say? “I guess I forgive you.”
He grinned like a child and jumped up to hug me. But he realized what he was doing and stepped back a little. “They say hugging can cure PMS.”
“Yeah,” I said back. Standing from the side I could see Aaron roll his eyes.
“OKAY! I DID IT!” Travis shouted to the direction of where Shannon and Carter were talking. I quietly fell back to Eric. And then we went back into the cars, from which we came.
I sat back in the closet, except this time the door wasn’t shut. Eric had trusted me enough to not escape. And now there are high hopes for my rash to get better. Aaron dumped himself onto Eric’s bed, while Eric sat by his desk.
“This is a very interesting situation,” Aaron said, a bit delayed. Hasn’t the shock of finding out his cousin is a kidnapper already come and gone?
“What is?” Eric asked is a smooth tone.
Aaron smiled in a diabolical way. “Like you don’t already know?” He said. So this wasn’t about my recent kidnapping?
Eric glared at Aaron, leaving me in a daze. “Why don’t you stop talking?” He said.
“Okay, okay.” Aaron said, leaning his back against the bed. He raised his arms in the air for a quick stretch. “What the hell are we suppose to do now?”
Eric opened his laptop and it gave a buzzing sound to indicate that is had powered on. He clicked his way in and said without looking up, “I know what you can do. You can go back to your dorm.”
Aaron grumbled something impolite to Eric. He went quiet for a moment, before shouting his idea. “I know! We can play some video games!”
Eric rolled his eyes. “I haven’t touched any of my video games since two years ago.” Aaron grimaced at Eric’s tone realizing what he meant. Eric hasn’t played since his friends have all gone away. Though the sympathy didn’t last too long because Aaron got up and walk to Eric, slamming shut his computer.
“Well then, let’s change that.”
We settled down in the living room, a bowl of Doritos and soda cans on the coffee table.
Eric cautiously handed me a controller. I looked at him. “Aren’t you going to play?”
“I think you’ve been the most bored.” He leaned near my ear and whispered, “Aaron has trouble with his left hand in games. Use that as an advantage.” I sighed slightly. Eric and I were never that close, but little by little he’s changing that.
“So are you ready to get your ass kicked, Dorothy?”Aaron asked curtly.
“Oh?” I said through my teeth. “I think you will be the one that is getting the ass kicked.” Eric switched on the game for us.
Aaron kept bragging on about how awesome he played this old school game. I began getting annoyed. Eric consecutively gave me signals for me to use his weakness, but I shook my head. I wasn’t ready for that yet. I’m saving that for last.
Eric continually brought us snacks and drinks for us to eat. I barely touched that (Aaron and Eric were the ones that devoured that mess), aside from the drinks. So finally Eric brought a fruit cup, smiling as he handed it to me. “I know you wanted something fruity.”
“Health nerd,” Aaron muttered as he pushed hard on one of the buttons. I pushed another one, kicking his character in the back.
I ignored Aaron and took the fruit, “Thanks,” I said.
We played for an hour and a half and then headlights of a car pulled into the driveway. “Uh.” Eric stood up abruptly, but neither of us noticed the anxiety that he emitted. “You have to—”
I was too deep in the game to pay attention to Eric. I was so close to killing Aaron, I could taste the victory on my tongue.
“You guys?” Eric said.
Aaron lashed me from behind. His sword was totally diffusing its presence to me, but I kicked Aaron’s chest and he fell back. I used the controller to make it so that he would have to use the left controls. Pow, kick, pow again. Finally.
“YES!” I jumped up on top of the couch, with the controller still in my hands. “I beat you! I BEAT YOU, AARON REED!” I shouted as loud as my voice would let me.
“Dorothy,” Eric hissed, but I still couldn’t hear him. I was busy now, doing a victory dance on top of the couch. It wasn’t until the door slam shut that I came back to my senses.
A middle-aged women stood in the doorway, her eyebrows pulled down, perplexed. “Eric, you brought a girl home?” She said this as if it’s been the last thought on her mind. Her brown hair cascaded around her face and shoulders. Long and thin, I could tell. Eric and his mom were the same in the nose and mouth, but her eyes glowed light brown. Eric’s were dead gray.
“Mom….” Eric said, but too lost for words.
