The first night of having us all together was great. Mostly. Megan was over the moon and thought all of us living together was her birthday present. It wasn’t, but that gave us a little bit of cover so we could get her an actual gift. I mean, really, what almost-seven-year-old girl thought she wasn’t getting some kind of physical gift? Sure, she’d been through more than anyone should go through at any age, so maybe she thought life wasn’t done dealing her a shitty hand. No matter what life was throwing at her, I was going to make sure she had a great gift. I had been set on getting her a replacement game console for the one she lost back in Pittsburgh, and Shelly just so happened to inform me that Mrs. Carmichael was going to pay us for our efforts out in the Tomb. A thousand dollars each for just taking the task. We were going to get more once Mrs. Carmichael got the money situation ironed out. Regardless, it was more than enough to get her what I hoped would be a great gift.
After our nice Sunday evening feast, we were totally wiped. I cooked so that way Shelly didn’t accidentally fall asleep standing up and go face-first into our new stove. As soon as she finished, she took Megan to her room and went to bed herself. Megan had trouble sleeping alone, so I was beyond appreciative of Shelly making room for the kiddo in her bed. Everything was perfectly fine up, albeit tiring, until that point.
Then I realized that it was a three-bedroom home, with two of them already being claimed, despite Megan’s difficulties sleeping by herself. When I got out of the shower, Rebecca was sitting on my bed with a goofy grin on her face. Thank goodness I already had on a T-shirt and shorts. The habits of having a shared bathroom saved me from a lot of embarrassment.
“Does this bother you?” Rebecca asked. We both agreed on changing into our pajamas in separate rooms. The matter of one bed was a completely different issue.
“What? No, I mean, okay yeah. Maybe a little.” I just stared awkwardly at the bed. It was a king size, so there was plenty of room, but I couldn’t even remember the last time I shared a bed with anyone. It was over ten years, and that was low-balling my guess. “Yes, I am sorry. I am freaking out a little bit.”
“It’s just sleeping.” She put a hand on my shoulder, and I jolted upright. It was less from her touch and more from me already being a disaster of a human. “I can go tell Shelly it won’t work out here.”
“No, no, please don’t do that.” I took her hand between mine, turned it into a fist, and pulled it up to my head, closing my eyes. “We want you here. I want you here. I’m sorry, it just feels like everything is going by so fast and I can’t come to grips with it.”
“Are you talking about us?” She sat down on the end of the bed and I joined her.
“No, actually. My sister told me about some of her friends who moved fast in their relationships. And I mean really fast. I think we’re doing okay.” I pulled her close and took a deep breath. “I know this is a bit of a cliché thing to say, but this really isn’t an issue with you. This is all me, and it doesn’t even have anything to do with you.”
“Are you okay? Do you need to talk about anything?” She rubbed my back in a way that just made it seem like all my problems, real or otherwise, were going to dissolve away. “You can tell me anything whenever you need.”
“I know, and I will,” I said, finally building up the nerve to settle down and smile. “What I think I need right now is a good night of sleep. One without painkillers making me all loopy.”
We settled into bed and under the covers. I learned a couple things. First, even though we didn’t purposely touch each other, it still happened. Second, Rebecca was a bit of a thrasher like me, so I took one hit to my noggin. I managed to get two hours of sleep, and even those didn’t have the decency of being two good hours of sleep. I felt like I was waking up every few minutes to make sure I didn’t slam my elbow into my girlfriend’s face or knee her in the hip. I didn’t, and for my trouble, I was rewarded with her peaceful, drooling face. That settled me down just enough to let me start the cycle again.
Finally, when morning came and soft sunlight crept into my room, I was near the edge of the bed staring at the wall. I felt like I was just tired enough to give sleeping another go, so of course, Rebecca stirred right when I started to doze off. At that point, I just pretended to be asleep and gently “woke up” when I felt her leave the bed.
“Mornin’ there, handsome fella.” Rebecca groggily walked to my side and crouched down, giving me a warm smile. “How’d you sleep?”
“Great, actually,” I lied, pretending like I’d just woken up from a peaceful rest.
“That bad, huh?” When I winced, Rebecca just laughed. “Ethan, you look like a feral cat that just ran through a thunderstorm. I can tell you didn’t sleep well.”
“You go use the shower first. I’m going to see if my sister’s awake.” I wanted a cold bottle of water to drink, and I wanted to give Shelly a piece of my mind. Rebecca scurried off, starting the water to the shower I was positive was as nice as the rest of the house. I almost lost my balance and tumbled down my stairs only twice, so let’s go Ethan.
We were all so gassed from the trip that we barely took the time to even look at the interior of our new home. It was basically just the apartment we came from, but scaled up and a touch less bland. Oh, and there was a real fireplace! Finally, I had a fireplace. Right as winter was about to come to an end, annoyingly, but I had my fireplace. Every small victory added up. Reginald—my robot vacuum—made his rounds through the bigger living room and kitchen, learning about his new surroundings.
