When the Dead Come a Knockin'

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “We thought you were just being over dramatic when you ran inside,” Isaac said. “You’re always talking about how cold it is here.”

  “Then when we saw you in the kitchen, it took us a couple of seconds to understand what we were seeing.” Ethan continued.

  “Then Zeke was yelling at us. And then we realized what happened.” Isaac finished.

  “We are so sorry. We really didn’t mean for it to go that far.” Ethan added. I looked at them both. Their faces looked pained. Their eyes were full of guilt. They really didn’t mean to soak me through. I sighed. They really needed to learn to think first.

  “No more buckets of water unless it’s summer,” I told them and used my I’m not joking voice. They agreed immediately. “And I’m so fucking holding this over your heads. We’re talking blackmail.” They both winced. Then Isaac shrugged.

  “We deserve it,” Isaac admitted. Ethan nodded.

  “Now, move Cookie Monster, your ass is blocking an epic fight.” The twins smiled then came and sat next to me, one on either side. The other guys came in not long after. Asher pulled out the bean bags, and the guys all sat down. It wasn’t long until we were talking about what video games to play. There was a particular dungeon crawler game that I liked playing with the boys. Diablo… something. I don’t know but I knew it was fun to play with the guys and I wanted to finish the storyline. I had my demon hunter, big surprise, right? And everyone else had their characters on screen too. Then we started playing.

  Apparently, when your clothes are soaked, they take a really long time to dry. Asher said this last run through on high should do it. It was fine. Zeke’s shirt was big enough that you couldn’t tell I wasn’t wearing a bra, well, unless you looked closely. And Asher’s sweats were comfy. So, I didn’t really care that it took three hours to get my clothes almost dry.

  “Zeke, man, you're killing me here. Will one of you tanks grab these little bastards.” I was diving away from the little annoying monsters and shooting for all I was worth, but they were eating me alive.

  “I’ve got you, Lexie,” Miles said moving his paladin across the screen and shouted. He drew all the monsters off me.

  “Thank you, sweetie.”

  “Your welcome.” He answered back. “Now do some damage,” I smirked as I shot multiple arrows through the horde of monsters. The fight was over soon, we were close to the end of the game when the front door opened. I was focused on the movie inside the game. Diablo was teleporting us to him. Yes! I’ve wanted to own this bitch for weeks.

  “Hello!” Two girls’ voices rang from the foyer. I was focused on the opening fight video that I had been waiting weeks to see. I was even good and didn’t look it up on YouTube.

  “What the…?” Asher said turning toward the archway.

  “What the hell is this?” A shrill scream ricocheted through the family room. I looked away from the screen long enough to see Trisha with a glass baking dish in her hands. And her pissed off face. Then I was back looking at the screen.

  “Fuck! What did he say?” I asked, worried I missed something vital.

  “He said we’re going to die.” Ethan summarized for me. I snickered as the fight began. I was trying to concentrate, but Trisha was screaming and making it difficult.

  “What the hell is she doing here?” Trisha screamed, I assumed she meant me. I just focused on dodging the cage trying to crash down on my character. Asher’s character stopped moving as he got up to deal with Trisha. Shit! We needed that damage.

  “It’s friend’s day.” Asher reminded her. “Lexie’s our friend.”

  “You said guy’s day, not Lexie day.” Trisha snapped back. I kept trying to do damage as the guys acted like tanks, and Isaac healed everyone.

  “I said friend’s day, you said guy’s day,” Asher told her gently. I would have shouted it, but he’s not me.

  “I didn’t hear friend day.” Cece’s voice piped up. Isaac cursed under his breath but kept playing. “Isaac, what’s going on?”

  “We’re hanging out with Lexie as our arrangement, without you girls,” Isaac told her bluntly, not bothering to look at her. His voice was about as happy with her as I was right now.

  “And what the fuck is she wearing?” Trisha snapped.

  “Swear jar.” I stage whispered sarcastically as I dodged the cage again. Everyone but Asher, Trisha, and Cece laughed.

  “Lexie, don’t even start with me! You’re in my boyfriend’s house, wearing his sweats.” Trisha sounded pissed. Ooh. I was shaking. No! Fuck. I took a big hit.

