thirty
#1 at the Box Office:Titanic
Sebastian Swift
My door creaks open, and I pull the blanket up over my head. I thought Mel took the kids to Toad Suck Park, but maybe they’re back already. I lose track of time since I stopped going to school.
“Yo,” says a familiar, masculine voice that definitely does not belong to my little brother.
“Go away,” I mutter.
“Let’s bounce,” Billy says, flipping on the light switch. “We got somewhere to be.”
“Not taking visitors,” I tell him from under the blankets. I’ve made a warm nest and I have no interest in coming out. Last time I did that, I had to lose Vivienne all over again.
“You’re coming back to school, right?” Billy asks, sinking onto the edge of my bed. “Your suspension is over on Monday.”
“I’m hibernating for the rest of the winter.”
“No dice,” he says. “Try again.”
“It’s senior year,” I tell him. “Second semester of senior year is just a formality.”
“You think USC is going to take you if you don’t even finish high school?” he asks.
“Kobe Bryant did it.”
“You ain’t no Kobe,” he says. “Now get your ass up.”
“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” I point out, poking my face out from under the edge of the blanket. Talking under it has created a humidity situation that’s making my face sweat, and let’s not even get into the morning breath situation. “Last I heard, everyone was pissed at me for violating the bro code.”
“Nah,” he says, grinning. “I mean, I was pissed you made a fool out of me and Lex, but hey, I’ve done worse for pussy.”
“You never dropped out of school for it.”
“And you won’t either,” he says. “Viv’s got her big quiz bowl… bowl… today. Just go talk to her.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” I say, rolling onto my back and pulling my arms out from under the blankets.
“Have you tried?”
“Yes,” I admit, throwing an arm over my eyes. “She came over. We talked. She left.”
“Look, I may not know much about relationships and all that shit, but I know a lot about fucking up,” he says. “If you don’t try, you’ll never know for sure.”
“And what if she says no?”
“Then at least you’ll have your answer.”
I drop my arm and blink up at him, sure he’ll see the seriousness in my eyes and know this is killing me. “I already have my answer.”
“Did you admit you fucked up?” he asks. “If you don’t at least try, you’ll always wonder if you could have won her back. Come on, man. No regrets, right?”
“I think that’s your motto, not mine.”
“You can borrow it for the day,” he says. “Now step on it. The others are waiting, and if I leave Lexi in the truck with Tony too long, I’ll have a dead body to deal with when I get back.”
“You brought the others?” I groan, trying to pull up the blanket again.
Billy grabs it and yanks it down. “And I’ll bring them in here to get your ass up if I can’t do the job alone,” he says. “So, what’s it going to be?”
Dread weighs down my limbs like lead, but somehow I drag myself out of bed, shower, brush my teeth, and get dressed. By the time I come out, I’m so tired from the effort that I’m ready to crawl right back in bed, but Lexi’s sitting on my couch. She bounces up when she sees me.
“Hola, asshole,” she says.
“Hola, bitch.”
“Somehow I missed your sorry ass,” she says, throwing her arms around me.
“Is this really necessary?”
“I could have come in the shower and bathed you.”
“Totally unnecessary,” I say, detaching her from me. “Fucking one friend’s sister did more than enough damage.”
“Good call,” she says, grinning and hooking a thumb back toward the kitchen. “I loaded the dishes while you were in the shower. Didn’t want to turn it on until you were done in case it stole all the hot water. Should I start that now?”
“I got it,” I grit out, striding past her and starting up the dishwasher.
“Y’all eat anything besides ramen and cereal?”
“Y’all do anything besides invade your friends’ privacy?”
“Sometimes,” she says, shoving her hands into the pockets of her oversized Razorback jacket. “Ready to roll?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really,” she says, swinging her shiny ponytail behind her. “Let’s blow this joint.”
“Cool beans,” I say. “But I need to stop and get some stuff on the way.”