Page 48 of All of You
My eyes roll on their own accord. “Whatever. I have homework.” Irritated, I push past her picking up my backpack on the way.
I hear Dad tell her that maybe it’s time to tell me what’s going on. That eventually it’ll all come out anyway. And Mom, she laughs like it’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard.
“Why would I go and spill her secrets now?” she says.
What the hell is going on?
I give up on homework, unable to focus, and flop onto my bed. I ache for Delia. I dream about her constantly. Green eyes watching me. Peering into my soul. Never looking away. I crave the feel of her skin beneath my fingertips. The softness of her lips against mine again. She lights a fire inside me. Her eyes on me make me feel like a thousand fireflies are buzzing around my stomach. Being in her room tonight was a rush. A room that was a time capsule for our parents’ generation.
Posters for bands I don’t know on the walls. An old stereo with a CD player. White curtains, yellowed from the sun. A corded phone. While Delia slept, I, like some creep, cased the room, took in all the small absurdities. None of it was Delia. The room was a relic from another teenager in another lifetime.
What would I do if my mom or dad disappeared? Why was no one worried or searching for Jennifer? My phone vibrates in my pocket. Unlocking the screen I see a snap from Hailie.
“Ugh.” I open it and immediately want to unsee the picture she’s sent. Boobs. Just boobs.
Normally I’d be pretty stoked but my brain is laser focused on one pair of breasts and they aren’t Hailie’s. I snap back a picture of the ceiling captioned ‘Niko would appreciate that more’.Harsh, but absolutely true. I’m running out of ways to put Hailie off nicely. She snaps back immediately but I leave heron delivered. I really don’t care what her response is.
I send a snap to Niko telling him Hailie needs some attention. Maybe that will preoccupy her for a while.
I’m struck with an idea to cheer Delia up, if she comes to work tomorrow that is. I jump out of bed and rummage through a box buried in the back of my closet.
Twenty Five
Delia
Dwyer’s class is brutal. He pushes us all to dig deep, to find and understand the meaning in the reading assignments he gives us. Langdon smiled at me when I came in. His foot rests on the back of my chair leg. Every once in a while, it taps out a nervous beat, vibrating me. At the end of class, I grab my bag and turn to Langdon.
“You look a little better today,” he says quietly.
“Feel it too. Might even go to work.” Langdon smiles and my insides slosh around.
“See ya,” I sputter.
Miles in period two, and Lyra in three, each give me big bear hugs and proclaim that I look less like a zombie today. I don’t tell them about Langdon lying in bed with me or that I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I finally fell asleep. I do apologize and tell them I’m sorry and that we need a fooddate, preferably at the diner, stat so I can tell them why I checked out the first week of school.
They both agree and it works out because if we do dinner after work, I’ll have a ride home and then Heath doesn’t have to come and get me. He’s already done a lot for me considering a couple of weeks ago, he lived alone and we’d never met.
At lunch, Langdon does the weird thing again where I sit alone and he sits a table away with his gang of popular friends and sneaks glances at me. Each time I feel his eyes boring holes into my head I look up, catch him staring, and refuse to look away. He loses the staring contest every time, but especially when Hailie notices him looking at me and elbows him while simultaneously glaring at me. I never meet her glare though, I keep my gaze on Langdon, to make him squirm. It almost feels right. Normal for a while. Staring at him makes me think less about my mom. Where she is, what she’s doing, why she left.
The bus drops me at the corner of Main and RootBound. The pre-fall breeze whips down the street, rustling leaves. The sidewalks are crowded today with people popping in and out of shops. Laughing, chatting, carefree. It makes me angry for a moment as I head to RootBound.
“Delia! Oh, it’s so good to see your face, honey,” Viv coos as I walk in the store. Her smiling face snaps me out of my funk.
“Hi.” I wave. “Hoping I still have a job.” I hope I look as sheepish as I feel.
Vivianna gesticulates wildly. “Oh stop that. Of course. I can’t count on Langdon to get things done. He’s not exactly front register material personality-wise, if ya catch my drift.”
I stifle a snort. “Thanks, Viv. I’m really sorry I was out.”
“Can’t help a cold darling.”
I stiffen.A cold?“Uh. What do you mean?”
“I mean, when Heath called to tell me you were sick, I just felt so bad. The first week of school too. Terrible timing.”
I put my bag down in her office. Gramps lied for me. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like something he’d do in general but maybe he had his reasons.
Regardless, Viv’s too nice for a lie so I decide to tell her the truth.
