Truth or Consequences

chapter 5

"Woof, who turned on the lights?" Naomi turns to grab a pillow to put over her face.

"That's the sun. And please stop yelling." I'm not actually sure she was, but everything is entirely too loud. We are so hungover... Too hungover.

We at least had the forethought to change out of our dresses and into pajamas before we passed out. We decide to make a whole day of it... being hungover and lazy. Naomi has a severe craving for Eggo waffles, so I make us three each with butter and syrup... the works. We also make sure to take Advil and drink a ton of water.

We watch a lot of trashy reality TV. I forgot how much fun having sleepovers was. By the time Naomi leaves, it's early in the evening, and I'm still waiting for Marty to call. I go ahead and finally shower and change into clean sweats and a tee shirt. I also put in an order for a pizza to have for dinner.

While I'm watching the news, I get the Skype call.

"Hi, baby brother!"

"Hey, Lenny... You okay?"

I tell him the update on mom and hospice care. I'm not sure what to do about what it will all look like, knowing that I won't be able to do it while working and we can't afford someone to come in. I can't gauge his reaction or tell what he's thinking. It would be so much easier if he was a rambler like me. 

"Do I need to go on leave and come home?"

"Not yet, maybe for Thanksgiving," the doorbell rings, "hold on; I think that's my pizza."

When I swing open my door, my brightness pales...  it's Felix... Looking fine as hell. So, of course, I shut my door as quickly as I can.

"Wait, who was that? Not the pizza guy? Your face looks crazy."

"No, Marty," I whisper yell. "That's the guy... The one mom is unnecessarily excited about."

"Well, this night just got exciting. Not a one-time thing after all... you're holding out on us, Lenny."

"I gotta go. I love you!"

"Love you too, hussy." To which I give him the middle finger because it's what I usually say about him.

I take a deep breath before opening the door again. This time Felix is standing there holding a pizza. Was he holding that before?

"You know, when you stand right by the door, I can hear everything you're saying. By the way he called you hussy; I'm gonna go with brother over dad."

"Good guess. Dad's not in the picture. That was my brother Marty... Martin."

"Helene and Martin... adorable. Can I come in?"

I realize he's still standing outside my door because I haven't moved from in front of the door. "Oh! Yeah! Of course... sorry!"

He comes inside, and I love that he takes his shoes off without me having to say anything. Tonight I notice that he is wearing colorful striped socks. He puts the pizza on the counter and explains that after I slammed the door in his face, the pizza guy came, and Felix went ahead and paid him.

"Sorry about slamming the door in your face. You took me by surprise. Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see my girl. You don't just get a booty call out of me. I distinctly remember telling you that I like talking to you and fucking you. So now it's time for the talking segment." He grins.

Did he just say, my girl? I'm his girl? Oh god... am I leading him on? I thought I was putting out heavy casual sex vibes: one-night stand, FaceTime sex, alleyway outside of a bar in a car sex... where is he getting 'my girl' vibes from?? I feel my face go from confusion to completely screwed up.