“Nice,” I say as I grin at my mom. “Very nice.” She smiles back. I knew it was going to be some bread somewhere. I’m not against bread products at all, don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying.
We eat in silence, stealing glances at one another and grinning like idiots who haven’t seen each other in ages. This is probably the first time we’ve sat and eaten together in a while.
“How’s the job hunting going?” My mom says, breaking the silence.
I shrug and then shake my head.
“I’m trying.” It’s not my fault the nursing home let me go because they’d rather have someone fill the position who could work full-time and not just weekends. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t allow me to take a five to nine shift after school.”
“Because Art… as long as you’re in school, your main job is to graduate.”
“I could have done both.” I’m practically a grown man. I don’t know why I listen to her. I should have just taken the hours. It’s not like she’d notice anyway with all the long hours she’s been receiving at work. “No one wants to hire just for two days a week, mom.”
“It’s fine. We’ll manage.” She stuffs more quiche in her mouth and smiles at me. I don’t smile back.
“I’m tired of just fucking managing!” I pound my fists on the table, and everything on it jumps, including my mother.
“Language!”
“I could have quit school, gotten my GED, and a full-time job.”
“Absolutely not! How would that look on a college application?”
“I don’t give a shit because I’m not going to college!” I push the rest of the food I had on my plate toward the middle of the table. I could have finished it, but not now because I’m pissed. Who the hell can eat while they’re pissed off?
“Stop saying that,” my mom says as her voice cracks. “I want you to be better than me, Artist. I don’t want you to have to struggle. One day you’re going to have a family—”
“Bullshit!” I jump to my feet. “No way I’d ever bring a kid into this world. And the only reason that you’re struggling right now is because you choose to. You are holding on to this debt trap because of what? Memories? Were they that great that you’d rather suffer, mom?”
My face stings before I’d realize she’d slapped me.
“You. Will. Not. Talk. To. Me. That. Way.” She points her long, skinny fingers so close in my face that she poking me with each word she says. By reflex, I grab her wrist and pull it away from my face. “Let me go!” She yells, stunned, and in shock. I know because I see it all in her face.
“This conversation is over, mom! And so is this little reunion.” I shove her hand back to her and run upstairs to create the only distance I could from the woman who birthed me.
6/Echo
“Come here, you little shit!” I finally catch Ben lurking around in the kitchen for food. I knew he’d get hungry sooner or later and would have to come out of his room and face me. He’d locked himself in his bedroom all day and wouldn’t come out.
“No way!” He tries to run from me, but I make sure to block each time he tries to move.
“Why, Benjamin?” I scowl at him.
“I had to,” he says, trying to give me his best sad face, but I’m not falling for it.
“That isn’t explaining anything. Now come clean, you little brat!”
“Let’s make a deal,” he says with his hands out in front of him. “You let me pass, and I’ll text you my answer as soon as I get to my room safely.”
“No deal,” I try to stifle a giggle because his deal offer was just ridiculous. “Counter-deal. Explain yourself now, Ben, and I won’t murder you.”
“Okay, I’ll take it.” He holds up his index finger as he gulps down the rest of his chocolate milk. “You guys hate each other.”
“News flash! Locking us together in a room overnight didn’t change that fact, Ben. I’m pretty sure I hate him even more now.”
His eyes are downcast, and then he glances up at me.
“I just wanted you guys to be friends so you wouldn’t be mad that he was my friend.”
“Ben.” I roll my eyes. “He’s way too old to be your friend. Find someone your age. You should have enough friends without adding him—”
“Wake up, sis!” He cuts me off mid-sentence. “I have no friends!”
“Of course you do. What about… um…” I’m actually thinking really hard to come up with one of his friend’s names, but I’ve got nothing.
“Go ahead,” he stammers. “I’ll wait.”
Names with the letter J keeps dancing in my head. “Jonas!” I snap. “Ha!” I fold my arms across my chest, giving my little brother a smug look.
