“You said the guys are used to you hooking up with girls in the afternoon. Just run out there and tell him you have a girl in here.”
“If I run out there, it’ll look suspicious.”
“And me getting in the closet won’t be?”
“He’s not gonna go searching through my closet.”
“What if he needs to borrow a shirt?”
“He’s home in the middle of the afternoon because he needs to borrow a shirt from me?”
“I don’t know, but what if—”
There’s a knock on my door.
“Go,” I whisper, pushing Avalon into my closet.
I take a breath and swing open my door.
“Hey, Jere,” I say. “I didn’t expect you to be home this early.”
“Yeah, my class got out early, so I was gonna head to the rink and get some skating time in, but realized I didn’t have any of my gear,” he replies.
“And you want me to come with you? Sorry man, I can’t, I’m going to see my mom and—”
“Oh, I know. I wasn’t gonna ask you to come, but I grabbed my bag and realized you borrowed my hockey stick after practice yesterday because you were gonna play a one-on-one game with Marcus.”
“Right… your hockey stick,” I continue. “That’s in my closet.”
Avalon’s never gonna let me live this down. I knew I should’ve had her hide under my bed.
“So, can I have it?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course you can. Um—”
“Oh shit,” he gasps. “Are you with someone right now?”
“Whaaaat?” My voice cracks. “W-why would you think that?”
He points toward the ceiling, and my eyes follow until I notice the bra hanging from one of the blades. I can’t help but laugh. How neither of us saw her bra dangling from the ceiling is beyond me.
“Shit, man, you are.” He takes a step back. “Sorry, dude. I’ll steal Brooks's hockey stick out of his room or something. Sorry.” The second one he says a little louder, like it’s not directed toward me, but towardmy guest.
I give him a small nod as he walks down the hall, and I swear I hear him laugh. I can’t blame him… the situation is comical.
“Coast is clear.”
Avalon comes out of the closet and repeatedly smacks me in the chest with one of her shoes.
“Ow, what was that for?”
“The closet! He almost came to the closet. The place you were sure was a perfect hiding spot.”
“But he didn’t.”
“Because he realized you had a guest!” she yells. “How did he know you had company?”
I point toward the ceiling.