  “Shit! Isaac save my ass here.” I shouted.

  “Recharging, you’re on your own.” Isaac shot back. I used one of my few remaining health potions and tried to keep my character out of reach.

  “Why is she wearing your sweats? And whose shirt is that?” Trisha demanded.

  “Mine, so stop bitching.” Zeke shot at her not taking his eyes off the screen. I snickered, so did the twins. Trisha made an offended noise.

  “This isn’t funny Isaac! She’s not even wearing a bra.” Cece shouted.

  “Isaac, tell your girlfriend to stop checking me out,” I said seriously. He laughed. Cece got pissed.

  “Why is she wearing your pants and not wearing a bra, Asher?” Trisha's voice got higher, I winced. It felt like a knife in my ear. Distracted I took another bad hit.

  “Shit! Isaac?”

  “Got you, Red.” Isaac healed me for almost all my health.

  “Thank you.”

  “Asher!”

  “The twins soaked her outside as a joke, and they went too far. By the time she got inside, she was turning blue.” He explained patiently. “She needed something to wear so we could put her clothes in the dryer.”

  “That’s all she’s wearing!” Trisha’s voice was becoming shrill. I noticed Miles' shoulders grew tense, his ears were starting to turn pink. I didn’t like that.

  “Asher, your girl’s asking about my underwear, man. You sure these two aren’t interested in me?” I asked seriously. Zeke, the twins, and Miles laughed. Miles' ears turned back to normal, his shoulders relaxed a bit. That was better. I peeked at the archway to see Asher trying not to laugh. We were making progress killing Diablo, but it was slow. We needed Asher back.

  “This is not funny!” Trisha snapped sounding furious.

  “What was I supposed to do? Let her freeze to death?” Asher’s voice was getting harder. Trisha was pissing him off.

  “She’s supposed to wear her own clothes,” Trisha said it like it was obvious.

  “Which were soaked through by the water and turning to ice.” I pointed out getting annoyed myself.

  “Stay the fuck out of this Lexie!” Trisha shouted.

  “Okay, pause it,” I said. I was done with Trisha. Someone hit pause. I looked over at Trisha, she was so angry her cheeks were red. And I really didn’t care. “You’re mad I’m wearing Asher’s sweats, right?” I asked. Ethan grinned. He knew me well enough to see where I was going.

  “No shit.” Trisha snapped back. I nodded a bit pissed off myself now. I stood up.

  “Miles,” I warned. Miles closed his eyes with a half grin on his face. I quickly untied the knot, put the shirt back down to my knees and began shimmying the sweats down my legs. When they dropped, I reached back, held onto the bottom of the shirt like you would a short skirt and picked the pants off the floor. Zeke and the twins were laughing their asses off. “You can look now sweetie.” Miles opened his eyes but respectfully kept his gaze elsewhere. I folded the sweats carefully, then tossed them to Trisha. “There, now only Riley has the right to bitch.” I made sure the shirt was under me and sat back down. Zeke was in the wide chair and tossed me the throw off the back still laughing his ass off. I draped the throw across my legs. I looked at Trisha. Her mouth was gaping, Asher was openly smiling now.

  “You are not going to sit around here in only a shirt!” Trisha screamed. I sighed dramatically.

  “I can’t make you happy Trisha, you don’
t like me with pants, you don’t like me pantless. I’m kinda out of options here.” I pointed out sarcastically. Her voice was giving me a headache, this time all the boys laughed. When they quieted down, she started again.

  “I want you in your own clothes!” She snapped.

  “I do too.” Cece joined in. “I don’t appreciate this at all.”

  “I do too. But my clothes were soaked, and it’s freezing outside.” I said slowly as if I was speaking to a particularly stupid kid. “They are in the dryer so I can wear them again.”

  “Then you should have gone home.” Cece shot back. I looked at her like she was nuts.

  “Cece, she was fucking turning blue.” Isaac shot at his girlfriend. “She was already hypothermic when she got in the house.” Cece shut up. I was starting to think she wished they just left me outside to freeze.

  “What are you girls doing here?” Zeke asked bluntly. “It’s friend’s day, you shouldn’t even be here.” I loved Zeke. The girls ignored the question.

