The Lies He Spoke

TWENTY THREE

"You alright?"

"Fine."

"You've been staring off into nothingness for like five minutes."

Instead of replying, she said, "You've got a lot of mistakes in your homework."

"Damn, really?" Angel pushed himself off the wall and scooted on his butt, shoes squeaking on the polished tiles, until he was next to her. His warm breath blew her hair across her collarbone as he leaned down to look at where she was pointing.

"This one, this one, and this whole section."

He sighed and put his homework flat on the floor and began erasing the offending problems. "Did you do them? Can I see?"

Olivia handed her sheet to him and leaned back as she watched him scribble the right answers onto his now-worn sheet. "What about you?" she asked. "You always do your math right. And you look like you haven't slept."

"Is my beautiful face that bad today?"

"Your shirt hasn't been ironed either."

He looked down at it and pulled it away from his stomach, examining a large sideways crease. "The tag says wrinkle-resistant."

"Resistant doesn't mean non-existent."

Angel exhaled slowly and rubbed his nose. The dark circles under his eyes were very prominent. His bottom eyelids were slightly puffy and tinged red.

"I've just been worried about my brother," he admitted.

"You too?"

"You're worried about yours?"

"Yes. But what about yours? His dangerous job?"

For a while, Angel was quiet, the only sounds coming from his pencil scratching swiftly across the paper. Olivia didn't say anything, even though she was really curious now. What kind of job did he have?

"Sometimes, he works overnight and sometimes I don't see him for a while. And I know he has to but....I don't know. I just wish he didn't. It's stupid. I wish he'd just stop this all."

"So if it's just you and your brother and he works at night, then you're just home by yourself?"

Angel glanced up at her and the corners of his mouth curved upwards. "Yup. It's just like Home Alone. You know, junk food, movies, no bedtime. But without all the creepy robbers."

"Sounds like you're living the life," Olivia said dryly.

"I certainly am. I could have a party at my house like you see in the movies with all the drinks and dancing. Except I don't know where I could get any alcohol. And we just have an apartment."

"I'm sure you could fit a dozen people in there if they all stood toe to toe," Olivia suggested, and Angel laughed.

"I don't even like a dozen people. I'd probably only ask you and my cousin who lives an hour away and maybe Jeremy from twelfth grade. I've heard he's got a fake ID."

Olivia pulled her lips into her mouth to hide her smile and looked away towards the window. Maybe one day she'd be normal enough to go to something as mundane as a high school party. She wanted to know what it was like to worry about what to wear and forget about life's worries for a few hours and dance with too-loud music vibrating against her eardrums.

Then her mood sobered up a bit. "Still, it can't be all great being home alone without anybody there. Do you ever get scared by yourself?"

Angel kept his eyes on his paper and rubbed the back of his neck. "...sometimes." He laughed sheepishly. "Sometimes I have to sleep with the lights on."