Eric’s mom stared at me for quite some time. I began wondering if she saw me on the news. She took her eyes off of me to yank her brown leather jacket off. “What’s your name, sweetie?” She asked.
“My name is…” I didn’t know what to say. This was my window out. I could tell her everything, and be gone. But I thought about Eric and that shut me down completely. I couldn’t tell her my real name, he trusted me. “Dora.”
“That’s a sweet name. I had an old high school friend named Dora.” She said, musing about her past. “Will you be staying for dinner? I’m going to be making Fettuccine Alfredo.”
“I uh—”
“Yes. She would love to stay for dinner,” he answered. Aaron and Eric cleaned out the living room, picking up the bowls and soda cans all over the floor. I stood there, muddled on what I should do. But Eric’s mother motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen.
We both went into her the tiny kitchen, and she took out a box of noodles from her cabinet. “Eric’s favorite is Fettuccine,” she said. I nodded, not really sure what to say. I began to nibble at the edge of my lip, but her sweet voice took me by suprise.
“Don’t bit your lip honey,” I looked up to see her eyes on me. I let my lip fall back out of my mouth. “It’s a bad habit.” She poured out the box into the pot filled with boiling water. She pointed to one of the cabinets next to the fridge and I found the sauce she wanted. I handed it to her. “I’m so glad Eric has a girlfriend.”
That stalled me for a second before I came to my senses. Girlfriend didn’t necessarily mean girlfriend, it also means a girl who is a friend. So instead of correcting her, if she was thinking the wrong thing, I decided to go along with it. “Yeah.” I shrugged.
“It’s been so long….” she started but didn’t continue. That made me wonder. It’s been so long for what? Eric having any human contact? Aaron’s with him. Eric with a girl? Shannon, I would say, but not after what she said. Although I still think it would count, Shannon and Eric would have a chance if they would at least give it a shot.
“Aside from Shannon,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. My eyebrows rose, but quickly fell when she continued. “I mean, I love that girl to death. Don’t get me wrong.” I laughed out loud because I suspected what was coming. “She is one tough girl, possibly too tough. But her mother and I are best friends, so I know how she was raised.” A silent smile formed on her lips.
“Yeah. Shannon’s cool.” I said but then realizing I was talking to Eric’s mom, not a teenager.
“Oh, so you met her?”
“M-hm.” I said, resisting the urge to bit my lip again. This is weird. I never really bit my lip. She pointed to the cabinets.
“Set the table, will you please dear?”
“So mom was all like, ‘You better make sure you never do that stuff again.’ And I’m like, ‘Please do me a favor and leave.’” Aaron finished off his story with a good hardy laugh. Eric rolled his eyes, while his mom just sat there, with a slight smile.
“You mother just worries about your well-being.” She defended.
“I’m nineteen. I deserve some breather space. So I thank you greatly for letting me stay here for the school break, Aunt Macy.” He said.
“That and your parents being on a cruise and all.” Eric said, disrupting the mood. Aaron glar
ed at Eric.
“Dora, can you pass the cheese?” Macy said to me, pointing out the cheese in front of my dish. I handed it over to her. “You two need to be nice to each other.” She spoke to them. “We have a guest.”
“Who, Dora?” Aaron smirked at me, probably because of the fake name. He waved a hand to me. “She already knows how we act. Nothing but a lie if we’re nice all of a sudden.” He stuffed a fork full of food in his mouth.
“Aaron’s the one being a jerk, honestly,” Eric said, eating some food off of his plate.
“Whatever,” She sighed. I could easily understand. Boys were weird.
After dinner, I wanted to get up and help put the dishes in the sink, but Macy just shook her head at me. So I stayed put while Eric and Aaron grabbed the plates and condiments. I sat amazed—who knew they both had good table manners.
Macy took me to the living room again and we sat on the couch to talk. Eventually Eric and Aaron joined us. We pretty much talked about college with Aaron, school with Eric and me, and work with Macy. I quickly found out she was a nurse. Working full hours; that’s why her schedule was so crazy. We talked pretty much for an hour. It felt like nothing, like I wasn’t talking to a parent at all. Macy was so down to earth.
Eric “walked” me out to my house. He lied to his mom (I don’t know about him, but I cringed a little at the lie), telling her that my house was right down the street.
The streetlights made glowing pathways down the sidewalk. But the pitch-black sky made it