“Jonas moved away three years ago, Sis.” He deadpans me, and my arms fall limp to my sides.
“Oh,” I exhale, feeling stupid and insensitive. When did that even happen? Have I really been that out of touch with my brother? I don’t ever remember him mentioning it or being sad about it. “You’ve never said anything.”
“You were never listening.” He tosses his chocolate milk container into the garbage. “It’s fine, sis. Don’t get your thong in a bunch about it.”
“Have you tried making new friends? Three years without a friend is pretty sad and lonely, Benny.”
His eyebrows furrow, and his forehead crinkles.
“Um, that’s what I’ve been trying to do, but my sister is making that nearly impossible to maintain.”
“Not him. Anyone but him.” My shoulders slump. “If you have to be friends with an older guy… how about Jesse?”
“Jesse’s a douche. He’s always giving me wet-willies and wedgies.”
“That’s because he thinks of you as a kid brother—”
“No, thanks. Let him know, he can stop thinking about me in any way.” He finally moves closer to me. “Artist doesn’t treat me that way. He actually cares. I can call or text him, and he always responds. We hang out and grab a bite to eat. He listens. He makes time. Lately, I’ve spoken to him more than my own parents.”
“It’s a façade, Ben. Artist is incapable of those things. You’re putting him up on a pedestal that’s way too high for someone you don’t know.”
“It’s obvious you don’t know him!” Ben stomps his foot down hard onto the floor. “He likes you, but you’re just too blind to see that.”
I laugh so hard when he says that because he’s so far off. The thing that hurts the most is his thinking about Artist. Those types of thoughts and feelings are only going to hurt him in the long run.
“He’s mean, and he’s rude. He couldn’t wait to break out of here this morning, and to be fair, I was glad to see he was gone when I woke up.” He could have let me know somehow that he was leaving out. Not that I cared, but it would have been the right thing to do. Instead, he couldn’t wait to get away from me. I don’t know what I was thinking last night when I said I was enjoying his company. I was just starved from human interaction of being locked in my room. I would have much rather been out at Luke’s party with Jesse and my friends.
“That’s not true. If that was the case, then why didn’t Art leave as soon as I unlocked the door?”
“What do you mean?” I cock my head sideways and squint my eyes at my brother.
“Yeah. He was up last night when I took the bungee cord of the door. I thought he’d be pissed at me when he saw me, but he wasn’t. He shushed me and closed the door back.”
“Huh?” I was so confused right now.
“Yeah, so he didn’t break out.” Ben uses air-quotes. “He chose to stay a few more hours with you. He could have left, but he didn’t.”
Ben passes me, and I’m stuck there as if cinder blocks were attached to my feet. I’m trying to decipher why Artist would do that. Why wouldn’t he just leave if he knew he was free to do so? Then I talk myself down from the chopping block. I’m sure he was just too lazy to leave.
I shake any thoughts I may have had about Artist out of m
y mind as I head to my room. Yesterday never happened. I take my cell from the charger and notice I have five missed calls from Jesse. That was unusual. My heart starts beating uncontrollably, thinking the worst. He also left a text for me to please call him, so I do.”
“Echo, what the hell?” Jesse starts.
“What’s wrong?” He sounded nervous and out of breath.
“I’ve been trying to call you, but you’ve been ignoring me.”
“I haven’t been ignoring you, Jesse. I was downstairs talking to Ben.”
“Really? Ben?” He says this like he doesn’t believe me.
“Yes, Ben. My little brother.” I’m a bit sarcastic because I’m becoming annoyed very quickly. We both remain on the phone silent for a moment as I listen to him breathe.
“Breakfast… I’m starving, and I need food ASAP.”
“Okay?” I had no idea why he was telling me this. “Call me back after you’ve eaten.”
“Come out,” he says slowly. “I’m out front, and you and I are going out for breakfast.”
I sigh with a deadpan expression after I peer out of my window and see Jesse’s truck in my driveway.
