He isn’t careful with me. And I’m not polite with him.
Until now.
And it’s driving me nuts.
“What in theworld,” I say, exasperated, as we try to pass in the small kitchen, sidestepping like shadows of each other, moving this way and that at the exact same time, hopelessly out of sync, “are you doing?”
He looks surprised at my impatience. “I was just gonna help—”
“Why don’t you work on the living room and I’ll finish up in here?”
“Okay,” he says with a shrug.
But the apartment feels too small even for this. The kitchen is open, so I can see him over the counter, flopping down onto the couch, remote control in hand.
“How is that helping?” I ask, and he swivels around with a grin.
“I’m double-tasking,” he says. “I clean better when the TV’s on.”
I roll my eyes. “I bet.”
As he begins to flip through the channels, I straighten up the kitchen, rinsing glasses and wiping down counters. Every so often I stop and glance at the back of his head, willing him to turn around, to say something, to look me in the eye. But he doesn’t. The room feels charged with an awkwardness so foreign that I want to cry, and I almost wish I could take it back, what nearly happened last night.
Almost.
In the next room Teddy pauses on the local news, which is showing pictures of cars that have skidded off the road and snowdrifts nearly as high as the reporters.
“Look at this,” he says, gesturing at the screen. “A foot and a half. We should go sledding when we’re done.”
“I have to leave when we’re done.”
Teddy gives me a wounded look. “But it’s my birthday.”
“Not anymore.”
“Well, it’s my birthdayweekend.”
I shake my head. “I’ve got homework.”
“It’s senior year.”
“And applications.”
“You’re a shoo-in.”
“Not if I don’t apply.”
He laughs. “Fair enough.”
On the screen the focus has shifted back to the newscaster, who announces that they’ll return with the results of last night’s lottery drawing right after the commercial break. I turn back toward the kitchen, and Teddy tips his head to look at me.
“Don’t you want to watch? We could be rich.”
“Youcould be rich.”
“Maybe, but if it’s a winner…”
“Yeah?”
