Life, Love, & Lemons

by Vernon, Magan

  “Hi, Mr. Evans,” Brett and Gabby said in unison.

  “Oh, are you guys watching a movie?” Dad peered at the screen then pushed his way right next to Kai and me on the couch.

  “Yeah some horror film.” Kai said, his body trembling beside me. I think having his girlfriend practically on his lap with her dad sitting beside him made him nervous. He slowly moved a few spots away from me.

  “Oh man, I’m not a horror film type of guy. Don’t you have any John Hughes movies or something?” Dad smiled at me.

  Was he not getting the hint? I had my friends over watching a movie that meant no dads allowed.

  “John Hughes, that’s the guy that did like The Breakfast Club and stuff right?” Brett asked as it seemed to be the perfect excuse for him and Gabby to sit on opposite ends of the love seat.

  “Yeah, I actually wrote a book that’s kind of a Breakfast Club meets prison inmates with a dystopian feel. You can actually download it right now on your Ereader. Go ahead! It’s only $2.99! Look it up! It’s called BREAK by Marcus Evans.” Dad smiled away with a big, cheesy grin. I’m pretty sure that my friends weren’t interested, but they grinned and nodded like it was the greatest thing ever.

  “Hey how about some popcorn to go with this movie?” Dad asked, looking at all of us expectantly.

  “I think we’re fine without popcorn,” I said, hoping that he would get the hint to leave.

  “I’m going to get us some popcorn,” Dad said and patted my knee. “Oh and Bent do you maybe want me to get you a sweater or something? You look awfully cold,” he yelled from the kitchen.

  Kai’s face flushed while he stared at the TV. I squeezed his hand to try and reassure him, but he wouldn’t even glance in my direction.

  “Who wants popcorn?” Dad came back into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a big blanket. Only to end up situating himself in the seat right between Kai and me.

  “Here you go, Bent.” He put the blanket on my lap. “Now you won’t be so cold.”

  He smiled and patted my knee. “Man, we should do this more often; this is a lot of fun.”

  With the big blanket over my lap and all of my friends trying not to laugh, I realized that operation find-out-if-Brett-was-gay was not the success that I was hoping for. Luckily Gabby said that she would spend the night, so after the boys left it was time for a little girl time.

  “So, like, with Kai living next door you must sneak out all the time to see him,” Gabby said as she flipped aimlessly through an old magazine on my bed.

  “I’ve actually never thought about it.” I sat down on the bed, pondering the idea. “I guess that just doesn’t seem like something that we’d do. Plus if we got caught I think his mom would crucify me.”

  I scooted next to Gabby. “What about you and Brett? Do you ever sneak out to see each other? Like especially when you’re babysitting in the neighborhood.”

  Brett and Gabby met because Gabby was a nanny the summer before junior year at a neighbor’s house. They’d been a couple ever since.

  “No.” She shrugged. “I guess we’re really not like that either.”

  I decided just to cut to the chase. I couldn’t hide my questions from Gabby any longer especially from someone who I considered one of my best friends. “Gabby…is Brett gay?”

  She blinked really hard and looked up from the magazine. “Um, what?”

  “I mean, I know it’s like totally out of line, but the girl that bought my car from me had made some comment about him being gay, and I know he’s your boyfriend and all, but ugh..”

  I laid down on the bed next to her. “I’m sorry…was that mean?”

  She let out a big sigh as she whispered, “Yeah…he is…”

  Whoa, did I hear that right? “Really?” I sat up.

  She nodded slowly.

  “How long have you known? And why are you still even dating him if he is?” I scooted closer to her.

  “I don’t think he even knew when we started dating, but the longer we dated the weirder things got. Like every time that we kissed it felt forced or like he wasn’t enjoying it.” She looked down, running her fingernails over my bedspread. “So finally last fall I just asked him straight out if there was someone else and that’s when he broke down and told me that he thought he was gay.”

  Tears welled up in her chocolate brown eyes. “And that was the first time that we had sex.”

