15 One More
One More
I was sitting by myself in the living room, drinking a beer and rereading my linguistics notes, concentrating so hard that I didn’t hear Ross coming down the hall.
“You should relax,” he said. “You’ve got a giant wrinkle in your forehead. You don’t want it to stay that way.”
I rubbed it out and he laughed, continuing, “I’m sorry, but it was worth it to see you grimace like that. What are you working on?”
“Linguistics. I’ve got an exam in two days and I barely know anything.”
“Yeah. That’s why some people try studying throughout the semester instead of waiting…”
He knew how much that pissed me off.
“Thanks for the advice, Dad,” I said.
“Your phone’s ringing,” he told me.
I sighed and turned my phone upside down so I wouldn’t have to see Monty’s stupid face on the screen.
He’d been calling me constantly since our fight a week before.
It goes without saying that I hadn’t responded.
Ross had been sweet enough not to bring up the subject, but he was human, and I was sure his patience was close to running out.
He confirmed that when he said to me, “Look, you can’t just leave things hanging like this. ”
“What am I supposed to do then?”
“Block his number, for starters.”
“If he can’t call or message me, he might freak out and come up here again,” I said, closing my laptop and setting it aside.
“Let him come. I’ll defend you.”
“I’d prefer it not have to come to that,” I replied.
“Jen, are you sure he never did anything to you? Physically, you know? Because I can’t get the thought out of my head, and it really bothers me.”
Uncomfortable, I said, “Ross, we already talked about this. No, he didn’t. And you can stop worrying about it.” I could tell my answer didn’t satisfy him, but I couldn’t go into that right now, and I tried to change the subject, saying, “God, I hate fucking linguistics!”
“Why do you keep studying this shit when it’s obvious you don’t like it?” he asked.
“Well, one, because it’s paid for, and even if I want to change majors, I can’t just fail all of my classes and start over. And even if English is stupid, who’s to say what I picked afterward wouldn’t be even worse?”
“English isn’t stupid.”
“Whatever. Complicated, then.”
“Maybe you need a distraction,” he said, lifting his eyebrows.
I tried not to smile back at him and asked, “Why do you have to make everything sound sexual?”
“Easy now. You said it, not me. But of course, if that is what you need right now, I’m more than happy to comply…”
I chuckled—I couldn’t help it—and he did, too.
But then he leaned in and started tickling me.
No, not again! I struggled to try to escape, but he trapped my ankle and pulled me toward him, then lay down on top of me to hold me there.
Let’s be honest, though. I didn’t really want to escape.
Especially not when I felt his lips against my neck.
We were very close, and I tried to ask him what he was doing, but his lips soon covered my mouth.
I was propped up on my elbows as his hands traced their way down my back.
Shamelessly, he squeezed my butt before moving aside and pulling me on top of him.
“Jeez. I thought you guys were trying to pretend you weren’t into each other.”
That was Will’s voice. He was in the kitchen. Who knew how the hell he’d ended up there. Ross scowled at him and Will went on. “Hey, sorry to interrupt your exchange of body fluids or whatever. I just wanted to let you know Naya’s on her way over.”
With whatever we were about to do interrupted, we pulled apart from each other and relaxed with Will in the living room, talking about school and other nonsense until Naya knocked at the door.
When Will let her in, she came over and gave me a big hug.
I don’t know how or why, but she hadn’t even blinked when I’d had to tell her about Monty destroying her room.
She’d said it was just stuff, and the only thing that mattered was I was OK.
Will said he was hungry and asked if we should order out, and if so, what we wanted.
Naya responded, “You guys get something if you like, but Jenna and I are on a diet.”
I looked over at her, confused. The word diet wasn’t part of my vocabulary.
“I’m on a diet?” I asked.
“You are now. I’ve decided I want to lose a little weight and really, teamwork’s the only way to do these things.”
I looked down at my belly. I guess I was getting a little chubby. It was hard to eat with Ross every day and not put on a few pounds. Not everyone held onto their adolescent metabolism forever. I could still fit into my clothes, but lately I was having to squeeze more than normal.
“Cool,” I said. “We’re on a diet, then. It’s official.”
The guys just stared at us as if we were out of our minds.
“If you want my humble opinion,” Ross said, “you both look good just the way you are.”
