He has? What exactly had he said? “Thank you,” I said to his mother. “I’m glad you aren’t angry.”
With a wave, she said, “Nothing to be upset about. Mojo is welcome to stay here as long as you need him to. As for the nights, he’ll probably be happier inside anyway.” Then, she turned to give Caroline an energetic hello. “Would you girls like to come in?”
“I don’t know if we should,” Caroline said.
Her answer was much better than mine. I said, “I stepped in dog doo.” Totally cool, huh.
Jonathan grinned. “When you have a bad day, you really have a bad day.”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t help smiling too. “Sorry about my dad,” I told him.
“It’s okay,” he said. “He just cares about you.”
The weird thing was that until a week ago, I hadn’t been sure he did care about me. I met Jonathan’s warm gaze. “I know.”
“Well, I’m going back inside now.” His mother motioned to Caroline, “I see you’re well chaperoned.”
“I think the dog poop will take care of that problem,” Caroline quipped.
I sent her a withering glare.
When I turned back to Jonathan, I saw him making a face at Caroline as well.
Something struck me as hilarious, I guess, because I just started giggling. And I couldn’t stop. It was probably stress or whatever.
I bent over and put my hands on my knees. I was laughing so hard. When I glanced up, Caroline was looking at me like I was nuts.
“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Great.”
“Maybe I should get her home,” Caroline said, concern evident in her voice. “I think she’s having some sort of breakdown.”
“No.” I stood up, suddenly much more serious. “I’m okay.” It wasn’t time for my breakdown yet. I had at least another week or two. Maybe a month. “I’m sorry about my Dad, Jonathan. I hope he wasn’t too awful.”
Jonathan shook his head. “It’s fine. No big deal.”
“So what’s the scoop, Jonathan? Did you get in trouble?” Caroline obviously had no tact.
“Uh.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “No. My parents understood.”
“So they didn’t research chastity belt on the Internet?” Caroline asked. “Did they make them for boys?”
“Shut up!” I told Caroline. “You are not helping.” To Jonathan, I said, “I’m glad things are okay. I guess we should take Mojo and get back before they miss us.”
Jonathan’s eyes darted toward my house. I just hoped my father hadn’t traumatized him.
“Come here, Mojo,” Caroline called and held out the leash. She made a big show of hooking it on his collar, as if she were trying to let us know she wasn’t watching.
“I should go,” I said.
Jonathan took a step toward me. Then he leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Stinky.”
I smacked him on the shoulder. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”
Chapter Eleven
Life is just one big pile of dog doo after another, lying in wait in the grass in the backyard.
—Ally’s Brutal Teen Truths
I stumbled across the lawn towards my stepsister. I couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened. He’d kissed me! Like a totally boyfriend to girlfriend casual kind of kiss. In front of Caroline.
“So?” Caroline said as we slipped out the gate.
“I think he might like me.”
“Well, duh,” she said, like any good sister would.
I know it was lame, but I really didn’t want to ever wash that cheek again. I mean, Jonathan’s lips had touched it. Without the special middle of the night magic. Maybe he really did like me.
I kicked off my shoes on our patio hoping that offensive substance would disintegrate overnight. We went in the back door, but there really wasn’t any sneaking about it. Dad and Diane were sitting on the family room couches waiting for us when we walked in.
“Caroline was with me,” I stammered. I didn’t do this defensive thing very well.
“We just came down to say goodnight,” Diane said. She stepped aside to avoid Mojo while Dad gave him a quick pat on the head.
“We’re turning in. We’ll be watching television in our room if you need us.” My Dad’s face hardened as he said, “Don’t leave the house.”
“What if there’s a fire?” Caroline asked in an angelic voice.
“Caro!” Diane warned.
“Just kidding,” Caroline called as they went up the stairs.
When they were out of sight, she whispered, “You do know what ‘watching TV’ means?”
