Mercury’s pain made me tear up as well. “I’ll call you,” I told her. “Often.”
“You lie,” she said, pulling her legs up and sniffling into her knees.
“I’m serious, Mercury. I’ll call, like, every day. You’ll be so sick of me. Promise.”
She looked up at me with Precious Moment eyes. “Promise?”
“Double promise,” I said.
She took a deep breath and composed herself before getting up and heading toward the door. “Every day,” she insisted one more time as she whipped back around.
“Every single day, Mercury.”
Mercury left my room and before long, I heard her door shut.
“Poor kid,” Frankie admitted quietly. “I don’t blame her. I’d be beside myself too at the possibility of being here all alone here for the next four years with those two nutters downstairs with their homemade granola and astronomy readers.”
I smiled. “You are an idiot, Frankenstein.”
“I know,” she acquiesced.
I narrowed my frivolities and shoved them into my case, shut the lid, and zipped it closed.
“There,” I said. “Done.”
“Wait,” Frankie said. “I have a parting gift for you.”
She bolted out of my room before I could even acknowledge her. I could hear her leave the front door open for a moment before returning and shoving it closed. She climbed the winding staircase and reemerged in my bedroom carrying a large box.
“Oh, Frankie,” I said, my eyes tearing up. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Please,” she said, shoving the box into my hands with an ungraceful push and avoiding eye contact.
“What did you do?” I asked, reading her body language.
“It’s nothing, okay? My parents got me a new one and I asked if I could give this one to you and they said yes, so just take it already and shut up.”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling and set the box on my bed before prying the lid open. I gasped. “Frank!” I exclaimed. “I can’t take this!” I insisted, staring down at the laptop she’d only gotten eight months before.
“You can and you will, you annoying minx.”
“This is practically brand new!”
“So what? My parents got me a new one for when I start college in the fall and this would have been wasted on my brother since he has his own gaming station and all that.”
Big fat tears fell down my face, landing on top of the smooth silver metal surface of the computer she’d handed me.
“You’re such a liar,” I told her.
Her mouth gaped open as she tried to fight her knowing smile.
“Listen, I wasn’t about to let you go to your first class with a freaking notepad and pen like a first grader. We have a reputation to uphold.”
I threw my arms around her before pulling back, a watery smile plastered across my face. “No one knows you in Seattle, Franks.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, straightening her clothes. She looked at her feet, avoiding my eyes. “Well, anyway. Uh, let’s go get some ice cream or something.” She turned around and headed for the door.
“Are you crying?” I teased.
“No,” she lied.
“You’re crying!”
“I am not, idiot, now come on.”
“Fine, let’s go,” I said, grabbing my purse, heading down the staircase, and following her outside. When our feet hit sand, I threw my arm around her neck as we walked to her car. “Thank you, doofus. Love you.”
“Love you too, dumb ass,” she said, squeezing me around the waist.
We hopped into her jeep and peeled out onto my street toward the strip near our houses with little shops. Frank turned BØRNS on and we sang at the top of our lungs the entire way, reveling in our last day together.
Chapter Six
I woke up at five a.m. the morning Ezra was to come, my stomach in incredible knots. I’d laid out my clothes. I hadn’t put much thought into them other than I just wanted to be comfortable for the first of many long days driving across the United States.
I still could not believe I was moving to Seattle. The average summer temperature in the Keys was a balmy ninety degrees. In the winter? Our lowest low last year, the temperature everyone broke jackets out for? Sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Seattle’s average winter temperature is thirty-six degrees, and their winters start early from what I’d read online.
I grabbed my phone and searched Seattle’s current temperature.
“Sixty-one degrees,” I whispered. The hand holding my phone dropped to my side.
I’d packed jeans and T-shirts in my bag because they were the warmest I could find in my wardrobe full of cutoff shorts and tanks. I didn’t even own a long-sleeved shirt, let alone a coat. I had a pretty sweater jacket, but that was mostly for looks, not functionality.
“What am I doing?” I asked no one. “How am I going to survive up there? I don’t even have the clothes I need, not to mention I’ll be all alone.” I sat down at the edge of my bed, dejected, my outlook feeling bleak.
My phone dinged, alerting me to a text. I brought the screen up to my face.
get your ass up and stop feeling sorry for yourself whatever problem you’ve invented is bull and you will overcome it
A few seconds pause then…
You are woman! Hear you roar!
I laughed at Frankie’s texts, tears streaming down my face at how grateful I was to her, and amazed at how well she knew me.
thanks Helen Reddy
welcome now shut up i actually need some sleep
I tossed my phone aside and stood up a renewed person. Frank was right. Anything life threw at me, I could bat it out of the freaking ballpark. I hopped in the shower, shaved my legs, and put my underwear and bra on while I dried my hair. I flipped my head over to dry the bottom half, but when I flipped back up, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I studied myself. Shoulders too narrow, hips too wide, boobs too small, hair too curly, eyes too big. I was too everything, and wondered why I couldn’t have been a little more proportional, more like Frankie.
I took another good, long look at myself. “Who the hell cares!” I said to no one and smiling just because I freaking could.
