Four
Four
Three knocks on the car window make me start.
When I turn, I spot Tiffany, bent at the waist so her breasts are level with us. There’s a fixed smile on her face, her red hair hangs forward, and her floral perfume wafts in through the half-open window.
“You two are worse than a roller coaster,” she greets us with an exasperated sigh. I can’t really blame her; just yesterday I called her in the middle of the night, desperate to know where Thomas was, and today she finds us making out in his car like two hormonal teenagers.
“Buzz off, Collins. I need to talk to her,” Tiff says, dismissing Thomas unceremoniously.
I frown and study the small tension lines on his otherwise peaceful face.
Tiffany opens the car door and gestures for me to get out, reaching in to grab my arm.
Thomas gives a resigned shake of his head before grabbing his gym bag and leaving.
As he walks away, he clicks the door lock and sticks a cigarette in his mouth, giving me a sly smile as he does it. My cheeks flame once again.
“What happened? You seem tense,” I ask her as soon as we are alone. She is mangling her lip between her teeth. “Well?” I insist, worried for her.
Tiffany grabs my shoulders and, with a laugh that falls somewhere between delighted and hysterical, exclaims, “I’m coming to live with you!”
I stare at her, unmoving, uncomprehending.
“What?”
“Don’t make that face. I’m the ideal tenant: I clean, I organize, I contribute to expenses. Besides, your mother adores me. It’ll be fantastic, just you wait and see.” She nudges me playfully as I continue to stare at her in shock.
“Tiff, what are you talking about? Why would you ever want to come and live with me?”
“Easy. Because my parents have decided to ruin my life.”
“Explain more.”
She hunches her shoulders, sighing. “Every day my father has been harping on me about how, from now on, it’s my job to continue the family business with him. So much so that this morning he told me I had to go with him on a business trip next weekend.”
“What? He can’t just do that; he knows you have different plans for your future!”
She gives an anxious nod. “Yeah, but apparently that’s not a good enough reason for my dad.
With Travis out of the picture, he thinks his only daughter needs a better education, so the business empire doesn’t collapse as soon as he dies.
I told him that I have no intention of ever working for the company, but he started giving me this whole speech about the importance of family, responsibilities, duty, and blah, blah, blah.
‘You’re the last remaining Baker,’ he told me.
‘Having this last name is an honor.’” she grumbles, imitating her father’s voice.
“Do you know what it really means? This is it for me. No more going out, no more parties, no more fun. No more anything. Just studying and work. Working at a job I didn’t choose and don’t want!
” she bursts out. Some passing boys give us a startled look, and I smile politely in return.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I guide her to a bench near the entrance. “Okay, now let’s just take a deep breath and try to calm down,” I tell her as we sit.
“How am I supposed to calm down?” she demands, growing agitated again. “My God, I’m a criminology major; I don’t want to spend the rest of my life at a desk signing contracts!”
I lean in and give her a big hug, trying to offer her some comfort, because I know that’s what she needs right now—to feel that she is not alone and out of options the way I am.
“If there was anything I could do to help you, I would,” I tell her, petting her hair.
“But the truth is…I don’t have a house for you to stay in. ”
Tiffany pulls away abruptly and looks me in the eyes. “What are you talking about?”
I suck in a deep breath, trying to find the right words to explain what happened. Finally, after a long pause, I feel ready to talk. “It doesn’t seem real to me either, but last night, after I got off the phone with you, my mother and I got into a fight.”
“Well, that’s nothing new.”
“True, but it was different this time. I spat a lot of nasty stuff at her. I accused her of being the reason nothing ever works out in our lives. I said she was an awful wife, an awful mother, and…the next thing I knew, I was alone on the porch without a home anymore.”
Tiff’s mouth drops open in disbelief. “There’s no way…”
I nod silently, pulling the sleeves of my sweater down over my hands.
“How did it get to that point? I mean, what were you two talking about?”
“Thomas,” I admit after a brief moment of hesitation.