  “Your girlfriend would have a problem with this too, Zeke.” Trisha shot across the room, it sounded like a threat to me. I had to fight a smile. Oh, this was gonna be good. Zeke put his controller down and pulled out his cell phone.

  “Let’s find out,” Zeke smirked and hit a couple buttons. The room was quiet as the phone rang on speaker.

  “Hey, cutie.”

  “Riley, you’re on speaker.” He began. “Trisha’s having a fit over Lexie sitting around in one of my shirts, it reaches her knees. Which is longer than the skirt Trisha is currently wearing.” I snickered as Trisha’s face became red. “She threatened me that you wouldn’t like it either, so I figured I’d just tell you now.”

  “What happened?” Riley’s voice was concerned. I loved Riley.

  “There was an incident involving the twins, a snowball fight, and water. Her clothes are in the dryer.” He explained simply. Riley sighed.

  “I don’t give a shit if she’s sitting around in your shirt. As long as she’s okay.” Riley said emphatically. I looked at Zeke.

  “Zeke, awesome girlfriend pull,” I said, my hand going up. He smirked and high fived me. Riley laughed her ass off. So did the guys.

  “Thanks for clearing that up, Riley.”

  “Talk to you later.” Zeke hung up the phone and looked at Trisha with a blank face. “Now that, that question has been answered. How about mine? What are you two doing here?”

  “We made you guys dinner and brought it over. We thought our boyfriends would be happy to see us.” Trisha explained. Her eyes ran over me as her lip curled. “I didn’t expect Lexie to be sitting around practically naked.” Miles went still; he was angry. Shit.

  “Lexie would never sit around practically naked.” Ethan shot back defending me. “She’s too modest for that.”

  “Yeah, that photo on the big screen was real modest.” Cece shot back. Isaac went still beside me.

  “Oh, stupid move,” I whispered to no one, cringing. I looked at Isaac who was glaring at his girlfriend. He handed me his controller and got up. He walked into the foyer and gestured for her to go with him out front. He was scary quiet, at least for Isaac. Cece went out the front door, Isaac followed. I winced as the door closed.

  “Zeke-”

  “On it.” Zeke was already up and going to the window. He looked out the blinds.

  “If she-”

  “I’ll tell you,” Zeke assured me. If that bitch hit Isaac, panties or no panties, I’d rip her apart.

  “What? You’re spying now?” Trisha demanded an answer. I had no patience left for her.

  “No, Zeke’s watching to see if Cece hits Isaac when he dumps her,” I told her plainly. “If she does, I’m kicking her ass.”

  “You are fucking insane!” Trisha turned to Asher who was frowning at Trisha. “Do you see how crazy she is?”

  “Yeah, crazy to want to protect your friend from someone you can’t hit back.” Asher snapped at her. “Insane, right?” Trisha seemed to realize she had fucked up. In the silence, I heard the dryer ding. I hopped up and dropped the throw on the couch.

  “Yay! I get pants still warm from the dryer,” I said in my excited cute voice. The guys chuckled. I moved past Ethan then hurried past Trisha and Asher. I was almost in the kitchen when I added. “I’m changing in the laundry room, just warning ya!” Several male voices acknowledged that they heard me and didn’t care. I hurried into the laundry room really excited to have pants again. I closed the door behind me and opened the dryer. They were dry! I pulled my clothes out and started getting dressed. When I was done, I folded Zeke’s shirt and put it in his basket of folded laundry. I headed back to the kitchen but pulled up short by the pantry. Asher and Trisha were in the kitchen. I listened shamelessly.

  “I don’t like you hanging out with Lexie without me.” Trisha still sounded pissed off.

  “She is one of my friends, Trisha. You need to accept that.” He said patiently, though I heard the strain in his voice.

  “I don’t want to.” She snapped back.

  “We had an agreement that we would have time with Ally without you girls while you got used to her.” Asher pointed out. His patience had run out. His voice grew hard. “You just came into my house, on our time, without knocking and stood there yelling at one of my friends.”

  “The others do it all the time.” Trisha sounded hurt. I winced.

  “They are family, they have keys, Trisha. You aren’t there yet.” He was honest and tried to say it gently. I’ll give him that. “You came over when you knew you weren’t supposed to be here, then you were rude to Ally.”

