"So?" I glanced up over my shoulder at Andie as her voice wafted through the silence that had settled between us. She was lying on her stomach at the center of her queen-sized bed, her feet kicked up behind her as she flipped through a magazine by my head. I was sitting on her floor, leaning up against her wooden footboard, reading Alex's copy of Frankenstein. He had dropped the book off early this morning on his way to work, leaving it in Leighton's mailbox with a text that I had woken up to in the morning that he had left it, two days after offering to let me borrow it. When Andie texted me only a few moments after I retrieved it, asking if I wanted to hang out at her house for a few hours, I took the book with me. We had been sitting in her room for nearly an hour, Andie intermittently making comments about whatever trashy article or quiz she was reading. I was surprised she had made it this long without asking.
"So?" I repeated back to her absentmindedly, flipping to the next page, my eyes scanning over the handwritten notes in the margins as I waited for her clarification, anticipating what she was about to ask me.
"How was your non-date with Alex?" I could hear the bed shift behind me as Andie scooted forward, dropping her arms over the footboard so her hands dangled loosely by my side. When I looked back at her, she was resting her cheek on her arm, her blonde hair piled high on her head, her glasses skewed slightly from the position of her head, smiling playfully at me.
"It wasn't a date," I sighed heavily, leaning my head back against the gray-washed board, looking up at Andie, whose smile and slight twitch of her eyes told me very clearly that she didn't believe me.
"I didn't say it was, I said non-date."
"You implied it."
"Just tell me how it was and I'll stop bothering you."
"It was fine!" I yelled over her rapid insistence as she continued to ask me what Alex and I did, throwing my hands in the air and letting my book close against my legs, listening to her laugh as I groaned, giving it. "It was not a date, but hanging out with him was fine. We got pizza, went to a bookstore. It was nice."
"Are you going to hang out with him again?"
"Did you know that there's a name for the blob of toothpaste you squeeze out onto your toothpaste?" I tilted my head up and back so I could look at her, smiling as I took in her utterly confused expression, her head lifted from her arm, her blue eyes widened slightly in confusion. "Can we change the subject now?"
"Fine," she huffed, scooting backwards onto the mattress lifting her arms back to rest on the bed, resting her chin on the back of her hands. "Next Friday, the 21st, we're going to dinner a few towns over. You want to come?"
"Sure. What's the occasion?"
"None," Andie responded, but the way her voice pitched slightly made me narrow my eyes at her in disbelief. I dropped my legs onto the ground and shifted, twisting my body around to look up at Andie. She had gone back to reading her magazine, avoiding my gaze until I reached towards the glossy pages and flipped them shut.
"Andie," I warned, watching as she lifted her head and shook it, repeating her answer. "Seriously, sometimes we just like to get out of Rayston." She smiled at me earnestly, but I still didn't believe she didn't have ulterior motives for that night, he initial look in her eyes and tone of her voice indicating that she was hiding something, but an incoming text to my phone beside me sidetracked me.
"Alright," I said slowly, reaching for my phone on the floor as it buzzed for what felt like the millionth time today. When I glanced down at it, seeing my mother's contact lighting up my screen, I scowled and diverted the call to my voicemail once again.
"How come you never talk to your mom?" Andie asked from behind me, changing the subject to an even less appealing one. Her question sounded innocent enough, a nonintrusive and naïve tone in her voice as she tilted her head at me, absentmindedly swinging her legs behind her.
"What?"
"I've noticed that in the last month. Your mom calls and texts you all the time, but I've never once seen you respond or pick up the phone." I didn't answer right away, my eyes staring down at my phone screen as it went black, before I set my book down on top of it, as if hiding my phone could somehow help me avoid Andie's line of questioning. I shifted so my legs were tucked underneath me and I could turn my body more towards Andie, finding her curious gaze on my face.
"It's... complicated," I said slowly, debating on whether or not I was ready and willing to have this conversation with somebody. "Let's just say we don't have the best relationship and that's a huge reason why I'm here this summer instead of in New York." I ran my hands back through my bangs, readjusting them over my forehead, thankful that I had finally trimmed them and they were no longer hanging completely over my eyes. I looked up at the ends, using adjusting my hair as an excuse not to look Andie in the eyes at her next question.
"Did she kick you out?" I could hear the confident start in her voice as the question slipped through without much afterthought, and hesitation that hung off the last few syllables as she seemed to realize what she was asking in the process of doing so. let my hands fall down to my lap, stalling for a long moment, trying to decide how far into this conversation I was willing to go.
