Stop Him

Alone

Steven offered to give me a ride home after school but I was quick to reject it, opting for the bus.  Somehow I got the gist that nothing good could come from hanging around him and, from the way he was looking at me, I wasn’t sure that I trusted him alone in a car.  He might try something or, at the very least, it could become a painfully awkward situation.

    No thanks.

    The bus was mostly freshmen but, at the back, I saw a familiar head of red hair.  The only person I recognized.  “Hey,” I said, scooting into the seat next to him.

    “Uh, Gigi, right?” Charles said, c*****g an eyebrow at me as he pulled out a headphone.

    “That’s me.”

    “Where’s Steven?” he chuckled, teasing.

    I rolled my eyes, tucking my hair behind my ear.  “Ha ha, very funny.”

    “So when’s the wedding?” he jibed, an easy grin moving over his face.

    I lifted my hand, wagging my empty ring finger pointedly and he just chuckled.  He was handsome but in an unconventional way with pale skin and freckles.  Now that I was looking closer, he had dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in a while.  Just as I thought it, he pressed his hand over his mouth, yawning into his palm.  “Long night?” I wondered, wagging my eyebrows suggestively.

    “Somebody’s got to tend to the ladies,” he shot back, sinking back into his seat a bit, resting his head against the glass.  He looked tired.  I bit my lip.  Obviously he was joking but it wasn’t beyond him to have a little fan club keeping him busy.  Unconventional, sure, but he was still something to look at and his personality made him highly approachable.  When his eyes shifted to me, I realized I’d been staring but felt weird looking away.  Somehow trying to hide it seemed worse somehow, like admitting guilt.  “How was your first day at Rosewell High?”

    “Well, apparently I have a nice bubble butt.”

    He gasped, feigning shock.  “How did you find out?”

    “Steven told me,” I said, rolling my eyes.

    “Well Steven would know best,” Charles said very seriously.  “He’s had his fair share of squeezing bubble butts.”

    “Oh, is that a profession?” I asked, feigning curiosity.

    “Well, no,” he said, playing along.  “But if it were, Steven would be top in his field of study.”

    I giggled, bumping him with my knee and he just looked me over, expression shifting.  “What?”

    “Nothing,” he said, giving a small smile.  “You just remind me of someone.”  I wanted to ask about them but he averted his eyes abruptly, putting his headphone back in his ear.  Oh.  Biting my lip, I glanced down at my phone, finally reading all the messages Lisa had sent me today.  She’s a bit of a text-a-holic.  They were pictures of everybody back home doing stuff with reminders that it’s not the same without me.  I bit my lip, turning off my phone as we came to my stop.  Getting up, I glanced at Charles but his eyes were closed.  Maybe he was sleeping?  Or just . . . ignoring me.

    With a sigh, I got off the bus, looking at my new house, noticing that the driveway was empty.

    I already miss Pittsburgh.

. . .

Nobody was home when I got back and I felt thankful as I moved to the pantry, looking to forage scraps.  The kitchen was nearly empty and I could blame the move for that but that would be a lie.  Our kitchen was almost always empty.

    I ate at Lisa’s house pretty regularly because she has a normal family.

    One that cooks together, eats together.

    Likes each other.

    We had bread and peanut butter.  No jelly.  With a sigh, I made my sad sandwich, and poured myself a glass of milk.  There.  Dinner is served.

    I was about to sit down at the kitchen table when I heard the truck pull into the driveway, lights flashing through the front windows.  Nope.  Picking up my milk and sandwich, I high-tailed it upstairs to my bedroom, carefully shutting the door after myself.  Setting my milk on the bureau, I took a seat on the bench, and went to bite into my sandwich when I saw somebody standing in the corner of my room in the mirror.  Panicked, I jumped to my feet, nearly knocking over my drink as I spun to see who was there.  Nobody.  Glancing around the empty bedroom nervously, my heart thumped loudly in my ears.  I even glanced back the mirror, scared that somebody would be there, looking at me, and there was nothing.  Clutching my chest, I heard the downstairs door open, the familiar jostle of keys, the sound of stumbling feet.  Dad’s home.

    Rolling my lip between my teeth, I checked under my bed, checked the closet.  It was stupid.  If somebody had really been there, I would have seen them the moment I turned but it shook me up anyway, made me feel a bit nervous.

    Not nervous enough to go downstairs and deal with my father.

    No, but I’d give Lisa a call.

    She answered on the second ring.  “Gigi!  How was your day, lovey?”

    I groaned.  “You remember those black shorts that I wore for gym last year?”

