The Guys Next Door

by Amber Thielman

  “Isn’t that hard?” he asked.

  “Hard as hell,” Ty said. “But in the end, it will be worth it, right?”

  “If you’re so smart, why are you a dancer?” Noah demanded. I flushed, but Ty didn’t seem to mind as he reached over and picked up Noah’s pencil to hand it to him.

  “School doesn’t pay for itself, kiddo,” he said. “Now let’s see what we can do about your math.”

  I turned my attention back to the paper under my nose, glad that Noah was opening up to Ty and accepting his help. Even little things were better than boxing himself up in his room and locking the door.

  I glanced down at the sheet of paper sprawled in front of me, letting my fingers trace over the indents on the paper, envisioning Elijah’s face in my mind. After a moment, my fingers paused, and I focused my gaze on a name I had written that was not Elijah’s.

  Jesse.

  JESSE?

  Embarrassed, I yanked the piece of paper off the tabletop and scrunched it into a ball. My face felt like it was flaming red under the lights of the club. No one was paying me any mind, but I was still humiliated. Jesse? Where had that come from?

  “Hey, Liv, Ty’s even better at this than you are,” Noah said, poking his tongue out at me.

  “Who isn’t?” I said. “Math is stupid.” I reached for a handful of pretzels from the snack bowl and munched on them, trying not to look too far into the name I had written down without even noticing it. I didn’t like Jesse. I liked Elijah.

  “Are you okay, Liv?” Ed asked. He was behind the bar counter, sorting bottles of liquor. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “She’s probably thinking about her boyfriend,” Noah said before I could speak up. “She’s in love.”

  “Shut up,” I snapped. “I am not in love.”

  “Are too.”

  “Are not.”

  “Are too!” Noah glared at me from across the table, his eyes squinty and annoyed.

  I wanted to reach over and smack him, but I resisted the urge and munched on the pretzels instead. It was an hour later when Audrey finally came out to greet us. She looked drained as if she had been arguing with someone and had lost the battle.

  “I had to let Josie go,” she said to Ed and Ty. “I need to find a choreographer who will do the job right.” Ed looked over at Ty. He was smirking.

  “You owe me five bucks.”

  “Whatever,” Ty said. “She was annoying anyway.”

  Audrey sat down on one of the bar stools and put her head in her hands. I wanted to comfort her, but I had no idea what to say. I hadn’t even met Josie.

  “How is homework going, Noah?” Audrey asked, glancing between them. “Anything I can do to help?”

  “Nah,” said Noah. “Ty’s not bad at this.” Helping herself to a beer, Audrey took a seat next to me at the table and leaned back, popping her back and neck.

  “One good thing did happen today,” she said with a grin. “Jake asked me on a date.” Her eyes were sparkling with pure joy, like a child on Christmas. I wracked my memory, trying to recall meeting a Jake since we’d been in the city.

  “Who?”

  “Jake!” said Audrey. “Jake Devereaux.”

  I squinted at her.

  “Devereaux as in—my history teacher?” I asked. All at once Audrey’s face fell, the giddy smile was gone. She clasped her hands together.

  “You’re angry.”

  It took a moment to sink in, so I stayed silent. Mr. Devereaux, my teacher. Audrey, my aunt. That was weird.

  “Oh, God,” I groaned. “You didn’t.”

  “Well,” she said. “Yes. I did.” Without meaning to, I remembered Emma’s harmless comment. I thought of Mr. Devereaux pulling me aside at the end of class, and my heart sank into my stomach. Something seemed wrong—maybe a little bit too convenient on my teacher’s part.

  “Did I hear that Audrey has man candy now?” called Avery as he walked in from the back room. He stopped in front of us, put one hand on his hip and the other over his heart, and sighed dramatically. “Our baby girl is growing up.”

  “Knock it off,” said Audrey. “I’ve dated people.”

  “Of course you have, sweetie,” Ed assured her. “Just not in this lifetime.”

  Even Noah smiled at that one. Audrey, ignoring them, sipped at her beer.

