A Little More Than Convenient

|Trent Remington|
“Bye!” I called out the door. At around five that day, Lizzie and Stephen, Mark, Joel, and Tara, and my parents had all left. Not so much when it came to Kira and Darren.
Darren and I had been watching a game against the Giants and the Eagles. Luckily, we both hated the Eagles, so were both pulling for the Giants. Yet, they were losing. Bad. Carmen and Kira were on the couch, talking about Lizzie’s wedding.
Suddenly, the game shifted to a newscast. The man was tall, lanky and had big ears. “We interrupt this NFL game to bring you the following forecast. The temperature tonight will be under freezing and the concluded accumulation of rainfall is more than three inches. Therefore, there is a high chance of freezing rain. It is best to stay indoors until further notice.”
I looked out the window. Yes, it was raining. I looked at the thermometer. It read thirty-four degrees, and it was steadily dropping.
“Well,” Kira said, “I guess we’ll just have to stay put. It’s too dangerous.”
Carmen’s eyes widened. I’m sure mine did, too.
“Kira,” Darren started, “I don’t think that-”
“Now, now,” she countered, “better safe than sorry, dear.”
Darren grumbled.
“Mom, are you-”
“You wouldn’t want us to get in a wreck or something, would you, sweetie?” Kira interrupted, batting her eyes at Carmen. Then she pouted.
“Um...,” Carmen began.
Unsurprisingly, she was cut off again. “Sweetheart, you have two bedrooms. We’ll leave as soon as we wake up tomorrow. Promise.”
Carmen sent me a panicked look. I sent one back.
“Uh...,” Carmen said again.
“We won’t be a problem, I promise,” Kira pleaded.
“All right,” I finally said.
Carmen sent me a relieved glance. Thank you, she mouthed.
I nodded.
Darren looked at me in a warning manner. I understood. Carmen was his daughter. He barely even knew me, and now I had taken her. He and I...we may never get along. But that was okay, because Carmen and I wouldn’t be married much longer. Whoa, that didn’t sound good. I had gotten used to Carmen. Having breakfast with her in the morning, going to work with her, her shyness, the way she bit her lip. But that was it. It wasn’t that I liked her...that way. Because I didn’t.
“Shall we have leftovers for supper, Carmen?” Kira asked, breaking me out of my thought bubble.
Carmen shook her head. “I’m stuffed. Is anyone else hungry, though?”
No one answered.
“Okay then,” Carmen replied.
“Carmen, why don’t we go in the kitchen?” Kira asked. “I’d much rather clean up, than watch football.”
What was there to clean up? Everyone had helped clean up before they left, so why did she want to go in the kitchen? I then realized that that would leave me alone with Darren. That wasn’t a good thing. He acted as though he didn’t like me.
Carmen and her mom left. Darren stared at the TV. I didn’t try to make conversation with him. I figured that I should probably let him do the talking.
The Giants finally scored and Darren nodded at the TV, as if it could see him. “So, Trent, what is it exactly that you do?”
“I’m the vice president of Liberty Bank,” I answered.
He nodded.
“What do you do?” I asked bravely, “Carmen mentioned something about Nestlé.”
“Yep,” he replied, “I work in packaging. Been blue-collar my whole life, son. My dad worked his whole life, just like his dad before him. I grew up in Vanndale. Know where that is?”
“Near Wynne, right?” I guessed.
He nodded. “Yep, went to school in Cherry Valley. Cross County High School. Where’d you go?”
“Um...I went to Westside,” I replied.
He nodded again. Gosh, this guy was all about the body language. “Kira went there. Carmen and Lizzie went to Westside, too.”
I frowned. “I don’t remember them.”
He shrugged. “Don’t know why. You and Carmen were in the same grade, weren’t you?”
“Class of 2004?” I asked.
“Yep,” he replied.
So we were. I wonder why I didn’t remember her...
***
By ten o’clock, a lot had happened. The Giants won, Kira waxed the kitchen floor, and I discovered that Carmen and I had been in the same class in the same school.
Carmen and I fixed up the guest bathroom while her parents watched the news. Weather was very important to them. I would have put money on them keeping the news on all night.
Carmen was folding towels, and I was unwrapping new toothbrushes. I decided not to gripe, even though they were for emergencies. I kept my mouth shut.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I know that they’re really...what’s the word?”
“Overbearing?” I offered.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“It’s fine. I probably owe you. After what my parents and siblings did to you at dinner.”
She smiled warily. “That’s fine, too. Lana’s the one who really bothered me.”
I smiled, too. “Why? Does she make you jealous?”
She bit her lip. “No! It’s not that! She-”
I shook my head and laughed. “I’m kidding, Carmen. Your mom’s right, you do bite your lip a lot.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be like her, Trent.”
I chuckled again. “So, I heard that you went to Westside. Class of say...04?”
She looked at me, confused. “Yeah...why?”
“Because I went to Westside, class of 04.”
She frowned. “I don’t remember you. But then, it was a big class, even by Westside standards.”
I nodded. “I have a yearbook, we can look at it later tonight.”
“Okay,” she replied, “but not too late. I’m going Black Friday shopping with Jessica tomorrow.”
“For what?” I asked.
“Christmas presents.”
“For me?” I asked.
She laughed. “We’ll see. That’s if you’re nice and not naughty.”
“I’ve never in my life been naughty,” I defended myself.
She laughed. “And for some reason, I don’t believe that.”
“Carmen, honey!” Kira called out, “Is our room ready yet? Is there anything I can do? Your father is getting tired!”
“Yes, no, okay!” she called back.
We rushed out of the room, as Kira and Darren entered.
“Everything you’ll need is either in here or the bathroom,” Carmen said, “if you get hungry or thirsty during the night, help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” Kira replied, shutting us out of the room.
“Uh...,” I said, “did she really just shut the door in our faces. In my apartment?”
Carmen laughed. “Quit worrying about your man pride and let’s go look at the yearbook.
“Okay,” I replied.
We went to my bedroom. I pulled a box out from under the bed, which kept all of my old school stuff. I found the 04 yearbook. Then, I flipped to the senior page.
“There’s Jessica,” she said pointing at a picture. Because Jessica’s last name started with B, she was near the front.
“And there’s Ross,” I said laughing. Ross was a bit awkward looking back then. His body wasn’t very well proportioned. His head was too big for his body, and his legs and arms were really long.
Carmen laughed, too.
I flipped a few more pages and found myself. I groaned.
“What?” Carmen asked, “You were cute.”
“And I had just been dumped. Which led me to believe that God hated me.”
“That explains the leather jacket,” Carmen replied.
I flipped one more page, and there was Carmen. She looked almost exactly the same, only in this picture, she looked a lot more familiar. Suddenly, I remembered where I had seen her.
“What is it?” Carmen asked, “I know I look terrible, but-”
“No, it’s not that, I just...I remember where I saw you once.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you sometime. But, you’ve got shopping to attend to tomorrow. So, I suppose we should go to sleep.”
“And how?” she asked, “there’s only one bed.”
“So?” I asked.
“So!” she squeaked, “it’s awkward.”
“Awkward?”
“Well, being as though we’re not together and all.”
“Look Carmen, we’re not gonna do anything. I’m not that much of a pervert.”
She climbed underneath the covers. “So you’re saying that you are a pervert?”
“No!” I said suddenly, “It’s a joke. I’m not-”
“Kidding!” she cried out. “See, two can play at that game.”
I rolled my eyes, but I also grinned at her. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
She grinned.
I got underneath the covers, too. “Goodnight, wifey.”
She chuckled. “Goodnight, hubby.”