4
Bathroom Invader
I managed to get another two or three hours of sleep, then drifted in and out for a while before giving it up and walking to the kitchen. As I passed the living room, I noticed Jack wasn’t there. Sue was standing at the bar eating ice cream and pointed her spoon at me as she said, “He was gone when I got up.”
“Is that common?”
“Is it common for him to spend all night sniffing coke and then vanish out of the blue? Definitely.”
She must have seen the scandalized look on my face, because she asked then if she’d taken it too far, and when I nodded, she said, “All right, sorry. Yes, it happens a lot, unfortunately. He relapsed in France. He’s been a totally different person since he came back.”
That was like a punch to the stomach. He had regretted the person he used to be—why would he go back to it now? Had the pressure of being a filmmaker been too much for him? Was it his school? Something else? I didn’t know, but we had to do something about it.
“He can’t go on like this,” I said. “He should… I don’t know, I’ve never been in this situation, what do people do? Go to rehab, right?”
“I guess, yeah. I’m not really an expert,” Sue replied.
“Good mooooorning!” we heard. It was Naya interrupting us, strolling over in a pair of panties and one of Will’s sweatshirts. “I’m dying of hunger.” She was so chipper, I assumed Will hadn’t told her anything. He stomped in soon afterward, looking miserable, mumbled, “Hello, girls,” and turned on the coffee machine.
“Did you get any sleep?” he asked me a second later.
“About the same as you, I’d guess,” I answered. That got a slight grin out of him.
I heard a ding and took a look at my phone. Sue peeked at it over my shoulder, and when she saw what it was, remarked, “Damn, you didn’t waste any time!” It was Curtis telling me there werebig plansthat evening. He was hosting movie night.Bring popcorn, or I’m not letting you in, he had written.
“Jenna, are you up to something naughty?” Naya asked.
“Her boyfriend wrote her,” Sue cut in.
“Curtis isn’t my boyfriend!” I shouted. But it was too late. Naya started repeating the name Curtis over and over, asking herself why it sounded familiar, and then announced that she remembered him.
“The handsome one, right? Weren’t you with him late last night? Now I understand why you look so beat…”
“He’s not that handsome,” Sue interjected. I noticed no one had asked about Jack, and I wondered why, but also didn’t want to bring him up. I thought the next best thing was to mention his brother, and said, “Hey, what’s up with Mike?”
Sue murmured, “Who cares? He probably just found someone new to sponge off of. He’ll show up eventually.”
Will shook his head and said, “He’s still with his band. They put out a song that did OK and we managed to get him to take some singing classes. He’s gotten better, but obviously there was a lot of room for improvement. He’s no Frank Sinatra, but at least he doesn’t just scream into the microphone now.”
My phone sounded again, and this time everybody turned. I had three messages.
I got that book you asked for! I left it in my underwear pile.
BTW, I disinfected it!
You want me to bring it by?
Naya shrieked, “Is it him? We want to meet him!”
“Fine,” I said, “but he’s not my boyfriend.”
“So he’s a friend, so what, I still want to meet him,” Naya responded. “If we get along, maybe we can all have dinner or something sometime. I get bored with it always being the same people here. Not saying there’s anything wrong with you guys, but a little new blood might do us some good.”
Will stared at her as she spoke. He didn’t seem to find it such a good idea. But I told Curtis sure, he could come by that afternoon, and I was actually looking forward to it. I mean, I’d met his friends and he’d gotten them to accept me, so why shouldn’t it go both ways? He was a great guy, and I was sure everyone would love him.
Later, when he rang the doorbell, Naya was about to jump out of her skin. I opened the door to find him leaning on one side of the doorframe. He lifted my book up and winked.
“Special delivery,” he said.
