The next day while Tegan woke full of energy and on a post-concert high, I awoke with a tickle in my throat that fast turned into a cough. Soon my nose was running and my head ached. By noon it was obvious I’d caught a cold, so Tegan—not wanting to catch it—quickly bid me goodbye, telling me to get plenty of rest and to feel better soon. Mom, who had been sick with a less severe cold of her own a few weeks earlier, quickly dosed me with some cold medicine that left me feeling tired and dopey. I spent the rest of the weekend in bed, watching movies and eating the food Mom brought me. I only got out of bed to shower and use the bathroom.
On Monday morning, I still felt like death warmed over. Mom said she was feeling a little under the weather as well and decided to stay home from work with me. While she slept upstairs in her room, I decided I needed a change of scenery and decided to camp out on the couch, watching television and sipping on orange juice.
I discovered that there was nothing worth watching on television during the early morning hours. Ridiculous as it was, I found myself watching Caillou, Barney, and Sesame Street. The latter two really brought back memories. The first was something new. Caillou was a strange looking little boy with a sister named Rosie. He was also kind of whiny, but the theme song was kind of catchy, and I found myself humming it throughout the day.
Mom came downstairs around noon, just as I was about to fall asleep, to ask me if I’d taken my medicine. I hadn’t, so I struggled to drag myself away from the couch and into the kitchen to retrieve my meds. I finished off the last of the bottle of cough syrup, and Mom discovered we were all out of chicken noodle soup, which I’d been surviving on for the last few days.
“I think I’m going to make a quick trip to the grocery store,” she decided. I noted that she looked better than she had that morning. I hoped, for her sake, that she’d only caught the twenty-four hour bug. I felt bad enough that she’d already missed one day of work because of me.
I napped on the couch until she got back. Once she warmed some soup for lunch, I sat with her in the kitchen while I ate. Because my throat was sore, it was a quiet affair. Mom looked less pale, but there were still dark circles under her eyes, so I wasn’t surprised when she told me, after she finished eating, that she was going to go lie back down. I did the same, sleeping on the couch the rest of the afternoon.
I awoke when Skylar dumped my homework at my feet. My books were heavy, and I was pretty sure my American Literature book bit me. I used what energy I could muster to send a death glare Skylar’s way. She didn’t look at all intimidated, though, so I guessed it was pretty feeble.
Luke arrived a short time later and decided to take control of the television. Annoyed, I gathered my books and blankets and heaved them up to my room before crawling into bed. Once there, though, I couldn’t sleep. I lay there for a while before I decided to get online and see if either Tegan or Jackson happened to be on.
They weren’t, but I wasn’t surprised. Jackson probably had to work. I’d spoken to him briefly the night before and warned him that I may not be at school the next day.
“Good,” he said. “You sound like Kermit the Frog.”
“Gee, thanks,” I croaked.
“Hey, I just don’t want people to think I’m into interspecies dating,” he chuckled.
“Jerk,” I laughed tiredly.
Sadly, that had probably been the highlight of the previous night.
As I was logging off the computer, trying to decide between giving sleep another try or taking a shower, Skylar marched into my room without, of course, bothering to knock.
“What is this?” she demanded, waving a box around in her hand. I pressed a hand to my forehead and squinted. All of the waving was making me feel dizzy and nauseous.
“I don’t know,” I said, moving from the desk chair to my bed. “If you’d stop waving it around, like you’re trying to take someone’s eye out, I might be able to tell you.”
Skylar glared but stopped waving the box around. I finally got a good look at it and declared, “It looks like a box to a First Response pregnancy test.”
“Smart ass,” Skylar spat. “Are you and Jackson having sex?”
My eyes widened as it finally occurred to me that Skylar was under the impression that the pregnancy test belonged to me. It was a ridiculous notion, of course, and I had to fight back a laugh—both because it would only serve to piss Skylar off further and because it would probably only further agitate my already sore throat. Instead, I just said, “No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well, that’s insulting,” I said, indignantly. “I think I’d know whether or not I’ve had sex.”
Skylar rolled her eyes and sighed. “I meant are you telling the truth?”
“Of course I’m telling you the truth. I don’t even use tampons, so Jackson certainly has no business trying to put anything else in that . . . area.” I blushed furiously as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Still, the whole thing was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe Skylar was honestly entertaining the possibility that the pregnancy test belonged to me.
“You know, I had no idea Jackson was insane.” Skylar shook her head.
I frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“Only someone out of their mind would choose to put up with these strange things you say,” she said, smiling incredulously.
I glared tiredly at her. First, she stormed into my room, waving around a box like she planned to kill someone with it. Then she demanded to know if I was having sex with my boyfriend, as if it were any of her business, and then she accused me of being a liar. How rude.
I was just about to ask her to leave, so I could get some sleep, when Luke strolled casually into the room. “What’s going on?”
His sudden appearance came as somewhat of a shock. Luke hadn’t been in my room since the day he declared it was my job to help Mark woo Tegan. Now, he waltzed in as if this were an every day occurrence. The icing on the cake was I couldn’t remember a single time in the past where both Luke and Skylar were in my room at the same time of their own free will. Would wonders never cease?
