My Sweetest Escape (8 page)

actually giving a shit about what I wanted to

do with my life.”

“And how did you become buddies with

Hunter?” That was what I was most curious

about.

“I met Hunter in one of my classes, and,

for lack of a better, more masculine term,

we formed a bromance. We see each other

all the time now, since he changed his

major. So, yeah. That’s my rambling and

completely weird story.”

It wasn’t what I’d expected, but before I

could answer he was pulling into the

parking lot.

“So, on the way back it’s your turn,

Red.”

This time I opened the door myself

before he could get around the car.

Dinner was…interesting.

Everyone—except me and Dusty—greased

their wheels with the wide selection of beer

on tap.

Even though Taylor wasn’t of age,

Hunter just ordered two glasses at a time

and handed her one when the waiter

wasn’t looking. I didn’t even bother to try

that, because Renee’s eyes were on me the

entire time. She kept herself to one beer,

but I knew from experience that she could

pound them back when she wanted.

The more alcohol the group consumed,

the dirtier the stories got. Renee kept trying

to shush them, as if they were going to

poison my precious ears. Like it wasn’t

anything I’d heard already. I’d been in

college before. I also had the sneaking

suspicion they’d been on their best

behavior with me in the house.

“Oh, my God, do you remember that

time I walked in on you in the shower?”

Mase said to Renee.

“No, I cannot recall,” she said, becoming

really interested in the half-devoured onion

blossom. “But even if I did, that doesn’t

mean it’s the kind of story one would tell in

front of one’s impressionable younger

sister.” Her words were sharp as knives and

I think Mase and everyone else got the

message.

Then there was one of those silent

moments where everyone is super

uncomfortable and doesn’t know what to

say. It stretched out until Dusty cleared his

throat loudly and then made a whistling

sound like an airplane diving and then

crashing in a giant explosion. It was pretty

accurate-sounding and made everyone

laugh nervously. Our waiter chose that

moment to come over and ask if anyone

wanted more drinks. I got myself another

Dr Pepper and Dusty got another Mountain

Dew.

“You’re going to be up all night if you

keep drinking that stuff,” I said. Of course

we’d been the last people to arrive at the

restaurant, so we’d gotten the last two

chairs at the end of the table, so of course I

was next to him.

“Maybe that’s my plan. Maybe I don’t

sleep.”

All I could think of were supernatural

creatures. “Vampire, werewolf or zombie?”

“All of the above,” he whispered and

winked at me. Why was I talking to him

again?

I stole a glance down the table at Renee,

but Paul was telling her something and she

was laughing. Thank you, Paul.

I caught his eye and gave him a

thumbs-up.

“Your sister is, um, protective,” Dusty

said.

“It’s a recent development.”

He waved his hand for me to elaborate.

“Due to…”

I rolled my eyes.

“None of your business.” I was
not
going

into my life story with him even though

he’d shared his. I didn’t ask him to.

I didn’t care.

“I think we need to have a toast,” Darah

said, raising her glass. I knew she wasn’t

much of a beer drinker, but she seemed to

have changed her mind. “To our new

resident, Jos.”

“May her life decisions be much wiser

than ours,” Mase finished for her. Glasses

were raised and clinked and there was

some minor beer sloshing as my ears turned

red and I tried not to make eye contact with

anyone. Yeah, my life decisions weren’t

anyone’s business but mine.

I hate it when people say “seize the

day.” Seizing sounds so violent. How about

“love the day” or just “live the day”?

Live the day.

A pair of fingers snapped in front of my

face, making me jump.

“Come back to earth, Red. You were

orbiting somewhere else. That’s dangerous,

you know.” I turned toward him and a

retort formed on my lips, but I let it die. He

wasn’t worth it. He didn’t understand. So I

just gave him a sweet smile and imagined

dumping the glass of Mountain Dew on his

head. It would have been so satisfying, but I

would have made a scene.

“Okay, okay, it’s time for some of us to

go home because some of us have class

tomorrow,” Renee said.

“She means me,” I said in a stage

whisper to the entire table. They laughed,

some more than others, but that was

probably because of the beer and not

because I was that funny.

“I can drive her,” Dusty said as everyone

tried to figure out the bill and how much

they should tip. Most of the guys did their

guy thing and refused to let the poor

delicate females even consider paying. After

a few lectures about feminism and the

increasing popularity of going Dutch, the

guys won the battle and the ladies left the

tip. Paul ended up paying for me, mostly

because I was broke as shit.

“But then you’d have to go to our house

and drop her off and then drive back. It’s no

big deal—I’m fine to drive,” Renee said.

“It’s not a big deal. I forgot my phone at

your place anyway.” He was totally lying. I’d

seen it in his pocket, but I kept my mouth

shut.

“If you don’t mind…”

“It’s no big deal, Ne,” he said. So I guess

everyone was calling her that these days.

She’d always hated it when Paul called her

“Nene,” but I guess she was over it. You can

only fight a nickname for so long before

everyone just decides to use it with or

without your permission.

