Stay With Them Tonight

Jason sat next to me during the whole class, which was just an hour of going over which sports we would be playing this semester (basically every single one I had ever heard of). Luckily, we didn’t have to change or even have our clothes yet. There were showers that we could take, but we only had seven minutes, and I was so glad this was my last class, and only on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Seeing as he barely said a word to me except to make fun of me the whole hour and a half period on the hard ground of the gym, I wondered why he had even bothered sitting there. I spent the time talking to Katie, the funny girl from lunch, who was sitting on my other side. She was an athlete, something that surprised me. She was so tiny!

She apparently loved swimming, but had gotten out of it recently. I wondered about it, but didn’t want to ask. I mean, I had known her for two hours by the end of the class. She offered me a ride home, but I told her I had come with other people. Jason looked over at me, but I ignored him, hoping he might have another ride home.

When Katie and I parted ways at the gym door, Jason came and walked beside me to Ryan’s car. I looked at him out of the corner of me eye, not trusting him for a second. He gave me his copyrighted stupid face.

I saw that Kelly was already in the car, sitting shotgun and talking to Ryan. They were laughing, and that seemed like a very good sign.

“See? If she thinks she’s being discreet, she’s an idiot.” I glared at him and hit him with my binder.

“If you call Kelly an idiot again, I will rip off your arms and shove them down your throat.” He raised his eyebrows, and looked down at me, reminding me I was a good six inches shorter than him. Maybe.

I hopped into the back, dropping it. Surprisingly, Jason didn’t offer so much as a peep of complaint and slid in next to me. If I hadn’t realized this morning that the car was kinda close, being next to skinny Kelly, I definitely noticed then, with Jason filling the space next to me. I squeezed close to the door as we drove out of the parking lot. He just spread out his limbs, like he had been waiting for me to do just that. He was so . . . intrusive.

Ryan looked in the mirror. “How was your day, Al?”

“Great, until last period.” I put my chin in my hand as I rested my arm on the door of the car.

“What happened last period?” Kelly asked.

“She has it with me.” Jason smirked from beside me.

“I had an ugly troll sitting next to me the entire time,” I said, ignoring Jason’s answer. Ryan laughed, and Kelly looked back at me with a smile.

“Dude. Ouch,” Ryan said. I smiled up at him. Jason pretended to gag. I rolled my arms, refraining from punching him, again.

“Do you guys wanna come over and watch a movie? Danny won’t be back till about four thirty, so we can watch anything.”

“Yeah!” Kelly answered. “Allie?”

“Sure. But if I have to sit next to Stupid again, I’m going to become homicidal.”

“If you insist on giving me a nickname, I’ll return the favor,” Jason warned me.

“What? Did anybody hear something? Hm, interesting. I didn’t either.” Great; he had officially reverted me back to acting the way I did with my sister ten years ago.

“So,” Ryan started, probably trying to lighten the mood as we got out of the car, “You have an older sister, right, Allie?” He fell in step next to me as we walked to the back family room.

“Yup,” I said. I browsed their movie collection.

“What about you, Kelly?” My hand stilled a little, in the middle of pulling out Fast and Furious: Tokio Drift.

“Uh yeah; an older brother.”

“Cool. How old?” he continued on, and I pulled out the movie, pretending to study it.

“Uhm, eighteen. He’s at Chicago State University right now.” She seemed nervous, knowing I hated talking about him. I didn’t even know he went to CSU.

“Why have you read the first line ten times?” Jason asked from behind me. Funny, I didn’t even know he was there.

“Maybe I’m dyslexic,” I said, turning to the other two. I was halfway hidden behind Jason, who was still standing there, so I shifted to the side. Kelly was looking over at me. She didn’t even know why I didn’t like her brother anymore, though she had probably guessed already. Or he might have told her.

“Let’s watch this,” I suggested, holding the movie up. I hadn’t seen it yet. Ryan shrugged, thankfully forgetting about Kelly’s brother and put the movie in the DVD player. I was captivated by the movie the whole time, completely blanking out whatever was around me.

At one point I heard Ryan and Kelly laughing at me, and Jason chuckling, but I just threw a pillow at them to get them to shush. When the movie was finally done, I sat back in the chair.

“Epic.”

“Have you ever not enjoyed a movie?” Kelly asked. I thought.

