Eric, Jody Kaye [well read books TXT] 📗
- Author: Jody Kaye
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I can’t imagine being hated by everyone just for being caught in one false move. Probably because I’ve made so many of them. I honestly do like Ginny and I feel bad for my brother.
Eric was up frying eggs and drinking his over-caffeinated beverage when I walked into their little apartment on my “run” this morning. He offered me some, but I’d rather die of thirst. So I stood before their new AC unit and used it to cool off with.
“Gin took the truck to work already. She snagged seven-to-eleven when someone asked for the day off.” Eric sounded proud of her for working on a Saturday when he had the weekend off.
I remain tight-lipped that Ginny is covering my shift. I’d spaced how busy today was liable to get, and she volunteered to cover after the manager posted the schedule. “We have to use the car to get food for the party. Maybe you and Daveigh can take Momma’s Lexus for anything else?”
“Sounds fine to me.” He smiles.
I look past Eric to the bedroom where it’s obvious two bodies have slept in the bed the night before. “Thanks for letting me cool off.”
“No problem. Thanks for bringing me the gift card yesterday. I uh, I think maybe I’ll put it to groceries in a few weeks. But, Brier, is there a store for clothes and stuff when someone is, you know?” his voice trailed.
Ooh, my brother is dealing with a gray, shady area. Ginny’s lying upset him and he doesn’t want her to accuse him of the same thing by keeping the fifty dollars from her. He’s planning to spend it on Gin without her knowing where it came from.
“A ’corse there is, silly.” I pretend he’s dumb as a rock, but it’s useless. A little of me has rubbed off on him and it’s sweet.
“Can maybe you and Daveigh go with her and…”
“I’m not sure how far fifty bucks will go, but yeah, we will.”
“I’ll bet you fifty bucks Adam doesn’t drag himself outta bed till the party,” Drew says, offhandedly.
“Huh?” I shake myself back to the present.
“Damn girl, do you ever listen to a word I say, or is my job to just look good?”
“You do a good job of that.” I tousle my fingers through Drew’s thick blond hair. The humidity has tightened its curl. The exact reason I keep mine short. If I didn’t I’d resemble a towheaded version of Daveigh.
Drew stops my legs from beating against the lower cabinet by standing against them. I lean to see if anyone might be in the hall or hear if they’re coming down the staircase. Assured the coast is clear, I press my lips to his gently. “I hear everything you tell me when we are out driving alone.”
It’s the truth. I can tell you the difference between the way Nick Saban coached at LSU in comparison to the way Bobby Bowden handled his team because I’d been listening when Drew was trying to make his final decision on attending Florida State. I know he still hates hot dogs since throwing them up when he was sick after a family barbecue when we were twelve. I could even tell someone if they asked how many pairs of jeans Drew has from Abercrombie & Fitch versus the GAP.
The light glints off the solid gold cross he’s wearing and I smile. I got the chain for him this past Christmas to replace one he’d lost when I dared him to drive me to Gator Country and back before dawn the night of homecoming. He made me giggle over the idea of an alligator wearing a big gold crucifix and praying someone might fall in the pen to be his dinner.
Forgetting we’re better off discrete, I wrap my arms around his neck. It’s rare, and rather nice, to not crane my neck to look up at Drew. “Did your letter say when you have to report to campus?”
“First week of August.” He curls his finger around my sprite-size ear. “These are your old ones.” He notes the diamonds in my lobes aren’t the new earrings Momma gave me and Daveigh at graduation, but the cheap ones he’d picked up for my birthday. “You drive me mad trying to figure out where I stand, do you know that?”
I sigh. “This summer’s not gonna be nearly long enough. We’ll make tonight count.” I’ve cooled down enough to consider taking a shower and am also wondering how bad my stinky pits have smelled hanging on to Drew with my arms up in the air. I pushed on his solid pec and hop off of the counter.
“Go get my brothers’ butts outta bed so we can get back from errands. I want Colton’s farewell party to start on time.” I tap my watch. My parents said, “Wait till the weekend before your brother leaves to have everyone over,” which I will deny was a genius idea on principle. But these few weeks are too long to go without having a party at Kingsbrier.
“Waking Colton this early in the morning is no different than volunteering to get mauled by a bear.” Drew crosses his arms over his broad chest. “Seriously, B. It’s like you want me to get pissed at you for sending me to poke a rabid animal.” He shakes his head. “What gives with us?”
I can’t give a straight answer. Drew has to stick to being the person he’s always been. The only child of my mother’s best friend. The one who rounds out the numbers at Kingsbrier so we have even teams. The other pea in the pod so Adam had a playmate and our parents could reminisce about how close they were as children.
“Get a move on. It’s hotter than blazes out there already and I want to get my suit on soon to swim.”