Eww. “No, and if you tell me, I’ll slit my wrists.”
She laughed. “Fine. So did he kiss you? I took forever putting that leash on.”
My cheeks flamed with embarrassment.
“He did! Oh, this is so great.”
I’d never have any secrets with her around. She could read me better than my mother.
I jumped up on Saturday morning after a truly restful night’s sleep. The comfy couch, the temperature control, and Mojo snuggling beside me. Oh, who was I kidding? I’d trade it all in a heartbeat for the hard swing and Jonathan.
Mojo gave me a big lick on the cheek.
“Okay, Mojo. I get it. I’ll take you next door.”
Caroline was still dead to the world. So I hooked Mojo’s leash on and slipped on her slides. They were a size too small. I had hoped to cram my foot in, but it wasn’t working. Once the leash made an appearance, I had a limited window to get Mojo outside to a bush without an accident. With a groan, I ran upstairs to get another pair. Mojo followed me, but we were safe. Dad’s door was shut. I didn’t even want to think about what they were doing last night. Darn that Caroline for putting that image in my head. Watching TV could really mean watching television. Couldn’t it?
I grabbed a pair of sandals and we bounded out the front door. Belatedly I thought about my appearance. Hopefully, Jonathan was still asleep. I wanted to see him, but not like this. I probably had eye boogers and a strip of dried drool on my cheek.
I made it back to my house without seeing a soul, which goes to show that my luck isn’t always terrible, parental problems and dog doo aside.
I went in the front and headed for the coat closet, the new home of the vacuum cleaner. I picked it up and lugged it down to the family room.
Caroline was still asleep, but I didn’t want Diane to come downstairs before I vacuumed. I had sort of promised.
“Caroline,” I called in a soft voice. “Are you awake?”
Of course she wasn’t, so she didn’t answer.
“Caroline, I need to vacuum. Is that okay?”
This time, she responded with a grumble.
Encouraged, I said, “It will just take a minute.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked in a grumpy voice. “I’m trying to sleep.”
“I just need to vacuum the dog hair up. For your mom.”
“Are you crazy? It’s barely daylight.”
“It’s ten,” I answered after glancing at the clock. “And I told her I’d do it.”
“It’s not like it’s even necessary.”
“What? Of course it is. I gave my word. What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” she said too quickly for someone barely awake. She pulled the pillow over her head. “Just do it, already.”
I pushed the button and the vacuum roared to life. But Caroline’s comment stayed in the back of my mind.
There was only one reason that vacuuming wouldn’t be necessary, and that was if Diane’s allergies were bogus.
A couple hours later, I worked up the nerve to ask her. “Why’d you say it didn’t matter if I vacuumed?”
“Oh,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “You know. Because Mom doesn’t come downstairs much anyway.”
I didn’t believe her. But what could I do? Accuse her of lying? Call her mother a bitch? Yeah, I kin
d of liked that idea, but it wasn’t worth ruining our friendship.
Madison and MC came over around noon. We were kind of crammed into my room, which was smaller than my room at home. They were dying to meet Jonathan now that they knew what was going on. So, of course, we headed over to play with the dogs. Jonathan wasn’t home. In fact, his house was deserted.
“They probably had a soccer game for Ben,” I told them, as I located Mojo’s leash and then a second one for Buddy. “Let’s go for a walk. One of you can take Buddy.”
“Oh,” MC said with an exaggerated sigh. “How sweet! You’re taking care of each other’s children.”
“Shut up, MC.” God she could be so annoying.
“Since we don’t get to meet him, you have to tell us every single detail,” Madison ordered.
“I already did,” I said as we headed out the gate and down the street.
“No. You only told us the part about sleeping over there and talking and kissing.”
“That’s all there is.”
“We want every single detail,” MC commanded. “Spill.”
As we pounded down the street in the sunshine, I did. “Okay. So we kind of fell asleep holding hands.”
The squealing probably woke people in China.