Chapter 2

December 18, 2012

I was a little late getting up the following morning, and John had beaten me to the bathroom. I stood in the hallway with my clothes in hand, glaring at the closed bathroom door. "What a dick," I grumbled under my breath.

As I stomped into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, Mom must have noticed the look on my face. "I'm guessing you should've set your alarm a little earlier this morning?"

"I wouldn't be late if Johnny Boy wasn't here."

"Just let him know, so he won't do it again," she said, and then looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Politely, please."

I stirred some sugar into my mug and held it in both hands to warm them. The aroma made my stomach growl. "Are you working late tonight?"

"Yes, I'm closing the store. I won't be in until after nine. Wear your heavy coat today. It's gonna get colder this afternoon."

I nodded. "Steph mentioned a holiday party the Saturday after Christmas. Her Mom wanted you to come, if you're free."

"I'll check to see if I'm working or not." She took a sip of her coffee and rolled her head around to stretch her neck. "I can't wait for the holiday season to be over so I can get back to regular hours again."

"Did that girl tell you why she missed her shift the other night?"

"Typical sob story," she said. "I hate firing people before Christmas, but she left me no choice. She forced me to work a fourteen hour day because she skipped out and left me short."

"Damn. People fire themselves," I said with a shrug. Mom hated management, but she was good at it. She could do the hard things when she had to.

"Your dad always said that," she said with a sad smile, then tucked a long, stray strand of hair behind my ear.

"I don't remember him saying it, but I think you've told me that before."

"I know, old people repeat themselves sometimes--it's life."

John came into the kitchen with a smile. "Good morning!"

Mom moved to let him get to the coffee pot. "Good morning, John. How did you sleep?"

"That couch is comfortable, but I ended up sweating under the blanket and needed another shower."

His thoughtlessly happy comment multiplied my annoyance. "About that, would you please wait until after I've gone to class before you shower this week? I'm running late now."

Mom sighed and rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Kate, politely, remember?"

"It's fine, Aunt Lisa. I should have considered that," he said and then looked at me with a blank expression. "I cleaned up the bathroom, so you're good to go."

I put my mug in the sink and went back to my room to collect my clothes. He bugged me like a blister on my heel, but I tried to shake off my irritation as I got ready. By the time I'd showered and dressed, I felt much better.

When I left my room, he was sitting on the couch reading and Mom had already gone to get ready for work. Feeling a little guilty about how I acted, I made an attempt to apologize. "Sorry for being a bitch earlier."

"No biggie," he replied. He barely glanced at me before looking back at his tablet. "Have a good day at school."

"I'll be back around four." After he nodded, I grabbed my heavy coat and headed out the door, glad that he hadn't made it awkward.

The walk to the bus stop was cold, but the sunlight felt good on my face. I had to jog the last block, because I could see the bus approaching and wished, for the millionth time that I could afford a car. While I waited for the door to open, I dug out my bus pass and showed it to the driver when I entered. The heater blew warm air as I made my way to an empty row. I left my backpack on the aisle seat to prevent some creep sitting next to me. The other regulars nodded at me and I smiled back while I dug out my headphones, put my phone on a random playlist and then organized my backpack for the day. I was looking forward to losing myself in my school routine for a few hours.

When I arrived at home, I was still irritated, but I'd come to the conclusion it wasn't really his fault. If I'd had to stay far away from home for the holidays, I'd be a basket case. So, I forced myself to get over it and stuck a smile on my face before opening the door.

"I'm home," I called out.

John didn't even glance at me. "Good day?"

"I wish I was on break already, but not too bad, how about you?" I asked.

"I've done absolutely nothing all day and don't feel a bit guilty about it."

"Lucky," I said as I put my backpack near my end of the couch and plopped down next to him. "Want to play on the Wii?"

"Sure, what game?"

"Mario Kart?" When he nodded, I started the game and got the controllers out.

