four

WORKING the coffee bar again. It was busier than yesterday, and I had less time to zone out on different people in the store. 

Despite having complained about how boring Gabby had grew of being at the book store last time, she once again begged me to take her along. This time I brought her coloring books and puzzles so her boredom would hopefully be postponed. 

The bad thing about today was that Carol’s mood seemed to be worse than ever. Instead of her usual complaining and snappy tone, she said nothing to me or Lia. She’d have a constant scowl on her face, staring down customers who’d leave a mess of books sitting on the floor. She’d stomp over to the scene of the crime, and shove the books inside the shelf mindlessly, and then go outside and have a cigarette.

The good thing about today was that I got to meet Josh, who would hop back and forth from putting books back, to working the register, and even helping me at the coffee bar. Josh was average height with stunningly blonde hair. He dressed very nicely and was flamboyantly humorous. 

When he helped me out making ice tea lemonade for three customers, he couldn’t help himself but comment on what each of these girls was wearing. According to him, the first girl with blonde hair and the knee length blue tie-dye dress looked like a ‘sloppy mess’. The other two weren’t that bad, if it wasn’t for their disgusting loafer style sandals.

“I don’t want to know what they were thinking. Did they buy them together? No, I really don’t want to know.” He whispered in my ear, right before giving them the three ice teas and wishing them a great day. 

About a half hour later, a huge mess was made by a large group of children, nine or ten they looked like, with no parents to tell them to clean up after themselves. Books were pulled out of nearly every aisle, and toys were left astray from the children’s section. Even Gabby looked over at me with a look on her face as to say, “Shame on them!”, as she says often when other children misbehave. 

“I got the coffee bar.” Josh said when he saw Lia flutter over to clean up the mess. “You help Lia. She’s so small, she can’t handle all that mess by herself. Go.”

I joined Lia in the romance section, and helped her pick up the books. 

“Oh, thank you, Liz. Some kids, huh?”

I nodded and laughed, and silently thanked Gabby for being respectful here. 

Carol came from the back, probably from the bathroom, and looked around at the mess with the corners of her mouth turned down. 

“God damn children.” She muttered, and kicked a book out of her way.

“What’s with her today?” I asked Lia, while putting a book away, most likely in the wrong place.

“Not sure. Maybe something small sent her over the edge?” Lia guessed.

I looked over my shoulder at Carol, who was now slouching over the register, counting money.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Lia began. “She isn’t always this moody, you know. Her pup, Daisy, died last week. She used to bring her to the store all the time. Daisy was an old dog, though. She lived a good, long, life.” Lia peered over her shoulder at Carol too, but more softly than I had. 

“I remember last summer when Daisy would lay herself in front of the fan. Her big floppy ears would make her look like a doggy superhero!” She laughed, but became somber again. “I think Daisy was all she had, though. She lives alone, and she never talks about family or friends. I just feel so bad. And she doesn’t even talk about getting another dog. No dog could have replaced Daisy.”

“Oh, Daisy was adorable.” A voice came from behind me, and Lia lit up.

“Nate! I didn’t know you were coming by today! I thought  your dad was taking you fishing today?”

Nate picked up a few books and shoved them in the shelves. 

“Yeah, well when we left the house, he slipped on the stairs and twisted his ankle. No big deal!” He added, when he saw Lia gasp and put her hand on her mouth. “Just a twist, nothing too bad. He just needs to ice it for a while and he’ll be as good as new.”

Lia exhaled, and returned a few more books to the shelf, before heading over to the children’s section next.

“Hey, Liz.” Nate said to me and smiled.

“Hey.” I said shortly, and moved on to the arts and crafts aisle where the majority of the mess took place.

“I heard shouting coming from your house before I came over here. Is everything okay?”

I rolled my eyes, and nodded my head. 

“Everything should be fine, I’m just glad Gabby and I aren’t there to listen to it.”

Nate turned his head towards the children’s section to see Lia picking up around Gabby, who was being good tempered and neat with her coloring books and a small circle of beanie babies. 

“Why, what’s going on?”

I didn’t want to get into it, especially with someone I didn’t know well enough to get into it with, so I just said, “It’s nothing. Just stupid stuff.”