Naya rolled her eyes and said, “You’re a grown-up man who reads comic books. Your opinion doesn’t count. Now, Jenna, maybe you can come help me out in the kitchen. I’m making grilled chicken and salad.”
Seeing the expression on my face, Ross laughed at me, as did Sue, who had just walked in.
I don’t know if she knew what was going on or was just taking advantage of the moment to make me feel stupid.
I have to admit, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to such a bland meal.
It was one thing to have it at Agnes’s place—she was old, and she probably needed something easy on her stomach.
But here I wasn’t so sure, especially because Naya wasn’t what you’d call a gourmet chef.
“Jenna, you’ve still got time to back out,” Will said.
“No.” I crossed my arms. “I’m on a diet. For the next week, at least.”
“Yeah, well, I’m going to get some Mexican. My body can’t sustain itself on salad and grilled chicken. Sorry about that.”
A half hour later, I was salivating as I stared at the tacos, sour cream, guacamole, and queso dip while I waited for Naya to finish our so-called healthy dinner.
I was sitting on the floor while Will, Ross, and Sue occupied the sofas and chairs.
“Why are you sitting there?” Ross asked, adding, “Get over here,” and when I walked over, he pulled me into his lap.
Then he remarked, “Maybe I was wrong about that diet. I feel like a boulder just fell on me.”
“Very funny,” I said, elbowing him.
“I’m kidding. Anyway, don’t worry, even if you gained a bunch of weight, it wouldn’t change how I feel about you.”
“Very romantic, Ross,” Sue commented. “Is that from Romeo and Juliet ?”
I tried to ignore the salad I was forking up as we watched another home reno show.
Every time Ross grabbed a taco and started chewing it next to me, I wanted to jump out the window.
I’d been on a diet for exactly one hour, and I wanted to end it all.
To make matters worse, Ross kept offering me a bite and waving his dinner in front of my nose.
“It’s really good,” he said, tempting me.
“I hate you,” I replied.
When the torture was over and Sue had left us again, I heard my phone buzzing on the coffee table. I picked it up despite myself, because seeing Monty had called again was the last thing I cared about. But it wasn’t him. It was someone much, much worse.
My mother.
“Hey, my future mother-in-law’s calling!” Ross joked.
“Oh no,” I said. “This is going to be bad.”
Everyone asked if I was OK. I didn’t know what to answer. I took a deep breath and brought the phone to my ear, trembling in terror.
“Jennifer Michelle Brown!”
“Hey, Mom,” I responded, trying to sound enthusiastic. But I was so scared I almost dropped my phone. Will and Naya seemed worried about me. Ross, of course, was just laughing at my perfectly normal middle name.
“Are you listening to me?” Mom yelled. “What is this I hear about you living with a boy and not telling me anything!”
I got up to leave so everyone wouldn’t listen in on our entire conversation, but Naya stopped me, reminding me that there was only decent coverage in the living room. She looked way more amused by that than she should have been.
“Mom, I was going to tell you,” I said. “I’ve just been so busy with class and all that I forgot, and…”
“You forgot! You never tell me anything! You’ve completely abandoned me, and here I am with these loafers…” She turned away from the phone to tell my brothers to shut up, then continued. “Your poor mother has to find out what’s happening to you from other people, like you were a stranger.”
“Mom, if you’ll let me explain…” I couldn’t believe Will, Ross, and Naya were just staring at me as if I were a character in a soap opera.
“There’s nothing to explain! And let me tell you, it’s not just me. Your father is very angry, too…”
“Dad never gets mad…”
“Well he did this time. Or if he isn’t mad, he ought to be.”
“Mom, I was actually going to call you tonight…”
“I gave birth to you,” my mother said. “Don’t think I don’t know when you’re lying to me Now tell me who this young man is.”
I tried to put her mind at ease without going into details, but Ross made it hard on me, because he wanted to comment on the entire conversation.
When she asked if he was a good guy, he whispered to me to say nice things about him.
When I said he could be a pain sometimes, he chided me for not being grateful to him.
He called me Michelle, and I told him I’d throw out all his cigarettes if he did it again.
I hesitated when Mom asked me if he was a friend, and then she lost it, asking, “Is he your boyfriend? Don’t tell me you broke up with Monty! ”
“Mom, no he’s…”