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“Oh no,” she said. Mom suddenly jumped up as she focused over my shoulder. I turned my head and saw Calvin and his mother coming across the street. His mom was wearing hot pads on her hands and was carrying a pan.
“Shit!” I said. I tore my glasses from my face and shoved them into the silverware drawer, slamming it shut on my finger. I kicked my dinosaur slippers off my feet in the direction of the basement stairs to the laundry room.
The doorbell chimed with its friendly tune.
“Oh my God!” my mother and I said in unison. Mom ran to the front door. I ripped my topknot out of my hair and ran my fingers through my tangles, pulling my cropped t-shirt down and hiking up my flannel pajama pants. I should have stayed in the nightgown. This was an ambush. It’s not fair.
“We came to apologize!” Mrs. Montgomery’s voice sang through the house. “These are fresh cinnamon rolls!” She sounded nervous. I felt sorry for her, but I was not leaving the kitchen.
Kill me now, or at least let me lose consciousness so I don’t have to witness myself sink.
Chapter 7
CALVIN
Once our moms seemed to be chatting a mile a minute, I excused myself and decided to go look for Ellison. I didn’t want to go upstairs without Emily’s permission. Breakfast aroma wafted from the kitchen, so I took my chances and wandered that way.
When I got there, Ellison was slinking up the back staircase, looking at the floor, hand at her temple covering her face.
“Hey sleepwalker,” I said. She stopped and lowered her hand. She cringed at me kind of like she’s in pain.
“You okay?” I asked her. She nodded in response. “You wanna talk? My dad pulls guns on people, too. I’m used to it.”
She opened her eyes wide. “He does? I swear to God my mom just told me your dad sells motorcycles.”
“My dad does a lot of shit I’m not proud of.”
“Oh, Calvin’s always been like that, considerate and helpful,” I heard my mom say and I rolled my eyes, following behind Ellison trying really hard not to check out her ass. Impossible. The girl was so fine.
“Before you say anything, let me apologize. I’m sorry I seized on you again. I’m even sorrier that my dad pulled his fricking gun on you when you were just trying to help.” She was pleading with me, her eyes desperate and darting every which way except connecting with mine. “He’s usually not so riled up. We’ve had a hard year.”
“Don’t. It’s not the first time I’ve had a gun shoved in my face. I’m sorry my dad’s crew scared you—that you didn’t know you were moving across the street from a bunch of rowdy gearheads.” Or worse, but we won’t go there yet.
“It’s not your fault. Thank you for bringing me home,” she said with a pout. Her eyes welled with tears and it ripped my guts out.
Steady, baby, steady. I coaxed her in my head like I did while learning to ride my first bike. I didn’t want to push her over the edge again. What if it’s being around me that caused Ellison to have seizures?
“I promise you, Calvin, what you saw the last two times were exceptions. I take my meds, I don’t have episodes all that often, hardly ever in fact.”
She cleared the table and was brutally punishing the breakfast dishes as she slammed them into the slots of the dishwasher. Now I was the one cringing, hoping she doesn’t cut herself the way she’s slam-dunking drinking glasses. “I’ve been in therapy and rehab, lots of hard work. I’m much better than I look,” she said. She sighed and looked at me wounded.
“I don’t know, you look pretty fucking good to me,” I told her. What did she think I was, perfect? Far fucking from it.
There it was, the blush, the blood rushing to her gorgeous face all because of me. I wanted to beat my chest, stand on top of the table. But instead, I advanced slowly toward her, coming around the island with only one goal in mind. I wanted her to get used to me.
“You probably think I’m crazy, probably think my whole family is nuts.”
“You want to see nuts, Ellison? Cross the street, I guarantee you that saying, grass is greener on the other side, applies here. Your family ain’t got nothing on the Montgomery household.”
She plunged the skillet into soapy water and wiped her bangs away with the back of her hand, bubbles sliding down her wrist. I loved it. I didn’t know what came over me. If it was compulsion, if it was obsession. I wanted this girl more than I’d ever wanted anything. Like she held the key to the universe I wanted to live in. My future wife, the mother of my children. I knew I was taking it too far, but I couldn’t stop the fated feeling that I swore came from inside of me. I was in love with watching her scrub dishes.