“It didn’t sound like it. The whole neighborhood was peeking their heads out their doors. That neighborhood, or this whole town, rather, is very... peaceful. Love thy neighbor. Kum ba yah. I think your family is ruining it.”

I made piercing eyes at him. I didn’t disagree with him, but it wasn’t in his place to say. 

I didn’t have enough time to think of something to say to him, because suddenly Gabby was by my side.

“Natie, Natie!” She screamed, and jumped up and down. 

“Hello, Gabby. You look nice today.” Nate told her.

Gabby smiled without her teeth, took hold of both ends of her yellow and orange stripped dress, and swayed back and forth. 

“Can you take me home, please?” Gabby asked Nate, with a pouted lip. “I’m bored.”

“Gabby. You begged me to come here with me today, and I warned you that you might get bored. And you can’t just ask Nate-”

“No, it’s okay.” Nate insisted. “I was just heading back anyway. Right before I stopped here, I went in the drugstore right next door to get my dad some pain killers.” He motioned to his left hand, in which he was holding a small plastic bag. 

“So I should probably be getting back. You’re welcome to walk with me, Gabby. What do you say?”

Of course she was elated, and took his hand immediately. Apart of me wanted to say no to this, because Nate was practically a stranger to me. But I didn’t say no. 

I told Gabby to watch out for traffic, and not to let go of his hand, and look both ways before they crossed the street, yadda yadda.

“They’ll be fine.” Lia cooed, noticing my worried face as they stepped out of the door.

She pulled me over to another row of books, still in complete disarray. I then noticed the enormous rock on her finger.

“Did you rob a bank?” I joked.

Lia laughed. “My husband, Chris. He does pretty well for himself.”

“And he’s cute.” Josh bellowed from behind the counter. 

I was there for another hour and a half, joking with Lia and Josh as Carol sulked around the place. By the time I stepped back into the house, it was two thirty in the afternoon, and I was starving. Earlier, I had bought myself a croissant from in the shop, but it only held me over for a little while.

Planning to break into the Dorito stash that Mitch and I had put away well before the trip, I walked into the house and found Gabby, Mitch, and Nate sitting on the couch watching T.V. 

Fantastic. 

“Liz. Hey.” Mitch grumbled, eyes still on the television. 

It caught their attention, and Gabby came skipping to me. 

“Lizzie! Natie is over!”

Nate turned around and waved. 

They seemed to be watching some stupid comedy show on MTV, and I instantly knew it was too mature for Gabby to be watching. 

“Change the channel, Mitch.” I demanded. “Turn it to Nickelodeon or something. Not this... s**t.” I said the last word very quietly in Mitch’s ear. 

Reluctantly, he changed the channel to Dora the Explorer.

Ignoring Nate, I go to Mitch’s room where I found the stash in the bottom drawer. The room was no cleaner than when I left it the other night, and I wondered how Mitch could possibly live or sleep in this room knowing how disgustingly messy it was. 

I got into the kitchen and poured the chips into a bowl, and put them on the coffee table in front of the T.V.

“Liz,” Mitch whispered. “you’re gonna waste the stash like that?”

“I am so hungry, and I need junk food.” I protested. 

“Oooh,” Gabby whooped. “Mommy is gonna get mad!”

But she too came over, and ate a cheesy chip as the rest of us did.

“She’s not here right now, and she’s not going to find out, is she?” I gave Gabby a look, knowing she’d squeal. 

“Healthy family?” Nate asked.

“No. Mom just gets these Kashi inspirations every once in a while.” Mitch replied.

I laughed, and Nate looked at me in amusement.

Mitch took about four chips and stuffed them into his mouth, making Cookie Monster sounds, and Gabby giggled uncontrollably. 

“You’re going to choke yourself, you know.” I warned, but he shrugged and did it again to make Gabriella laugh.

“So, uh...” I started, doing my best to make conversation with our guest. “Do you know Deb? She lives right next to us here.” I pointed in her house’s direction.

“Actually, yes. I met her this morning. Very interesting girl.” He smiled slyly at me.

Oh Jesus. What did Deb say to him?

“We could invite Debbie over too!” Gabby squeaked.

“No, hun, she’s busy now.” I said.

