Emancipated (6 page)

“I'm so sorry about your dad,” Lucy murmured against his neck.

“S'okay. The old coot was a bastard anyhow.”

But she heard the catch in his voice when he mentioned his father and hugged him harder. After a few more seconds, Lucy gently pulled away. She realized that Lloyd and Paolo were watching them uncomfortably.

Lucy sat on the edge of the single bed nearest to the door and glanced around the room. The size wasn't bad. It was newly painted, the buttery, maple wood floor polished to a matte sheen. All the furniture looked IKEA-fresh. But with three beds crammed in as well as two desks and a closet, not to mention a couple of nightstands, there wasn't a lot of extra space.

She looked back at her friend. “So now we've
both
been kicked out.”

John-Michael nodded. “Pretty weak, huh?”

“I gotta tell you, John-Michael, I did not enjoy it very much.”

“What exactly did you do?” asked Paolo.

Lucy turned to him. The boy looked like he belonged on a Disney Channel show, a dazzling white smile and clear green eyes. “Well—Paolo, is it? Seems that my folks did not appreciate my turning our basement into a creative space for the expansion of minds in the general direction of the arts.”

Paolo laughed. He came in and sat in the swivel chair next to one of the two desks. It looked as though he planned to hang around to watch her move in.

“What my sister is saying,” Lloyd said, placing one suitcase carefully on the bed next to Lucy, “is that she had some of her stoner buddies over for a late-night jam session. Our parents walked in on two of her friends having sex, and Lucy and her friends tripped out on crystal meth, while trying to play something by Green Day.”

Lucy leaned back against the wall. “That's so not true. They weren't having sex. She just had her hand in his pants. And they were behind the amps, it's not like we could see anything. It wasn't crystal, it was weed. Seriously, Lloyd, what's with you? Like I'd mess with methamphetamine! And hey, also, it wasn't Green Day—it was Rancid.”

Lloyd sat in the other desk chair, nearest to Lucy's bed. Lucy wondered fleetingly if she should claim the desk. It didn't look as though anyone had yet, but there were only two desks between the three of them. How was that going to work out?

“What difference does it make?” Lloyd said languidly. “Point is, my sister blotted her copybook somethin' awful and Mr. and Mrs. Long did
not
take it well.”

There were footsteps on the landing. A petite, slim girl with wavy blond hair and piercing blue eyes stepped into the triple room. “I'm Grace,” she said, smiling. “It's so good to meet you.”

Lucy stood up for a quick hug. “Hey, Grace. I was just telling the others how my folks threw me out.”

“Did it have anything to do with your dad being in the government?” Grace asked.

Lucy's eyes narrowed for a second. “Someone's been doing their research.”

“My stepsister's mother owns the house,” Grace explained. “She had everyone checked out. Even me!”

Lucy sat back on her bed. “The other girl—Candace Deering. That's your
stepsister
?”

Grace nodded. “But yeah, we both take her dad's name now. My mom remarried, changed her name and everything.”

Lucy frowned. “And is it awkward? With Candace's mom, I mean. Was your mom, like, the ‘other woman'?”

Grace crossed the room to sit on her bed, the larger of the two against the far wall. Unlike the other beds in the room, which were spread with plain blue-and-white bed linens, Grace's was already decorated with a tasteful floral design and piled with lime-green pillows.

“Kind of the opposite,” she said. “Candace's mom left my stepdad for a dude in Malibu. Jarvis Adler. He's a sculptor, or something, or maybe he does installations. If I had a clue about art, I might be able to tell you more.”

“What happened, did Candace argue with your mom or something?”

“Nothing like that. My mom is crazy about her. Too crazy, I sometimes think. . . .” Grace paused.

Lucy caught her eye. “Must be kind of annoying for you.” She smiled gently.

Grace shook her head, resolute. “I'm real happy for my mom. She'd been super-depressed. Things improved a lot when Candace and her dad came along. It was like a miracle really.”

“Candace seems pretty cool,” John-Michael admitted. “Kind of . . . acerbic, though.”

