SEVENTEEN years to Live

9 ●○► JANINE'S SITUATION

“What do you mean about the thing you said a while before I went into the house?” I ask him.

He never answers for a few seconds at first. He sighs heavily and says, “Um. I was just thinking if you want me to be your boyfriend. And I admit that I wasn’t joking when I said that.”

“Are you serious?”

“No,” he says. “I am Bryan.”

I laugh without humor at his joke.

I take a deep breath and sigh through my nose. “Bryan,” I begin. “What if I say I want you to be my boyfriend, what will you say?”

“I’ll be yours,” he says simply, smiling. “I will be the luckiest person if that happens.”

“What if it happens now, what will you do?” I keep my face plain. He tries to read my expression but he can’t. I can see him shaking now.

“Oh, God,” he murmurs. “Are you saying we’re together now?”

“I’m not saying it, Bryan,” I tell him, shaking my head. His face turns sullen and the hope drains away from him. He starts to breathe heavily. And I want to stop what he feels. “I want to declare it.”

It’s already evening when we get home. Bryan is walking beside me, our hands holding each other until we reach the door of our house. I look at him. And we both chuckle.

“What?” I ask, and I guess he knows what I am asking.

“I’m just happy to be with you,” he says. “Well, I can’t say I love you yet. I would like to say while we’re doing something that is magic, if that’s what you call it.”

“Don’t drive me when that happens,” I tell him, swallowing the laughter that builds up in my throat. “I’m going to control you during that. You have nothing to do but to obey what I told you to do.”

“Very well,” he says.

We knock at the door of the house. It takes only five seconds before someone answers.

Beth.

“Oh,” she breathes, surprised. Her eyes are looking down at our hands. She smiles at me wickedly. “Janine! Come over here.”

I hear footsteps coming toward the door. It is Janine. Once she shows up, her eyes never meet mine, but they look down at our hands as Beth did.

“I am so proud of you, Mary,” she exclaims, jumping around, squealing under her breath. She turns to look at Bryan, who looks down at his feet. “Would you like to come in for dinner, Bryan?”

Bryan looks up at the mention of his name. “Ahhh,” he says, thinking. “Sure,” he then decides.

We step into the house and walk toward the floor/bed. Bryan sits beside a pillow while I continue to walk toward the kitchen sink. I wash my hands. And as I turn around, Beth goes beside him.

“Tell me,” she begins. “Did you two kiss?”

Bryan stays silent. I guess he never wants to speak. He just shakes his head, muttering “no.”

“Where have you been?” is the next question Beth throws at him. “Bed?”

He shakes his head again then laughs as the Beth mentions the word bed.

I look around the house and recognize the unusual atmosphere. It isn’t noisy as what I have been expecting. Where are Kate and Heather? Where did they go? Is hunting too difficult to do that’s why they’re late?

“Where are the other girls?” I ask Beth and Janine. My eyes glance at Bryan and he looks at me in wonder.

“How many are you in here?” he asks.

“We’re five,” says Janine. “The two girls who’re gone are Kate and Heather. They went hunting.”

He takes a breath and squares his shoulders. “Hunting?” he asks, as if he doesn’t know what that means. “Where?”

“They went to the lake first before the three of us arrived. They were gone when we joined you.”

“Oh.”

“Maybe they’ve taken the other group on the other side of the lake. Isn’t that there is a group of nerds there?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I just don’t know if they’ve taken two of them. Heather is so excited to have children, you know.” They all nod to my explanation. Nobody speaks until I do. “Where’s dinner?”

“Right there.” Beth points a finger at the table just a yard away from where I stand. A plate of two fried fishes is on top, just exact for me and my boyfriend. I walk toward the table and take the plate into my hand.

“Dinner, Bryan?” I offer, lifting the plate an inch to emphasize.

My boyfriend nods his head. And I sit beside him on the left side, because Beth still sits on his right.

I hand him the plate of fried fishes. Then we eat together.

I wake up the next day with a male by my side.

And then I remembered that Bryan, my new boyfriend, stayed in the night in our house. His eyes are still closed, sleeping. His body lies on the floor with arms and feet spread. I look at his face then notice that he sleeps with no pillows. I take mine and put it below his head.

“There,” I mutter.

I turn to look behind me where the other girls are. Beth is still sleeping with her back turned to me. But Janine has woken up and gotten toward the kitchen sink. She washes her face and wipes it with a towel.

“Hey,” I say as our eyes meet. “You wake up so early.”

“Did I?” she says in a hushed tone.

I manage to smile.

I glance around the house, looking for Heather and Kate. They aren’t in the house yet. I begin to worry where they have gone. But if they have slept with some guys after a big miracle, I think that’s good.

“Where are the two?” I ask Janine.

“Pregnant,” she replies.

I chuckle, and then I hear Bryan grunt beside me. I glance at him quickly, afraid I have woken him, but he just shifts his position.

“What happen last night?” I ask Janine again.

I know I was asleep before the others did. We were waiting for the two to go home but they didn’t. I was so tired last night. My feet hurt every time I move them. Maybe it was because I walked more than a mile. It was my fault.

Bryan looks tired, too. His face gives no sign that he will wake up for the next few minutes. But if I shout here right now, he might freak out. And Beth will think there’s danger.

Janine never answers my question. I glare at Bryan’s face and feel the concern rising up to my chest. Maybe this is what it feels when you have a boyfriend. You’re worrying. And it seems that you want him there forever, you want him to stay by your side and don’t leave you.

I put my hand on his forehead, sliding my fingers to his hair, stroking it. Bryan doesn’t move. He stays asleep until I am done stroking his hair. I get to my feet and walk toward the kitchen sink. I wash my face and borrow Janine’s towel.

“He’s so handsome,” Janine tells me. “You’re lucky to have Bryan, Mary. I wish I have met him before you did.”

“Thanks, Janine,” I grumble. “You’re lucky with Oren, too. You can invite him in so that we can live together. Beth’s Ryan as well. They can stay here with us.”

“Great,” she says. “But I don’t think Oren will like it.”

“Why?”

Janine swallows loudly, and her voice turns melodramatic. “Because he has another girl to take care, too.”