  “Are you okay with this, Liv?” she asked. “I don’t want to upset you. I will call it off if you don’t approve.” I wanted to tell her it was too late, that I was already upset, but I didn’t. I dropped my pen and squared my shoulders, thinking of Jake Devereaux’s smiling face. I wasn’t okay with it, but I would not say so. Audrey deserved to be happy, too, especially if Mr. Devereaux had no hidden agendas. He seemed like a good person, and Audrey needed someone like him in her life.

  “Go for it,” I said finally. “Just please, please don’t make out with him on the couch.”

  By Friday, I still had heard nothing from Elijah. It was rare to find him near me in school, so I spent the week crying into my lunch like a love-struck teenager—which was precisely what I was. Emma offered words of comfort at first, but as the end of the week neared and my desperation grew, her words of support turned into sighs of annoyance and rolling of the eyes. At one point, she even offered to punch him in the face, but after careful consideration, I turned her down. Jesse seemed not only smug about the whole ordeal, but also amused. I waited and waited for him to say, “I told you so” in my face, but he never did. I tried not to think too hard about the name I had written down on the paper the other day, the name surrounded by tacky hearts and smiley faces. I figured if I could pretend that had never happened, maybe it didn’t. I knew I was pathetic, but knowing that didn’t make the pain of Elijah’s rejection go away.

  “You deserve better,” Emma said as we walked into the apartment after school. “He should have talked to you already.”

  “She’s right, sis,” said Noah. “This guy sounds like a real d-bag.” Lately, I was glad to see that my brother was finally opening up and pulling himself out of that dark hole he had been in. It was nice to talk to him without snide comments or days and days of brooding. He was getting along better with Audrey and had become close with Ty, who all week had been Noah’s official math guru. He had even accepted that Mr. Devereaux had been over for dinner three times that week, especially when he had come bearing gifts of the candy sort - much to Audrey’s dismay. Unfortunately, I was slacking—in every department. Thinking about Elijah had come before everything this week, and the people in my life seemed tired of it.

  “So, what’s it like to have Jake over here all the time now?” Emma asked, dropping her backpack onto my bed.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “It makes Audrey happy, so whatever.” Emma plopped down on the bed and crossed her ankles, staring at the Michael Jackson posters on my wall.

  “You don’t think he’s dating Audrey just to see what kind of a guardian she is to you and Noah?” she asked. I looked at her, my eyebrows furrowing.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Not really.”

  “No, I don’t think that’s the case at all,” I said. “He and Audrey are quite cute together.”

  “What does he think about the club?” she asked. I hesitated, trying to recall if I had been around for any conversation between the two about it. After a moment of silence, Emma’s eyes went wide, and her tone took on a frantic hush. “Do you think she even told him?”

  “She had to,” I said. “Right? I mean, it’s not something you can hide under the bed and never speak of.”

  “Or maybe it is.” Emma grinned, looking intrigued. I knew she was getting a kick out of this—the girl was a drama queen. “Can you imagine how that ‘getting to know you’ question would go? Well, let’s see, I’m a new guardian and a successful businesswoman—what’s my business? Oh, a strip club’.” She giggled. I had the sudden urge to smack her, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. She’d hit a sore spot, apparently.

&
nbsp; “It’s not a strip club,” I said, ready to throw out my defense for Audrey.

  But Emma was already onto something else. “Wanna go out tonight?”

  “I can’t,” I said. “We’ll be at the club. Audrey’s in the middle of renovations.”

  “I’m jelly,” she said. “What’s it like being able to hang out with a bunch of sexy dancers?”

  “Surprisingly normal,” I admitted, and then thought of Avery. “For the most part.”

  “Not much is normal about it,” Emma said with a laugh. “I don’t think I’d ever be able to get used to it.”

  “They’re like family,” I admitted. “To Noah and me.”

  “You’re lucky, you know,” Emma said. She sounded almost wistful. “Some adopted families are better than the real thing.”

  When Emma left two hours later, Noah and I took a cab to the club. It was a routine we were getting used to, heading to the club after school. Once there, Ty would help Noah with his homework while Audrey took care of paperwork. The guys were usually around, and I knew it was so they could help Audrey with the renovations. Tonight, Marisol was there too.

