Every Other Weekend(106)

“Be my guest.”

Jolene looked past Guy to where I was mouthing the word no and shaking my head.

“Oh yeah, that’d be cool another time.” I stepped closer to Jolene and set my empty Coke can on the coffee table. “We actually have to get going.”

Jolene put the movie back slower than was strictly necessary.

“That’s too bad,” Guy said. “You’re welcome over anytime. Adam, it was good to see you.”

“Yep,” I said, putting my hand on Jolene’s back and steering her to the door. “Thanks for the drink.”

“You, too, Jolene.”

Once we were back in the hallway and the door was closed behind us, I turned to Jolene. “Promise me we will never be that bored again.” Almost before I’d finished speaking, she was rounding on me.

“What was that?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were so rude.” She did a rather unflattering impression of me. “‘We actually have to get going.’ You practically shoved me out the door.”

A smile played at my lips. “Okay, first of all, is that really how I sound?”

Her answer was to push me.

“And second, shove is a strong word. I would say I motivated you to leave quickly.”

She pushed me again.

“Hey, what do you care anyway? That guy was weird.”

“He wasn’t weird. You don’t even know him.”

“He was. Maybe you were distracted by the wall of movies and didn’t notice.” My smile was fading as I picked up on the fact that she wasn’t feigning her irritation. “Wait, I don’t know him? So he’s like your best friend because you’ve waved at him in the lobby a few times and he’s writing you a letter? Look, let’s forget it. We can hang out at my apartment. I can’t guarantee that Jeremy will be any better, but at least we won’t have to talk to him.” I turned toward my apartment, expecting Jolene to follow, but she didn’t.

“Why couldn’t you have been cool?” she asked, her voice strangely quiet. “We could have watched a movie. I’m telling you, you would have liked him if you gave him half a chance. Then we could have hung out sometimes, the three of us. That could have been cool.”

I walked back to her, knowing I was making that face she hated, but I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, ’cause I love hanging out with my dad’s friends.”

“He barely knows your dad.”

“Who cares?” And then I fell silent, because she obviously did. I tried to smooth my face out. Maybe she was dealing with some stuff with her dad. She’d been acting off all day, more than all day.

“Okay,” I said. “Yeah, maybe I could have been smoother. You caught me off guard with the whole movie thing. Don’t you think two hours might have been a bit much for just meeting the guy? He’s already writing you the letter. You don’t need to hang out with him or anything, right?”

She was looking at me with big, shiny eyes, pleading with me, and I’d never felt denser in my life. Then she shook her head. “I just thought... Well, it doesn’t matter now. I think... I think I’m going home. I’m getting a headache.”

I tried and failed to convince her to come to my apartment. She wasn’t mad anymore, but she kept shaking her head.

Before we went our separate ways, I caught her hand and stepped closer so I could hug her.

And then she left me.





   Jolene

I stood inside my apartment, heels pressed against the back of the door, my hand wrapped around the knob behind me. I heard Shelly moving around in her and Dad’s bedroom. I could tiptoe across the living room and slip into my room, and she might not think to check on me. I hadn’t been lying to Adam about Shelly acting strangely since that morning I’d eavesdropped on her call with my dad and then vomited way too much personal information on her until she’d cried like she was broken. She wasn’t acting broken now; she was acting determined, and avoiding each other had become a game I played by myself, one that had become so much harder since she’d started seeking me out.

There’d been more notes and texts from Dad lately, too, nearly every day, and they usually contained some bit of information from the day before, details I knew Shelly was feeding him. The one that had been waiting for me that day congratulated me on a zero-cavity dentist appointment the week before, and I didn’t want to know how Shelly had found that out. The rest was always the same: sorry...promise...excuses and lies. I still never saw him.

Sometimes I’d spot one of his shirts or jackets lying over a chair, or an empty beer bottle on the counter that I knew belonged to him, because Shelly didn’t drink. But Shelly must have cleaned before I got there. The apartment was spotless.

Ten minutes passed, twenty. I watched the hands on the clock tick past. I was sure if I went to my room and listened, I’d hear the soft murmur of Adam, Jeremy, and their dad all talking, laughing. By the sound of things, his mom’s voice might be joining the mix in the not-too-distant future, only they wouldn’t be at the apartment anymore. They’d be home. Together.

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt wetness on my eyelashes.

And then I was back in the hallway, wiping my eyes dry with my fingertips, not thinking about where I was going until I was knocking softly on his door.