While I was still trying to figure out if they were playing some kind of strange joke on me, Skylar decided to answer. She held up the pregnancy test so that Luke could see it clearly. “I found this in the trash in the bathroom.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “I had no idea you were a trash digger.”
“Do you know what this is?” Skylar demanded, unamused. “It’s a pregnancy test, Luke! I’m trying to figure out who’s it is.”
Luke held up his hands. “Well, it’s certainly not mine.” There was a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips.
“Not mine either,” I interjected. “Though I’m, apparently, too stupid or naïve to know whether or not I’ve actually had sex.”
“Huh?” Luke scrunched his nose, as he often did when he was confused. It was an expression that graced his face often when he was doing homework, I’d discovered.
“Never mind,” I sighed. “I was just pointing out that the test doesn’t belong to me.”
“And it’s not mine either,” Skylar said. She considered for a moment. “Could it be Tegan’s? Her and Mark are dating or something now, aren’t they?”
“They just had their first date Friday night!” I exclaimed.
“Hey,” Luke snorted, “some people move fast.”
“We were at a concert together,” I pointed out, shaking my head in disbelief. “They didn’t have sex. It’s not Tegan’s.”
“Sorry.” Skylar sounded anything but as she shrugged. “I was just asking.”
I turned back to Luke. “Could it be Brooke’s?”
“Who?” Luke looked confused.
“Oh. My. God.” I muttered, shaking my head. Even though she hadn’t been to the house in ages, there was no way Luke could’ve forgot the girl he’d been having sex with regularly only a few months earlier. He just couldn’t have because that would just be unfair. I still had nightmares about
the things I’d heard her say to my brother while in the throes of passion.
“The blonde cheerleader you were screwing,” Skylar reminded, rolling her eyes and shuddering at the word “screwing.”
“Oh.” Luke’s eyes lit with recognition. Then he shook his head. “No, we practiced safe sex. Condoms and birth control, always. Besides, she’s ancient history.”
The expression that crossed Skylar’s face was filled with disgust. “Good to know,” she muttered.
“Could it be Mom’s?” I asked after a moment. “She looked awfully peaked today.”
Luke, Skylar, and I all stared at each other for a moment, as if to consider my question, before we seemed to come to the same conclusion and shook our heads.
“No way,” Luke said. “Mom and Dad so don’t have sex. Especially not lately.”
“How would you know?” I laughed, which hurt my throat and caused me to start coughing. Luke gave me a thump on the back that, surprising, stopped my coughing fit in its tracks. “Have you been monitoring their bedroom activity?” I questioned once I found my voice again.
“Seriously.” Skylar snorted, eyeing Luke curiously. “Not that I want to know if they are, anyway. But hasn’t Mom been through menopause?”
“She’s not that old,” I commented.
“She’s too old to have a baby, though,” Luke argued.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Geena Davis had twins when she was in her late forties. Mom’s not that old.”
“Oh, come on,” Luke scoffed. “You can’t seriously think it’s Mom’s.”
I shrugged. “I don’t think it’s impossible. Besides, where’s the actual test? What was the result?”
I looked to Skylar for the answers. She shook her head. “I don’t know. The tester wasn’t in the box.”
Luke seemed revolted by the mere possibility that our mother could be pregnant. To be totally honest, I was a little freaked by the idea as well. Still, it seemed like an obvious question to raise since the test was found in our house.
“Maybe it’s Stevie’s?” I suggested after a moment. I was mostly grasping at straws.
Luke perked up at this and nodded vigorously. “Yeah, maybe it’s hers. She gets around a lot, doesn’t she, Skylar?”
Skylar glared daggers at him. “Just because she had sex with you once, it doesn’t mean she’s easy, like the trash you like to date, but I suppose it’s not impossible.”
That seemed to conclude the conversation because Luke shrugged and moseyed out of the room. Skylar glanced at me, and I could tell that she wasn’t sold on the idea of the test belonging to Stevie. Finally, she sighed and left the room as well.
I looked around the room and took a deep breath. For as boring as my morning had been, the afternoon had certainly turned out to be rather interesting. Still, it left me exhausted, so I turned and crawled back into bed, hoping to finally get some rest.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
The discovery of and curiosity about the pregnancy test was forgotten almost as quickly as it was brought up. Skylar dropped by my room a few days later to inform me that the test didn’t belong to Stevie; aside from that, not much else was said. Whatever initial concerns Skylar had were overshadowed by the delivery of her first college acceptance letter.
She’d applied to the University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois State University and the Art Institute of Chicago. Of the three, the last was her first choice. The first letter of acceptance, though, came from the University of Illinois. Skylar was flying high from the acceptance, and even Dad, who had been surly for nearly three weeks, was pleased. Of course, I secretly thought he hoped if he could get Skylar to go to either UIC or ISU, she might change her mind about majoring in the arts.
While Skylar was basking in the joy of her first college acceptance, the mystery of who the pregnancy test belonged to weighed at the back of my mind. When I returned to school—flu free—on Wednesday, I told Tegan all about it.