He was good, almost as good as me. The first game, I totally kicked his ass. The next game, he started bumping me to distract me, so I began bumping him back. Pretty soon we were laughing and pushing each other at every turn. After playing for a while, my stomach made an audible growl.

"Getting hungry?" he asked.

"Getting tired of losing?" I was going to win again. My Princess Peach was too far ahead for him to catch me. He bumped into me again and at the same time, threw a blue shell in the game. "Fuck!" It was impossible to dodge and he sped by me while I tried to regain control.

"Yes!" he yelled with his arms raised as he crossed the finish line.

I dropped the controller and pushed him off the couch. "You cheated!" I said as I jumped on top of him and tickled all along his body, looking for his weak spot. I found it, right under his arms, and he collapsed into a wiggling laughter.

"Stop! Stop it! I have to pee!" he cried out, trying to scoot away from me, but I was relentless. "I'm serious!"

Finally satisfied, I sat back, panting and hot. My hair was in my face, so I reached up to pull it back into a pony tail. He sat up to lean against the wall and I noticed him staring at my chest. I'm not that big, but my arms were up and my shirt was stretching across my breasts, outlining them clearly.

I gave him a disgusted look. "Seriously?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly and blushed a lovely shade of pink. "What do you like on your pizza?"

I shook my head and let it go. "No anchovies. Other than that, I'm good with whatever." He got up and grabbed his phone before heading off to the bathroom.

I got back on the couch and grabbed my phone and saw that Steph had texted me about going to the mall. I sent back that I had to hang out and eat pizza with my cousin, and my phone rang almost as soon as I hit send.

When I put the phone to my ear, Steph's voice carried a breathless excitement. "Is he cute?"

"I guess."

"What's his name? Where's he from?"

"John Alderman, and he goes to Old Dominion in Norfolk."

"Is he seeing anyone?"

I bit my lip and stared at the entrance to the hallway, looking and listening for any sign he was coming back. "I think so," I lied, while my heartbeat raced. I had to get her off the phone.

"Damn. Well, whoever she is, she's not here, so he's fair game as far as I'm concerned. When can I come over?"

"Why don't we meet at the mall this weekend?" I suggested, even though my stomach tickled like it was full of butterflies. Why was I doing this?

She huffed. "Fine, but you better call me or I'll just show up there."

I had to laugh at the tone of her voice. "I will, I promise."

I sat there, staring blankly at my phone and trying to come up with a reason for why I'd just lied to Steph. I tried imagining Steph and John kissing, but it immediately felt wrong. It's not like I wanted to kiss him. Even setting the cousin issue aside, he still annoyed me, especially after catching him ogling at my breasts. So why did my heart race when she asked, and why the hell didn't I just tell her the truth?

I shrugged it off when John came back to the living room with a grin. "Ready for a rematch?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied, then scooted back into my corner of the couch.

We played until the pizza arrived, but I couldn't get my groove back enough to give him the beating he deserved. When he got up to pay, I went to get us plates and napkins from the kitchen and then met him back in the living room.

"Thanks for getting us dinner."

He smiled as he grabbed a piece. "Thanks for making me feel welcome."

We sat listening to the Christmas music channel on the television as we ate. I was surprised to find I wasn't uncomfortable around him at all. There was something kind about his eyes, and his face was interesting enough for me to study it. There was strength to it, especially his chin and jaw. He got a blank look sometimes when he was reading or thinking deeply. He lost all of his boyish character in those moments and all I could see was the man. I liked what I saw, but had to look away before he caught me staring.

While he took the plates back to the kitchen to clean up our dinner mess, I went to wash up and change into my pajamas. I put on a knee-length cotton nightie that looked like a long, short-sleeved t-shirt, with a faded unicorn design I'd loved when I'd first gotten it. Of course, at the time it'd gone almost to my ankles, but I couldn't bear to stop wearing it.

When I returned to the living room, John was already reading on his tablet. He looked up at me, but at least I didn't catch him checking me out this time. I plopped down on my side of the couch and pulled down the blanket I kept folded over the back.

