4

One Word: Jerk. *laughs jokingly*

 “Can I come in?”

 

It was early the next morning, and Mitch was at my door. I never got to ask him how it went yesterday because I didn’t want to say anything in front of mom and dad, incase they were bitter. Mitch came in, still in his plaid p.j bottoms. I sat up, and waited on him to deliver the news. He didn’t say anything for a while.

 

   “So?” I said impatiently.

 

         “Okay, so I told mom and dad yesterday, right?”

 

          “Right…”  

 

        “I was really nervous you know. But I came out with it, that I wanted to attend another school come this September. An art school.”

 

         “And…?”

 

  Mitch would always prolong news, especially when it was good news.

 

         “And they said that they’d have to look into it.”

 

        “Look into it? As in, actually consider?” Wow. Surprising.

 

         “Yeah, well, this vacation really seemed to clear their heads. They said that they really did have high hopes for me to become a lawyer, and I had a lot of potential for it, but they’d still want me to have an education yet and go to college.” He smiled and looked extremely relieved.

 

        “That’s great, Mitch.”

He smiled again, sighed, and got up to leave. He was heading for the door when he stopped.

 

        “So, Gabby tells me some Natie is coming over for her today.” Not this again.

 

“Yeah. Be here, I’ll probably be at the store. Make sure he’s alright for me, okay?”

 

        “Alright? For you?” He smiled.

 

      “No! For a favor for your sister, make sure this guy isn’t a creep. Okay?”

 

 He smiled again, and left the room.  

 

                                 ----*----*----

 

 

Stocking books again. Sheesh, who knew this store actually needed restocking? This time, Lia was helping me, Carol working the register. She was really outgoing, far more than me, not afraid to say anything aloud that she thought. I didn't dare say anything when Carol snapped a rude remark, while Lia would tell her to chill out, or keep her nose in her own buisness politley.

We were in the art and literature section, talking about the suspicious man with the shades in the front, when I noticed the enourmous rock on her finger.

 

        “Did you rob a bank?” I said, eyes on her finger. She laughed.

 

“My husband, Chris. I married him around 4 months ago.” She smiled and sighed. “We live down in Georgia. That’s where he is now.”

 

        “Why isn’t he here with you?” I asked and hoped she wouldn’t mind.

 

          “He got sick lately. His doctors said it would be best if he didn’t travel, best for his health. I had to come up here this summer. I don’t just work here, you know. Just something to keep me busy. I was thinking of staying here permanently, moving up here, for a job. I cook, you know. There's an excellent resturaunt here that I applied for, and I'm just hanging around.” She seemed distressed, thinking about this and talking about him to me.

 

          “I’m not sure now. About taking the job. You know, because of his condition right now.”

 

 I didn’t want to ask it, but here it went.

 

      “How’s he sick?”

 

 She breathed in. Maybe a bit too personal?

 

        “Oh no, you don’t have to-“

 

        “No, it’s okay. We, his family and I, took him to see a doctor about a month ago. They said it might be the early signs of cancer.” She bit her lip.

 

          “Lia. Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

 

        “No, no! It’s good actually. They caught it early, if it is cancer, and it’s treatable. They were just glad we didn’t come in any later than we had, and it might have been a worser case.” She stopped, not wanting to talk about it anymore. I quickly changed the subject.

 

         “So, has Carol lightened up lately?”

 

  She peered over at her, who was helping a customer find a book.

 

          “No. She’s been in a bad mood lately. Her pup, Daisy died last week. She loved her. She used to bring her into the store all the time. She was an old dog though, she's had her forever.” Lia looked again, more softly this time.

 

         “I remember last summer when Daisy would lay herself in front of the fan, her big floppy ears would make her look like Batman!”

I laughed imagining this.  “So was Daisy all she had?” I asked.

 

        “She lives with her sister, no. Over by the beach.” I think Carol got the sense that we were talking about her. She looked over at us, eyes narrow.  

 

       “Uh, oh. Look away, look away!” Lia joked, and returned to misplacing the books.

