Trying To Live With The Dead

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Yeah, I saw that.” Something about his voice made me think he had that half grin on his face again. At least I was amusing him. We were almost to class when I decided to have some fun with Zeke. “Then I hung out with…” I trailed off on purpose and continued in a deadpan voice. “Oh god, the pain. There’s a tunnel, a light.” I changed to my childlike voice. “Auntie Em? Uncle Henry? Toto? What are you doing here?” Asher burst out laughing next to me while there was silence on the phone. I couldn’t stop myself I started laughing too.

  “That’s not fucking funny Lexie!” Zeke shouted at me.

  “Oh, it is from my end.” I was still laughing as he cursed at me again. “We’re fine, we’re at the classroom.” Asher’s face was red as he doubled over, still laughing. I heard feet running up from behind us and turned. Ethan and Isaac skidded to a stop in front of us. “And the others just showed up freaked out because you made me stay on the phone. Baaad Zeke.” The twins looked at me like I was nuts. Asher started laughing harder. Part of it might have been from relief that nothing happened, but I’d like to think it was my smart mouth that had him busting a gut.

  “Lexie.” Zeke growled into the phone.

  “Zeke.” I exaggerated a growl back at him. I think I heard him laughing; he was trying to keep it quiet. “We’re fine, don’t worry so much. I’ll see you in an hour.” I told him before hanging up. Asher was standing now wiping tears from his face. Isaac had an eyebrow raised as he looked at me, tilted his head at Asher.

  “Is he possessed?” Isaac asked seriously.

  “No, I was giving Zeke a hard time.” Asher finally pulled himself together enough to put his hand on Isaac's shoulder.

  “It was awesome.”

  I met the twins back at my Blazer after school and headed back to Miles house. They demanded that I tell them what I said to Zeke that had Asher laughing so much. When I finished I was pulling up to the gate. The twins were laughing their asses off; it took them two tries to give me the combo for the gate. By the time, I reached the circular driveway the boys had control of themselves.

  “Oh, he’s going to be pissed.” Isaac predicted as I shut off the truck.

  “Nah, he was laughing by the end of the call. Besides, I’m too cute to be pissed at for long.” I told them sliding out of the Blazer. Zeke’s Jeep was coming up the drive. I wondered what happened to the motorcycle from this morning. I reached over my seat and dragged my bag out of the truck. By the time I was shutting the door Zeke was walking towards the house. “Where’s the motorcycle?” I asked heading toward the front door. Zeke stopped to wait for me.

  “It’s going to start raining here soon, so I had to put her away until spring.” He told me when I reached him. He narrowed his eyes at me. “That wasn’t funny by the way.” His voice lacked his usual conviction, so I smiled up at him.

  “Ooooh yeah it was.” I shot over my shoulder as I started walking through the open front door. I looked over my shoulder to see him shaking his head and smiling. My heart lightened. I knew it! He thought it was funny in the end. I win! I felt like shouting wahoo or something but I kept a lid on it.

  My boots crunched over the broken glass all over the floor. Oh yeah, we still had this to clean up. I dropped my bag onto the couch and headed into the kitchen. The twins were raiding the fridge, pulling out sandwich fixings. “We need to get the living room cleaned up guys.” I reminded them as I started looking for a broom and dustpan. The twins groaned.

  “Miles said he’d get a maid to come in.” Isaac reminded me. I found the broom and dustpan. The twins were still making sandwiches and Zeke had joined them. I huffed at them as I pulled out a garbage bag and left the kitchen. I quickly put my hair up in a messy bun at the back of my head. I started with the glass on the floor from the French doors. I made sure to get the area around the salt pile, I didn’t want to miss any pieces that I’d find later with my foot. When that was cleaned up, I picked up broken frames and pulled the photos out. I piled them onto an end table. I pulled all the broken glass from the frames and leaned them against the wall. They were nice frames; I didn’t want to throw them away. I had cut my fingers a couple times, but I just wiped the blood off on my jeans and kept going. I put the books back on the shelves and swept again. When I had all the glass off the floor I could see, I moved to the French doors. I was on my knees, sitting on my heels as I was pulling the broken shards of glass from the doorframe when the front door opened. I turned to see Miles walking in with a plastic bag and his book bag. He looked at me his brows drawn together.