  “Why the long face, baby?” she asked when we walked in.

  I hadn’t realized I looked any different from usual, but I knew she was right. Not so pleasant things had been on my mind.

  “Guy problems,” said Noah, and he rolled his eyes.

  “What did I tell you about men? They’re dogs.” She filled two glasses with juice and set them on the table in front of us.

  “Now hold on, honey,” Avery said as he came down from the stage. He had a shirt on today, a bright pink one with MY God Thinks I’m Fabulous! scribbled across the front. He sat down at the table and slid the glass of juice over to me. “Do you like this boy?” he asked. “Really, really like him?” I sighed and rested my chin in my hand, thinking of Elijah’s handsome face and sweet smile.

  “I like him a lot,” I admitted. All at once, an image of Jesse flashed into my mind, catching me off guard. Heat rose to my cheeks, stunningly warm, and I forced the image from my head.

  “Is he cute?” asked Avery.

  “He’s cute,” I said, and thought of Jesse’s smiling face again.

  “But not as cute as me, right?”

  “No one is as cute as you, Avery, and they would be crazy to think they were,” I said.

  Avery raised his eyebrows, seeming pleased with that answer. He reached for his apple martini and took a dainty sip.

  “I say go for it, sister,” he said. “Make that boy want you. Monday, before you go to school, find your sexiest outfit. Do you own a mini skirt?”

  “Um. I don’t think I—”

  “Don’t listen to him, Liv,” said Marisol from behind the bar. She dropped the hand towel from her fingers, grabbed a bottle of beer, and came around the counter to join us at the table. She sat down next to Avery, who then kissed her on the cheek. Marisol popped the top off her beer and took a long drink. “You’re a bright, beautiful young woman,” she said. She looked at Avery. “And so are you, honey, but we’re focusing on Olivia today.”

  “You didn’t like that short skirt idea?” said Avery. He pouted. He batted his lashes at me. “That’s how I get my men.”

  “By wearing a short skirt around town?” asked Ed as he came from the costume room. “I thought that was you the other day, Avery.”

  “Indeed, it was, handsome,” said Avery. “You noticed, didn’t you?”

  “You’re hard to miss, sweetheart,” said Marisol. She smiled and turned back. “You don’t need a short skirt to get a man’s attention.” She looked at Ed when she said that. He looked back at her, too, but only briefly. She leaned in toward me and lowered her voice. “Play hard to get. Works every time.” The front door slammed, and we all turned to see Ty, juggling two boxes full of CDs. He stopped mid-step when he caught us all staring.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” said Marisol. She rested her chin in her hand and stared at Ty. “We were just telling Olivia here the best way to get a man.” Ty set the boxes down nearly at the stage and looked back and forth between each of us. Then he scoffed.

  “Let me guess,” he said, catching my gaze. “Avery suggested you dress like a street whore and Mari said play hard to get.”

  I laughed. “That’s exactly right.”

  “Do you have a better suggestion?” demanded Mari. She finished her beer and got up to get another. Ty shrugged.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I guess I do.”

  “And what is that?” asked Avery. “The girl’s got class. She should use it to her advantage.”

  “Avery, I don’t think that word means what you think it means,” Ed said with a laugh.

  Ty shrugged. “Just tell him how you feel.”

  “And then what?”

  “The worst he can do is reject you,” Ty said.

  I stared at him slack-jawed as a silence fell over the room. “That’s horrible!” I cried. He looked puzzled, as though he had no idea what he’d said wrong.

  “What’s horrible?”

  “You’re a man,” Marisol cut in. “You don’t understand how rejection feels. It hurts.” Again, she looked at Ed, who looked away.

  For a moment, I wanted to shake some sense into the both and plead that they get past whatever issues they had been going through, but I knew I couldn’t. Ed and Mari were adults. I would have to keep my nose out of this one.

  “Fine,” said Ty. “If he breaks your heart, I’ll break his face.”

  “Make love, not war,” said Avery. Noah was giggling. It was nice to hear him laugh.

