“Did Mascen know you were coming home?” She asked. “I’m going to kill him if he kept it a secret.”
I laughed and leaned against the wall. “He didn’t know and he barely glanced away from the TV when I came in. Granted, I was too busy arguing with dad to really say hi,” I frowned. Turning back towards the stairway I yelled, “Hi, Mascen!”
His laughter echoed downstairs. “I tried to help you out with dad and you’re just now acknowledging my presence? I see how it is!” He yelled back.
I stuck my tongue out even though he couldn’t see.
“Movie night later?” I asked Lylah, but loud enough for Mascen to hear.
“Hell yes!” Mascen called.
Movie night was a tradition for my siblings and me. We rotated who got to pick the movie and while we watched it we would dissect every little thing, sometimes adding our own lines and coming up with outlandish theories about what was going to happen—even if it was a movie we’d already seen ten times. Our game probably made no sense to anyone else, but we loved it.
“You can pick, Lyls,” I told my sister as my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. I slipped it out and the screen was illuminated with a picture of Dean. It was one from some random store in the mall and he was wearing a Pikachu beanie and a goofy smile. “I’ll be back down in a bit.” I told Lylah as I headed for the attic stairs.
On the way up I answered the phone with an exaggerated, “’Ello govna.”
“Are you British now?” Dean asked with a chuckle.
I kicked off my shoes and practically fell onto my bed. “I’m not sure what I was going for there,” I admitted, “but it did make you laugh, so it must have worked. What’s up?” I rolled onto my stomach with my feet hanging off the bed.
“I know we didn’t talk about what day we’d leave, but I figured knowing you you’d want to leave as soon as possible, like tomorrow,” he rambled, “but Grace’s graduation is Friday and she’s going to be upset if I miss it. And she wants you there too. So I was wondering if you’d be okay to leave Saturday morning?”
He finally grew quiet on the other end and I giggled.
“Dean, you ramble so much when you’re nervous. Saturday is fine. I’m going to need the extra time to sweet talk my dad into being okay with this. It’s not a big deal. Promise.”
“Oh. Okay.” He seemed to take a deep breath. “So,” he hedged, drawing out the word, “do you think you can make it to Grace’s graduation. She misses you.”
“Of course she misses me,” I snorted, “I’m awesome and very miss-able.”
His laughter rumbled against my ear. “I always forget modesty isn’t your specialty.”
“Do I have to wear a dress?” I wrinkled my nose in distaste at the thought alone.
“Yes, Willow.”
“Dammit.” I rolled onto my back and kicked my legs in the air. “I’ll be there though.”
“Do you need me to pick you up?”
I snorted. “I might’ve ditched a lot, but I do know how to get to the high school.”
“Okay, okay,” he intoned. “Good luck with your dad.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you Friday then.”
“See you.”
He hesitated on the line a moment longer, like there was something he wanted to say, but then he ended the call.
Okay then.
I set my phone on the bed and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a tank top from the drawer.
I was in desperate need of a shower.
I felt gross after being on the road all day and needed to wash the ickiness from my skin.