Chapter 6
EVERETT
J ahnvi is one of those people who could stay up all night. I bet she could probably stay awake until the sun came up again.
Well, as long as she could go to sleep in the morning.
I, on the other hand, needed to be in bed by eleven. I don’t think I’d actually ever stayed up past midnight, not even once. Hell, I might have spontaneously combusted for all I know. Usually, I awoke before the sun was up to finish up my schoolwork and get everything set up at the restaurant.
Even though I was the one who’d had to wipe down tables, dust things to make the place seem somewhat presentable, and chase a family of squirrels out of the storage room, the morning after the speech tournament, Jahnvi seemed more peeved than I was when she got into my car.
“Mornin’! ” I said.
She gave me a glare of pure resentment and tugged her hands inside the huge sleeves of her mustard yellow hoodie.
Even though she had the attitude of someone who’d just been doused with cold water and yanked out of bed, I noticed she’d taken the time to tie a bit of her hair behind her head with a white ribbon.
Her dad was outside watering the flowers on their porch. I waved to him before reversing out of their driveway.
“Your dad okay with you not being back for a while?”
“Yeah.” She rubbed her head. “He seems to love you, so I don’t think he cares.”
“It’s more pity than love, I’d say,” I muttered, turning the wheel.
She frowned, but before she could respond, my phone rang. She picked it up and offered it to me, but I shook my head. It was Grace, and even though I definitely was a morning person, it was still too early for her.
“Should I cut the call?”
“No, let it ring.” I craned my head as I merged onto the highway and switched lanes to the middle one.
But Grace was persistent. She called again, and again...and one more time.
“Maybe she’s in trouble.” Jahnvi picked up the phone and handed it to me.
I shook my head. “No, she’s definitely not.”
“Well, you wouldn’t know unless you actually picked up her call. Look, she’s ringing again.”
“I wouldn’t be the first person she’d call in an emergency.”
“So you know her that well, huh?”
I looked over, a smile forming on my face that I couldn’t stop. “What’s with the tone, Pickles? Jealous or something?”
She leaned toward me. “Egotistical, much? There is no tone; I just want you to pick up her damn call so I won’t have to listen to the stupid thing ringing this early in the day. It’s giving me a headache.”
“Well,” I said, my smile still going strong, “I’m not gonna pick it up.”
“Do you enjoy pissing me off?” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”
“I really do despise you, Everett.” She sighed loud enough for me to hear. Then she took the call for me. “Hello?”
And, well, what followed could be classified as my fault. I didn’t even try to stop her, and a part of me, a larger part of me than I cared to admit, had even wished it would happen. All right, I admit it. I really wanted to see what would happen.
Jahnvi, her tired stupor completely gone, slowly rose up in her seat. “What the hell did you just say to me?”
More shouting came from the phone, and Jahnvi’s eyes continued to widen. “Uh... what? Excuse me? You can’t just run around saying things like that. Who do you think you are?”
I heard the words bitch and man stealer from the phone.
“I’m sorry, I don’t see your name on him. He can make his own decisions for himself. Thank you very much!”
More screaming from the phone.
“Hon, what are you going to do? You gonna win him back? We aren’t even dating, but he’d rather spend time with me.
What does that say about whatever you guys have going on?
Go back to bed.” She put the phone down and raised her eyebrows.
“Seriously? Grace Madison? I thought even you wouldn’t stoop that low. ”
I pretended to check my mirrors to hide my smile. “Why? What’s wrong with her?”
I could feel her eyes burning holes into me even though I wasn’t looking at her.
“Enjoying yourself enough yet? I’m not telling you.”
“What?” I laughed. “No, wait, I’m intrigued.”
“Oh yeah?” She folded one of her legs below her on the seat and turned to face me. “What was it you said? ‘Let me speak in a language you understand—”’
“Are you still going on about this?”
“Oh, and speaking about yesterday. You didn’t deserve to win.” She crossed her arms, all upset-like. I bit my lip and shook my head.
I couldn’t get rid of the smile though.
Jahnvi was an amazing public speaker. She had a really good command of the room, everyone listened when she started, and she had the power to keep people’s attention for her entire speech.
It was a talent I’d always admired, and honestly was kind of jealous of.
But that was also one of her big downsides as well.
“Your speech was kinda...speechy, J.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I tell you this, and you tell me what’s wrong with Grace?”
“Deal. Now spill.”
I shifted in my seat as I felt a cramp build up in my leg. “It was too predictable. There was a beginning, a middle, a climax, and a short ending. You were really good, but there was nothing interesting about it.”
“How am I supposed to change that ?”
I looked at her. “Really? You’re not going to argue about how it’s ‘way deeper than you can ever think of, Everett! ’” I said, mocking her.
“Well, I mean you’re...kinda right though.” She looked down at her legs.
I wassurprised. Even though she was brutally honest all the time, she wasn’t someone who talked about her weaknesses. Especially to me.
“I don’t feel any connection to my speech at all. I chose it because it’s emotional, and I knew it would do well. So, obviously, it’ll be kinda flat because it’s not like I know anything about love or losing someone I loved.”
I must have caught her off guard so early in the morning.
Or maybe it had been nagging her, and I accidentally brought it up.
I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road. It was like 8 a.m., and here she was already sharing her deep dark secrets.
She was always so open . She shared things that weren’t needed to know her with anyone and everyone.
It made her chatty, and sometimes I think she expects that from everyone else too, so it also made her nosy.
It wasn’t the worst quality to have. One could even argue it was sometimes nice that she cared so much about other people’s stories. Of course, I’d never let her know that.
I didn’t know what else to say, so I changed the subject. “My side of the deal is done. Now it’s your turn. What’s wrong with Grace? Why are you so against her?”
She shook her head at me. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Well, I wouldn’t be asking if it was.”
“Ugh, men.” She rolled her eyes as if I’d just killed all her hopes and expectations about every man on the planet. “I mean, she’s got absolutely nothing. No hobbies, no passions, no personality.”
“Okay, go on.”
“What do you mean, ‘Go on?’ Do you really want to be talking to a girl who pretends to be so many things she’s not?”
“Pickles, here’s the thing—you didn’t reveal anything groundbreaking.
Everyone knows she hates listening to rock bands even though she pretends to, or that she doesn’t even own a single pair of black boots even though she claims to.
Maybe I don’t mind letting her pretend.” I shrugged with my hands still on the wheel.
It was fun seeing her struggle for her next words. “Why?”
“Why not?”
“A relationship is supposed to go both ways! I know you guys are just talking, but even still, you don’t gain anything from this thing that’s going on. And, well, y-you deserve more.” After a beat, she added quietly, “Someone who actually cares to show you who they really are—and not lie to you.”
I glanced over at her. She eyed her shoes with ferocious intensity. I turned my eyes back to the road, a smile forming for a completely new reason than before.
“You think I deserve more?”
“Well, yeah. Don’t you?”