"What's that?"
"It's this detective show where this down-and-out detective falls for this gangbanger, Snake, and they team up together. It's sooo good."
We watch the show. It's complete trash, but it's the kind of trash that sucks you in. When we're done, I ask her about Luke.
"Have you heard anything about him? Last I heard was your dad thought you guys had sex?—"
"Which we didn't." She looks at her empty container. "And no, not a word. I did ask, but Dad yelled, and then I came here, and I'm not talking to him. Him being Dad. I don't know where Luke is. I asked Con, but he shut down and said nothing. For a change from him being shut down and saying nothing."
"What about Enzo?"
She breathes out, then shakes her head. "I haven't asked Enzo anything about Luke. I'm just...I don't know. If I don't think about it, then nothing happened. And if I do, I have to get into it with Enzo."
"But wouldn't you prefer to know?"
"Of course. And have you told Enzo?" She mimes being gigantically pregnant.
"No. And it's not the same thing."
She gets up. "I'm fifteen, and sixteen is soon but not soonenough. I need to get this homework done. Let me know if you need moral support when you tell Enzo."
Her eyes are big when she says that, like she's scared I won't, like she thinks I'll run away or get rid of the baby, and it strikes me she wants to have another sibling.
"I'll let you know."
She nods, leaving.
After the door shuts and locks, I tidy up. Then I use the phone she left me and call Silas.
"Lyndall?"
"No, you ass, it's not. It's Lola."
I wait for some kind of smartass comment, but he doesn't. "How did you get her phone?"
"I need you to look into Lyndall's boyfriend...friend...Luke."
"No fucking way."
"As far as I see it, you owe me a favor. All I want is for you to find that out. And not let Enzo know. Not ask him or anything. Can you do that? If so, we'll call it even."
Finally, Silas sighs. "All right, but you know I didn't do anything wrong. I don't even know you."
I almost ask if he's Simon, but now that I'm thinking about it, that fact's clear. Besides, he says that like a guilty person. Like Dad sounded when he was pretending he wasn't guilty of a harmless crime.
But this isn't harmless. And this guilt is something I can use.
"Sure. But you've been lying and pretending, just like Enzo."
"He made me."
"But you'll help?"
"I said I would."
"No." I press my lips together, sorting my words. "What Imean is, you'll help and not let Enzo know? This is between us."
"This is between us."