    “Yeah?”

    “I accidentally packed those ones for gym today,” I sighed, hearing her bright laughter bubble through the receiver.  “It’s not funny!”

    “Video chat me,” she said.

    I glanced at the screen, accepting her video chat and she popped up from a weird angle below.  She was in the bathroom curling her dark hair.  “Ooh, where are you off to?” I asked, wagging my brows at her.  Her brown eyes shifted down to me and she rolled them.

    “A benefit dinner for dad.  You know how that goes.”

    Lisa’s family is rich.  Her father is a big-time lawyer in Pittsburgh, always involved with charities—Lisa always gets dragged along for all of his publicity ventures.  He hopes to run for mayor sometime in the near future.  “Any cute guys?”

    “Ew,” she scrunched her nose.  “You know there’s nothing decent over here.”  I giggled at that.  Lisa’s gorgeous and can have basically anybody she wants but insists that anybody less than five years older than us is just plain trash, but especially if they’re local.  Older men only.  Foreign men preferred.  “How about on that side of Pennsylvania?  Any York boys chasing you around yet?”

    “I’m not you,” I laughed, rolling my eyes.

    “Oh my God, don’t start with that low self-esteem bullshit.  You’ve got that nice ass and apparently you were showing it off today,” she added, moving to the next curl with a giggle.

    “That’s the only asset I have,” I joked.  “Might as well use it.”

    “Oh puh-lease, you dress like a Sunday school teacher.”  Her eye roll was ridiculous.

    “I do not,” I snapped, taking a bite of my sandwich.

    “Do too,” she snapped, glancing down at her phone.  I went to argue with her when she said, “Hold up, is there somebody in your room?”

    Frozen on the bed, I glanced at the screen with me in it, searching.  It was just me and an empty room behind me staring back.  “No, why?” I wondered, glancing around myself, feeling that chill sweep down my spine.

    “I thought I saw . . . oh, never mind.  Must’ve been a mistake,” she said, shrugging.

    I went to ask her what she’d seen but stopped myself, wanting to change the topic of conversation quickly.  Creepy.  It was too creepy of a coincidence that I’d just thought I’d seen somebody and now she was mentioning the same thing.  I didn’t want to stay focused on that.  “I did meet a guy that was interesting though.  He seemed sweet and . . . a little weird.”

    “You already have a crush?!” Lisa gasped, giving a huge cheesy open mouthed smile.

    I rolled my eyes.  “No.  His name is Charles, though.  A redhead.”

    “Redhead,” she said, scrunching her nose.

    I laughed at her expression.  “He’s actually kind of handsome.”

    “You know I only like my men dark,” Lisa laughed.

    Oh, I knew.  “He was just . . . sweet.  Warned me against a guy who was kind of hounding me.”

    “Sounds like Prince Charming,” she said, putting on mascara now.

    “He did get kind of weird at the end of the day though.  Told me I reminded him of someone.

    ”Did you ask who?” she wondered.

    “I didn’t get the chance to.”  I thought about how closed off he’d become right after he’d said that.  “But I don’t think it was a good thing.”

    “Might remind him of a nasty ex,” she surmised.

    Probably.  “I’m not awful though.”

    “They’re never awful in the beginning,” Lisa said.  “Maybe you remind him of the better—“

    “Lisa!” her mom’s voice boomed.

    Lisa sighed, lifting the phone so I could see her beautiful face at a full frontal angle.  “Well, that’s my cue to go.  Love you.”  She gave a kiss to the camera and I made a kiss back, watching her hang up the phone.  With a sigh, I put it down, glancing about nervously once more.  It’s not a creepy room by any rights, well lit, popping yellow sheets—just my mind playing stupid games.

    Going on to Netflix on my phone, I used Lisa’s account to put on a show, holding it up while I finished off my sandwich, listening to the door to the house open and close again.  Light footsteps on the stairs, I watched as my bedroom door open and mom peeked in, looking me over.  “How was it?” she wondered.

    I shrugged.  “How was the job hunt?”

    She just shrugged.  “Did you eat?”  I nodded and she sighed, relief clear on her face.  She was thankful she didn’t have to find something for me.  I didn’t mention that all I’d had was a peanut butter sandwich.  “Well, I’ll get some groceries tomorrow.  We’ll have stuff then.”

    “Sounds good,” I said, offering a small smile.

    She smiled back, small, tired, before shutting my bedroom door again.

    Shitty.

    Maybe my home life is kind of shitty but at least I have shows like “Lucifer” to keep me entertained.