  “What are you doing?” He asked closing the door behind him. I let go of the shard of glass I was trying to pull from the door.

  “I’ve got the living room cleaned up, but I want to vacuum the floor before anyone goes in there barefoot.” I informed him, reaching out and working on that piece of glass again.” I took those photos out of the frames and put them on the end table.” I yanked that piece of glass out of the wood wincing as I sliced a finger again. “I took the glass out of the frames and leaned them against the wall. The glass can probably be replaced.” I put the shard into the garbage bag and started working on another one. “The books are back in the case and now, I’m just trying to get the rest of this broken glass.” This piece was being a bitch. “So you can get the doors fixed before your mom comes back.” I let go of the shard leaving a bit of blood on the glass from one of my cuts. I was considering breaking the shard into smaller pieces when Miles interrupted my thinking.

  “Why? I told you I’d get the maid to do it.” He put his book bag down.

  “Because the maid didn’t make the mess.” I offered as I decided to try yanking on the shard one more time, this time from the side. I kept talking not really paying attention to what I was saying. “Because your maid probably has her hands full keeping the rest of this house clean, and I didn’t want to make more work for her.” I gave the shard a tug from the right side and it slide out. Yay! I put that shard in the trash already looking at the next one. Miles was quiet while I started tugging on the next shard. My fingers slipped as blood coated the glass.

  “Lexie, you're bleeding.”

  “Yep.” I wiped the blood off on my pants. I was reaching for the same shard when Miles stopped me by grabbing my wrist. I looked up at him puzzled. “What?” He squatted down beside me; his emerald eyes running over me, his mouth pressed in a hard line.

  “Didn’t you get the guys to help you?” He asked as he was gently pulling my hand to him and turning it over.

  “I told them we needed to, but they wanted to let the maid do it.” I admitted. His fingers were careful as he looked at the cuts on my fingers. "Don’t worry about the cuts. They’re small; they only need a good cleaning out.” I gave my hand a little tug, wanting to get back to work. Miles didn’t let go. Instead, he looked at me, his eyes running over my face. That same odd look from last night was back on his face. His eyes were soft as they ran over my face, a small half grin on his lips.

  “Go clean out your cuts, Lexie.” He said, turning to the door. “I’ll finish this up.” He let go of my hand and knelt down, pulling the garbage bag out of my reach.

  “Are you sure?” I asked uncertainly. I didn’t want to stick him with the rest of the clean up. Miles pulled a shard out and tossed it into the bag.

  “Yes, I’m sure.” He was already reaching for another shard. “There’s a first aid kit in the downstairs bathroom.” He yanked out the shard and tossed it into the bag. “Be sure to use the blue antibacterial cleanser that’s in the kit before washing with soap.”

  “Aye, aye, captain.” I gave a small salute before getting to my feet. Miles smiled as he reached for another shard. I headed toward the long hallway. He said he was okay cleaning up; I had to take him at his word. I looked back over my shoulder to see him pulling glass out of the door frame. Miles really was very sweet. I smiled to myself as I walked down to the bathroom. I found the first aid kit, opened it and pulled out the blue bottle of a cleanser. I made
sure I was using the right stuff then started squirting it over my fingers on my right hand. Oh, holy shit!

  “Ow, mother fucker, that fucking hurts.” I cursed as the cleanser did its job, making the cuts on my fingers burn. I poured some more on till I was sure the cuts were clean. “Shit, shit, shit.” I kept cursing over and over. I heard a vacuum running in the house. I smiled to myself. Miles must have finished with the doors and remembered that I wanted to vacuum to be sure I got the rest of the glass. I focused back on what I was doing. I took a deep breath and squirted the cleanser over the cuts on my left hand. “Shit, shit, shit.” I kept cursing as I forced myself to clean the cuts till I was sure it was done. My hands were shaking as I washed with soap and water. I dried my hands and took a good look at the cuts on my fingers. A few were deeper than I thought. I pulled a couple bandages out of the kit to cover my deeper cuts. Ooh, they were a pretty blue color, I liked them better than the beige ones. I ended up with three on my right hand and two on my left. I put everything back in the kit and put it away. I made sure to throw the trash away before leaving the bathroom. I was almost to the kitchen when I heard the guy’s voices coming through the doorway.

