Good Morning Heartache (12 page)

Jimmy shook his head slowly
but didn’t say anything.

With that she turned around
and headed up the stairs quickly.

Ew.

Alexis shuddered. That was
something she never dreamed would happen, yet there it was. She walked in on
her sister having sex. Alexis only wished that Riley had the sense to do it
some place where she wouldn’t catch her, or at least where she wouldn’t have to
burn a living room set.

Alexis walked into her large
closet to kick off her shoes, and when she found herself dancing to the Muzak
version of the Backstreet Boys’ “Quit Playin’ Games with My Heart,” she scolded
herself aloud for several reasons.

An officer picked up the
line again, and she made her report. It was quick, they didn’t have a reason to
come by the house, and it was over in a couple minutes.

She could hear frustrated
murmurs at the bottom of the stairs as she slipped out of her shoes. Riley
wasn’t whispering very effectively but at least she wasn’t moaning. Alexis was
happy they were fighting; this way she knew they weren’t trying to sneak
anything in. Even though she threatened to interrupt again, she really wanted
to wait for some sign that they weren’t having sex before she descended the
stairs.

Alexis didn't feel like
talking to Riley about this. She downright didn't want to, but for the sake of
her furniture, she had to say something about decency and respect of other
people's homes.

She had planned on coming
home, taking a bath in her deep soaking tub, and then crawling into bed with a
book or some trashy reality television. The last thing she wanted was to give
her sister a sex talk. Had she ever given her the sex talk? Was it something
Alexis should have done? A deep concern that felt like nausea settled in
Alexis's stomach. Surely, Riley would have had a health class that covered this
by now. Her reasoning didn’t settle her stomach, and she couldn't help but
wonder if she promoted this with her own promiscuous behavior.

The idea that Alexis
shouldn’t have sex, at least too much sex, while Riley was around wasn't always
a hard fast rule. Too many nights she had been asked by the young girl, “Where
have you been?” while Alexis smoothed her hair and clothing to make it look
like she didn't just have sex with a guy she picked up at a local bar.

Alexis wasn't ashamed. She
just didn't want her sister to know about it. Riley didn't need to know.

As Alexis began walking back
toward the stairs, she heard the front door slam. Jimmy decided not to stick
around. Nice guy.

She trudged down the stairs.
This was going to be the first conversation that Riley and Alexis would have in
several days that went beyond, “where's the peanut butter?” and it wasn’t
promising to be fun.

Riley stood at the bottom of
the stairs looking at the front door. When she heard Alexis's footsteps, she
turned to glare at her with tears in her eyes. “You’re such a bitch,” she said
with poison in her voice. “Don't you have any respect for privacy?”

Yup. This was going to go
well.

“I have respect for privacy.
If you did, you wouldn't be having sex on my loveseat. You would have made it
to your bedroom.”

Alexis was proud of herself.
She managed to retain a calm tone as she finished descending the stairs.

“You’re out to ruin my life.”

They now stood face-to-face
at the bottom of the stairs. Alexis felt a little intimidated. Her sister was
built exactly like her but was two inches taller. Usually, Alexis wore high
heels and Riley wore flip-flops, which evened them out, but when they were
barefoot—like they were now—Alexis could feel any sense of authority she had
being swept away.

“I promise that I am not out
to ruin your life,” Alexis replied. “You’re almost eighteen, and after that, you
can do whatever you want.” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “Except have
sex on my loveseat. That you cannot do. It's rude.”

Alexis was tired and hoped
that this could be the end of the conversation. Anything further about the
birds and the bees seemed suddenly unnecessary. Her sister obviously had the
basics down.

Riley, however, wasn't quite
ready to quit sparring. “It's rude to walk in on someone doing that. You
completely embarrassed me, and you chased Jimmy away. I'll be lucky if he ever
calls me again.”

“Wait. What? Are you out of
your mind?” Alexis shook her head and took a step closer to Riley. “Who is
Jimmy anyway? I thought he went to your school, but he's too old to go to your
school. Where did you meet him?” Alexis questioned, suddenly stern in her
approach.