  “And then what?” I widened my eyes.

  “Well after that, he was definitely sure that he was, but he wasn’t quite sure that he wanted to admit it to the world. So we kept up the façade as boyfriend-girlfriend.” She shrugged.

  “It works out for both of us. We’re still best friends. He gets to keep up his credibility as a straight guy, and I have a really pretty private school boy on my arm as my boyfriend.”

  “Wow, so you’ve never thought about being with a straight guy? Maybe someone that you can actually have a real relationship with?” I asked and played with the drawstring on my pajama bottoms.

  “Bee, I’m not going to have what you and Kai have anytime soon, and I’d rather have fun with my friends now than worry about what boys are going to think of me. Besides, he’s the best shopping buddy.” She giggled. “But you can’t tell anyone about this…”

  “I promise.” I put my hands up into the Boy Scout sign. “Scout’s honor.”

  “I think we should take it a step further and you should do something that I can hold against you,” she said with a sly smile crossing her lips.

  “I will not allow Kai to make a sex tape with Brett.” I made an over-emphasized angry face.

  “No, I think I have a better idea. You should go over to Kai’s apartment and flash him,” She said and pointed toward Kai’s place.

  “Oh em gee, Gabby, no! What if his Mom saw me?” I covered my gaping mouth with my hand.

  “Come on Bee it would make me feel a whole lot better.” She batted her eyelashes and jutted out her bottom lip.

  “How is that going to make you feel better?”

  “It just will. You have the gay thing and I have your late night escapades of trying not to get caught by your boyfriend’s religious mom.”

  “Ugh.” I groaned. “Fine!”

  I was so happy that Dad had gone to bed by the time that Gabby and I got the courage to tip toe out into the living room.

  “I’ll wait here,” she whispered, standing by the patio door. “Just in case the flashing gets to intense.”

  I poked her in the ribs before opening the patio door. It was very cold outside, about ten degrees colder than it was inside. My plaid pants and tank top weren’t shielding me from the wind and goosebumps dotted every part of me. I climbed over the railing separating the two patios, careful not to hit my bare feet on the cold iron of the railing.

  Kai lay sleeping on his futon in the living room. I tapped on the patio door, hoping not to wake anyone else

  Luckily, he was a pretty light sleeper and he woke up after a few small taps. Kai took a double take and then jumped out of bed. Slowly he approached the door and then slid out onto the patio without even opening the door all the way.

  “Hey, Bentley, is something wrong?” He wasn’t wearing anything more than a pair of black gym shorts. He had to be as cold as I was but when I let my eyes trail down his chest, I noticed he wasn’t exactly as scrawny as I thought it was. Below the two nautical stars on his chest, his body was defined. Chiseled abs worked their way down to a treasure trail, and I had to stop my eyes before they saw something x rated.

  “Um…no… but…” I shifted from one foot to the other, partially from nervousness and partially from being cold.

  “I’d invite you in, but I think Mom would freak out if she walked into the living room to see us like this.” He wrapped his arms tighter around himself.

  “So, did you like the outfit I wore tonight?” My teeth chattered.

  “Um, I guess.” He rubbed his hands up and down his arms.

  “And what
was your favorite part of the outfit?”

  “I guess that it was on you?” He raised an eyebrow looking very confused.

  “Was it because of these?”

  I lifted up my tank top and just as the cold air hit my chest, Kai’s mom’s bedroom light turned on. Fifteen seconds is not a lot of time to put a shirt back on and hop a patio fence.

  Chapter 25

  Ruining All of My Mom’s Good Towels

  It was the first Saturday night that Kai worked with me, and I was glad to have him there. It was St. Christopher’s Homecoming and everything was reminding me that I could have been there. Every girl that came in with her hair done and asking for a Diet Coke or every boy that should have been getting ready, but instead was ordering a cheeseburger.

  Kai tapped his fingers on the counter. We were both working until midnight and after the lobby closed at eleven, there wasn’t too much to do when it wasn’t busy.

  “I kind of want to go to Homecoming,” I blurted out.