  “Why didn’t you guys help Lexie?” Miles' voice drifted from the kitchen. Curious, I stopped walking to listen in.

  “What are you talking about?” Zeke asked with his gravely voice.

  “Where is she anyway?” Ethan’s smoky voice chimed in.

  “With what?” Isaac asked.

  “She’s been cleaning up the mess from last night.” Miles announced. I bit my lip wondering where he was going with this. Was he mad at me for cleaning? “When I got home she was kneeling in the foyer, pulling out the broken glass from the living room doors. She said it was so I could get them repaired before my Mother got back.” There was tense silence from the kitchen. I bit the corner of my lower lip. “Where were you guys?” A few heartbeats of silence went by.

  “I didn’t hear her say anything about cleaning the mess up.” Zeke said honestly. He was right; he hadn’t been in the room when I mentioned it.

  “She mentioned that we needed to clean it up when we got here.” Ethan admitted.

  “I told her to let the maid handle it.” Isaac explained sounding uncertain. “She didn’t mention it again.”

  “Because she was out there taking care of it.” Miles informed them his voice still calm. “While she was pulling the glass she told me she was going to vacuum the living room next to make sure she got all the glass up.” I smiled to myself, Miles was lecturing the guys. It sounded like he was giving them a guilt trip for not helping me clean up. But it didn’t sound like he was trying to do that. More like he was letting them know what had happened, and the guilt trip wasn’t intentional, it was just a side effect. I liked Miles.

  “I’ll go do that.” Isaac offered. Wood scraped across the tile.

  “I already did it.” Miles said his voice still calm and neutral. “After I sent her to wash up, I finished the doors and vacuumed the living room.”

  “Why’d she have to wash up?” Zeke’s voice sounded like he had already guessed the reason and was just looking for confirmation.

  “She cut her hands up cleaning all the glass off the floor.” Miles told them honestly. The other guys cursed. “So, next time she mentions all of us cleaning something up, you guys might want to check to make sure she’s not just doing it herself.” The guys agreed sounding apologetic. I tiptoed back down the hallway and closed the bathroom door a little harder than I needed to. Not a slam, just a hard close. Then I walked back up the hall and into the kitchen as if I hadn’t heard a thing. Everyone looked at me. I smiled, went to the fridge and pulled out a cold bottle of water. I came over to the breakfast bar and stood next to Miles across from the guys. I was opening my bottle when Miles broke the silence.

  “So, you did have some deep ones.” He asked gesturing at my fingers.

  “Not that deep, just bad enough to need a band aid for a couple days.” I held up my bandaged fingers and wiggled them. “Look. I got blue.” I said trying to show the guys I wasn’t mad at them. Miles smiled down at me.

  “Sorry Lexie, I didn’t realize you were cleaning up the living room.” Zeke’s voice was sincere. I shrugged.

  “Sorry Red, next time just smack us if we aren’t listening.” Isaac offered wincing.

  “Sorry Beautiful, I just thought you were taking some girl time away from us guys.” Ethan shrugged his face apologetic.

  “It’s okay; you guys can do dishes tonight.” I waited a beat before adding. “And tomorrow.” I waited another beat. “And the day after that.” I leaned over to Miles and stage whispered. “Think I could get any more out of them than that?” Miles looked like he was actually considering it. Zeke was shaking his head the corner of his mouth twitching, the twins looked like they were expecting bad news.

  “You’d be pushing your luck.” Miles stage whispered back. “But if you pout, I think you can get a couple more days.” Zeke’s face went hard as he got to his feet.

  “No, no, no.” Zeke pointed at me as he headed out of the room. “I’m not dealing with that fucking pout again.” He strode from the room fuming. I burst out laughing, the other guys looked confused. Isaac ran to the doorway.

  “Is it really that bad?!” Isaac shouted down the hall.

  “Find out for yourself!” Zeke shouted back. Everyone started laughing. When I managed to get control of myself, I opened my water bottle as I looked up at Miles.

