Summer Swing (13 page)

The kitchen seemed to be a mess again, even though I’d already straightened it up earlier. But there were more plates on the counter, and empty cans scattered here and there. And it looked as if someone had dropped a piece of pizza on the floor and just left the saucy remains behind.

“There are
chips in the cupboard,” I pointed as I beg
an cleaning up. “Do you want any
?”

He just kind of watched me for a few seconds as he chewed, and then finally shook his head. “No, thanks,” he said, and took another bite. When he’d swallowed that bite he opened the can of
Pepsi with one hand and
asked
, “
Who
do I owe for the soda?”

“No one,” I smiled. “Why, do you guys have some sort of ‘pay if you use’ policy here?”

He slightly shrugged. “No, we just buy our own stuff, use our own stuff.”

I considered that for a second as I rinsed out the sponge in the sink. “Well I bought the
pop
a couple of days ago, so I guess it’s mine to dole out.”

“So how much do I owe you for the pizza, too?”

I laughed. “Nothing, I guess. Gage paid for most of it.”

He nodded but didn’t reply. I wondered what he even thought of Gage.

“Do you like it here?” I
decided to ask
. “I mean has staying here been okay?”

He shrugged again. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

I knew that the guys had attempted to fit both twin beds into the converted bedroom
,
but there just wasn’t any room
with two dressers and the rest of Wyatt’s boxes stacked in various places
.
And stacking them as bunk beds was apparently an undesired option as well.
I
also
decided to ask
, “How’d you get the bed? Flip a coin?”

He smiled again. “Uh, no, actually Wes was very willing to take the couch.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe he was intimidated by you?”

“Really?
” he asked, feigning complete shock.
“
I just thought he was respecting his elders.”

I quietly l
aughed at the smile he was hiding.

“Yeah, I saw the fear in your eyes when I got out of the car,” he continued. “You thought we were gonna slit your throat or something.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Don’t lie; it doesn’t fit your personality.”

I raised an eyebrow again. “And what do you know about my personality?”

He shrugged. “Just from hearing
‘
Ellie this
’
and
‘
Ellie that
’
from Gage all week? Hmm, I’m going with ‘choir girl
.’
”

“Choir girl?” I chuckled with surprise. “
I call your friend a jackass and a moron and you’re still willing to call me ‘choir girl’?”

He thought for a second. “That’s right, you did call him a jackass first. Hmm, maybe I should demote you, then. What’s just below ‘choir girl’?”

“I have no idea, but I’m no choir girl. You shouldn’t judge people, you know.”

It was his turn to raise a
n
eye
brow. “I thought it would be a compliment.”

I
considered
that for a second. “Well I guess it could be if you’re not meaning that I’m a goody-two-shoes or something.”

“I just meant that you seem like a nice person, that’s all. Sorry if that’s offensive, but they don’t make ‘em like you where I’m from.”

I had no idea what that meant and I was kind of afraid to ask. Was he referring to the ghetto or something? I
assumed
he was talking about how he grew up.

“California girls are a little different I guess,” he
added
. “I’m sure there are genuine people scattered here and there in the world, but I’ve yet to come across many where I’m from.”

“And where’s that?”

He took a long time with his food before he replied, “Southern Cal.”

“Y
ou’re from San Diego, right?” I waited for him to nod his head or something
, but he didn’t answer
and just seemed to eye me suspiciously. “That’s all I know,” I clarified. “That you and Wes are from San Diego. Is that not right?”

He took a drink and looked at me again. “Yeah, I think Wes is from San Diego. I’m further north, though. So where do you live? You’re not directly here in Portland, right?”

“Uh, no. I’m a bit
south
in Lake Oswego. I have an older brother, David, down in Clackamas,
but
my sister lives here in Portland.”

“She’s Wyatt’s girlfriend, right?”

“Yeah, have you met her?”

He shrugged. “She’s here a lot. Sometimes she’s here when Wyatt isn’t even here, cleaning the house and stuff.”

The way he’d said it made me stop sweeping the floor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever compared
a person
to someone else by
the way they clean,” he smirked, “but you look just like your sister when you do that.”

I quickly swept up into the dustpan and
slid the broom
into its spot
next to the fridge. “I guess we just see some
thing that needs done and do it,” I said, emptying the dustpan into the garbage.

He slightly tilted his head. “Maybe the guys should learn to clean up after themselves?”

“They clean up after themselves,” I replied, mainly
defending
Gage. I didn’t know about the other guys that had been visiting.

He didn’t reply and finished off another piece of pizza as I busied myself with loading the last few dishes into the dishwasher.

“
Maybe Gage does, but
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Wyatt clean up after himself,” he
finally
said. “Why should he if your sister
is right there to do it for him?
Sometimes I think she waits close by, just in case he needs his mouth wiped
or something
.”

That kind of hit me personally, just because of my own feelings
about Wyatt
. I had observed the same thing many times.
“I know,” I frowned.