What if I call you…Josie? Jo? Jojo? Lyn?

He’d finally agreed to call me Jossy,

which was the only suggestion I could live

with.

“You went away again, Red. You have a

habit of doing that?” Dusty said, bringing

me back again.

“None of your business.”

He laughed as we walked, and some of

us stumbled a bit, out of the restaurant.

“You sound like a robot when you say

that. Means I’ve hit on something you’d like

to keep hidden. You’re one of those onion

girls.”

“Onion girls?” I had a brief visual of a girl

wearing an onion costume. “Are you saying

I smell like an onion?”

We got to the car and I let him open the

door, standing back and folding my arms.

Damn, it was fun screwing with him. He was

about to open it but pulled his arm back at

the last second and walked around to his

side of the car. I wrenched it open, got in

and fastened my seat belt.

“No, I mean that you’re one of those

girls with layers. You know, you’re more

than just a pretty face. Plus, you don’t have

to scrape through a layer of makeup to get

there.” While it was true that I didn’t wear a

lot of makeup, I used to, back when I wore

skirts more often than pants and had to

look good for any photo opportunity. I used

to get up early every single day and

straighten my hair and line my eyes just so.

I had the cat eye thing down to a

science. I honestly didn’t know where my

eyeliner was. I definitely hadn’t seen it in

months. Renee had probably stolen it.

“Is that a nice and slightly weird way of

saying I look like crap?”

“Jesus, do you take everything

negatively? Man, kick a guy for trying.” He

shook his head and started making drum

noises. “Your turn.”

“I’m not telling you my life story, Dusty.”

“I’m not asking for your life story.

Just…give me something.”

“Why? What do you want from me?”

He shook his head, a different kind of

smile on his face.

It was almost shy. If anything about him

could ever be considered shy.

“Nothing, Red. Absolutely nothing.”

And by the time I could think of

something to say, we were back.

“I know you didn’t forget your phone,

you liar. Is something burning?” I pretended

to sniff the air as we walked up the front

steps. “I think your pants are on fire, dude.”

“Ha-ha, you’re so funny.” He reached

out and rang the doorbell. I raised my

eyebrow. I would have just walked in.

The bell dinged and then donged and

Dusty made the exact same sound with his

mouth. Somehow. The door opened, and

Hunter gave both of us a look before

holding the door open to let me in.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said to Dusty, but

it sounded like a question. He tapped two

fingers to his forehead and then flicked

them upward in a little salute/wave. Yeah,

okay.

“’Bye.”

Hunter was still looking at Dusty. Hmm. I

was distracted from watching the two of

them by a retching sound coming from the

upstairs bathroom and then Mase yelling

that he needed a hand. There was a sound

like a herd of stampeding models as Renee

and Taylor clacked their way up the stairs to

take care of their fallen comrade.

“Jos, can you bring me up a glass of

water?” Renee said over her shoulder as

the puking sounds got louder. Lovely.

“Yeah, I’ll get right on it,” I said, giving

her a thumbs-up and walking toward the

kitchen. I set the glass in the sink, turning

the water on, and tiptoed back to where I

could hear Hunter and Dusty, but they

couldn’t see me.

“So, I’ll see you at Steiner’s tomorrow?”

Hunter said.

“Yeah. I might be late, but I let Kent

know.” Dusty walked into the living room,

and I could hear him rustling about “looking

for his phone.”

“Found it. See you tomorrow, man.

Thanks for inviting me.”

“Thanks for coming.” I heard them

slapping hands or fist bumping or

performing some type of guy-bonding ritual

and then the door closed and I realized the

glass of water was overflowing. I went back

to the sink and turned it off.

Bromance indeed.

My alarm shattered the calm of sleep

the next morning so completely that I woke

up cursing. Stupid fucking school. I rolled

out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. I

was just taking care of business when a fist

slammed on the door and Renee’s voice

penetrated my morning fog.

“You’d better not be late your first day.”

“Thanks,
Mom,
but it would be nice if I

could pee without being interrupted.”

“Just get your ass upstairs in ten

minutes, or I’m coming back down and

dragging your ass to class, no matter what

you look like.”

“Jesus H. Christ,” I muttered under my

breath. I couldn’t even remember my

mother being this wound up about taking

me to kindergarten.

“Hurry up,” she said, rattling the

doorknob for good measure. I had half a

mind to walk upstairs stark naked and say I

was ready, just to see the look on her face.

But I didn’t fancy being naked in front of all

the guys, so that plan was out.

Eight minutes later I was shoving an egg

and cheese sandwich that Taylor had made

in my face and shoving notebooks in my

new messenger bag. Back in my “before”

life, I’d carried a designer handbag just like

all the other girls. Of course I also had a

small clutch purse that went with it for all

my makeup and tampons and such. Now I

had a black messenger bag with lots of pins

and buttons on it that I’d collected.

I’d thrown my red hair back in a braid,

put on my luckiest jeans and called it good

enough.

Since everyone’s schedules were

different, I was finally allowed to take my

own damn car. Renee had gotten me a