"It's a low budget film!"

This is probably going to be the happiest and most cheerful entry I've ever posted. For real. This is happier than that time I found out about the Mae concert or wrote about the Jack's one, because that was more like excitement in the form of pre and post concert highs. Right now I'm truly happy, completely content with most everyone in my life and grateful for the three day weekend. On Friday night, I went out to Starbucks which was really convenient considering if I wasn't invited anywhere, I would have to go to my sister's softball game or stay home alone. Either way I would have felt somewhat pathetic, stuck with my family or home by myself on a Friday night when most teenagers are out of the house. So thank God I was invited somewhere. Kinnari was the one who came up with the idea and sent out the invites on Facebook. She invited nine people not including herself but three of them couldn't make it; it ended up being me, her, Em, Meg, Sophie, Ellary, and Brian. We took up a good section of the cafe and bombared everyone's quiet evening with our loud talking and giggling. At first we all talked but by 7 PM or 7:30, there were separate conversations going on. Kinnari, Megan, and Sophie were having a camera fight and I don't remember what Brian and Em were doing because Ellary and I got to talking and we just couldn't stop. We talked and talked for over an hour and I can't even tell you what we talked about because we jumped from topic to topic every minute or every fifteen or whenever the hell we felt like changing topics. I thought two hours at Starbucks was going to drag on forever, but the time flew by. I didn't want to leave because as inviting as an empty house was, I wanted to be with them more than I wanted to be alone. I haven't felt like that in a long time.
Kinnari gave me a ride home and I was planning on watching Milk, but I saw that Let the Right One In was available on Charter, so I rented that instead. I'm sure Milk is better but I wanted to see Let the Right One In simply because I read the book and as much as I hate it at times, I'm a critic. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. The movie followed the book generally speaking, but it left out details that would have been confusing or unclear if I hadn't read the book beforehand. The book was gruesome and intense throughout the second half, but the movie completely lacked intensity until the last minute or so. Anyway...I honestly don't feel like talking about that movie right now. Maybe later. I want to talk about Saturday. The first half of Saturday went as usual, but after guitar I went to Stop & Shop to meet up with Emily and Sophie. I didn't need any community service hours but I know that if I was in her position, I wouldn't want to stand outside a food store and hand out flyers all day by myself. I would want people with me. So I went with her. I didn't want to go at all, really, but I only had to stay for an hour but it was, as so many recent events have been, better than I expected. Normally I choke on my words around unfamiliar people, even if I'm doing something as impersonal as handing out a flyer, but I got over that fear quicker than I thought. Sure it was monotonous, but it was also amusing. Someone should have brought a camera so we could film the odd reactions people had. Some people take the flyer and nod with their mouth hanging open stupidly, others mumble incoherently, and there are a few that flat out say no or do the whole "talk to the hand" diss. The best part was when Em's older sister asked a middle-aged woman if she wanted to donate to the Trumbull Food Pantry and she said, "No, Obama's going to take care of it!"
What's scary is that I don't know if she was serious or not. But we laughed all the same.
I ran to the library and then went to church as usual. I figured I could rent Milk that night since I had nothing else to do, but I came home from church to find a message from Em on the machine. I called her back and she invited me to Sophie's house to watch and mock Twilight. Even though I don't know Sophie that well and haven't been to her house more than once or twice, I agreed. I don't know what's coming over me that is making me more open to situations that would normally cause me to cringe in discomfort, but whatever it is I hope it doesn't go away. Anyway, I went to Sophie's around 7 PM, 20 minutes after Emily and Megan were supposed to show up. Neither of them were there so it was just Sophie and I. I thought it was going to be awkward, but as soon as I walked in the house Sophie turned to me and said, "I'm watching the Black Entertainment Channel!" The ice was officially broken. Maybe our personalities are too conflicting for us to be close friends, but at least we can be comfortable friends. I would be content with just that.
Em and Megan arrived a few minutes after me and even though it was pretty dark outside, we went in the backyard to play badminton. I couldn't say why because I don't really know. Em decided she wanted to play badminton so we went outside. That's one of best parts about hanging with them: they're so spontaneous. They do whatever they feel like and it's no big deal if five minutes later they don't want to do it anymore. They'll find something else to occupy themselves with. Everything is no big deal and sometimes that's exactly what I need.
Badminton ended once it got too dark to see anything and the Clipper, a huge golden retriever, chewed through two birdies. We went down to the basement and played a few rounds of air hockey. We all freaked out a little when someone tapped on the window, but it ended up being Kinnari trying to get into the house. None of us were answering calls because our cells were upstairs and we were deaf to the doorbell and any knocking on the front door. We kept alternating teams for air hockey while Emily sprawled on the floor across from Clipper. They were lying in the same position facing each other and I made a few comments about what a romantic moment this was and how "Edward and Bella" the two of them were. I didn't mean anything ominous by it, but all of a sudden Clipper got up and jumped on top of Emily. Everyone grew silent at this point and Clipper began humping Emily. There was another second or two of silence before Emily realized what was going on and started screaming. She jumped to her feet and kept screaming, running around in useless circles while I fell off the exercise ball laughing along with everyone else. We were all on the floor laughing, Megan started crying with laughter. For the next half hour, Em yelled about how she'd been raped and stepped nervously around Clipper whenever he came too close. I joked around that she should have heeded my warnings and Megan accused her of being a tease. Em proceeded to run into the bathroom yelling, "I was an accomplice to my own rape!"
After a bit we managed to calm down and turned on Twilight. We giggled at all the awkwardly funny moments and Kinnari excused every flaw by saying, "It's a low budget film!" She said it over and over until Sophie yelled, "If you say it's a low budget film one more time I'm going to throw something at your face!" That was when it turned into a joke to annoy Sophie; all of a sudden everything made it a low budget. Bella dropped her backpack on the floor instead of the chair but "no we can't reshoot...it's a blank-blank film!" Megan would say, "Woah, Bella's not wearing any pants," and I said, "That's cos they couldn't afford any." We collapsed into a fit of giggles as Kinnari choked out, "It's a...BLANK...BLANK...FILM!"
I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
Hell, I need to laugh like that more often.
I hope it wasn't a one time thing.