“No.”

“In that case, your opinion doesn’t count.” We talked for a few minutes before hearing the front door open, and Danny came running in.

“Allie!” he yelled, throwing his arms around me. I grinned and hugged him back. “Are you here to stay again!?”

“Nope, not tonight.” Mrs. Luce walked into the room, saw us all there, and smiled.

“Well, hi!” she said to us. “It’s so nice to see you, Kelly, Allie.” I had seen her once since I “babysat” (I still couldn’t think of it as babysitting when it was two seniors I was babysitting). “Would you girls like to stay for dinner?”

Kelly and I exchanged glances, and Ryan encouraged us to stay. I shrugged, and we said sure. She smiled and ushered Danny out of the room to change out of muddy clothes. It must have been hard to keep a kid clean this time of year. We just talked, Danny joining us and excitedly telling us about his day. He left to go play in his room, and we continued talking about absolutely nothing until Mrs. Luce called us in the dining room for dinner. Mr. Luce had since come home, and joined us.

I had Danny on one side and Jason on the other, while Ryan sat next to Kelly across from me, and Mr. and Mrs. Luce at the head and foot of the mahogany dining table. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I was a happy camper, and it was all delicious.

Danny was surprised that I ate as much as I did, and said it, like only a kid could. I blushed profusely, but smiled. “I have a big stomach,” I said, and continued eating.

I ate like a trucker, but usually burned it off really fast. As a result, I was hungry a lot. Jason chuckled quietly, and his mom shot him a stern look.

**** *

After dinner, Ryan walked Kelly and I back to our houses. Well, mostly Kelly. I was at my house as soon as we left, living right next to each other.

“Do you want a ride tomorrow?” he asked when we were in my yard. I offered to take us all in my beautiful truck, thankful it fit four passengers, and he agreed. I walked in and my mom was a little upset that I hadn’t called, but really, I had totally forgot, and I was right next door.

My dad had known about me spending the night with two 17 year-olds, but my mom hadn’t found out till afterwards, and she was freaked. She was the worrier type, while my dad was basically the type to let you make whatever decisions you wanted as long as you took the responsibility for consequences. At the moment, I liked my dad’s outlook better.

“Sorry, mom. I’ll call next time.”

“Well. Mrs. Luce seems nice, but I haven’t met these boys. Besides Danny, I mean. Neither has your father. How am I supposed to know what they’re like?”

“Mel, it’s fine. I’m sure the boys are great.” Why was it all adults seemed to think of teenagers as simply “boys” and “girls?” It didn’t make very much sense, because when you were one of those “boys” or “girls,” we seemed like so much more than that.

“I would still feel better if I met them . . .” She sat on the couch next to my dad. “What if we invited them to dinner?” She thought it was a brilliant idea, while I suppressed a groan. “I’ll go talk to Mrs. Luce tomorrow,” she said to herself. This time I really did groan, but went upstairs to my room.

Ryan? And Jason? In my house, with my mother and father and their parents and brother? Maybe I could invite Kelly.

**** *

“Not this time, sweetie.”

“But mom, it’s going to be awkward. Ryan and Jason knows both of them,” I tried.

“The house is going to be full as it is, Allen.” She had decided, and her using my full name meant I was not to argue. I made a face while she made her coffee with her back to me, and walked out the door to my truck.

Ryan and Jason were just coming over. Somehow we seemed oddly in tune. “Guess what?” I asked them unenthusiastically.

“Huh?” Ryan asked, sliding into the passenger seat beside me. I was glad it was him and not Jason. Or I was glad, until Jason sat behind me and sat forward between the seats, hi face close to mine.

“My mom is coming over today to invite you guys over to dinner sometime soon. And Kelly can’t come.”

“You sound like you just found out you have a terminal disease,” Jason commented helpfully.

“Ugh. It will be awkward with both of our parents there.” I complained as Kelly climbed in.

“What’s happening?”

“My mom decided it would be a fabulous idea to have the Luces’ over for dinner.”

“Oh, fuuuuun. I guess she said I can’t come this time?” She knows my parents too well. I nodded.

“Come on, Allie. It won’t be too bad. I want to see your house anyway.” Ryan said.

“Yeah. Me too, Allie.” Jason added mockingly and with a smirk. I felt the urge to feed him to sharks.