“That's none of your
business!” Riley threw it back in her face with a violence that Alexis hadn’t
encountered in a couple of years, and Alexis stepped back a bit with the force
of her sister’s words.

“How old is he? Twenty?
Twenty-one?”

“He's twenty-two,” Riley
stated with an air of confidence, like she was special because she could snag a
guy that was twenty-two.

“What he's doing is illegal,
you know? I could have him thrown in jail for what I just saw.” Alexis was
beginning to feel her authority come back. In some ways, she was glad Jimmy was
twenty-two.

Riley turned white and tears
began welling in her bottom lids. “You wouldn't,” she whispered.

“If I catch his naked ass on
my furniture again, you bet I would. Take my advice. Keep it where it belongs.
In the privacy of your own space.” Alexis began strolling up the stairs. She
didn't care if Riley wasn't done. She was.

Riley screeched, and Alexis
stopped and turned to look down at her red-faced sister.

“You can't do that! He didn't
do anything wrong! I gave him permission! I love him and he loves me!” Riley
wailed and then stomped down the hallway. Alexis continued her climb up the
staircase, which was suddenly long and arduous.

Alexis hated threatening her
sister. She probably wouldn't do anything about Jimmy. He was a jerk who
wouldn't stick around in the end, so there wasn't much to worry about except
Riley's broken heart, which was something a girl had to learn how to heal on
her own.

Unless she wasn't safe.
Alexis prayed, which was something she didn't do very often, that Riley was
being safe with Jimmy. “Love” tended to make people reckless.

Alexis may have had a lot of
men, but she was always very careful—from the initial meeting to the climax.
Alexis always brought a safety net. She went places where someone she knew was
going to be, and if she left with a guy, someone knew where she was going and
who she was going with. She always carried condoms, and she always protected
herself. She took birth control regularly like it was life or death because
that's how a surprise pregnancy would be—like death.

She'd often start off her
initial escapade with a guy in the shower like she did with Ryan. It was sexy,
guys loved it, she got to clean everything up, and she got a good look at what
was going on down there while she still had a chance to bail. If she should
have told her sister something about having sex with a guy, it was that.

Alexis reached her room,
shut and locked her door, and walked over to her bathtub. It was time to get
her plans back on track, and those plans definitely needed to be kicked off
with something relaxing. She ran warm water and added lavender oil that
promised to help her sleep. She unhooked her pants and slid them down her legs
into a pile on the floor. Stepping out of them, she pulled her shirt over her
head. She folded both pieces before placing them in the laundry bag she would
take to the dry cleaners on Tuesday. Then she removed her lacy red bra and
matching panties and put them in a separate bag that held her delicates.

First testing the water with
a toe, Alexis slipped into the pool of water and almost immediately felt
relaxed. The jets around the bottom of the tub splashed bubbles up around her
neck and occasionally onto the white and cream tile surrounding the tub.

Tomorrow was going to be a
different brand of hell. She needed to get away from this house and her sister.
Alexis contemplated for a while where she could go to escape her reality. She
could visit her aunt and raise some hell at the police station, but she needed
less stress in her life, not more.

She could board a plane to
Atlantic City and spend the weekend, but debauchery didn’t have much appeal to
her right now.

She could go furniture
shopping, which would usually be fun, but that would only be a constant
reminder of today’s events.

The house on the Cape. It
was on a beach. It was isolated. It would be perfect. Riley could watch the dog
for one day, and Alexis could leave the back door open enough for him to go
through if she couldn’t.

The beach house was the only
property of her parents that she didn’t sell. She had intended to use it more
often, but Alexis had a pretty relaxed existence, and she often forgot it was
there.

She wished that Caitlyn was
around so that she could talk her into going along. Alexis needed someone who
would let her spill her guts. Caitlyn was sensible and had experience with
teenagers. She could also give her the goods on Ryan, past and present. She
wondered what he was doing in that house all alone, especially this weekend…

“That jerk!” she shouted
aloud. Tomorrow was Saturday. No construction crew was going to the house. He
had ditched her. She laid out all of her cards, and he ran off.

