Ignoring my question, she keeps right on bulldozing. “And he said you can stay in his room because he’s going to be out of town.”
“Oh.” I have to think about this for a second. Wait. I can stay in Joe’s room? I scrunch up my nose, remembering Joe’s bedroom back home. It was always dirty and very, very smelly. The guy never changed his sheets, and I highly doubt that’s changed. Heck, it’s probably worse because he doesn’t have my mom breathing down his throat about picking up his crap. Then there are the girls. Nope. Nope. I shake my head. “No way. My brother is gross.”
“How bad can it be?” Deena has her hands on her hips, and her face reads: sassy.
“You don’t understand. My brother is a disgusting pig. I’ll probably get some sort of skin rash from sleeping in his bed.” Or an STD, but I’m not going to get into that.
“Clean it up before you sleep there.”
I’ll have to buy some bleach for sure. And some Brillo pads.
I’d better make a list.
Resigned, I mutter, “Fine.”
My response is all Deena needs to do her clapping while she jumps up and down thing.
Do I even need to tell you she was a cheerleader in high school?
“We’re all good. Deena’s gonna get some and Becklyn won’t be sleeping on a strange couch somewhere.”
I hate when she talks in third person. It’s very unsettling.
5
Becklyn
It’ssix o’clock on Saturday night, and I find myself on the front porch of my brother’s house. I’ve knocked twice, but nobody has answered yet. I’d ring the bell, but I know it doesn’t work. Raising my hand again, I’m about to knock when a voice startles me. “What’re you doing here, Becklyn?”
I turn slowly in search of the owner of the voice.
My favorite voice.
The moment I see him, I feel heat flood my face. It’s Lucky, yes. But he’s not alone. He’s with someone. A girl. Well, a woman. A woman I’d describe as beautiful. Stunning. Nothing like me. “Um…”
The two of them have stopped at the bottom of the front steps. They’re both looking up at me. Lucky’s eyes pan down to my bag in my right hand and the bucket of cleaning supplies I’ve got on the ground at my feet. “You gonna clean the place?” Lucky smirks.
“Joe said I could sleep here.”
“Excuse me?” It’s the woman this time. Her voice is sort of high-pitched. Or maybe it’s what she sounds like when she’s unhappy. Because if her face is any clue, I’d say she’s definitely unhappy
“I— Joe said he was out of town, and because my roommate is entertaining tonight, he said I could sleep here.”
The woman looks at Lucky, and back at me. “We thought we had the house to ourselves.”
Who is this girl? Woman? We? Ourselves?
Are they a couple?
I didn’t know Lucky had a girlfriend.
Deena said he loved me.
I feel heat again, but this time it’s behind my eyes. I’m not going to cry over this. I mean, I knew he didn’t love me. But still.
“Babe.” Lucky looks down at his… whatever she is. “Rain check.”
“Lucky?” she whines, and I can’t help thinking it’s kind of funny. Giggling is out of the question, though, so I hold it in.
