She looks at herself in the mirror hanging behind my bedroom door. Her face pulls.
“I look so bad.”
“You look like mine.”
She turns red all the way down her neck and pretends to fuss with the sweats so she doesn’t have to look at me.
I open the bedroom door and say, “I think I have an extra toothbrush.”
She follows me into the bathroom, and I can hear the guys downstairs eating breakfast already. I dig in the bottom drawer of the bathroom cabinet. When I find a new toothbrush, I smile and hand it to her.
She brushes her teeth at my sink. She rinses. She sets the toothbrush down on the edge of the sink and leaves it there. She doesn’t look at me when she does it. I don’t say anything. She fixes her makeup the best she can in the mirror, and it only takes a second because it was never bad.
I take her hand at the top of the stairs.
“Ready?”
“No.”
We go down.
The kitchen, when we walk in, fumbles.
Stanley’s at the table mid-bite of toast, and he freezes with the toast halfway to his mouth. Benson is at the counter pouring coffee, and the coffee goes past the cup onto the counter before he stops it. Lucy turns from the stove, and her spatula slips out of her hand and clatters onto the burner. Rowan, on the stool at the island, takes a sudden interest in the back of the cereal box that he was not previously interested in. Percy just continues sipping his water like nothing’s going on.
Stanley unfreezes. “Morning.”
Benson puts on a stupid grin. “Morning, Blue. Melly.”
Melly looks at Benson, then Lucy, and says, “Good morning, everyone.”
Rowan says, “Golding. Melly. You guys want eggs?”
Lucy says, “Hey, Mel. Hey, Blue. There’s coffee. I’ll do eggs in a sec.” Her eyes flick to Melly. To me. Back to the eggs. She’s grinning into the pan and trying to hide it.
Benson grabs a paper towel and wipes his spilled coffee. “You guys sleep okay?”
There’s a beat of silence so loud you can hear the eggs sizzle.
Benson realizes what he asked.
His ears go red.
“That’s — I didn’t mean — I meant — generally. Because you stayed the night. And ––Christ.”
Stanley laughs hysterically. “I don’t think they got any sleep last night, Reeve.”
Lucy turns around and smirks at her flustered boyfriend. He walks over to her and drops his head. She pats him on the cheek.
Rowan chuckles. “You’re a disaster, Reeve.”
Melly grabs my arm and laughs into my shoulder. I look down and grin.
“I slept just fine,” Melly says, recovering. “Thank you for asking.”
Benson buries his face in Lucy. “I’m going to die now.”
Stanley points at the table. “Take a seat, lovebirds.” He looks over at Percy and Rowan. “Can you believe Benson and Blue? The audacity.”
