"Lay the fuck off Tim," Claudia said as she took one step with her long legs and stationed herself between him and Petunia. "I swear to whatever god there may be that if you don't fucking cool it I will show you something that I will celebrate about."
She watched as the pupils of his pale green eyes contracted, the superior smirk fading from his skinny lips that were set under a red nose. The kid constantly looked like he was sick, since his big ears were also red, satellite dishes on either side of a narrow face and set on a telephone pole body. Claudia was fairly sure she could wrap one of her legs around his waist and just break him in half with one, sharp twist.
"The fuck is this Claude?"
"Look, you can see I'm pissed, right? Do you think callin' me Claude when I'm fucking pissed, at you, is a good idea?"
"Cici..." Petunia said behind me. I felt her large hand take hold of my wrist, but not in a restrictive manner.
"'kay, whatever, bitch. PMSin', much?"
"Yeah, it's totally because I'm PMSin' and not because you're being the biggest douche-fucking cocktail I've ever seen."
"What happened was awesome! Fuck you if you don't agree."
Claudia sucked her tongue against the front of her teeth, her breathing steady but her knuckles burned, an ache to smash them into his recently un-braced teeth. Her knees locked back for a moment before she remembered to bend them slightly for better movement. She was sure he wouldn't appreciate her three inch heel jamming into his nose. Her shoulders were straight to face him, broad for a woman but she used it to her advantage in the clothing she wore and the looming anger she employed in her day-to-day business.
"What happened, happened," she said, aware that Petunia's breathing was stilted and nervous.
"It finally happened," Tim corrected.
Petunia shifted her weight between small feet, rolling her ankle a bit. She was never steady on heels. All her weight was in her hips. All her thoughts were on her face.
"Oh grow the fuck up," Claudia said. "We get it, you're over the fucking moon. You and all the other sociopathic turds who think you're all polished to a mirror finish. Go on and whoop and hollar for joy and I hope someone does the same exact thing when that shit happens to you."
"If you don't like it you can fucking leave," Tim said, throwing out his arm as if to make some point. His dumpy hoodie only made the motion look slow and unmotivated. Claudia knew that he had never been the target of one of her rages. He had always been an on-looker or on her side, now that she was against him he was lost. Lost in a forest that she was setting on fire at each corner and watching him burn with the flames reflected in amber eyes.
"How about," Claudia replied, "if I don't like it, I'll fucking tell you that I don't like it, and you can shut the fuck up or take it somewhere else." She lifted both her hands, breaking Petunia's hold and pinched her fingers together as if about to conduct an orchestra. She opened up all her fingers. "Because I, won't take that shit. I'm not Petunia." She closed her fingers and moved them to point at herself.
Petunia inhaled as she was brought back into the conversation, and not in a favorable light. Claudia was surprised she hadn't left the room by now, left the apartment. She pushed her arm back into the red-headed girl, shoving her away toward the door. Not that she had done it on purpose, but Petunia had instigated this fight, even though Claudia was fully supportive of her side. Celebrating this kind of shit was needlessly destructive, embarrassing, and repulsive.
"Ya'll complain but I don't see you doing anything about it!" Tim rolled his eyes, tugging his hoodie over his chest in some kind of masculine gesture.
"Oh. Do something." Claudia smiled, then hopped forward onto one foot and slammed her heel into Tim's soft stomach with all the force a ballet dancer could muster. It was a lot. "Fucking attacking your friends because they disagree with you and your actions. Fuck that shit. Get the fuck out of this apartment and don't come back. You'll find any of the shit you left here on the curb in an hour."