"Share that with me?" he asked.

"Sure." I sat sideways like him and threw the blanket to cover both of our legs. When I felt him move his legs against mine, I worried that my legs were too stubbly, but he didn't seem to notice because he immediately returned to his book without a word.

I grabbed my backpack and pulled out my binders. I kept organized notes during lectures, but many times I didn't really understand the material until I went back through my notes while using the textbook. I worked my way through my notes and verified the assumptions I'd made in class. When I finished going over my notes, I had to write a report for my technical writing teacher. She always gave us interesting research topics, which made it fun to write for her. A couple of times, she'd even suggested I do some creative writing on the side. I've always wanted to write, but never could decide what to write about.

After finishing the report, I decided to give myself a pedicure. Putting away my schoolbooks, I grabbed the nail bag from the table behind the couch and started trimming my nails with my little scissors. John kept glancing at me as I worked and after a couple of more times, I gave him a frown and growled, "What?"

He raised his eyebrows and nodded towards my lap. I looked down and realized my nightie had ridden up past my knees, exposing my striped cotton panties. "Shit." I said, and pulled my nightie back down.

"Didn't mean to look, I swear."

"I see that now, sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me," I said, then got out my file and rubbed it vigorously against my nails. "I've been in such a bad mood lately. I swear I'm not usually like this."

"Look, I know that me being here is bothering you. If I could've stayed at school I would have." I looked up at him and found him giving me a look like he was gauging how much to tell me. "The truth is Mom and Dad needed the grand or so it would've taken for me to fly home. If I'd gone home, Nate and Alex would've gotten just underwear and socks for Christmas this year. It's that tight. Mom didn't want Dad to tell me, so this is just between you and me, okay?"

Aunt Susan had sometimes sent us money when we'd been low after Dad died, so it was hard to imagine them being tight on cash. "I had no idea. I won't say anything to Mom," I said, shame making my face hot. "I owe you an apology."

"You don't owe me anything. I'd like to be friends, though."

I nodded, and because I didn't know what else to do, I went back to working on my toenails. "I thought you guys were rich or something."

"I wish," he chuckled. "Dad has a pretty secure job in the tech industry, but he isn't so young anymore. Companies don't pay older geeks as much when they can get three younger ones for the same price. That's what he says, anyway."

"Makes sense, I guess. I thought he was in a bunch of startups, though."

"He can't take those kinds of risks anymore. Before he had us, he and Mom would move around when the offers increased. He bought the house outright that way, but now he can't just pick up and move. Plus, the cost of living out there is insane, and my school, Jesus, what a racket that is."

"I don't think Mom even suspects."

"I doubt my parents would tell her. Dad only told me because we're pretty close. We both know Nate is dying for a computer and Alex needs a bigger bike. I told him I couldn't do that to them. Plus, I needed some time to think after last year."

"Damn, John..." I said, suddenly feeling overwhelming sympathy for him. His comment about the previous year reminded me of what Mom had said. I considered asking him what happened, but he interrupted me when he laughed and patted my leg.

"Stop that. Remember, I'm the guy that was just checking out your rack, like some kind of perv."

"And my cooter," I reminded him with a smile.

"Yes, that too," he said, blushing again. I was beginning to like that look on him.

I decided to skip painting my toenails when I saw his bare foot sticking out of the covers. "What the hell do you cut your toenails with, a weed whacker?"

"What?" he asked, looking down to see what I meant.

I pulled his foot into my lap and inspected the damage. "Just look at those cuticles and calluses. Don't you take care of yourself?

"Take care of what? I just clip off the nails and cover them with socks."

"I can tell!" I got my scissors back out again and shook my head at the shape his nails were in. When I tried to line up the first cut he wiggled. "Stop moving."

"Stop tickling me!"

I grinned up at him and then went back to work. "Tell me a story."

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Tell me something about your life."

"Well, I can tell you about the time Mike and I nearly got arrested, if you want."