“So what exactly were you thinking? What happened to you, man?” Vin leaned forward until he could feel the hard edge hidden inside the fluff of the overstuffed chair in Suzie’s den. “I guess I owe you that.” Drew frowned at the floor. “I told you I couldn’t face Suzie.”
Justin waited until Kate jammed her drum sticks into her back pocket before he quit messing with the shakeree. There was something he wanted to talk to her about. When she left the band’s practice room, he was right behind her.
The catty part of Kate noticed that Emma didn’t have any problem singing the song even without a bag over her head or mask. She even looked appropriate with her tearful eyes. It was obvious that Emma genuinely related to every word.
Kate walked into band practice with a brand new pair of drum sticks and a great little piece of gossip she’d love to share. The night before she’d seen Stephanie Eingle in the parking lot of East Town Mall kissing a boy that had to have been in high school at least, of not college. Maybe no one else in the band would care, but Emma would. Emma always nodded like a bobble head and agreed with everything.
When James opened his eyes, a hang-over headache nailed him right in the middle of his forehead. He fell back against clean sheets with a groan. Odd. He was pretty sure his sheets had become a bit crusty over the last couple of weeks. He didn’t let Mom in to clean because he was afraid she’d find his pot stash, but he wasn’t willing to do it himself, either. There was something nice about lying in a clean bed. Almost, […]
“What do we do?” Emma’s mother stared down at James as if he had turned into a lethargic crocodile that had crawled into her kitchen. “We put him to bed and talk to him in the morning,” Emma’s father made it all sound so reasonable. “Right.” Emma said with all the bitterness she felt. For once, she didn’t care if she sounded blunt.
James had had a little too much to drink, but it wasn’t bothering him any. He pulled into the driveway too fast and ended up parked with the driver’s side on the grass. He tripped on grass and fell when he got out. No one was looking. He jumped up all jubilant acting, and rubbed the grass off his T-shirt, then looked around again with a silly grin because a silly grin would get him out of any trouble. No […]
She was serious. Ethan’s body froze. “No.” He fumbled the soup bowl in his hand, but managed to setting it safely on the kitchen counter. “No, I don’t want you to move out. You or Emma. You know I love you both.”
When her daughter came home and announced that she wanted to move out, Sophie went into full denial. She knew it was denial, but she couldn’t seem to make herself focus on the issues. So she found an excuse to pretend nothing was happening while Emma barricaded herself in her room and waited for Ethan to come home. Better Ethan than James.
Emma tried not to think of anything too malignant while riding home with her brother. The drive would only take a few minutes, but she was sure he’d manage to say something nasty before they reached the house.
Emma let the gossamer curtains in Lisa’s living room fall back. She was pretty sure her brother hadn’t seen her peeping at him. He’d walked past the house three times so far, but didn’t seem inclined to knock on the door. Maybe it would all be all right after all.
Stephanie was rounding the long sweep of John Nolan Drive right between the two lakes when she spotted the funny cloud. Funny as in suspicious. The way that particular black nub Ved down was probably just a fluke. Though still early in Summer, they really shouldn’t be seeing too many funnel clouds now. Then again it seemed like the warning sirens were going off more and more lately.
Gene stretched his leg out and accidentally kicked Emma. She hopped off his bed for a minute, looked around his room, and settled on the floor. Tracy tried to move the guitar off her lap and slapped him in the chest with it. “Sorry,” she muttered without even looking at him. “There’s no room in here,” Ben grumbled as he got off the floor. He accidentally stepped on Bruce, who grunted. “And I need to get some writing done anyway. […]
Suzie jabbed the window’s apron with a screwdriver. She wasn’t sure how far it sank in, but it certainly didn’t bounce back the way it would if she jabbed a new piece of wood. So for sure there was rot. The question was how intense did she have to get about repairs. Maybe it was time to find a carpenter.
“Hey, Emma. Whatcha doing?” Arrogant as ever, Bruce came up behind her and threw an arm across her shoulders as if he had a right to do so. Emma shrugged him off. “Leave me alone.” “Oh. Isn’t that the house where you like to sing?” For someone so crude, Bruce caught on quick. “Y-yes. Yes, it was.”