“I missed you so much.” I wanted to hug the little guy.
“Aw, I missed you too. That miserable after one night away from your sister?” Shelly waltzed in from the hallway that lead to her and Megan’s rooms. She no longer looked like a wild animal from sleep deprivation.
“I was talking to Reginald, not you.” Even though we were joking, I still felt bad. “Okay, fine, it’s good to see you looking better after all the driving.”
By some miracle, the entire fridge had been stocked. As if she was reading my mind, Shelly tossed me a bottle of water. I downed it like I’d just spent three days dragging myself across a desert in the summer. The cold helped shock my system and wake me up. I had to restrain myself from drinking another bottle.
“What’s the deal with there being one bed in my room that I have to share with Rebecca?”
“There’s one bed?” Shelly asked, her head cocked to the side. A tiny grin broke out on her lips. “No way, that’s hilarious.”
“I’m serious! I didn’t get any sleep at all last night.”
“Wow, uh, okay. Didn’t need to know that.” She covered her ears with her hands and shook her head.
“What are you talking about?” It took me way too long to figure out her meaning. “Oh God, not that. I haven’t even kissed the woman yet. Will jumping out of this first-story window be enough to kill me?”
“Probably not. You’d get some cuts and we’d need a new window, though.” Shelly idly played with her blonde hair, curling and uncurling strands around her index finger.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Shelly, I didn’t know that I’d have to be sharing a bed with my girlfriend that I’ve only known for a few minutes.”
“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” She sighed, some of that frustration from the prior day coming back to her. “I really didn’t think there’d be one bed. When I was choosing our house, the picture of your room had two beds in it. I just assumed that’s how it’d be when we got here. Do you want me to make her find her own place?”
“No, of course not.” The skin around my eyes felt dry and like they were being stretched. “You saw how she was yesterday. I just thought you were playing a prank on me. I don’t know, I don’t believe in love at first sight or anything like that. I do care about her and I don’t want her kicked out because I’m nervous about sharing a bed. With everything going on, it feels like there’s so much I have to deal with. She makes everything feel easier. She likes you. She likes Megan. These are all great things, and I feel weird because I’d never even had a crush before. I don’t know what to do.”
Before I could get any farther with my concerns, Megan came into the kitchen, doing some kind of weird crab walk with her cheeks puffed out. Kids, man. Leave it to them to start off a Monday morning with a horror movie walk. That walk did break me out of the panicked trance I was starting to build for myself. At least she was adjusting to her new place well.
“Morning, kiddo.” I grabbed the sides of her stomach and lifted her up, leaving her in an upside-down giggle fit. Only a minor protest came from my arm and collarbone. She kept the palms of her hands on the ground, so I walked her around like that for a couple minutes, just until the laughing wore off. With a little bit more strength than I thought I had, I flipped her upright and set her back on her feet. “How do you like that new room?”
“It’s so big! It’s like, this big!” She threw her arms out and stretched them as far as they could go. When I made a shocked expression, she noticed the scar on my arm, somehow for the first time. “Ew, that’s gross, Ethan. It looks like you have worms in your skin.”
“Megan!” Rebecca came down the stairs, wrapping her hair up in a towel. Good to know that she took quick showers. “That’s not a nice thing to say to someone. It’s a scar he got from getting hurt and protecting me.”
The poor kid looked like she was told she just kicked the family puppy. Her eyes went wide when she looked at me. Carefully, she wrapped her arms around me in a big hug. After, she gently took my left arm and lightly kissed the scar. “I’m sorry. I’ll make it stop hurting. Mommy always used to kiss my boo-boos.”
I felt like my heart was going to explode. Kids sometimes said rude things without thinking. That was just a fact of life, and it wasn’t one that bothered me. They had no problems telling you what they were thinking most of the time without much of a filter in place. Megan’s reaction to being scolded was just so sweet and nice. The absolute cutest and kindest kid I’d ever had the pleasure of being around. Even after my irresponsible month-long absence, the fact that she still wanted to be around me meant the world to me.
“Oh, I can’t be mad at you. Apology accepted.” I scooped her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. “You excited for your birthday?” She nodded so hard I thought her head was going to fly off.
“Crap, Ethan.” Shelly slapped her forehead and sighed. “I forgot to tell you, Lizzy’s borrowing you for the day.”
“You decided for me? Wasn’t it you that told me to not let them push me around?” I set Megan down at the table and prepared her a bowl of sugary cereal with, as the box put it, EXTRA LARGE MARSHMALLOWS. If I had my day decided for me, my parting gift was to leave the small child amped up on birthday hype and sugar. My petty revenge would not go unnoticed.
“I did say that, yeah. Look, things happen, and she’s helped you a lot. She helped me do my hair and makeup.” Shelly left it at that and I got the position she was in. Lizzy helped my family out, so I wouldn’t decline. I wasn’t going to even if she hadn’t helped the two of us out. “She just wants someone to go to the mall with her.”