“Seriously, Jesse. You’ve given me no time to get ready.” My hair is still damp from the shower I’ve just taken. Now I’ll have to do a rush job on my makeup—as if… I crack myself up sometimes. There’s no way I’m rushing anything, definitely not my face. But I do need to hurry because if I don’t, Jesse will become even more annoying.
As soon as I start my regimen, Ashleigh calls. I let it ring because if I stop to answer it, she will continue talking nonstop, and I’ll never finish getting ready.
When I make it to Jesse’s truck, immediately I go to grab the handle because God forbid he miraculously becomes a gentleman and opens my door for me. The passenger’s door flings open and crashes into my nail, chipping the acrylic. “Dammit, Jesse!” I scold him as I climb inside. “I need to get this fixed ASAP.”
“You’re such a drama queen, Echo. Let me see, it can’t be that bad.” I give him a deadpan look as I hold my middle finger up. How ironic it just so happens to be the same finger. “I’ll tell you what… after breakfast, I’ll take you to have it fixed.”
“You’ll take me now, Jesse.” There is no way I will walk around looking like an idiot with a broken nail all because he’s too lazy and so much of a jerk to get off of his ass and walk around to open my door for me.
Jesse really didn’t want to, but I demanded he takes me to the nail salon in the mall. All he cared about was feeding his belly. Food can wait. Since it was Jesse’s treat, I went ahead and had the nail tech give me a full set because it was about time anyway. And since my dad was a major asshole with my bank account, who knows when I would be able to get my nails done.
Thinking about this is making me severely depressed. It makes me wonder if this is what Nicole deals with daily. Being broke is stressful. Well—I’m not broke, it’s just that dad put my bank in time out. How cruel is that?
Finally, my nails are done, and I have my fingers under the ultralights as my phone rings inside my purse. I know it’s Ashleigh again by the ringtone, but I don’t want to ruin my nails by answering. “Babe?” I call out to Jesse, who’s sitting beside me with his face in his phone. “Can you grab my phone and answer for me so I can—”
“Already on it,” he says, cutting me off as he rummages through my purse violently.
“Gently, Jesse!”
“Hey Ash,” Jesse roars into the phone. “Stop calling. She’s busy and will be busy with me all day.”
“Jesse!” I couldn’t believe he talked to my friend like that. “Rude much?”
“What?” He shrugs as if he did nothing wrong by snapping at my best friend. I’ll have to apologize for him the next time I speak with Ashleigh. “Welp, we missed breakfast. Can we at least do lunch now? I’m hella starving.”
“Fine, Jesse.” Even though my nails are dry, I don’t trust it and always fear smudging freshly painted nails. I carefully slide my hand through my purse straps and let it dangle from my wrist. “Where shall we eat?”
“Food court.”
“Food court?” My mouth gaps open. “I’m not dining in a food court, Jesse.”
“I know, but Echo, I’m hungry, babe.” He claps his hands in a praying fashion as he begs. “How about I at least grab a slice, and you can get whatever you want, and I’ll take you shopping… my treat since we’re already at the mall. Then you and I will go somewhere nice for dinner.”
I stand there in silence as I stare at Jesse through squinted eyes. “What are you up to?”
“What do you mean?” He tries his best to look innocent, but I don’t buy it. Something is definitely up with him.
“You never want to take me shopping, Jesse, let alone pay for my splurge.” I step closer to him, studying his demeanor. My distrust radar is beeping off the charts. “Did you speak with Ben?” If Ben shared my personal business with a total stranger, he had to of told Jesse too. I don’t need his charity handouts.
“Your brother, Ben?” Jesse asks as he crinkles his nose.
“Yeah,” I say sarcastically.
“No, why the hell would I speak with your little brother? That kid is annoying.”
Sadly, I believe him. But he didn’t have to say my kid brother was annoying. He’s one of the sweetest souls on this earth.
“Watch it, Jesse,” I warn him.
