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“Should we watch another one?” Reb asked quietly, glancing over at Charlie, who’d fallen asleep on the floor.
“As you wish,” Curtis said, laughing when Reb’s head snapped to the side to look at him.
“You can pick the next one,” Reb told me, turning her back completely on Curtis. “Just nothing scary, okay?”
“Of course not,” I replied. I grabbed the remote and started searching for something else.
“Aw, Buttercup,” Curtis said, hugging Rebel from behind, his arms pinning hers to her sides. “Don’t be mad at me!”
“I’m not mad at you,” she said stiffly.
“You sound mad.”
“I’m peeved,” she corrected. “That’s not the same as mad. Peeved is more like irritated.”
“Don’t be irritated at me either,” Curtis said, resting his cheek on the top of her head. “I don’t like it when my favorite girl is irritated with me.”
“I’m a woman, thank you very much,” she said, squirming to get away.
“Okay, you’re my favorite woman, then,” he said, letting her go. “But don’t tell my mom, or she’ll be peeved.”
“You need a girlfriend,” Rebel said with a huff, leaning back against the couch. “I’m spoken for.”
“Say what?” I said, turning my head to look at her. “You’re spoken for?”
“I have a boyfriend,” she replied proudly.
“What’s his name?” Curtis asked, his expression losing the bit of teasing it held.
“Wesley,” Rebel replied.
“Wesley?” Curtis asked incredulously, relaxing.
“Yes,” Rebel said in exasperation. “But he likes to be called Wes, so don’t say Wesley. Only I can use that name.”
“Wait, this guy is real?” Curtis blurted.
I didn’t have to see Reb’s face to know that he’d just dealt a pretty hefty blow. Her shoulders slumped.
“Fuck, Reb,” he said, backpedaling. “I know he’s real. I just—have your parents met this guy?”
“Yeah, they met him,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning a little bit toward my side of the couch. “He comes over and he took me to dinner four times. And he’s helped my dad work on his bike and I taught him how to change the oil in his car.”
“Whoa,” I said, bumping her with my elbow. “Sounds pretty serious.”
“I’m too young for anything serious,” she said, sending me a small smile. “But he’s nice.”
“He sounds nice,” I said softly. “What’s he look like?”
“He has red hair,” she replied. “And brown eyes like me. And he’s taller than me but he’s shorter than you. And he wears jeans a lot. He likes t-shirts but he said t-shirts are causal attire only, so he wears shirts that button down the front when he takes me to dinner.”
“Good man,” I replied.
“And he has a dimple, right here,” she pointed to her cheek. “Only on one side. You can see it when he smiles and when he presses his lips together when he’s mad.”
“He get mad a lot?”
“No, he smiles a lot,” she replied, grinning. “He only gets mad when other drivers don’t follow the rules of the road because it’s unsafe.”
“I’m likin’ the sound of this guy,” I said. “And your parents like him?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “They like him.”
“That’s awesome, Reb,” I said, loving the way she lit up as she talked about him. I realized then that I hadn’t been present for her like I should’ve been. The fact that I didn’t even know about this guy was proof of that.
“Where’d you meet him?” Curtis asked, trying to hide his suspicion under a smile.
“At work,” Reb said with an annoyed sigh. “He’s a cook.”
“Hey,” he said, frowning. “You can’t expect me to not be protective when I haven’t even met the guy.”
“Maybe next time you can invite him over for a movie night,” I said, shooting Curt a look to cool it.
“Okay,” Reb replied. “But you’ll have to pick him up because he doesn’t drive after dark.”
“I can do that,” I agreed.
“Have you picked which movie you want to watch?” she asked, glancing at the TV.
“Not yet,” I replied, going back to it.
“It’s too bad Kara isn’t here,” Reb said as I scrolled through the options. “She’s good at picking movies.”
I didn’t respond. It was too bad. She should’ve been there with us, hanging out like old times. I realized that it had been just this way since I’d gotten out of prison. If the group was all together, there was always a reason that Kara bowed out. She had to go to her parents’ house, she was too tired, she had other plans, but she never had time to spend with us. I knew that she, Charlie and Reb had spent plenty of time together, but whenever Curt and I were there, she wasn’t.
I’d given her excuses before, knowing that she was dodging me for some reason and we’d eventually figure it out, but I couldn’t find an excuse for her this time. She’d bailed at exactly the wrong moment.
As I started another movie and the three of us relaxed into the couch, I knew that whatever Kara’s problem was—I couldn’t let it be mine anymore. I’d given her nothing but support and acceptance and honest to God adoration for years—and I hadn’t gotten that shit back. Enough was enough. Curtis was right, it was time I grew a pair.
