Chapter Four
I stuffed multiple sticks of gum in my mouth before we wandered inside. I didn’t expect my mother to inspect my breath, and I’d hardly had anything to drink, but I wasn’t taking chances. Happily, she only gave us a quick hello and went up to bed.
Once in my room, I casually pulled out the giant stack of magazines my parents had given me while my friends got ready for bed. The moment I’d gotten home from dinner the other night, I’d begun folding corners and marking pages I liked.
“Ohhhh, new stash?” Kim asked excitedly. “Lemme see.”
I handed over a few I’d already read the night before. Kim turned to one of my favorite photos—a Moroccan inspired den—and sighed dreamily.
“This is so pretty. I want to have a giant house someday where I can decorate every room in a completely different theme.”
I fought the urge to insert my opinion.
A house needs continuity of some kind.
Although, moments later, I realized my hypocrisy in wanting to completely differentiate the new basement’s look from that of the main house.
Whatever. This is obviously different .
“So, for my birthday, my parents decided to let me re-do the whole basement. Like, with a contractor and a budget and everything.” I tried to contain my geek-out from bubbling over, but I didn’t entirely succeed.
“Seriously?” Liv asked incredulously, chiming back in after taking off her makeup. “That’s pretty generous. They must not still be that mad about the whole…incident.”
I glared at the side of her head for bringing up the incident that was in large part her fault . Apparently, there was still some residual anger there that I’d repressed, but I fought to tuck it back away. There was nothing I could do about it now .
“We totally have to take some before and after photos or videos or something. Maybe you can submit them to HGTV and be a contestant on Design Star !” Kim gushed. Her level of enthusiasm was endearing.
“That could be fun,” I agreed, trying not to sound like I’d been thinking the exact same thing. I didn’t want to overestimate my abilities, but I was really fucking excited.
“No, like right now, let’s do it,” Livy insisted, tugging her digital camera out of her bag.
“Seriously?” I looked between them both, surprised that they were willing to indulge my little fantasy.
“Yes, yes! Liv and I will produce, or one of us can act like the desperate homeowner, begging for your design skills to save us, and then you can walk around and talk about your vision for the space, just like on TV. It’ll be great practice.”
“Well, I don’t know about desperate , but yeah, I’m down to showcase my actin’ skills, darlin’,” Liv added, transitioning into something akin to an 80-year-old southern woman.
“Is that supposed to be an impressive accent?” I asked, my eyes widening.
“ Yes, ” she hissed. “I’m a meth-head actor, I have to get into character.”
Without warning, I spit out the sip of water I’d been prepared to swallow.
“A what actor?!”
Liv rolled her eyes. “A meth-head actor. You know, like the people who get really into their roles or whatever. Like they’re on meth, I guess.” She shrugged, the picture of nonchalance.
“It’s a method actor! Oh my god,” I blurted out, sliding onto the floor, leaving Kimmy dissolving into laughter on my bed. “A meth-head actor, I can’t even…” I couldn’t catch my breath, tears now collecting at the corners of my eyes.
Liv appeared less than amused, but a stray giggle or two broke through her facade .
“What ever . Are we going to make this video or not?”
“Yes, yes. I just have to collect myself. You’re too much,” I got out, trying to take deep breaths. “Let’s make me into a star.”
* * *
Sunday dragged. My mom insisted that I go to yoga with her after my friends left, that it would help me focus before classes started the next day.
Every time my mother spoke, it felt like she was trying to fix something about me.
My clothes, my diet, my grades. So, I knew the sentence “it will help you focus” actually meant, “you’re focused on the wrong things. ”
It is too early for this .
To make matters worse, she had decided that coffee was bad for us and thrown it all out, declaring that we would be drinking green tea. I was less than pleased.
The longest yoga class in the history of the world did at least help keep my mind off of my phone and obsessively looking to see if Zack had called or texted.
I hadn’t expected him to fall all over himself and reach out right away, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about it once I was home.
My phone buzzed, and my heart leapt into my throat as I pounced on it.
I let out a breath when I saw it was Courtney.
“Hey, girl,” I answered, willing my heart rate to normalize.
“Hey yourself. How’s it going?”
“Not too shabby. I got to make out with the hottest football player in the entire county last night.”
“I’m not sure how big of a compliment that is, V. The county is not that large. But do elaborate.”
“Fine, the world . But I don’t know all the football players in the world. I have a pretty good handle of all the ones in the county.”
Courtney and I hadn’t talked all that much this summer, but, as usual, it didn’t feel that way.
It just felt like talking to my best friend, and it never mattered how long it had been.
So, elaborate I did. About his hair, and the backwards hat, and his dark blue eyes, and those lips, when she interjected.
“And is he, I don’t know, nice?”
“Sure, he’s nice,” I said, shrugging though she couldn’t see me.
“Funny?”
“I guess.” I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat thinking about his explanation of his particular brand of humor last night. Hopefully he got funnier.
“Wow. This is almost too much information, honestly.”
“Shut up, I didn’t, like, interview him.”
“Don’t get sassy, I’m just asking. You know I’m protective.”
I did know this about her. She was also loyal to a fault—never a girl to talk behind her friends’ backs. “Most importantly, what kind of music does he listen to?”
I laughed lightly because that would be the most important question for Courtney.
“That, I don’t know yet. I’m more interested in whether or not he can quote all of Empire Records . But for you? I will find out. Happy?”
“Moderately.”
But I could practically hear her grinning through the phone. I listened to her catch me up on the latest from Phoenix before we hung up, really wishing she still lived five minutes down the road.
For now, though, it was time to pick out my first-day-of-school outfit for tomorrow.