“Don't let that bother you,” Grace said. “That's just Candace. Wait until you hear her Shakespearean insults. She doesn't mean any of it. You'll know she loves you when she calls you something bad.”

Paolo frowned. “How will we know if she hates us?”

Grace looked at him darkly. “You'll know.”

Lucy looked around the room again. The walls were pure white, with some type of adobe finish. The beds didn't match, nor the furniture, and yet there was a pleasingly eclectic feel to the decor. It was like someone had carefully chosen each piece because of some particular moment of delight or nostalgia it had caused.

At best, there was enough floor space for two extra people to sleep. There were no rugs, pictures, or any other kind of decoration on the walls so far.

Lucy decided it had to be mentioned. “There are only two desks.”

“Yeah, the rent per person is lowest for this room,” Grace said. “We'll have to share.”

“But there's Wi-Fi in the whole house,” Paolo offered. “Come on, I'll show you around.”

Lucy followed Paolo out of the room to the open landing that led outside to the spiral staircase and two other doors. “Bathroom,” he said, tapping the door nearest to the triple room. “One of two. The other one is directly above, on the third floor. And—my room,” he finished with a push at the far door. As he held it
open, Lucy saw a compact arrangement—a single bed, desk, and chest of drawers fitted closely with barely room left over for a desk chair.

Lucy poked her head around the door. A glossy poster of a movie star dressed as Superman hung over the head of the bed and a full-length mirror was mounted on the opposite wall.

“You like to check yourself out?” she teased.

“Hey—all the bedrooms have one behind the doors.”

She smirked. “Superman?”

His eyes grew wide, innocent. “He's the Man of Steel. What could be more inspiring?” When she didn't say anything, he continued. “If it's a problem that you don't have a desk, you can work in my room sometimes. I almost always study sitting on my bed.” He grinned invitingly. “Or you could have the bed. I'm willing to share.”

Paolo really was very cute, but he looked about as sexy as a cuddly little puppy dog. Discreetly, Lucy checked his arms and neck for tattoos. Nothing. Athletic, wholesome. He probably liked to study, too. The popular girls at the Catholic girls' high school where she'd just started would probably throw parties in the hope of getting a guy like this to show up. He was exactly the kind of boy Mom and Dad had been dying for Lucy to bring home.

But a younger, cutie-pie athlete? Even if he turned out to be smarter than she thought, Paolo was definitely not her type.

“So Lucy,” Grace asked, stepping into the room. “Candace told me you might have found us a sixth person for the house?”

“Oh yeah. I told Candace I'd post something on my school's Facebook page. I got a reply the next day. This girl Maya is a little young, just fifteen. Her parents are from Mexico. They had to leave, problems with immigration or something, but Maya stayed. She's been living with her aunt but she seems pretty eager to move in with us.”

“She's Mexican, and she's at your private school?” Paolo asked. “So she's not poor?”

“Not all immigrants are poor,” Lucy said, eyeing Paolo flatly. “Maya's dad ran into trouble with his papers. Her mom left with him while the problem gets cleared up. Could take eighteen months, could take longer. Maya's a citizen, so she can stay. So yeah, from what Maya told me, I guess they emancipated her.”

“It's just that the rent here . . .” Grace said. “Okay, we're sharing the rooms so it's not too bad. But we gotta know she has the money.”

Lucy arched an eyebrow. “I see that white Cadillac her aunt drives her in to school. I don't think we need to worry about that.”

“Candace sent all Maya's references to her mom. If everything checks out, then we're all set.” Grace beamed. “On Monday, we'll be going to school from our own house!”

Lucy flashed a dazzling smile in Paolo's direction. “Well, all right. Let the good times roll!”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

BALCONY, SUNDAY, JANUARY 4

Maya Soto, the new girl, was hot, although not as hot as Lucy Long. She had very dark brown hair but her skin was fair, almost white. It looked as though Maya didn't spend much time in the sun.