  Kai stepped back a bit. “Where did that come from?”

  “I don’t know.” I sighed. “Watching all these people go to Homecoming and thinking that all my old friends are there and I’m not.” I tried my best to keep the whining out of my voice, but it was hard when I was so frustrated and wanted to go so bad.

  “Is Homecoming really that big of a deal? I think I remember my sophomore year health class teacher saying that all school dances were just an excuse to get laid.” Kai looked at the counter, the register, and everywhere but at me. It was his defense mechanism. He never looked at me when he was trying to avoid a topic or didn’t want to talk about it.

  “I don’t think that’s completely true,” I said as I shuffled back and forth on my stupid slip resistant work shoes.

  “Then what’s the point of going to the dance?” He wiped the counter with a rag for the millionth time.

  “I don’t know. To get dressed up, hang out with your friends, and you know dance.” I leaned my back against the drink machine. My job for the night was handing out food at the pick-up window, but it was so dead there was nothing to do but lean against the drink machine.

  Kai practically snorted. “I don’t really dance, and I don’t like getting dressed up.” He threw the towel over his shoulder. “I think I own exactly one tie, and I believe that it’s a keyboard print one that may or may not play music.”

  I shoved his shoulder. “You’re kind of a jerk.”

  He let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “Bentley, does this stupid Homecoming thing really mean that much to you? Can’t we do something else that night instead? Just me and you?” He reached over and pulled me closer to him by my belt loops. “No private school friends, no band mates, no parents, just me and you doing something that we want to do.”

  “Do you two have to do that at work?” Amy, the drive-thru girl who always had the most enormous hickeys on her neck, snarled from behind the grill.

  “Oh please, Amy, I know you’ve done worse than this at work,” Kai said and rolled his eyes.

  “Aw come on, Amy. Aren’t they cute together?” Clint joked from the grill. The jokes still hadn’t died down at work and got worse as soon as Kai and I started dating.

  “Ugh, just keep it above the waist while we’re here,” Amy yelled.

  “Kai pressed his forehead to mine. He was so much taller than me, and I think that he slouched about six inches to do so. “One night alone. Hell if you really want, I’ll spend the money that I would have on Homecoming and take you somewhere way better.”

  “That isn’t Perkins?” I asked, leaning in.”

  “Hmmm…” He smiled playfully. “That’s a tough one, but for you I guess I can do that.”

  “Then where will you take me?” I bit my bottom lip and resisted the urge to kiss him at work.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “A surprise?”

  “Yeah,” he said, letting go of me and aimlessly wiped off the drink station. I looked over to see that Amy and Clint were still gawking, so I pretended to wipe it down as well.

  “But you have to do one thing for me,” he whispered.

  “And what’s that?” I whispered back, leaning against the pick-up window.

  “Please don’t make me do anymore of these trying to find out if your friends are gay things or flashing me. I can’t keep ruining all of Mom’s good towels.”

  Chapter 26

  Homecoming Court

  “Do we really have to be here? Can’t we just go make out under the bleachers or something instead?” Kai poked me in the sides as we sat in the high school gym.

  The gym definitely wasn’t as nice as St. Christopher’s. While the cheerleaders bounced up and down it looked like the wooden floor was moving with them.

  “Pep assemblies are fine, right?” I looked from Kai to his friends that sat around us. I still stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the boys in their tight jeans and guyliner, but I was at least starting to get used to it.

  “I think I’m going to go out for a smoke,” Brody mumbled and jumped down from the bleachers with Grant following behind him.

  “Have fun, pep squad,” Grant yelled.

  “Please,” Kai tugged at my skirt.

  “No. We have to at least stay and watch Gabby perform.” I pushed Kai’s hand to the side.

  Gabby practically begged me to stay for the pep assembly. It’s not like I would have just sat around in sixth period without anyone there anyway, but she made a really big deal that I be there to see her perform with the pom squad.

  “Come on, Bee, it’s the pep assembly to kick off Homecoming week!” she squealed while we were at lunch.