“Oh
uh
,
sorry, that was meant to be a joke. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“I’m not. I mean I kind of am, but just because I really feel that way.”

“You don’t like your sister’s boyfriend?”

“Mm, I don’t know. Wyatt’s okay, I guess. I mean he never speak
s
unkindly to her, or says or does anything to hurt her. But
maybe
it’s just the stuff he
doesn’t
do. Like that,” I motioned, referring to what he’d just said. “You’d never see him serving her, or cleaning up after her or anything. He’s just…”

“
Selfish?”

I only stopped where I was and stared at him. Hopefully he knew how badly I wanted to hear his opinion because I didn’t want to
have to
ask.

“Look, I don’t mean to be ungrateful because I really do appreciate having a place to stay. I’m not referring to that part of him
because he’s a cool guy
. I just kind of see that in his relationship with his girlfriend. She
is
really good to him, and he doesn’t seem to appreciate it. I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I’m sure that was out of line so…
I’m
sorry.”

I barely shook my head. “No, I think you’re right on. At least you share my same opinion, so now I know it’s not just me that feels that way.”

“Are you pretty close to your sister?”

“Yeah, I am. I mean we have our
‘
moments
,’
but yeah, Dawn and I are really close.”

“Maybe t
hat’s
why
you have your ‘moments,’
” he suggested.

“Yeah, I guess so. What about you?
What’s your family like? Do you have brothers or sisters?”

He didn’t answer right away and I had no idea
why. He stood up from the counter, having finished off all five pieces of pizza, and rinsed the plate in the sink. After he’d put the plate in the dishwasher he turned around and leaned against the counter, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yeah, I have both a brother and a sister, but I’m not close to them.”

“How come?” I asked automatically.

He shrugged. “Just have nothing in common.”

“Do they both live in California?”

He nodded.

“What are their names?”

He eyed me warily, but then replied, “Shane and Elise. Shane’s
uh…
older than me
; Elise is
younger. Nineteen
.”

“Oh, so you’re the forgotten middle child, huh?”

“Forgotten? I’m sure they
wish
they could forget me
.”

He’d said it with
a smirk so I kind of smiled, t
o
o
.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I offered.

He paused and then turned the tables. “So you can’t be the forgotten middle child, right? You’re the spoiled baby of the family.”

I smiled when he did, but I had to disagree with a shake of my head. “I had a younger brother until a few years ago. Adam died when he was six. But when he was alive…yeah, I was kind of a middle child. Dawn and David were almost like
twins, and then there was Adam
who required…a lot of attention.”

“In what way?”

“He had Down
’
s Syndrome. My parents focused most of their time on him because he had a lot of needs, and he had a lot of medical problems. I mean I understand how much he needed them, but it was still hard for me. I know that sounds really selfish,” I added with a guilty smile.

“No, it sounds normal. Parents tend to focus on the oldest and the youngest, and the middle kid can be overlooked. I’m not saying it’s always the case, but it’s pretty typical. I’m sure it was even harder having a brother with special
needs,
so don’t beat yourself up over it.
You probably helped out a lot just by being a good kid.”

I had to smile, and I didn’t mean for it to give anything away, but I suppose he read me pretty easily.

“Oh, don’t tell me you were a rogue child,” he chuckled.

“No, not exactly,” I admitted. “I was just…”

“Just what?”

“I don’t know, just a little on the wild side. I had a lot of freedom, and I took advantage of the fact that my parents were busy with other things. I didn’t get into trouble too bad, but I think my parents had a rough time accepting how different I was from
th
em and my siblings
. I had different interests, and different priorities… I just think I disappointed them a lot.”

He was staring at me, but I wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was surprised I was such a selfish brat back then.

“Now you’ve totally thrown the choir girl image out the window, haven’t you?” I asked
him
.

He finally smiled when he replied, “That depends on what kind of ‘interests’ you had back then.”

I thought about that for a second. “Hmm, I guess you’re right.” I realized that my version of “wild” was probably very different than his.

“Well what matters is that y
ou seem to be a good person now,” he said.
“
I’d like to say the past is irrelevant when we have the present and future to focus on, but the past really shapes us into who we want to be. Mistakes are made and lessons are learned, but hopefully we use that to do something better with our lives.”

“Are you speaking in general
,
or from personal experiences?”

After a brief pause he replied, “Nah, I’ve been perfect for most of my life. Sounds like you’re the only one that has
a lot to make up for. Jeez, Miss
Rebel.”

I laughed
and nodded my head knowingly. “Yeah,
right
.”

We were both quiet for a few seconds, and even though I was thrilled to finally get him talking to someone, I also felt guilty that it was late, Gage was asleep in the other room, and I needed to get home to bed. I glanced at my watch and couldn’t believe it was almost midnight! I should have left an hour ago at the latest, and now I had a twenty-minute drive to get to my four hours of sleep.

“I have to be at work
by
five-thirty, so I should get going,” I said.