  “What took you so long to get home?” Miles smirked at me and pulled a new cell phone out of his pocket.

  “Had to pick up a new phone, my other one is still in the pool.” Miles turned it on and swiped at the screen. I pulled out my phone and handed it to him.

  “Share contacts, it’ll be faster.” Miles grinned and took my phone. I leaned over the breakfast counter to grab a chip out of the bag. I had just popped it into my mouth when Zeke walked back in, his book bag over his shoulder.

  “I saw that.” He snapped from the doorway. I narrowed my eyes at him, grabbed another chip and popped it in my mouth while he watched. I chewed then swallowed it.

  “You saw that too.” I said stating the obvious before turning to the others. “Let’s get our homework out of the way.” The twins shared a grin and got up. Miles agreed. Zeke came over and put the chips up high where I couldn’t reach them. I like a challenge.

  Chapter 14

  Asher came in from practice an hour later. He called from the front door that he needed a shower and he’ll be down in a bit. I finished my rough draft for my World Civ essay on my laptop and decided I wanted a snack. I got up and headed into the kitchen. As I passed the living room, I noticed that Miles had rearranged the furniture. One leather couch faced the fireplace with the coffee table in front of it and the other was just to the left of the coffee table. It looked nice.

  I had just pulled down the chips from Zeke's hiding spot when Asher came in. His hair still wet from the shower. He was wearing dark gray sweatpants and a blue t-shirt. He looked up and went still. Then he smiled.

  “Ally girl, why are you standing on the counter?” He asked smiling. I sat down on the counter.

  “Because Zeke hid the chips too high for me to reach.” I grinned wickedly. “Or so he thought.” Asher laughed as I opened the bag and ate a chip. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you in your jammies?” I asked before eating another chip. Asher smiled as he dug in the pantry.

  “Yes, I am. No point in getting dressed again when I’m just going to bed soon anyway.” He said turning around with his hands full of ingredients. I scooted over to the breakfast bar to give him more work room as I watched him collect some chicken and fresh veggies from the fridge. I sat cross-legged on the tiled counter and watched him working in the kitchen.

  “What ya doing?” He smiled as he pulled out a cutting board with the word meat burned into it.

  “I, am cooking dinner for everyone.” He went to the sink and washed his
hands. “Do you want to help?”

  “Sure.” I hopped down from the counter then gave him an appraising eye. “Do I need to be in my jammies?” Asher chuckled.

  “Yes, this is a wearing jammies cooking night.” Asher declared before tilting his head toward the doorway. “Hurry and change.” I hurried out the door then jogged down the hall. I went into the master bedroom and changed into my black flannel bottoms. A faded black Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt. I redid my messy bun and hurried back to the kitchen. Asher was cutting up the chicken, so I went to the kitchen and washed my hands.

  “Okay, what do you want me to do?” I asked drying my hands. Asher stopped cutting chicken and gestured me over near him. He pointed at a drawer.

  “Open the drawer and take out the cutting board that says veggies on it.” He instructed keeping his hands away from anything. I pulled out the cutting board. He seemed to think for a second then went to wash his hands. “We’re making stir fry chicken, with a yellow curry sauce.” He quickly washed his hand and then was back beside me. He pulled out a smaller knife then he’d been using on the chicken. Then he grabbed the head of broccoli and put it on my cutting board.

  “Normally I make the sauce myself, but I still have homework to do so we’re going with the jar kind tonight.” He grumbled as he set the knife on the cutting board. “Stir fry is all about the prep.” He began to explain. I noticed that small light was back in his eyes. “Stir fry cooking is fast and at high heat. The pain is cutting everything up, especially for this many people.” I nodded. “Do you know how to cut up raw broccoli?” I shook my head. He smiled down at me before putting the broccoli back and grabbing a bunch of carrots. “Okay, let's start with knife cuts on the carrots.” That light in his eyes was getting bigger as he became more animated. “What you’re going to do is julienne cuts. This is how you do it.” He took an already washed carrot and it into large chunks about an inch long. He cut the sides off till it was a block of carrot. Then he made slices out of that block. He then stacked the slices and cut down the sides creating little pieces of carrot. He did it so quickly it was obvious he’d done this a lot. “You got that Ally?”