  If Kai’s friends were annoyed with me, they were twice as annoyed with Gabby. She definitely had the whole school spirit and bubbly personality going for her. I envied her. I wished I could be that positive. Why she could stay so upbeat was beyond me. Her boyfriend was gay, her parents had recently gotten divorced, and she had the biggest zit in all of her Homecoming pictures from St. Christopher’s. I hoped that she got to be on Homecoming court; she really deserved it.

  Most of the kids in the gym really wasn’t paying attention to what was going on at the pep assembly. There were a few jocks and cheerleaders, but mostly it was rival gangs glaring at each other or people sneaking out to go smoke or do other things underneath the bleachers.

  “Welcome East High students!” Our principal, Mrs. Grover, stepped in front of the microphone, blasting a lot of static in people’s ears.

  “Oops, sorry about that,” she said and pulled the microphone farther from her face with her long cocoa-colored hands. “How is everyone doing today?” she yelled.

  Mrs. Grover couldn’t have been more than thirty with her spunk and sparkle still left in her. Not like most principals that didn’t even do pep assemblies anymore. I didn’t know how she stayed so positive either. I heard through the grapevine that Mr. Grover was definitely a player, but she still showed up to school every day in her pastel-colored suits and meticulously braided hair with a big smile painted on her face.

  “Next weekend Mom and my sisters are going to be at the woman’s overnighter at church,” Kai whispered in my ear.

  I nodded. Secretly I was hoping that they would call my name for Homecoming court. Okay so pre-lay-off, when I was the student council president at St. Christopher’s, I would basically have been a shoo in for Homecoming Queen. The new girl working at the fast food joint wasn’t exactly on the top of everyone’s list to even be nominated for Homecoming court at East. I also remembered Kai saying that if I made court that he would go to the Homecoming dance. Don’t get me wrong, it would have been awesome to spend a night alone with him, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to wear a dress and dance and take pictures for the yearbook.

  “And now your senior class president, Macy Laveran, will announce this year’s Homecoming court,” Mrs. Grover announced as the small crowd of people paying attention, who no doubt would be nominated, cheered Macy on.


  Macy kind of reminded me of myself, pre-lay-off. With her long blonde hair and designer jeans she really could have been me, and I still didn’t understand how she survived at East. She was always cheerful and full of spirit. She was never hassled by the gang members or had her purse stolen. She must have had some sort of secret, or just hid whatever was bothering her better than I did.

  “Okay, everyone, now the moment you’ve been waiting for— the nominees for Homecoming King and Queen,” she gushed with her baby doll-like voice.

  The expected names here called for the boys: The quarterback, the star basketball player, and all the other usual popular guys. The girls’ names started out to be the usual as well, with the head cheerleaders and so forth. Then the last name was called and everyone was surprised as I was whose name Macy called out.

  “And for our final nomination for our Homecoming court. Our own transplanted Catholic school girl, Bentley Evans,” she yelled.

  It was the first time since my first kiss with Kai that I felt like all eyes were on me. Especially Kai’s. It was as if they were burning a hole in the back of my head as I walked down the bleachers and took my place in line with all the other nominees

  ***

  “Gabby, I know you had something to do with this.” I grabbed Gabby’s elbow as we headed out of the gym.

  “To do with what?” Gabby gave an innocent smile. “Congrats on Homecoming court. I guess Brett and I should be expecting you and Kai to join our dinner group.”

  I sighed and followed in step with her while we headed out to the parking lot. “I guess I should thank you. I don’t know how you did it, but I’m glad.”

  “Only about ten percent of the class actually votes and most of those votes are the pom girls, so it really wasn’t too hard.” She shrugged.

  “Didn’t you want to be on court?” I nudged her and stepped out into the warm September air.

  “There’s always prom queen.” She smiled.

  “And finally Cinderella gets to go to the ball with her own little emo prince.”

  Ugh, the last voice I wanted to hear. I turned around to see Brynne, flanked on either side by Roxy and Teegan.