  “She was rude to me too.”

  “You were screaming at her. She made jokes to lighten the tension you were creating. Then you made Miles uncomfortable. So, yeah, she made a joke at your expense so Miles would feel better.” His voice became hard, his words clipped. “You need to get over your issues with her.”

  “Or what?” Trisha snapped. I winced, bad move Trisha. “You’ll dump me?”

  “Maybe I didn’t make it clear before.” He said, his voice still hard. “If it comes down to you or Ally. It’s going to be Ally.” I winced. Ouch. Yeah, a part of me loved it. I couldn’t help it; the bitch had been rude. “Trisha, I think we can be something good when Ally isn’t around, but when she is, you turn into someone else. And I can’t stand that girl. It’s time for you to decide. Get over your issues with her, or we’re finished.” I bit my lower lip, big tension in that room. “Take the night to think it over and call me tomorrow. But right now, I would appreciate it if you took Cece and left.” The room was so quiet I thought they left, then remembered the kitchen door hadn’t squeaked.

  “I will talk to you tomorrow.” Trisha’s voice sounded like she was holding back tears. I rolled my eyes. I heard the door squeak, then the front door shut.

  “Ally.” I winced. I peeked around the pantry doorway. Asher was standing there with an eyebrow raised, hands on his hips.

  “Busted,” I whispered to myself. I came into the kitchen and squirmed. “Sorry, I kinda got stuck.” He looked at me then at the door, his hand rubbing his neck.

  “That wasn’t by accident.” I raised an eyebrow. Asher looked back at me. “I wanted you to listen so you can tell me if I was too harsh with her.” Oh, I wasn’t in trouble. Yay!

  “I get that,” I admitted. I walked over to him and hopped up on the island. He turned and looked at me. “Do you think you were too harsh?” I asked carefully. He gave me an irritated look. I held up my hands. “I’m still going to tell you my opinion. But I want to hear what you think first.” He sighed and rubbed his neck some more.

  “Honestly, no.” He came over to lean against the counter next to me, crossing his arms over his muscled chest. “I thought I made it clear before, and she said I did. But then she pulled this. So, I wanted to make it very clear this time.” He took a breath and let it out. “I don’t think I was too harsh. But I’m not sure.” He looked at me, waiting. I sighed.
<
br />   “I don’t think you were too harsh on her.” I began. “I think you made your boundaries clear, like not walking in without knocking. You told her how you felt about this situation, how you felt about her and told her flat out that if she can’t get over her issue, then it won’t work.” I leaned over and rested my chin on his shoulder while I looked at him. He sighed. “I think she was expecting you to cave and you didn’t. I think now she’s going to have to actually think about this and give you a real answer.” He leaned his head over and touched mine.

  “Thanks, Ally girl.” His voice sounded relieved.

  “No problem, Ash.” He sighed then pushed away from the counter.

  “Okay, let’s go kill Diablo.” He said with a smile. I smiled and hopped down. We went into the family room and joined the others. It took a couple tries, but we made Diablo our bitch. It made my day.

  Several hours later we were watching a car movie that Zeke liked when a phone rang. Asher reached into his back pocket and pulled out mine.

  “It’s yours, Ally.” He tossed it to me. I got up and headed to the foyer.

  “How did your phone survive?” Ethan asked before I left the room.

  “I upgraded to waterproof a couple weeks ago, I got to keep the same number.” I shot over my shoulder as I stepped into the foyer. I answered not checking the caller id, I was sure it was Dylan anyway.

  “Hello.”

  “Lexie?” My heart dropped, my stomach knotted. I instantly wanted to puke. I swallowed hard. “Sugar, are you there?” My mother’s voice rang in my ear. I started shaking, I was instantly pissed off. I opened the front door and walked out onto the porch. I don’t remember if I slammed the door behind me or shut it.

  “How the fuck are you calling me?” My voice was hard and low.

  “Tomorrow’s Christmas Lexie, the rehab faculty here are letting me call to wish you Merry Christmas.” She said like it was perfectly fine.

  “Yeah, and does the faculty know you beat the shit out of me?” I growled into the phone. She wasn’t allowed to contact me, and she fucking knew it.