Beautifully Broken

Who did I hide them from?

Myself.

I hate doing laundry.

“Morning, sunshine.”

Piper leans one arm on the banister and smiles. I know I shouldn’t get used to this, she’s a guarded girl who tries to hide her emotions. But damn she’s radiant when she lets her guard down. “Hey.”

“Feeling better?”

She nods.

We stare at each other. Piper shamelessly eyeing me in my shorts. Me taking every inch of her perfect body. I’m mentally cataloging each detail so I can recall it later. If I had my phone, I’d snap a picture, but it’s back in the living room on the couch. And I don’t want to spook her. “It’s nearly two. Are you hungry?”

Piper’s eyes widen. “Oh. My God.”

I rack my brain, trying to come up with possible scenarios of what could be wrong in this moment. I’ve got nothing. “What?”

“I slept through my history final.” One hand pushes her long damp bangs back. “Shit. Cherrybroom is gonna kill me.”

I shake my head, trying to keep a laugh hidden. Cherrybroom’s a joke. Like most school counselors, her hands are tied in a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo. She can’t sneeze much less do anything in regard to Piper without jumping through yards of red tape. “You’ll be fine. Come on. Let’s have some lunch.”

Piper mulls over my words a minute then takes my outstretched hand. In the kitchen she slides onto a barstool while I grab sandwich materials from the fridge. “Mayonnaise, mustard, relish. Pick your poison.”

“Mayo only please.”

“You got it.” A few minutes later we’re both eating inch thick deli worthy sandwiches off paper plates. My phone vibrates on the counter, the ding of an alert sounding a half second later. A notification that a deposit of twenty-thousand dollars has been added to my account.

Another ding.

Mom: Happy birthday!

I set my phone back on the counter, face down. Every year it’s the same. No call. No card. Just a deposit and a text. My Mom and Dad mean well, but at some point, they forgot what it takes to be a parent. I don’t want their money. I want them to spend time with me. But since I can’t have one, I might as well take the other.

“You alright?” Piper asks, throwing her plate in the trash.

“I’m fine.” My phone rings, and for a second I think it might be my parents. They never call, let alone Facetime, but today’s special. It’s not every birthday your only child turns eighteen. My heart drops the moment I see it’s a Jenny.

Jenny is to me what Piper is to Cooper. A girl who needs protecting. One of my best friends. And the only person from my last school to make an effort to stay in touch after I moved. While Jenny is as beautiful as the day is long with her Barbie blonde hair and legs that go on for days, we were just friends.

Why? For starters, she’s dated Broderick since the seventh grade. But even if she was single, Jenny is too high maintenance for me. As her friend, I can tell her to stick it where the sun don’t shine when she’s being a brat. As her boyfriend I’d have to suck it up and play nice and I’m not about pretending when I’m in a relationship.

“Happy birthday Rexy-Roo!” Jenny yells as soon as the video connects.

I chuckle, her nickname brings back a horde of drunken memories. Jenny nicknamed me Rexy-Roo after some party game last year. I guess I reminded her of a kangaroo or something. I don’t know, but it stuck and she’s the only one allowed to use it. “Thanks Jen. How’s things going?”

Jenny rolls her big green eyes. Always lined, lashes fluttering like butterfly wings. “It’s going. My parents’ divorce settled. Mom got everything. Dad and I had to move out to Southside.”

Jenny had every girl’s dream life. Big house. Fancy car. Perfect boyfriend. She spent money like it grew on trees without a care in the world. Her mom was an heiress or something. I don’t really know. Jenny was always vague on the details. But life for her was good until her mom ran away with the plastic surgeon. Jenny’s dad was in construction and made enough to survive but not support his daughters lavish ways. Everyone knew her mom was going to take them to the cleaners, not that he was Mr. Moneybags, she was just that kind of woman.

“Shit that sucks.”

“It’s not too bad. I get to finish out the year on a scholarship and Lula’s parents said I could stay with them during the week until graduation. Dad didn’t like it at first, but he came around when I got mugged on the subway.”

She’s riding the subway? Staying with Lula? What the hell. I have a house sitting empty with two cars minutes from where she used to live. “Shit, Jenny. Why didn’t you call me? I could have helped you!”

She rolls her big eyes. “Because Rex, I’m not your responsibility. Everything will work itself out.”