When I got back to my own part of town, my sister was home, my mom was in the kitchen, surprisingly sober and making sandwiches, and as usual, my dad was nowhere to be found even though it was a weekend day. I skittered past, hoping my rumpled and manhandled appearance wouldn’t cause a commotion, and put myself back together up in my room.
Karsen might want to pretend Mom was okay, might want to soak up the brief moments of lucidity and sobriety that came between her binges and manic attacks, but that took an effort I wasn’t willing to make and a mind-set I wasn’t willing to adopt. I ignored an apologetic text from Adria and responded to a snarky one from Dovie. I wasn’t going to try and hide the fact I had hooked up with Race from anyone, but I wasn’t going to flaunt it either. He was hot, we were both single, I had wanted him for so long it felt like it was a built-in part of me, and I wasn’t going to try and explain the need to simply have him to anyone, even a well-meaning Dovie.
It actually made me giggle a little that a guy who looked as big and as badass as Bax did was still prone to gossiping about his friend’s love life like a girl. He was the only way I could figure Dovie knew I had spent the night with her brother.
I settled on my bed to spend the afternoon knocking out homework and went to work on getting caught up after my computer fail last week. It was only a few minutes later when my sister knocked on my door and stuck her head in. She had one of the sandwiches on a plate and a hesitant smile on her face.
“You don’t want to eat lunch with Mom and me?”
She came in and set the plate on the edge of the bed and propped herself up on the corner of the mattress.
“No. Watching Mom putter around the kitchen after destroying it last week just doesn’t sit right with me. I’m surprised you’re even home. I thought you were spending the weekend with one of your girlfriends.”
Karsen finding somewhere else to be on the weekends was becoming more and more common, and it wasn’t like I could blame her. If I had a place I could run away to, I would be gone as well. Only I knew distance wouldn’t fix the problems currently building inside the walls of this house.
She twisted a piece of her hair around her finger and grinned at me.
“I got invited to a party tonight, so I had to come home and grab something else to wear. Connie and I are going to go together and then I’ll stay with her tonight.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her and gave her a look. Race’s words about her growing up, about her starting to figure out her life on her own without me watching her back, echoed between my ears.
“What kind of party?”
Parties on the Hill were a scary thing. Not scary in the same run-for-your-life way all the things in the Point were, but scary in a much more insidious, underhanded way. Boys from the Hill didn’t like to take no for an answer, and rich kids could get their hands on a lot of things they shouldn’t be able to. I wasn’t Karsen’s mom and I knew she was a bright kid, but I didn’t give up all I had just to watch her fall victim to a smooth-talking boy with a nice car. I almost rolled my eyes when I considered my current circumstances with my own boy who was originally from the Hill.
“Nothing crazy. Just a couple of friends getting together at this guy Parker’s house. I think he’s nice. He plays baseball and Connie is sorta hanging out with his best friend.”
She blushed and looked a little flustered.
“You like him.”
She lowered her lashes and ran her fingers over my comforter.
“Kinda.”
I sighed and put my computer to the side. I crossed my legs and leaned closer to her. I had to admit I was a little jealous. It felt like so long ago when I had just been a normal girl with a crush on a cute boy from school. Really, I was just happy and pleased that even with all the upheaval in our lives, all the strain our parents’ situation had put on the two of us, she could still just be a teenager who wanted to hang out and have fun like she was supposed to.
“What’s he look like?”
She giggled and I picked up the sandwich to take a bite.
“Not nearly as cute as your guy, but still hot.”
I almost choked on the bite I had just taken. “I don’t have a guy.”
It was her turn to give me a speculative look as she climbed off the edge of my bed.
“You weren’t here last night. You had wet hair when you came in. And I don’t know if you’ve looked in a mirror this morning, but you have a hickie on your neck the size of Texas and you’re smiling. Honestly, I’m glad. There is no reason you shouldn’t have a hot guy all over you and I haven’t seen you smile silly like that in forever. It’s a nice change.”