“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Well then.” Mom glanced toward the stairs.
I sipped my tea.
“Want to watch something?Star Trek?”
“Um.”
Mom had never asked me to watchStar Trekbefore.
That was always me and Dad’s thing.
I didn’t know what to say.
I was trying to figure out if we should continue where Dad and I left off, or start a different series, but then Mom said, “Never mind. Sorry.”
She got up before I could say anything.
Before I could tell her I wanted to watchStar Trekwith her.
Mom ran her fingers through my hair and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to go to bed.”
BROKEN FURNITURE
In the morning, Oma dropped me off at Chip’s to grab my bike.
“Hey.” Chip answered the door in a pair of soft gray sweatpants that looked really nice on him.
Like, not-wearing-any-underwear nice.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt either, and like I said, Cyprian Cusumano had a very nice stomach and chest. The kind I wished I had.
The kind guys like me were supposed to have.
“Sorry, I know I’m late. Evie’s been a handful.”
My ears felt like twin plasma fires.
“I’ve just gotta throw some clothes on. You want anything?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t speak.
How could Chip act so casual around me when he was half-naked like that?
And why couldn’t I look away?
I wondered what Landon looked like without his shirt on.
If he had hair on his chest, or if he was smooth.
I sucked on the tassels of my hoodie.
“Sorry,” Chip said when he ran down the stairs in black joggers and a white V-neck T-shirt that was just a bit too small for him.
It was only slightly less distracting.