Alexis climbed out of the
tub and wrapped a long cream-colored Egyptian cotton towel around herself, and
nearly ran to her cell phone. She didn't know his number, but she knew Caitlyn’s
home number and that would suit her just fine.

The phone rang several
times, before the answering machine picked up. “Hi, you've reached…” she
stopped listening for anything except the beep.

When it came, she shouted
into the receiver, “Ryan, pick up the phone!” There was a silence. “Pick up the
phone, or I will come over there and pull your ass out of bed. Locking the
doors will do you no good because…”

“Alexis?” he interrupted her
ranting. “What do you want?”

“First, your crappy social
skills extend to the phone. Second, you lied to me. You don't have to work
tomorrow.”

“True…” he began, but she
didn't let him finish.

“Why'd you book it after I
told you my life story?”

“To be fair, at the time I
thought I did have to work tomorrow. Besides that, I figured I better get out
of there before I said something stupid. Something that led you to believe that
I wanted a relationship. I didn’t want you to freak out again.” He yawned into
the receiver.

Alexis contemplated his
excuses for a moment, and after only a little consideration, she found them
completely believable. It's not like she had a great track record when reacting
to anything she thought could be considered relationship talk or behavior.

The towel started to slip
down her breasts, and she caught it before sitting on the side of her bed. She
didn’t know what to say because she had called to chew him out. And now she
couldn’t really do that. As much as she wanted to yell at somebody, he
shouldn’t be the one on the receiving end.

“I want to meet again,” she
said unexpectedly, breaking the silence. “If I'm going to dish all my secrets
to you, I want to know something about you. Something juicy.”

“You don't think it's a bad
idea? It’s the basis for your philosophy after all, and you did say…”

“Whatever I said, I take it
back. You’re the closest thing I have to a friend, and I need to spend some
time unwinding with someone. So what do you say?”

“Alright. I guess.”

“What are you doing
tomorrow? My guess is that you don't have plans since you thought that you were
working.” She rushed through the sentences. She wasn't sure why she was doing
what she was doing, but it felt right to her. That evening she had learned that
he was easy to talk to, as long as she was leading the conversation, and she
was sick of being alone. She needed someone to help fill the emptiness she had
been living with for almost a week.

“I'm not doing anything,” he
replied, cautiously.

“I'm going to pick you up
early. Like 6:00. Is that okay?”

“In the morning?”

Alexis could easily detect
the hesitation in his voice, so she quickly made her demands. “You can sleep in
the car if you want. You should bring a bathing suit and a change of clothes.
And please don't wear a business suit.”

“What's wrong with a
business suit?”

“Nothing is wrong with it.
It's just not suitable for the Cape.”

“We're going to the Cape?”

“That's a really stupid
question, Ryan. I just told you that we were. So, I'll see you at six.”

“I guess.”

“Bye.” She hung up the phone
before he could protest. He didn't seem sold on the idea, but he couldn't back
out now. He didn't have her phone number.

Alexis was sure this was a
bad idea, but it was her only option, and he was the one that opened the door
to friendship.

If she had her way, tomorrow
would be filled with margaritas, small talk, sun, and waves. It would be
exactly what she needed to end a disaster of a week before starting the next
one.

Alexis hung up the phone and
slipped into a pair of shorts and a baggy t-shirt, and then went downstairs to
let Sam out one last time and lock up the house. She opened the sliding glass
door and let the dog, who could barely contain his happiness at being let
outside, out onto the deck. She watched as he leaped down the wooden staircase
and out into the yard. She envied Sam. His life was simple. So was mine, she
thought, up until about a week ago.

While she was waiting for
Sam to finish up, Alexis walked to the front of the house to lock the front
door and saw Richard’s flowers on her coffee table with the creepy note that
tried to make her look like a bad person. She hadn’t betrayed him. He just
didn’t believe her when she said all she wanted was sex. He wasn’t even a very
good lay.