I slipped on a pair of light jean cutoffs, folded the hems up once, and threw on my burgundy halter crop top, strapped my mom’s vintage seventies lace-up boots that came to mid-calf, and walked purposefully to my vanity and sat down with equal gumption. “I can do this, damn it!”
I took my time doing my makeup because Ezra Brandon was going to be picking me up in a short half hour and I wanted to feel powerful. Makeup was a release for me. It allowed me to feel like I could paint myself up to be anyone I wanted to be: sharp, witty, fun, outgoing… anything I wanted to be. Let me correct myself—makeup gave me the freedom to be the things I already felt, and that morning I wanted to be the lead in my own story, and my face was going to reflect the same.
When I was done, I grabbed my most precious belonging, my e-reader, and tucked it into my hobo bag. My e-reader was contraband in my parents’ house. I had to charge it at Frankie’s every few days. It’s not that my mom and dad were opposed to reading, but they felt books should be enjoyed in a tangible way. I wasn’t knocking it. In fact, I had a reverent respect for books in print. They are things to be cherished. But! Here’s my caveat: paperbacks and hardbacks are expensive and at the rate that I devoured them, my habit couldn’t be supported on the income they got from our organic home farm.
Whenever I had a birthday or if Christmas was coming up or something, I always requested gift cards from friends and family. They supported my addiction. Just one more book, dude. I promise I’m good for the money. Just spot me this one time, man. At least three times a week I would hear someone coming near my room and I’d have to shove the thing under my covers. #Lame
When I was done getting ready, I sat back in my vanity chair and really took in my room, really memorized it. I closed my eyes and breathe
d deeply. My eyes began to sting with sadness so I stood quickly and shook my head to free myself of the fear, of the nerves, of the sadness.
“Ready for your adventure?” Mom asked from my doorway.
I faced her. “Yes. No. Both.”
Mom walked through the room, scaling the mess on the floor, the ever-present clutter that was Jupiter Corey’s life.
“You don’t plan on tidying up before you leave?” she asked.
I tossed my makeup bag into my weathered leather suitcase and closed the lid. “Where would the sense in that be?” I asked. “When I return for summer everything will be exactly where I remembered it to be.”
“So you won’t be coming home for Thanksgiving then?” she asked, defeated, and slumped on the bed next to my suitcase.
“I will if I can catch a ride, Mama.”
She nodded her head. “Try for me?”
“I’ll try my hardest.”
“Be careful while you’re up there?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“I’ve heard it can get cool there,” she remarked.
“Yeah, it can get cold,” I said, smiling at her.
“What will you do for a winter coat, Jupiter?”
“I’ll figure it out, Mama. Don’t worry about me.”
Mom stood up. “Give me a second. I remembered something.”
I waited patiently for her. Knowing my mother, whatever she remembered could mean absolutely anything.
I eventually heard her climbing the winding staircase and she emerged from the hall shortly after. In her hands was a light tan suede coat that would fall to the knees when on, and it was lined with thick, furry wool. My eyes bugged wide.
“Where did that come from?” I asked her.
“I don’t throw anything away. You know that.”
“Yeah, but was it yours?”
“Yeah, back in ’76 we had an unexpected cold front and your grandfather bought it for me.”
“This is really beautiful, Mama.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. Her eyes met mine. “Would you like to use it?”
I stared on her. “I would love to use it.”
“Then you should take it,” she said, reaching for my case.
I reached over and unzipped my bag. She carefully folded it and laid it on top of my belongings. We both shut the lid, carefully zipping it, though it was bursting at the seams.
“Why such a small case?” she asked.
“Because Ezra’s bringing his cousin along to share with the driving and I didn’t want to be a burden.”
“I see,” she said, then began to weep in her hands. The guilt speared my guts.
“Oh, please don’t cry, Mama,” I begged her. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her as tightly as I could without hurting her.
“It’s okay, Jupiter,” she said, patting my hands. “I just wish you would see the foolishness in this idea. I just wish you would see reason.”
I let go of her. “I don’t expect you to like the idea of me going to school,” I said softly, “and across the country at that, but I do wish you wouldn’t worry about me. I promise I’m not doing anything that will ruin my life. I promise.”
She nodded her head. “I’ll accept your leaving, but please don’t expect me not to worry for you. I’m your mama, Jupiter, I will always worry. Even when I’m dead I will worry for you. You are mine to worry for.”
“Worry then,” I said, and she smiled at me.
An audible “We come in peace” sang throughout the house. I rolled my eyes. The doorbell. My heart leapt into my throat.
“That must be your ride.”
I swallowed. “Must be,” I said, my throat going dryer than I’d ever felt it.
When I came down the winding staircase, my dad was waiting for me at the door.
“Jupiter,” he said solemnly.
“Daddy,” I said, dropping my case and hugging him around the waist. He hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around me tightly.
“Be a good girl, Jupiter,” he spoke into my hair.
I let go of him and looked into his eyes. “I will, Dad. I’ll make you proud.”
“I have no doubt of that, but also, please don’t hesitate to come home to us?”
“I won’t,” I answered.
