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“No.” Leo laughs. “You think Sean would drive a minivan?”
“If he got a good deal on it, he might.”
“That’s a mom car. He wouldn’t be caught dead in that thing.”
“His mom is here?” I ask, surprised, because last I heard she moved to Kentucky with her boyfriend.
“His mom took off over a year ago. That’s Mick’s van.”
“Sean’s uncle got a minivan?”
“He had to, because he’s got so many kids.” Leo gets out of the car as the door to the house opens and Sean comes out.
“Hey,” Leo says to Sean. “Look who’s here.”
I get out of the car. “Hey, Sean.”
He looks a lot thinner than the last time I saw him. He was always an overweight kid, which didn’t make sense to me growing up because his family never had money for food.
“You look good,” I tell him, giving him a quick shoulder hug.
“I’ve lost some weight.” He pats his stomach. “Can’t get a girl if I got a big gut.”
Leo laughs. “You can’t get a girl even without the gut.”
“Shut up, asshole. You’re one to talk.” Sean looks back at me. “You got a girlfriend?”
“I did.” I glance down, my chest tightening as I think about the call I had with Haley this morning. “My girlfriend dumped me today.”
“Shewhat?” Leo was almost at the house, but turns and walks back to me. “Did you say your girlfriend dumped you today?”
“Yeah.” I rub my jaw. “We dated for almost three years. And then I call her this morning and she tells me it’s over.”
“Damn, that sucks,” Leo says.
“I had no idea it was coming. It really messed me up. I couldn’t sit in my room all day or even be on campus. I had to get out of there.”
“You came to the right place,” Sean says, patting my shoulder. “We got everything you need to drown your sorrows. Beer. Vodka. Whiskey. What do you want to start with?”
“I don’t know if my stomach can handle that. I haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
Plus, it’s not even noon. I usually don’t drink this early. I usually don’t drink at all, or I didn’t when I was with Haley. We’d have a beer now and then, but not the hard stuff. Whenever she had it, she’d get a migraine. Even a couple beers would give her a headache so we rarely drank.
“I got hotdogs in the fridge,” Sean says. “I could throw some in the microwave and you could wash them down with some whiskey. How’s that sound?”
It sounds disgusting, but I wouldn’t dare tell him that. I grew up eating microwaved hotdogs, and that was a luxury. We rarely had meat in the house, or anything resembling meat, and when we did, my dad would eat it and not let anyone else have it.
“Yeah, maybe,” I tell him, not wanting to commit to the hotdog.
“Did you see his car?” Leo says to Sean.
He walks over to it. “How much you pay for this?”
Leo answers before I can. “He said some old lady gave it to him for five grand.”
“Shit, that’s a good deal,” Sean says, bending down to feel the tires. “A car like this should be at least nine or ten grand.” He stands up and turns to me. “You’re doing good, Sanders. Going to college. You got a nice car.”
He’s jealous. Leo is, too. But they’d never admit it. They’ll tell me they’re happy here, but it’s not the truth. Deep down, they want out of this hellhole, but they think it’ll never happen so they pretend to like this life, then resent people like me who got out.
