I yank my bedroom door open so hard I think I might’ve put a hole in the wall the shape of the doorknob when it slammed against the wall. I take off running and I turn the corner a little to sharply and because I have my fuzzy Care Bear socks on, that were a gift from my 3 year old niece last Christmas, I slide and slam into the adjacent wall. I recover quickly since that isn’t the first time I have slammed into that wall, or any wall in particular for that matter, and I’m positive it won’t be the last time either. I rush down the spiral staircase in less then a minute, but I have to slow down drastically because I hear the television on which means that Graham is watching some show, most likely an infomercial and has a clear view of me running to the door. Knowing this I slowly walk to the door and open it, not bothering to straighten my black spaghetti strap that is hanging down my arm, nor do I care about the fact that I have a 3 inch long welt on my shoulder from running into the wall. I know he’ll still think I’m beautiful.
I have to stop myself from jumping into his arms and hugging him like dear life because I can hear Graham getting ready to get up to see who is at the door. But before he can get to the door I call out “You don’t have to get up, it’s just Reef.” I almost laugh out loud at the look that Reef gives me when I announced he was at the door. I bet he’s thinking, “Yeah right, it’s JUST me. Cracker wouldn’t think that it’s JUST me if he knew the bleeding truth, would he luv?” I have to stop myself from laughing again when I see that Jay really is thinking that. Sun, Hot Stuff, Reef and me are the only people who know that Graham’s nickname is Cracker, although I think Graham might suspect but I highly doubt that. I’m also surprised that I called Reef by his nickname and not Jay, like I normally do when I’m around him, I know I call him Jay sometimes around Faith and Xander. Maybe, its because I know he hates Graham with a purple-passion that I don’t call him my special name for him, even though his real name is Jay he has never really gone by that. But, then I remember that Graham doesn’t know that Reef’s real name is Jay and he would want to know how I know and that would start a round of 20 questions that I don’t want to see get started.
Fortunately, Graham stays seated where he is and I was right he is watching an infomercial this one is about the latest George Foreman grill product to be released. While Graham is engrossed with the television Reef and I decide to go into the kitchen, mainly because I’m starving and also that way we can be close enough to hear what Graham does but far enough away that he won’t be able to hear us. We walk into the kitchen and Reef immediately pulls me to the sink and sits me on top of the black granite counter next to it. I ask, “Jay baby what are you doing?” He answers, “What does it look like I’m doing, I’m going to clean your arm up.” While he is saying this he gets a rag out of a nearby drawer. He turns on the hot water and proceeds to wet and soap up the rag he then takes my arm and never stopping what he’s doing he says a matter-of-factly “Run into the wall again, huh. Seriously, luv you’ve gotta stop banging into the walls. One of these days you might actually really hurt yourself.” After he finishes cleaning my arm he washes his hands, he goes over to the fridge looking over the contents, he pulls out what looks like half of the fridge and sets it on the counter. I’m still in my place on the countertop looking at him like he’s seriously lost his mind. I’d blame his acting this way on the surfing accident he had with the Great Barrier Reef, but I can’t because the GBR as we call it only tore the skin on his back and legs. He didn’t hit his head at all, which is a good thing I guess, but seriously what can I blame this behavior on?

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