I took three steps across our minuscule kitchen and opened the door. The doorway was filled with Ezra Brandon’s shoulders, chest, and height. I swung the door wider and indicated he could come in. He had to duck under the half-moon frame to get inside. I’d never realized how big Ezra Brandon really was until he stood his full height underneath the roof of my tiny house.
I swallowed. “Hi, Ezra,” I said as calmly as possible.
“Hey, Jupiter.” He looked at my mom and sister before settling on my father. He reached his hand out. “Mister Corey? I’m Ezra Brandon.”
My dad took his hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you,” he said.
He shook my mom’s and Mercury’s hands as well, introducing himself and learning their names. Mercury’s eyes shot wide when he took her hand, then turned dreamy. I rolled my own eyes and hid my smirk. This guy was kryptonite to the Corey girls, it seemed.
The room turned quiet.
“Well,” I said, drawing it out in the silence. “I guess we should go?” I asked him.
I bent to grab my suitcase but Ezra surprised me by grabbing it first. “I got it,” he said softly.
“Thanks,” I whispered and opened the door for him.
My family followed us down the deck stairs but stopped at the base of them, watching us.
“Live long and prosper!” my dad joked. My face warmed to an impossible heat. My palm met my forehead.
I followed Ezra to his dead sexy GTO, the engine rumbling. An equally imposing guy with black hair sat in the passenger seat and when he saw us, he opened the door and unfolded himself from the car.
“That’s your cousin?” I asked.
Ezra narrowed his eyes at me, looking for something, gauging me for some reason. “Yeah, that’s Kai.”
“Hey,” his cousin’s deep voice greeted. “I’m Kai,” he said with a sweet smile and open eyes. He reached his hand out to me and I took it.
“Nice to meet you,” I told him. “I’m Jupiter.”
Kai looked up at my UFO home then back at me. “It fits,” he teased, making me laugh.
Ezra’s eyes narrowed once more at us before making his way to the trunk of his car. Kai waved at my family before opening the door and pushed the backseat forward. I started to get in, but he stopped me with a warm hand on my shoulder.
“What are you doing?” he asked me.
“Getting in?”
“Uh, no, Ezra would kick my ass if I let a girl sit in the back.”
“Oh, okay. Well, thanks,” I said, but stopped. “Maybe we can take turns?” I asked
“Sounds like a plan,” he said, a charming smile spread across beautiful teeth.
Kai jumped in the back and pulled the seat back so I could climb in. I sat down, but before I could shut the door, Kai reached over me and yanked it closed.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling at him.
“Don’t mention it.”
Ezra slammed the trunk closed, walked to the driver’s side, and opened the door. “Surprised you didn’t sit up front, Kai,” he said, sitting down and putting the car in drive.
Kai laughed and leaned against the backseat, sprawling muscular arms out on top of the bench. He looked strikingly similar to Ezra, just darker features. Black hair, hazel eyes.
“You and my mom would kill me if I had.”
“True,” Ezra said, his face stoic.
I pressed my hands against the glass of the passenger-side window and stared after my sad-looking family, fighting back my own tears. Mercury blew a kiss my way and I caught it, pocketing it for later. I love you, I mouthed, and they waved before heading back inside.
I laid flat against my seat, trying to compose myself. A single tea
r left my eye, but I wiped it away discreetly. I looked on Ezra then but if he’d noticed, his face didn’t betray he had. I took a deep breath and let the moment pass. We drove over Overseas and I felt it, that feeling of excitement, of joy, of fear, and anxiety. It was such a heady, strange feeling, but I cherished it all the same. I was in charge of my own skin and mind. I was deciding my own fate. And I liked it.
I lifted my left leg onto the sticky black leather of my flat bucket seat and leaned my side into its back, resting my chin on a fist. “So Chicago?” I asked Kai.
“Yup, born and raised there.”
I looked between him and Ezra. “So whose parent is the sibling of whose parent?”
Ezra glanced at me, his eyes lingering a little longer than necessary, sending a silent thrill through my gut. “My dad and his dad,” he explained.
I kept my eyes on Ezra’s until he broke away toward the road. “That’s pretty nice that you’d come down here to help Ezra with the drive,” I observed.
“I know, I’m a saint,” he said, a devilish smirk on his face. I laughed, convinced of the opposite. I was ready to tell him as much, but Ezra turned toward me briefly, studying me before looking in his rearview mirror, catching Kai’s attention. Kai coughed into his hand to avoid laughing then leaned forward. “So what’s it like living in a UFO?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I couldn’t even tell you if it was strange or not, because I’ve never known any differently.”
“Is it small on the inside?”
“Kind of,” I admitted, a little embarrassed. “It’s basically a simple two-story house except all the walls are oblong.”
“That’s kind of cool, actually,” Kai said with a genuine smile, bolstering me.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling back.
My phone beeped. I turned in my seat again, gathered my hobo bag at my feet, and fished it out. It was a text from Frankie.
how goes it? she asked.
it goes
come on gimme something to work with
no way jose, I texted.
have you kissed him yet
Jesus, Mary, & Joseph, Frankie! No!
did he carry your bag to your car for you
of course dinkus