"Basically," I finally answered, catching the way Andie's eyes widen slightly and her bottom lip dropped marginally in surprise, as if she either hadn't actually been expecting me to answer, and if she had, she wasn't actually expecting it to be a yes.
"Wow... wow, I'm so sorry," she whispered, stuttering over her words slightly as her expression dropped, her eyes growing sad as she looked at me. I sighed, biting at my upper lip as I rested my hand under my chin and across my mouth, feeling uncomfortably with the pitying way in which she was looking at me. It was why I tried to avoid conversations about my mother and my childhood, the sympathetic reactions were ones I hated, and I did my best to try to shrug it off.
"It's always been that way, I'm pretty accustomed to it. Besides, I would've had a miserable summer if I stayed behind. There were plenty of other things I needed to get away from," I shrugged, keeping my voice nonchalant as I tried to brush it off, not liking the way Andie was looking at me curiously, finding that I would rather go back to talking about Alex or Isaac than my mother. I could tell from the look in her blue eyes, the slight squint in them that caused her eyebrows to shift, the tilt of her head as she looked at me, that she knew exactly what I was referring to. It was the same subject Izzy had hinted at the marina the other week, the same subject I knew Andie desperately wanted to understand but had been respectful enough to not ask after I asked that of her. I debated, for a moment, telling her now, until the desire to not delve into the memories of that night, and every other aspect of my life that it would dredge up, won over.
"A story for another day," I forced a small smile at her, thankful once again when Andie nodded understandingly, and didn't press for any more information. Even more relieving was the cell phone vibrating underneath my book again, this time showing an incoming text from my sister, asking me to come home to watch the boys.
"I have to go," I glanced up at Andie. "Leighton needs me to watch the twins while she's at her doctor's appointment." I started to stand up, taking my belongings with me, and Andie pushed herself up from the bed, sitting at the center with her legs crossed in front of her, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'll see you next Friday, right? Don't forget." She asked again, and I knew she was just trying to confirm that I wouldn't back out of plans that involved certain people.
"Yes," I sighed, rolling my eyes jokingly as I started walking towards the door.
"Oh, and hey!" Andie called after me, causing me to stop in her doorway, turning to look back at her. "Keep yourself free this Friday, too, and keep your phone on."
"Why?"
"You'll see," Andie grinned roguishly at me, and then turned back to the magazine on her bed, pulling it closer to her legs as she continued to flip through it. I shook my head at her as I turned out of her room, making my way down the long hallway to the stairs, down the curved staircase, and out to my car. The heat in Rayston was bearable for once, an overcast and windy day that combated the heat and cooled down the dry air, making the drive back to Leighton's house immeasurably more enjoyable.
Inside, Leighton was sitting at the kitchen table, Ethan and Elliot in highchairs on either side of her. She glanced back at me as I walked into the kitchen, smiling.
"Hey, baby," she greeted me, standing up and brushing her hands off on her jean shorts. "I'm sorry for calling you back. Dan was supposed to be here, but he's caught up in some work stuff."
"Don't worry about it, Leighton. I don't mind." I walked over to the boys, brushing my hand over both Elliot and Ethan's soft curls as they alternated between eating some of the small pieces of food Leighton had put on their trays and throwing some of the pieces at each other and on the floor between them.
"Hey, you ran out so fast this morning, I didn't get the chance to ask you-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," I interrupted her, raising a warning finger in her direction, "Because if you ask me how my date was I am walking out of this house." I glared at Leighton as she smirked back at me, bouncing around the house as she collected her phone, her car keys.
"Aren't you gonna be late?" I frowned as I sat down in the seat between the boys, bending over to pick up some of the food they had dropped on the floor and setting it on a napkin on the table. When I straightened up, Leighton was walking over to us. She leaned over and kissed both of the boys on the top of their heads, and then mine, laughing as she ran her hand roughly over the top of my head.
"I won't be more than an hour or two." I waved her away over my shoulder, leaning towards Elliot and taking one of the tiny cubes of cheese on his tray, popping it into my mouth as he reached his small hands towards my face, tapping them against my cheeks. I took his hands, blowing my lips together against them so he burst into a fit of loud giggles, turning and reaching over to do the same to Ethan, both of them squealing. Glancing behind me momentarily, I noticed Leighton pausing in the doorway, looking down the hall at us with a wistful glance. My smile faltered as I knew what she was thinking, pushing the thought away as I turned back to the boys, playing with them as the door faintly clicked shut behind us.