“That’s really weird,” she decided, but as curious as it was, our discussion on the topic never really led us to any solid conclusions.
Then, going into the third week of March, spring break was upon on us and it was pushed to the back of everyone’s mind. The Tylers were heading to Florida for the week to visit with Travis’ brother. They extended an invitation to me, but I decided to stay home.
Dad wasn’t in a good enough mood for me to feel brave enough to ask, first, for permission to go and, secondly, to ask for spending money. Asking Mom was always an option, but things were chilly enough between them already because of Luke. Besides, Jackson had managed to get a few days off from work. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend some time together since we hadn’t had much of it since Valentine’s Day.
Tegan seemed a bit sad when I told her I’d decided not to go. I felt bad, but after explaining my reasoning, Tegan smiled and said, “It’s okay, Sil. I totally get it.”
“Maybe next time?”
She nodded. “Definitely.”
“I really am sorry for leaving you hanging, though.” I bit my lip as a knot of guilt formed in my midsection.
“Don’t be,” Tegan smiled brightly. “I’ll have Tier to hang out with.”
As bright as her smile was, it didn’t quite reach her eyes, and no matter what she said, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d let her down. I knew, in part, it was because I was spending less time with her. We still hung out often enough, but my time was often split between her and Jackson. She and Mark had been hanging out, though, and I hoped that if things progressed well between them, it would absolve me of some of my guilt.
Spring break fell on the same week for Mom as well. I expected a heavy duty, top to bottom cleaning of the entire house while she had the time off, but, instead, Mom lazed around and took it easy.
I slept in until almost noon on Monday. I felt a bit like a bum, but when I found Mom scrapbooking in her and Dad’s bedroom, I was surprised to find she was still her in pajamas.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she greeted.
My hair probably resembled a haystack, and I pushed it back away from my face as I leaned against the doorjamb. “It’s almost afternoon,” I pointed out.
“I know,” Mom grinned. “I was just considering lunch. Care to join me?”
My stomach gurgled at the mention of food, and I nodded.
After a quick lunch of lunchmeat sandwiches, chips and apple slices, Mom invited me to help her with her scrapbooking. We spent the rest of the afternoon creating a book, capturing memories, extending from Thanksgiving of last year through New Years.
While we worked, Oxide practiced below. While somewhat muted, the beat echoed throughout the house, and I was glad Dad was at work. They usually weren’t so loud during practice, but it seemed—or, sounded, rather—that they were taking advantage of Dad’s absence to really let loose.
“They’re sounding pretty good,” Mom said, but it sounded more like a question. She looked to me, as if waiting for confirmation.
“I think so.” It was true, too. They’d only been functioning as a full band for a couple of months, but they sounded like they’d been playing together for years.
“We could go down and watch,” I suggested.
Mom pursed her lips and considered before shaking her head. “I think we’ll just leave them be.”
Instead, Mom engaged me in conversation. We talked about everything from friendships and relationships to my classes and colleges I might attend in a few years time. Of the last, I had no idea, and Mom seemed relieved. I suspected she was feeling a bit melancholy about Skylar’s fall departure. All the while it never felt like she was grilling me for information. If I didn’t feel comfortable answering, she’d ask another question.
Sometimes I asked questions of my own. Most of them involved work. I didn’t feel brave enough to broach the subject of the Cold War Revisited between her and Dad. We did talk a little about Luke’s decision to end his baseball career, but for the most par
t conversation was light and easy.
I couldn’t put my finger on when exactly it happened, but something had changed in Mom. She seemed more open and willing both to engage me in conversation and completely unbothered by my inquiries. It was a relief not to feel like a nuisance. Strange as it was the change wasn’t bad by any means.
On Tuesday I slept in again but managed to get out of bed before ten. Mom was leaving as I got up and stopped to say, “I’ve got to run a few errands. I should be back in a few hours. If you need me, call my cell.”
Skylar had the day off, as did all of the members of Oxide—at least until later in the evening. Band practice was in full swing by early afternoon. I decided to sit in on their practice, and Skylar joined me on the steps to watch.
They’d widened their net of songs to cover. It was a nice reprieve from hearing the same songs over and over. Even though they seemed to be taking the cover band route for the time being, I’d heard Luke playing the guitar up in his room on a few occasions. I couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like he was trying to write some original songs.
Jackson called halfway through practice. I barely heard the phone, even though I’d brought the handset from upstairs with me down to the garage. I invited him over, and he arrived just as Mom came home with lunch—from Taco Bell—for everyone. Luckily, she’d ordered a bunch of tacos, so there was plenty to go around, and everyone happily crowded around the dining room table to eat.
As we ate, Luke revisited the topic of making a band logo, asking both Skylar and Jackson if either of them might be interested in coming up with something. He also mentioned setting up a MySpace account. The idea of recording some tracks was also thrown around. The whole band seemed excited by the idea.
Even Mom, who’d seemed somewhat distracted when she came home, took an interest. “I saw a flyer at work about a talent show at the community center,” she commented. “Have you looked into doing something like that?”
Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1) Page 51