 

 I was there for three hours, and a bit relieved to come home, 2:30 in the afternoon. I was starving. Mitch and I stashed away Doritos and other junk food in a usual spot, knowing Mom would suddenly want to go lean. We hid a few bags in the back of the car on the road trip up, so nobody would break into them and get them all stale and crappy. I approached the house, ready to pig out on chips, when I remembered. Nate. He probably already came, if he did at all. I just hoped he wasn’t in there now. I opened the screen door, which whined shut behind me. Mitch was on the couch watching T.V. But there was Gabby, and sure enough Nate, sitting criss cross on the floor, joining him.

 

God was funny sometimes.

 

         “Liz. Hey.” Mitch grumbled, eyes still on the television. It caught their attention; Gabby was up, skipping to me.

 

         “Lizzie! Natie’s over!” He stood up, and waved.  

 

        “Hey Liz.” He said and gave a short wave of his hand.

 

 They seemed to be watching VH1 music videos, which I was instantly mad at Mitch and Nate for letting her watch these. Music these days was just getting so much, whats the word, sluttier than it used to be. 

     

   “Oh well, sorry to miss you-“ I started.  

 

   “Nonsense! I just got here about five minutes ago!”

 

 And sometimes, God can be a real jerk.

 

I looked over to the kitchen, where Gabby had apparently eaten chicken nuggets and left it and the ketchup on the counter.

 

      “Gabby, go clean that up.”

She whined, and slumped to the table. I walked over to Mitch, who was still on the couch.

 

        “Okay?” I asked, implying about Nate.  

 

       “Clean.”

 

  Ignoring Nate, I go to Mitch’s room where I found the stash in an empty 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 discustinly messy it was. I got into the kitchen, and poured the chips into a bowl, and put them in front of the TV.

 

        “Liz,” Mitch whispered. “Your gonna waste the stash like that?”

 

       “I’m hungry!” I protested.

 

         “Oooh, Mommy is gonna get mad!” Gabby came over, and ate a chip. Nate chuckled, and returned to his spot.  

 

       “Yeah well, she’s not here right now.”

 

 She and dad had this ‘mid afternoon workout’ that they always did.

 

        “Healthy family?” Nate asked.

 

        “No. Mom just gets these Kashi inspirations.” Mitch said. I laughed, and Nate looked at me.

 

       “I gotta go.” Mitch said suddenly, and left. God, Mitch was gonna get it. Now I was left alone with Gabby and Nate again.

 

         “Does Natie know Deb?” Gabby said curiously. I looked over at him.

 

         “Uhh, yeah. I met her this morning.” He smiled slyly. Oh god. What did she say to him?

 

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

 

        “Gabby no. She’s busy.” I said.

 

Gabby assumes anyone can drop what their doing and come and play with her. Gabby seemed extremely disappointed, and Nate looked at me again.

 

        What now? Urgh. I didn’t want to have to do it, but it seemed like conversation was in need, and Gabriella couldn’t carry a conversation in a basket.

 

        “Nate. You moving here for the summer, or for good?” Gabby looked at Nate, and he looked at me, surprised I was talking to him.

 

        “For good, we think. My mom likes a quieter life; we used to live in the city.”  

 

       “The city? New York?”

 

  I love the city, but definetly not for somewhere to live.

 

      “Yeah. Life was crazy.” He looked around, like he was trying to remember more about living in New York.

 

        “I wanna go to the city!” Gabby said. She’s been once when she was three, to see The Lion King on Broadway.

 

        “Me too. I haven’t been in a while.” I say, and Gabby climbed into my lap.

 

Nate seemed pleased that he can relate something to me. The last time I went to New York was with Mitch, just on a Saturday when we were bored. We walked around all day, browsing in the Virgin Mobile music store for as long as we could get away with, stopping at a pizza place for lunch. By eight we couldn’t move another muscle, even getting off the train.

 

        “This is a total culture shock, though.” He said.

 

         “I bet.”

 

  Before I could say anything else, Mom and Dad came through the door. I swiftly pushed the bowl of Doritos under the sofa. Nate laughed. Their faces were red and sweaty, and they were wearing very baggy clothing. Nate winked at me, for whatever reason possible, and stood up.