Paolo turned to John-Michael to share this assessment. Then he stopped. He'd never had a gay friend before. Did you share this kind of stuff with a gay dude? Would it make Paolo seem sexist? He wasn't being sexist; he simply appreciated a beautiful woman. Especially when they looked as though they could wrestle him to the ground, like Lucy. But if he started up with the comments about hot girls, John-Michael might start pointing out hot guys that he was into. Then Paolo would have to either pretend to go along or make a big deal about not being interested.

There was no way for it not to backfire.

“She's not bad, hey?” John-Michael whispered. “Maya's pretty hot. I wonder if she has a brother? He'd be just my type.”

Paolo smiled. “She's only fifteen, though. So we're gonna have to take things easy around her.”

“True. We should look out for Maya.”

They both leaned forward, resting on the cedarwood bar of the balcony.

Paolo said, “So Lucy and Maya go to the same school?”

“That's pretty much how come Maya's in the house. Lucy posted an ad on her school's Facebook.”

“The girls in this house are all pretty hot.” Paolo sighed.

John-Michael chuckled. “What's
that
mean?”

“What does what mean?”

“That sigh. You sighing ‘cause you can't have them all? Or because you can?”

Paolo grinned. “I'm sighing because there is no way of knowing.”

“You're kidding? A guy like you? I bet you could have every girl in this house.”

“Maybe. Such is the mystery of women, John-Michael.”

“What's the mystery?”

“They choose, dude. I've never had to make the first move with a girl, not once.”

“You've never had sex?”

“I didn't say that.”

John-Michael's jaw dropped slightly. “They all asked you?”

Paolo shrugged. “They made it pretty clear what they wanted.” He regarded John-Michael quizzically. “It must be so easy being gay.”

“Why?”

“Because dudes are such a safe bet. We're always going to say yes to sex. All you have to do is figure out if a guy is gay or straight.”

“I've said no to sex.”

“To a guy? Was he gross?”

“Nope,” John-Michael said with a lazy smile. “He was prettier than you.”

Paolo nodded his appreciation. “Interesting.”

“But not as interesting as Lucy,” John-Michael ventured. “Am I right?”

Paolo dipped his head with a rueful grin. John-Michael had noticed his interest in Lucy, which began the moment John-Michael first mentioned her.

Lucy was from Claremont, a college town, east of Los Angeles. She'd recently moved to LA because her parents had agreed to emancipate her, but only on the condition that she live in the same city as her older brother.

“Lucy is this, like, amazing guitarist,” John-Michael had told the group the first time they'd visited the house. “Seriously talented. Her dad is some government type, he commutes over to Washington, DC. Her mom is the dean, or president, or whatever, at one of those Claremont colleges. Bottom line—Lucy defected to the school of rock. Well, that, they did not like so very much.”

Paolo had been taken aback. “I can't believe they threw her out for that!”

He remembered that Grace had become suddenly rather silent. “Is Lucy black?”

“She's a person of color, yes,” John-Michael had said.

Grace had become thoughtful. “I was just wondering if I'd heard of her dad. You said he works in the government—which department?”

“Her dad is Robert Long,” John-Michael said. “He's assistant secretary of defense.”

“Robert Long. Yeah, I thought the name ‘Long' rang a bell.”

Paolo had been impressed with Grace's knowledge of politics. His ambition to go into law made politics a natural fit with his future. It might be good to have someone to discuss legislation and policy with—it would help him to learn. Lucy, as the daughter of a government guy, might prove to have useful contacts for him one day.

Already his housemates were looking like the type of people Paolo's parents liked to refer to as “a great network.”

The boys' attention returned to Maya, whose aunt was helping her carry suitcases and zippered laundry bags up to the top floor.

“We should help them,” Paolo said.

They helped install Maya's luggage into the top floor room, which she would share with Candace. But when Paolo answered her question about the rent, she balked.

“The ad said ‘from four hundred dollars.'”

“Yeah, that's what everyone in the triple is paying. The double is more.”

Maya seemed anxious. She glanced at her aunt for a second, then wrung her hands. “I only have four hundred a month.”

Paolo watched, observing her unease. “Maybe someone can switch with you. Candace doesn't want to room with a guy. But Lucy might be able to move in with her.”