
"If I tell you, you can't tell your parents. I don't want them mad at Ike, 'cause he kinda lied to them."
"Ike lied to them!?!" Anytime you can get information to hold over a sibling's head, it's a red-letter day for you. "Do tell."
"Ike asked if we could go for a walk. Your mom asked where. Ike said no place in particular, but we went to get my bellybutton pierced."
"Cool! Can I see it?"
Rebecca lifted her shirt to reveal a silver naval ring.
"Looks good."
"Thanks."
"So," I said, sitting on a chair, "what made you do that?"
"Well, I always wanted to, but never did anything about it. The other day at the shoot, Ike and I made a deal. He talked to that blonde, and I got my bellybutton pierced."
"That has to be the DUMBEST thing I EVER heard."
Becca shrugged. "What's done is done."
"Are your parents gonna be mad?" I asked. The last thing Ike needed was Becca's parents to get upset and call Mom and Dad.
"Nah... Mom said I could do it. You just have to be eighteen in the US. But Steve, well, that's another story."
"Steve's your boyfriend, right?"
"Yup."
"Why's he gonna be mad?"
"Because not only did I not tell him I was doing it, he wasn't there to witness it."
I became concerned. "So, what's he gonna say? What's he gonna do?"
Becca sighed. "He'll bitch. He'll moan. We'll get into a fight. And if he continues to act like an idiot, well, I hope the door doesn't hit him in the ass on the way out."
"So you'll break up over a bellybutton ring?" The whole thing seemed stupid to me.
"Yeah, I know, it's juvenile. But," she shrugged, "that's the way the cookie crumbles."
"Do you love him?"
Becca appeared shocked by the question. I was equally shocked that I asked it. She answered it anyway. "Geez, well, no, I guess not. Don't get me wrong, I have feelings FOR him. I doubt that it's true love, though."
"Then why are you with him? If you don't mind my asking." I didn't want her to think I was nosey, even though I was.
"Oh, I don't know. Not that it matters anyway. Even if we make it to graduation by some miracle, we won't make it past that."
"God, Rebecca! That's a real shitty thing to say!"
"What do I look like Taylor? Mary Poppins? That's life. People grow. People change. Your interests change. Life's not one big Disney movie."
"Yeah, I guess..."
"Sorry," Becca apologized. "I didn't mean to come off so harsh."
"It's okay. I shouldn't have asked. It was none of my business. I didn't mean to open a can of worms."
"Don't worry your pretty blonde head about it," she said, getting up and ruffling my already knotted hair.
"I won't," I said through a yawn.
"Oooh... Someone's tired."
"Yeah. Finally. I guess I'll be going back. Thanks for letting me hang out with you."
Becca smiled. "No problem."
As I walked down the hall to my room, I came to the conclusion that Rebecca wasn't all that bad. In fact, she was pretty cool. Not two minutes later, I found myself knocking on her door. "Taylor? What is it?"
"I, um... I locked myself out." I could feel my sunburned cheeks burn with embarrassment.
"Come on in, you dork," she said laughing. "Pick a bed, any bed."
I flopped down on my stomach onto the bed closest to the window. "Hey, Becca, when do you think is the next time we'll see you?"
"You better visit me the next time you're in LA, or heads will roll," she said. I could tell by her tone of voice that she was smiling.
"Will do. Goodnight, Bec."
"Goodnight, Taylor."