 

       “Who’s this?” My dad said, huffing and puffing like those morning joggers I notice.

 

          “Nate! He’s my new friend.” Gabby said. She grabbed Nate’s hand, and brought him over to my parents.

Oh no. I know what he's playing at. Better meet your family early, he said yesterday. He thinks that this is a whole meet the parents thing. He thinks the way Deb thinks. Oh man. He shook their hands, and looked at Gabby then me.

 

         "I live two houses away." He had to tell them that he was a neighbor. Now they were going to expect him at the block party tomorrow for the fourth.

 

        "Oh, so you'll be at the neighborhood block party tomorrow?" My mom said. See?

 

          "Yeah, we were thinking about it. To get to know the neighborhood." Nate said.  

 

       "That's wonderful! Well it seems we're getting in your way, ruining your fun." She walked off, but dad stayed put. He looked at him, then at me, and back at Nate again. He walked off also. Nate laughed, and faced me.

 

  "It seems they like me."

 

        "Yeah. It seems so." I grumbled. Gabby jumped up and down. "Yes, they do!" She jumped a bit more.  

 

     "Gabby, lay off the sugar!" I went over to her, picked her up, and put her on the stool.

 

        ”You don't seem too happy..." Nate mumbled.

 

         "Well she's just too hyper lately and-"  

 

      "No. About your parents liking me." I considered this. True. It would mean him coming back here.  

 

     "Why would I care?" I lied, crossing my arms.

 

        "Oh, I think you care a lot." Nate lowered his voice, and took a step forward. I was still standing behind Gabby on the stool, who was listening intently.

 

        "But why would you say that?" I replied.

 

 He looked at me. AGAIN.

 

  "Well isn't it obvious?"  

 

      "Obviously not." I said firmly. 

 

        He looked at Gabriella, kind of anxiously, like he didn't want her to be here.

 

        "Gabby, go ask mom about dinner, okay?"

 

  She was obedient, more so than a dog, but she knew that I wasn't just asking her.

 

 

       "It's obvious," He continued. "That you like me."

 

Oh, yeah. Does it seem like I remotely care that he exists? I gave him a nasty look.

 

        "Well it’s also obvious that you are a bit full of yourself! Where do you think you get off?" I argued.     

      "I don't. And I'm not. I just get this vibe."

 

 A vibe? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I laughed.

 

"So really you came over here today, not for Gabby, but for me?"

 

        “No, though I'd admit that I was happy you didn't work too long today."

 

 I didn't say anything for a second. He didn't even know me.  

 

        "What did Deb say to you?" He seemed stricken by the question.

 

        "Nothing. Welcomed me to the neighborhood, reminded me about the block party... asked me if I had a girlfriend..."

 

        “So typical Deb," I said under my breath."

 

        "Look," He started. "I’m done with this ice between us. I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow at the party, and I'd like to hang with you, seeing as I don't know anybody else here."

 

 The ice between us? Please. There was nothing between us.

 

       "You know Deb." He shook his head, like I didn't get it.

 

 I don't know why I didn't like him. Instinct or something, I guess.

 

          "Okay. Whatever." I said. "I'll cut you some slack. Gabby seems to like you, anyway." I forced the words out of my mouth.

 

          "Yeah, I've heard I'm likable. But you don't seem to like me at all."  

 

        "I don't like people easy." It wasn't entirely true. I should have said I don't like guys easy.

 

         "Well anyway, I should get going. We planned to go canoeing on the lake in a few." He made sure his things were in his pocket.

 

         "Okay, well then see you later." I said.

 

 He was going to walk out, but he said, "I told her no."

 

         "What?" I asked.

 

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

 

Jerk, I thought

Reviews

[Jenn Gold]

I think I liked this chapter best. I love a lot of dialogue! I don't know why, that's just how I am. It was like watching a tv show actually. I enjoyed it. Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Nova]

Wow, that was really fun to read. I dont think you get what I mean.
This was really great. Your word choice and how you described their actions. It seemed like I was watching a tv show. It was showed its self wonderfully.