Gabby assumes anyone can drop what their doing and come and play with her. Gabby seemed extremely disappointed by this for a second, but then returned to chomping on Doritos. 

While thinking about Deb and wondering what she was up to right now, the front door swung open. Mom and Dad came through the door, wearing their jogging suits and sweating up a storm. Immediately, Mitch got up from the couch and walked into his room. Nate noticed this, and gave me a look as to ask what that was about. 

I didn’t explain, but swiftly and quickly pushed the bowl of Doritos under the sofa. 

For whatever reason, Nate winked at me and stood up at this time. 

“Who is this?” asked my father, huffing and puffing like those morning joggers I notice.

“Natie. My new friend.” Gabby answered.

She grabbed Nate’s hand, and brought him over to my parents.

He shook their hands. Neither of my parents seemed super pleased to be meeting Nate at this time, since they were both sweating through their clothes and probably stunk as well.  

“I live about two houses away. We just moved here from across town. This neighborhood is more charming than the one we moved from.” He explained.

“Oh, very nice.” My mom added. “So I expect you’ll be at the neighborhood block party tomorrow evening?”

Nate pondered this for a moment, and looked over at me. 

“Yeah, we’re thinking about it. You know, to get to know the neighbors and all.”

Every year that we come here, there is a block party on the fourth of July. It is the most stale, boring, and obligatory party of the year, and the only good part about it is that there is usually great barbecue food. But in all honesty, most of the people who live in this neighborhood, whether it’s permanently or just for the summer, are truly boring and stale. With the exception of Deb, the people in this neighborhood were so ordinary.

“Wonderful,” My father replied to Nate. “Well, we’re going to go relax now. We won’t get in the way of your fun.”

They both walked down the hallway and disappeared. 

“Well, they certainly seemed to like me.” Nate laughed, and turned to me.

“Yeah, it seems so.” I grumbled.

Gabby jumped up and down. “Yes, they do!” 

She jumped around a bit more, and I assumed that either Mitch or Nate had given in and gave her sugar of some kind. She jumped up and down, until I told her to go up to her room and take a small rest. 

“You don’t seem so happy...” Nate noticed.

“Happy about what?” I asked him, as I took the bowl of chips out from underneath the sofa, and began to put them away.

“About your parents liking me.”

“Why would I care about that?”

“Oh, I think you care a lot.” Nate lowered his voice, and took a step forward.

Okay, now he was getting on my nerves. I didn’t know what he was playing at, nor did I care, but I suddenly wished he would back up and leave.

“Why would you say that?” I replied.

“It’s obvious!”

“Obviously not.” I started to gain a little edge to my voice, and it made me content that he started to back up. 

“It’s obvious that you like me. Just admit it.” He said, smiling.

“I just think you’re full of yourself. I think it’s obvious that you’re a jack a*s.”

Nate gave out a chuckle. “Sorry, I just thought... I just thought I felt this... vibe.”

I didn’t even know what the hell that was supposed to mean, and I laughed.

“What did Deb say to you?” I finally asked.

“Excuse me?”

He seemed stricken by the question.

“What did Deb say to you?” I repeated. “When you met her the other day? What did she say?”

“Nothing.” Nate replied. “She welcomed me to the neighborhood... Reminded me about the block party... Asked me if I had a girlfriend...”

That was it. “So typical Deb.” I said under my breath.

“Look, can we not have ice between us? I’m sure I’m going to see you at the block party tomorrow, and I’d like to hang out with you, if that’s okay... Seeing as though I don’t know anybody else here.”

“What about Deb? And is your sister coming along?”

He shook his head, like I didn’t get it. 

“No, she’s not.”

“Well,” I began. “Gabby seems to like you. So at least you have that going for you. Maybe I’ll cut you some slack, but you have to earn it.”

Nate seemed to be pleased with this. 

“Alright. I’ll see you later, then. My dad and I planned to go kayaking in the lake in a few minutes. ” He responded with.

“Fine. See you.”

Nate was walking out the door, checking to make sure his things were in his pocket, when he turned around and said, “I told her no.”

“What?”

“Deb. I told her no, I don’t have a girlfriend.” He winked, and walked out of the house.

Jerk. I thought.