My final comment gets Drew’s ass in motion. He chases me up the staircase, trying to grab my butt. I make it to my room before he can goose me, slamming the door as he barrels past into Colton’s room.
He won’t try anything while the others are around, so it’s safe to come out once he’s passed. I watch as Drew jumps onto the bed, towering over Colton’s form and starts yelling at him at the top of his lungs like a drill sergeant.
“What the hell are you doing?” My baby brother bolts upright at the barking.
“Get used to it pretty boy. As of Monday, you aren’t sleeping in again. Think they’ll let you post before and after pictures when the strip of dead grass gets mowed off your head?”
I laugh. I love my brother’s mohawk. It fits him. Adam sidles up beside me and his shirtless chest rumbles. He scratches his neck, taking in the reason for all the commotion.
“What are you laughing at, ROTC?” Colton moans to Adam. He grabs Drew by the knees, toppling him over. “Payback’s a bitch, Newhouse.”
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9
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When only our closest friends remain at the bon voyage party we’ve thrown, the gaggle of kids elect Brier to tell Momma we’re leaving to go into town. She’s the best for the job because she never breaks under pressure.
Our mother quizzes my sister with veiled skepticism. It doesn’t matter that we’re of age. She wants to know where we’re going and when my parents should expect us back.
Suitably placated by my sister’s tale and assurances no one has stolen from the liquor cabinet, Momma agrees we’re allowed to take the vehicles. “But Brier, understand that if y’all get caught doing anything illegal and the sheriff is called, it’s all over for you.”
“I know Momma,” she responds sweetly.
There won’t be a reason to call the authorities because the group is congregating where we always go, on Kingsbrier property—not even in the direction of town like Brier told our mother.
“Did she buy it?” Colton confirms the cover story is solid.
“Of course she did. I’m an expert at this.” Brier tosses a set of car keys to our younger brother so he can drive.
“Shotgun.” Adam jumps into the passenger seat of the old convertible we share. Brier climbs in the back, placing her feet on the seat and butt on the trunk like she’s a Bowl Queen. Several of her friends pile in after her. Ginny and I take the truck, driving Daveigh and more classmates down the road to the stables in its bed. Drew trails behind us in a baby-blue Cadillac, also a convertible, with longhorns on the grill.
“I can’t believe you drive this hunk of junk,” Brier taunts as we pull up to the barn. Feeling wicked after getting away with lying, she lunges off the rear of the car, forcing Drew to catch her as she intentionally lands too close.
“Just because my grandpappy didn’t make as much off of cattle as yours did on oil doesn’t make him any less of a man. He used to drive me around in this car when I was a kid. I’m proud to call it my own. Besides, if you haven’t noticed, yours ain’t much newer and I don’t have to share mine.”
Brier’s eyes narrow. She’s lost, but she never cedes to him. Instead, she walks by Drew, sets the dial on his radio, and turns the music up. One by one each, vehicle begins thumping with a simultaneous beat.
Drew gives up easily on an apology. I never understand why considering he’s been around B as long as we have, and the four of us will force her to say, “sorry” if only to prove her lips can form the words. He helps Adam kick the dirt and gather rocks. Meanwhile, Colton and I collect wood for a bonfire. One last car pulls in and pops its trunk, revealing what amounts to as a well-stocked bar.
As the whiskey and beer bottles get passed around, the most frequent comment heard over the din is “None for you,” as everyone jokes with Ginny that her drinking days are over. She shrugs and sways her hips to the music, pretending she’s not bothered when I know deep down she is.
The song changes and every one of the girls let out an ear-piercing shriek. They scramble to stand on barrels and bales of hay we use as seats and the hoods of the cars, all chanting the lyrics in unison.
I hold Ginny’s hand as she balances on her pedestal. She smiles at me and sings along to an old-school Reba anthem. They’ve been doing this for as long as we’ve been hiding out here at night drinking. And like the song says, it’s the summer we’ve turned eighteen, which makes the girls even wilder in their antics.
I move my hands to Gin’s waist and my grip tightens. Her middle isn’t as slim as it was a few weeks ago when we moved into the stable apartment. Somehow the laughter and lightheartedness of the performance become lost on me as I listen.
I’d gotten wrapped up in the fun today. After this, my siblings are leaving. The paths Adam, Brier, Daveigh, and Colton have laid out for their lives are as shiny as a new penny. But I’ll still be here and it’s only been the past few hours’ distractions that have stopped my pondering over how Gin and I are supposed to raise a child when we’re just starting out.
This is a human being we’re bringing into the world with thoughts, and feelings, and needs I’m unsure of how to manage. What if this kid hates me? Are we messing with its life since me and Ginny can’t provide for it the same way we could’ve if we’d waited a few years?
I
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