“Trust me, I did too. But no matter what I try to do, we always end up arguing.”
“Of course you do. He’s always drunk! And being drunk puts Ross in a terrible mood. You need to ambush him one day when he’s calm. Like today. Today’s perfect! And I’ve got a plan!”
“Which is…?”
She smiled and said, “A good magician never reveals her tricks.”
I was glad we finally had some time to hang out together, just me and her. We had very different ideas of fun—she wanted us to get our nails done together, and I wanted to go to the arcade at the mall—but our conversations took me back to when I was living at home and we used to call each other late at night. I went shopping with her—not bothering to get anything for myself—then we took a stroll in the park and got ice cream. On the way back, we stopped at a grocery store because, unsurprisingly, there was nothing to eat at the apartment.
At some point she stopped bugging me about Jack, and I liked that, but I knew she could only hold out so long before bringing him back up. She held out until we were in the elevator heading up to the apartment, but then she burst out, “Maybe we’re overthinking things with Ross. We’re treating him like a child who doesn’t realize what he’s doing is wrong, when he’s actually an adult who’s perfectly conscious of his acts. I can tell because, believe it or not, he’s straightened up since you’ve been around. I think he remembers how much better he was when you were here.”
“Great,” I said. “What does that mean for me, though? That I should start acting like nothing ever changed?”
It was a rhetorical question, but Naya grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me with excitement, shouting, “You’re a genius! That’s it, Jenna! We need him to realize everything he’s missing out on by acting like such an asshole. Especially after last night. You’ve found the answer: just pretend you never left!”
“I don’t think that’s going to fly, Naya. And speaking of last night, I doubt he even remembers it.”
Jack had woken up early that morning and could barely say a word. All he managed to get out was that he felt terrible. He ran off to the bathroom and puked, then collapsed on the sofa, covering his face with his hands. My only real interaction with him had been banging on the bathroom door and asking him if he needed anything. He had grunted for me not to come in, and that was that. Even once he’d had his coffee, he still didn’t seem quite human.
“Maybe you’re right,” Naya responded. “And if so, we’ll just let things run their course, then. Now shall we?”
We’d stepped out of the elevator, and she was twirling her key ring around her finger waiting for me to answer. “Sure,” I said. What else was I going to say? We walked inside the apartment. Things were just as we left them: Sue in her chair reading a book, Will and Jack on the sofa watching TV, and Mike in the kitchen opening his first beer of the day (I hoped).
“Sister-in-law!” he exclaimed. “I’ve got to tell you, your butt looks extraordinary in those jeans.”
Jack scowled at him. This wasn’t a good beginning.
“I won’t take that as a compliment,” I told Mike, and Naya added, “Yeah, it’s disgusting. But then, it’s normal for your compliments to be disgusting since you’re disgusting, too.”
Mike shrugged and went about his business while she jumped into Will’s lap. He knew her like the back of his hand and had probably already guessed she had some scheme up her sleeve.
“What are you up to?” he asked suspiciously.
“Saying hi to my boyfriend! Is that some kind of crime?”
“You’re not sneaky, Naya,” Sue said. “We can tell you’re planning something, and you should just spit it out instead of trying to fool everyone.”
As Naya objected, I went to the kitchen to unpack the bags we had left on the counter. When Naya told Will it was a nice day out and the two of them should go for a walk, I realized she was scheming to leave Jack andme alone. I guess she’d forgotten about Mike and Sue. I doubted either of them had the intention of leaving. There was no way I’d get the opportunity to talk to him alone…
“Want some help?”
I was bent over stuffing a box of cereal into a cabinet. When I looked up, I saw Jack standing there with his hands in his pockets. He had been looking worse for wear, but that day was particularly bad: the bags under his eyes were deep, his hair looked like a bird’s nest, his T-shirt was wrinkled, his skin pale. It pained me to see him like that. I even wondered if he was sick. There was something different in his attitude, too. He seemed…uncomfortable. Nervous, even. As I analyzed him, I nearly forgot he’d asked me a question. When I came back to myself, I cleared my throat, saying, “Yeah, uh, sure.”
I stood and handed him a bag. “Could you put this stuff up top? I can’t reach.”
Jack nodded. I got back to work and could feel his eyes on me. It was weird having him in there. He rarely offered to help around the house. He had been a little lazy even when he and I were together. But I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I passed him the cans and boxes and watched him put them away in silence. I assumed the rest of the day would continue like this, but then he surprised me, saying, “Hey. I still want you to stay, you know.”
My brain didn’t know how to process that information, and as I gawked, he went on: “You said you’d only pay attention to me if I was sober when I told you that. Well, I’m sober, and I haven’t changed my mind. I want you to stay. I really do.”
He was embarrassed to admit that, and he covered it up by feigning indifference, hurriedly putting the rest of the things away before running back over to the couch. Naya noticed, and since she hadn’t managed to convince Will to leave, she changed tack, almost yelling, “Jenna was sayingwhile we were out that she wanted to make everybody lunch today. Isn’t that right, Jenna?”
When I replied with a meekyeah, she added that I’d need someone’s help. It was obvious she meant Jack, but he didn’t volunteer, and when she repeated her request, Mike was the only one willing to join.
“You?” I said.
“Helping?” Will asked.
“Without asking for something in exchange?” Sue added.