Her eyes nearly bug out of her head. “But it wasn’t just him,” I hasten to add.
“Victor’s moving in with us, and she didn’t even bother to give me a heads-up.
She already made the decision and just expects me to accept it without even thinking about how I might feel having another man who isn’t my dad moving into the house. ”
“Oh my God…I can’t believe I dumped my stupid drama on you while you’re going through all of this.” She places a gentle, comforting hand on my shoulder. “Where did you stay last night? Why didn’t you call and tell me?”
“I was in shock; I didn’t know what to do. Then Thomas showed up in front of my house, and when he found out what happened, he took me back to his dorm. The thing is, I can’t stay there. His roommate wouldn’t allow it, and I can’t afford student housing.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, hugging me. “The atmosphere at my place isn’t great, it’s true, but you know that we’d be happy to host you.”
“Thanks, Tiff,” I say, full of affection for her. “But I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. Between Travis enlisting and the pressure your father is putting on you, I think my presence might be a bit too much.”
“Never think that.” She steps back to look me seriously in the eye. “You are always welcome, you know that.” And even though I hate to do it, I find myself giving her proposal some serious thought. I let out a long breath, and exhausted by the events of the past twenty-four hours, I agree.
“Everything will work out, you’ll see,” she reassures me, rubbing my shoulders. “Have you gotten your books and clothes from your house yet?”
“I started filling a box, but I didn’t have time to finish,” I answer.
“I’ll go with you to get your essentials tomorrow before class, after your mother goes in to work, okay?
In the meantime, you can borrow my clothes.
It’ll give you an excuse to finally update that granny wardrobe of yours.
Thomas will thank me, I’ll bet.” Then she jolts, as though she’s just remembered something important.
“Wait, what does Thomas have to do with all of this?”
I look reluctantly at her, worrying my fingernail; my palms are sweating. “My mother won’t accept that he is a part of my life, and I can’t accept her continued attempts to control me. I told her that straight up, so she gave me a choice. And I chose him.”
Tiff’s shocked face speaks for itself. “Does he know?”
I shake my head vehemently. “I told him about the issue with Victor, but he doesn’t know that I was really kicked out of the house over him. And he’s not going to find out.”
“You can’t keep a thing like that hidden. If he finds out—”
“He won’t.”
Tiffany levels an unconvinced stare at me. “Honey—”
I cut her off, feeling a lump forming in my throat. “No, Tiff, I’m serious. If I told him, he would just blame himself and end up pushing me away, because he’d think that would solve the problem. And that’s not what I want, not now that I feel like I’m closer to him than I’ve ever been.”
I can feel the weight of Tiffany’s scrutinizing gaze. Then she rubs both hands over her face, sighing deeply. “Fine, I’ll keep my mouth shut. You’ll be safe at my place for now.”
“It’ll just be temporary, I promise. I’m going to try to get a meeting with the financial aid office.”
“For what?”
“I’m thinking of applying for student loans.”
“Student loans?” she echoes, disgruntled.
I nod. “My scholarship only covers about half the tuition and fees. With a loan, I could pay for the rest and get a spot in the dorms. With my wages from the Marsy, I should be able to pay it off in a couple of years and make ends meet in the meantime. I’ve been thinking about it for a while; it should work. ”
“Wow…” Tiff rubs her temples before shaking her head. “You’ll work for who knows how many years to pay back a loan. Have you thought about that?”
I shrug and lower my gaze, trying to ignore the weight I feel in my stomach. “I have to focus on the present; there’s nothing else I can do. And, right now, a loan seems like the only possible alternative.”
After these words, we both fall into a thick silence, more telling than any verbal reply.
“Hey, here’s what we’ll do,” she says sweetly, after a few seconds. “I’ll take you to the Marsy right now, and when your shift is over, I’ll pick you up, and we’ll have a nice pizza and movie night, the kind you like. We can invite Alex too.”
I smile gratefully at her. She smiles back and adds: “I promise you that we will find a solution.”
I nod, though I am not at all convinced.