“Why the mall?” I asked, setting the primer to Megan’s sugar rush bomb down in front of her. The milk barely settled before she was digging in. “Is there even a mall here?”
There were some very Lizzy-esque knocks on the door and I shuddered, knowing the possible nightmare that was waiting for me on the other side. I didn’t know how I knew they were from her. A sixth sense told me it was her there. Even through the door, I could feel her energy, and it felt like she had a pair of scissors at the ready to have a field day with my hair.
“Howdy, neighbor!” She exclaimed when I opened the door, immediately wrapping me up in a huge hug. I could feel her pulling me out, so I grabbed my shoes with a flailing arm before she could get me all the way out in the open. It was much warmer outside than it had been the day before, thank goodness, so I didn’t have to worry about not grabbing a jacket. She turned back toward the door and yelled, “I’ll bring him back unharmed, probably! Thanks for letting me borrow him!”
“Wait just a second there!” Shelly ran out, nearly tripping over the drop from the door to the walkway. She handed me a wad of cash and leaned in close to my ear. “Couldn’t get it deposited to your bank account, so here, enjoy having a grand on you. I think you have the tools to keep it safe.”
And then I was practically shoved into a small, purple sedan. I was trying to cram the hundred-dollar bills into my wallet cleanly, so I didn’t notice Val sitting in the front seat until Lizzy was peeling out of the driveway. Hastily, I buckled and got myself comfortable. I was spoiled by the Luna SUVs, because Lizzy’s car wasn’t nearly as nice.
“Jeez, can I have a second to get buckled before you kidnap me?”
“Oh, honey,” Lizzy said real sweet like. She wagged her finger back and forth on the steering wheel. “If I wanted to kidnap you, you wouldn’t even be awake right now.”
“Thanks for that. You really know how to make a kidnapping victim feel special.” Lizzy was being friendly. I told myself that over and over so I could feel less agitated about being yanked out of my home before I could even get out of my pajamas. I looked at something positive. I got my shoes on, so it wasn’t all bad.
“I think you’ll change that attitude of yours when you realize that this little trip out to the mall will give you the perfect chance to buy something for Megan’s birthday party.” She winked at me in the rear-view mirror. I didn’t want to acknowledge that she was right. “And I want a boy around to help me do clothes shopping for Val. You’re going to be my guinea pig today, isn’t it great?”
I had no idea about anything related to clothes. For someone who had been poor during all his growth spurts, I didn’t dress poorly. Some careful shopping at thrift stores made it so I was capable of rocking a few decent outfits through high school. I did always prefer the comfort of T-shirts and shorts though. There was no way Lizzy couldn’t have found some other guy with a better fashion sense to help with clothes. It wasn’t like I wouldn’t have other chances to get Megan’s birthday presents either.
I’d been so locked up in my own silly thoughts about clothes that I didn’t notice the car come to a stop. It made me miss the chance to examine my surroundings a bit more. When I glanced up, a mall bigger than what we should have had in a small area stretched out in front of me. Fortunately, I was so exhausted from everything that I didn’t even feel that apprehensive about being surrounded by people in a tight space. In fact, it was nice to see normal people doing normal things. They weren’t people who had been planning to stop McLeod from taking their home. They just wanted to get shoes or watches or whatever nice things people bought at the mall.
“Hey, are you going to be okay in there?” Lizzy asked, stepping out of the car.
I followed, nearly shutting the door on my fingers. “Yeah, I’m better about it than I was a while ago. So much has happened that it feels like my brain has tried to reprioritize things. People being close isn’t so bad anymore.”
“Well, if it gets too much, we’ll do an emergency exit for you.” Lizzy looked over at the tall blonde, carefully getting out of the vehicle. “Right, Val?”
A grin made a brief, tiny appearance on her lips. “What’s one more building to help pull you out of?”
“Stuff like this is probably good for me,” I said. I looked down at my scarred arm, wishing I was able to keep that hidden from the public. “It’s not like I can pick and choose how many people I see or who touches me my entire life.”
“I think that’s a positive way to look at it,” Lizzy commented.
I shrugged. “I mean, I should be able to dictate who touches me and when. Sadly, reality isn’t going to care much about that.”
Lizzy grimaced and looked down at her shoes. Remembering how we first met, I panicked.
“Crap, Lizzy, I’m sorry. That wasn’t supposed to be a shot at you.” I didn’t mean it to be. If anything, she’d helped me become more accustomed to handsy people. “Your...aggressive affection has helped me more than it’s hurt.”
“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?” She looked up, her eyes and scar barely visible under her hair.
“No, if you didn’t give me hugs whenever you saw me, I’d probably start freaking out at not being touched.”
She grinned. “I’m thrilled to be your exposure therapy buddy. Now, how about we go find this one some pants that fit?”