“Whatever.” We walk to the food court, and he grabs a slice of pizza, and I get a smoothie. I would have preferred a latte, but they didn’t even have a Starbucks in this mall, let alone anything that resembled coffee drinks. He scarfs his slice down before I could get two sips of my smoothie in. “Alright, let's do this shopping thing before I change my mind.”
Jesse’s family was just as well off as mine, so it’s not like he couldn’t afford to take me shopping. He’s more of a tightwad with his money and doesn’t really like to splurge on certain things he deems isn’t necessary. Whereas I feel that anything I shop for is a necessity. If I want it, I obviously need it, duh!
I go crazy in the mall, grabbing up things I felt I was gonna need, not being sure when my father was going to release my next batch of funds into my bank account. I felt like a squirrel gathering nuts to be prepared for the winter. Besides, I couldn’t fight the feeling that Jesse was up to something or hiding something. There was a reason he was doing this, and I also knew soon it would be revealed.
“Babe, we’ve been at this for hours,” Jesse whines. “I have shopping bags up and down my arms, there’s no more room, and I have long arms!”
“Fine, Jesse. We’re done with shopping anyway.” I think I have enough to satisfy me at the moment. “However, I would like to at least grab a quick tan.” I point to the tanning salon in front of me.
“No way am I waiting for you to tan, Echo! That slice of pizza was only enough to get through thirty minutes, which was up hours ago.”
“I really need a tan, Jesse.” Especially since I wasn’t able to the last time I was here.
“Wait here,” Jesse says and goes into the tanning salon. He comes back out and hands me a gift card. “Your next five tans are on me, providing you do it on your own time. Now, can we please go so we can eat dinner?”
“Sure.” That was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I suppose I should come clean at dinner and talk to Jesse about what’s been going on with my family situation. I feel like I should say something to him about it so he could understand why my emotions have been all over the place lately. The thing is… Jesse isn’t really a good listener when it comes to talking about certain things. I’m not saying he doesn’t care about me at all; it’s just that sometimes when I have tried to speak to him in the past, it would go in one ear and out of the other. “Jesse? I need to talk to you about something.”
He stops abruptly, and I bang into him.
“Yeah, okay, talk.”
I blink a few times in disbelief. He’s never been so ready t
o “talk,” which immediately sends up red flags for me.
“Not here, Jesse. We’ll talk at dinner.”
“Yeah, sure.”
I was shocked he’d actually let me choose the restaurant this time. Usually, he would drag me to a sports bar, and all TVs would have sports playing while he chowed down on hot wings. Not my favorite choice of date food. I hate eating messy food with my fingers, especially when it’s doused in something that might stain my fingers and nails.
“Mind if I order two extra entrees to go? It’s my turn to cook dinner, and since I’m already eating…” Technically it’s been my turn ever since dad left.
“Sure thing, but why just two? Who’s not eating?” He chuckles, and I bury my face deep into the menu as I sigh.
“That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”
His face crinkles in confusion as his brows furrow together. The waitress comes over to take our order, putting our conversation on pause. He orders the steak and shrimp entrée, and I order the eggplant parm. I order for mom and Ben as well.
Jesse plucks the slice of lemon from the rim of his glass and tosses it onto a napkin as he gulps down his water. “Alright, I’m listening.”
I study his face in surprise. He really was listening for the first time that I could remember in our relationship. It was odd. Very odd. Matter of fact, everything about Jesse today was out of character for him. “Uh…” I search my mind for words to start. “I guess I just want to start out by apologizing to you for my crazy lately. I’ve been really snappy towards you—”
“Don’t sweat it,” he says, cutting me off as he fidgets in his seat. Classical Jesse style. I exhale a deep breath I’d taken and continue on.
“The reason being… my parents got into a huge argument again, and dad moved out.”
“He’ll be back. He always does, right?” Jesse shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“Jesse,” I call his name while my eyes began to burn as they tear up. “I didn’t say he left… he moved out. He’s not at some random hotel. He has an apartment this time, and he’s cut us all off.”
The Mean Girl and the Bad Boy #2: Echo and Artist Page 4