  “I’m serious,” Ty said. He leaned down onto the table, supporting himself with his forearms. “Monday at school, talk to him. That’s the best advice anyone can give you. You won’t know what’s going on until you try.”

  Monday came too soon, and by lunchtime, I was fumbling over my words and tripping over the floor. Emma claimed she agreed with Ty—that the only way I would know what was going on was if I talked to him. Jesse, who was looking somewhat cute with a new haircut and glasses, pleaded more than once that I let it move on. But I knew I couldn’t. Even if it would be a rejection, I had to take it. I had to know. I had rarely been so nervous, but I forced a deep breath and sought Elijah, who I found standing by his locker playing on his phone. He saw me approach and looked up, an expression I couldn’t place suddenly on his face.

  “Olivia, hi,” he said, snapping his phone shut.

  For a second, I felt like he was trying to hide something from me, but I brushed it off. We could both be civil adults here. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks.” He sounded nervous as if I’d caught him in a dirty act.

  “Imagine that,” I said, and cleared my throat.

  Elijah put his math book down and turned to face me, sensing it must be semi-serious. “What’s up?” he said.

  I looked down at my fingers and then back up at him, remembering Ty’s words. “Here’s the thing,” I said. “I kept putting it off and putting it off, but finally I realized I just had to come right out and say it.” I paused and took another breath. My voice was shaking. My hands were trembling now, damp with sweat. I wiped them on my jeans. “I like you,” I said. “I like you a lot.”

  Elijah stared at me for a full minute without speaking. His face went from tan to red, and then to dark crimson. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he let a long loud breath out and cleared his throat.

  “Jeez, Liv—I mean thanks. But—” He frowned. “We need to talk.” There it was.

  All the air escaped my lungs in a huge whoosh. Everyone knew what that phrase meant. There was no getting around it. I couldn’t turn and run now—it was too late. I had insisted on doing it this way, so I must face the consequences.

  “I like you, too,” he said. He looked sad, a little bit like a scolded puppy dog. I wondered why he was the one looking sad. The sad look was mine. “I just—I still have feelings for my ex.”

  “Gw
en?” I said. Her name tasted bitter on my tongue, which was sad because I hadn’t even met the girl. Not that I wanted to now.

  “Yes, Gwen,” said Elijah. Her name sounded even worse coming from him—a name he didn’t mind saying because it belonged to a girl he was still in love with. “But we can still be friends, you know?” he said. “You’re a cool chick.”

  “Thanks, I think.” I was on the verge of breaking down into tears. Coming from anyone else, that would have been a compliment. But coming from Elijah—it made me want to punch him in the face.

  “Chin up,” he said. He reached out and flicked my chin.

  My fists tightened at my side.

  “I’ll see you around, Liv. Some things just aren’t meant to be.”

  I watched him walk away, feeling both devastated and furious all simultaneously. Emma, who had been eavesdropping from a distance, joined my side, her workbooks clutched to her chest.

  “What a ginormous dill weed,” she said. “Want me to beat him up?”

  “Violence never solved anything,” I said. The truth was I wanted to hit him myself. I knew I would enjoy it, too.

  “Look, whatever.” Emma gave a halfhearted shrug and shifted her weight to the other foot. “I think this calls for a girls’ night.”

  “I don’t want to get drunk again.”

  “I didn’t say we had to get drunk.”

  “I assumed.”

  “Stop assuming! We can have a slumber party at your aunt’s house with ice cream and movies.” I pondered the idea, remembering I had to stop by the club to drop off Audrey’s iPad.

  “That sounds good,” I said. “But first we need to go to the club. You down?”

  “Am I down?” Emma repeated. “I don’t think I want to go to some strip club to ogle over some half-naked, ripped guy,” she said, sounding offended. “God, Liv, what do you think of me?” She grinned

  A shout from a few lockers down made us both jump. Emma and I turned to look, stunned to see Elijah on the ground, squirming on the dirty tile as he held a hand over his face.

  “My nose!” he was screeching. “I think you broke my nose!”