Suzie’s House 448 : Eating Lunch in the Den

Emma flopped onto the old couch in the den of Suzie’s house with an audible sigh. She was so lucky the place was vacant today. Or at least the old witch who liked to tell her she didn’t live here wasn’t around, like being a renter gave her special privileges or something.

The few minutes she had to herself came to an abrupt end as foot stomping on the stairs rang through the house. She didn’t bother to move a muscle, but her stomach tightened as she expected Tracy to come in yammering and Gene to stand around all moody while they argued about guitars and stuff.

Emma was so tired of arguing. It seemed switching who played guitar and who played bass in the band uncovered all kinds of differences in the way those two played. Tracy thought Gene should do the bass exactly the way she did, and he thought they should both just do their own thing.

There was no peace in the band’s practice room because of them, but there wasn’t any peace at home either. She wasn’t even sure how she ended up where Gene lived, but him and Tracy said she should cool it here while they went up to his room to argue some more.

They might be really noisy, but there was only one set of footsteps on the stairs and then down the hall. Instead of coming into the den, the sound of steps went into the kitchen. All kinds of banging and rattling around came before the ding of a microwave. A minute later, Ben came into the den with a plate of leftovers.

“Oh. Sorry.” Emma got her feet off the coffee table and straightened up, feeling all guilty. This really was his house, after all. Or his mother’s anyway. If anyone could tell her to bug off, it was him or his mom.

“It’s cool.” He put the plate on the coffee table then sat next to her. “I do it all the time when Mom isn’t home.” He gave her a quick grin.

“Um…th.. thanks.”

“Sure.” He started shoveling in the food. After a minute or two, he glanced at her again. “You hungry? We got plenty.”

“No. Um…. I… I just want to sit here.” She paused, waiting for him to ask something or do something and getting more antsy by the minute, like she needed to explain herself even though she’d hung around in Suzie’s house so many times and Ben never once complained. But then she was always with someone else. Now, sitting here by herself just felt weird. “Gene said… Gene said I could sit here for a while because I couldn’t find a place to just… be. You know? I mean, it’s so nice here! I mean, really nice! Even if Gene and Tracy are up in his room arguing and stuff.”

“Band stuff?” His eyebrows lifted for a second.

“Yeah.”

“You know, I’m starting to think this band stuff might really turn into something. I mean, we’re just kids, really, even if it doesn’t feel like it. But everyone in your band is so serious!”

“S.s.s. serious?!”

“Yup. I mean, you write your own songs, and you actually get money for playing, what’s that word?”

“Gigs?”

“Right! You’re like a real rock band. It’s cool.” He nodded to himself, then gobbled down the last of his lunch. “So how come you don’t want to go home this time?”

“This… Th-this time?”

“I remember when you’re dad ran off and you got into an argument with your mom and you needed a place to stay. Lisa told me about those night you spent at her house. So what ever happened with your dad?”

“Oh. Yeah. He’s back.” Emma pressed her lips together and nodded. He was back all right.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Uh… well. Kind of. See, while he was gone, Mom kind of got a life. You know? She’s a nurse now and she does things differently now and she doesn’t want to go back. I don’t either. I mean, if Dad hadn’t run off I don’t know if I could have kept singing in the band, and I don’t ever want to quit that. And now he’s back, but he’s all different. I guess while he was gone he didn’t have any money and stuff so he was… um… yeah, I guess he was a bum.”

“Oh wow! What was that like?”

“You’d have to ask him.”

“So, why don’t you feel like being home right now?” He leaned back into the couch and folded his hands over his stuffed belly. He had a happy little smile and his eyes were sharp like he really wanted to hear everything she had to say. It was kind of nice to be heard.

“Well, him and Mom have some kind of cold war going on. They hardly ever say anything, and when they do it’s either about something like the groceries or his job hunt, or he’s telling Mom he loves you, but they are both really stiff around each other and around me. Even when I’m in my room it feels like they are out there, just waiting for something to happen.”

“Yeah, that’d be uncomfortable. So do you think they’ll do anything to each other?”

“Do anything? Oh! Lisa!” Emma flinched when she realized Ben’s girlfriend was standing there for who knows how long.

“Careful, Emma. This guy is taking mental notes. As soon as you turn your back, he’ll write down everything you said and put it in a book.”

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