When I pull up to Jude’s house, he comes out the front door before I have a chance to turn the engine off. He’s changed out of the sweatpants and hoodie he was wearing this morning into jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, and he looks shinier and happier, even though he’s suppressing a smile as he rushes down the front path.
He opens the back door first to put in his school bag and a gym bag, then gets into the passenger seat.
“Hi,” he says, sounding slightly out of breath.
“Eager?” I tease.
“Hardly. I just don’t want to give my Mum the opportunity to change her mind.” He freezes, a strange expression crossing his face. “I did it again.”
“Did what?”
“When I said ‘hardly.’ That was a lie. And it was rude.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I say with a smile, but he looks tortured.
“But you were right — I was eager and embarrassed about it, so I was doing what I always do, which is acting cold to hide my real emotions. I need to stop it because otherwise, I’ll…hurt you again,” he finishes in a small voice.
Oh god. He looks genuinely cut up, and I hate the sight of it. I lean over and press a kiss on his cheek. “It’s okay. I wasn’t offended. Besides,” I put the car in drive and start down the street, “I know you were eager. You practically ran to the car.”
In my periphery, Jude’s shoulders relax just slightly. “I did not run. I speed-walked.”
“I don’t know. Looked a lot like running to me.”
Jude mutters something, and I laugh. For a moment, we’re both silent as I navigate through Jude’s neighbourhood. It’s one of the newer developments in Easton, where every house looks the same, made of similar shades of brick and stone.
Jude’s house looked…both the way I expected it to and not that way at all. I suppose he only moved to Easton this year, but still, it’s been more than six months, and the place looked barely furnished. There was a lot of white space and empty walls. Now I understand him better when he said he didn’t like weekends. The few rooms I saw reminded me of a hotel. At least his room had a bit more personality. One of the shirts on his pile of dirty clothes had the periodic table on it, which is so unlike anything I’ve ever seen Jude wear, but at the same time, it makes perfect sense.
“I’m surprised your mum said yes,” I say. From everything Jude’s told me, she seems strict as hell. Although when I arrived earlier today, she seemed…unsure, which makes sense since I arrived out of the blue, but it was there even when she came in to give us fruit. I got the impression that she had never cut fruit for Jude before and felt a bit insecure about it.
“She’s been…” Jude trails off, glancing through the window.
“Do you not want to talk about it?” I ask.
“No, it’s not that.” Jude clears his throat. “She’s been nicer to me recently because of everything that’s happened. After the party, I was pretty…distraught.”
My stomach clenches with guilt.
“I must’ve seemed really affected because Mum ended up giving me Winona’s phone number.”
I glance at Jude before quickly returning my eyes to the road. “Really? Your Mum had it the whole time? Did you call her? Winona, that is.”
In the corner of my eye, Jude nods. He tells me how his dad had Winona’s phone number, and his Mum gave it to him, and he called her yesterday. “She told me she’s started a nail and lash extensions business. Mum would say she’s thrown her life away, but she seems happy. I don’t think she was ever interested in uni or school stuff anyway. Anyway, then I started yelling at her.” He tells me about how he swore at her in a jokey, self-deprecating way, but when he recounts exactly what he said, my heart breaks a little bit. I think he’s justified in being angry with his sister, but then again, I’m biased to take his side.
I turn my car down my street and pull into my driveway as Jude wraps up his story.
“So what’ll happen now?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. It’s still too early to tell, and I feel like Winona and I are just getting to know each other again. She sent me a photo of her pet goldfish, which I didn’t even know she had. I’d never have guessed her to be a pet fish kind of person,” Jude says. “She mentioned that I could visit her someday, which would be good. But we haven’t made any solid plans yet.”
“What about your Mum?”
“She hasn’t mentioned Winona since she gave me her number.” Jude shrugs. “I feel like their thing won’t be solved this week. Or this month. Or this year. But at least things are getting better.” He shoots me a small smile. “Let’s go. I want to see your house.”
Mum and Dad aren’t back from work yet, so we have the house to ourselves. I carry Jude’s gym bag and lead him to my room. “So, uh. This is where you’ll be sleeping tonight.”
Jude places his school bag on the carpet and walks around. I try to see my room with fresh eyes to see what he sees.
Queen-sized bed, stripy bed covers. Wooden furniture, a cheap lamp from Kmart. A bookshelf with manga and art books neatly displayed, and a bunch of textbooks shoved into the lowest shelf. My desk is dominated by my huge (honestly, probably too huge) 24 inch drawing tablet.
