Page 14

TEN

lorenzo

I’m supposed to be relieved surgery is over. I’m not. Now the hard part has started.

I hate being helpless. I hate feeling weak when six months ago I was the strongest I’ve ever been. I hate that Ruby is wasting her summer days on me.

Surprisingly, what I don’t hate is Ruby doting on me.

My place has smelled amazing ever since we got back from the hospital.

She’s been cooking nonstop, and even though I already knew she’s a great cook, she’s been busting out new recipes the last couple of days, and not one has been a flop.

If she’s annoyed by how helpless and needy I am, she doesn’t show it.

In fact, I think she likes it. I shouldn’t be surprised she’s a nurturer.

Her heart is constantly breaking over lost animals and crying kids and stuff like that.

I just didn’t expect her to turn her sympathy on me.

I probably underestimate her, but Ruby’s life is kind of a mess. She’s forgetful, fickle, constantly changing her mind. I love that about her, but reliability isn’t her game. And these last few days, she’s pulled it off brilliantly. For me. No one else would have done that.

My phone beeps with a text. I sigh when I see who it’s from: Alli. It’s like she knows what I was thinking and wants to remind me, actually, there is someone else who would have done that. But she’s the last person I want taking care of me.

“You’re frowning.” Ruby walks in with a tray of food. “Who are you texting?”

I look up from my phone. “You didn’t tell me Alli texted you to check in on me.”

“Sorry,” she says with a shrug, not even a little sorry. “I figured you knew she’d text me at some point. I certainly did.” She sets the tray down on the coffee table and hands me a napkin.

“Why would I know that?”

“Because the girl spends every waking hour thinking about you?”

“Stop.”

“Oh, please, it’s uncomfortable. I mean, she spends five months in the most romantic city on earth and all she does is pine for you.”

“What can I say? Parisian men have nothing on us Italians.” I look over the lunch spread: a fried-eggplant sandwich with marinara and a big arugula salad. “This looks amazing. Thanks, Ruby. Now go to work. You can’t be late for your first shift.”

“You really can’t wait to get out from under my nurse’s thumb, huh?”

“Yeah, you caught me. I’m just dying to trade your gourmet meals for Cash’s undercooked ramen noodles. I still can’t decide if I’d rather spend tonight starving or with food poisoning.”

“What time is he getting here again?”

I pick up my fork. “At three. Like I told you.”

“Call me if he’s late. I don’t want you trying to do anything around here.”

“Go. I’m fine. I feel good.”

She kisses me on the cheek, and I catch the scent of her hair, which always reminds me of the beach. “I’ll come by tomorrow.”

“Bring some Pepto.”

My phone beeps again and I look at it, expecting another message from Alli, but it’s Cash. “Shit,” I mutter, reading his text.

Cash: Minor problem. I’m not gonna make it back to campus until tomorrow night. Can Ruby hang for another day? Sorry, man. I’ll explain over the phone.

I sit back, thinking through the next twenty-four hours and whether I can get through them alone. Should be okay except for changing clothes. And getting set up for bed, though I can sleep sitting up on the couch if I need to.

“What is it?” Ruby asks from the doorway. I thought she’d already left.

“Nothing, nothing. Cash is a little delayed, that’s all.” I offer a smile. “Good luck, okay? Call me when your shift is done.”

“How delayed?”

I shrug like it’s no biggie. “A day or so.”

Ruby tips her head back and groans. “What’s his problem?”

“I don’t know. He’ll call me later.”

She walks over to me. “Let me guess, he met a pretty girl with a thing for inconsiderate jocks?”

“It’s fine. Just come by tomorrow like you planned, and I’ll be all good.”

“What? That’s almost a whole day alone. I’m not doing that.” She drops her purse and sits down next to me.

“Ruby, come on. I’m already doing nights alone. I can handle a couple extra hours on either side.”

“Not twenty-four hours.”

I give her a friendly push. “Go. You can’t be late. We’ll figure this out after work.”

She reaches for the remote and turns on the TV. “I actually don’t need to be anywhere until tonight.”

“You work afternoons.”

“Not really,” she says, casually flipping channels.

“Not really?” I grab the remote out of her hand and wait until she looks at me. “Want to explain that?”

“Well,” she says slowly, and I recognize this exact move from the many times I’ve watched her deliver bad news to her parents while trying to pretend it’s not bad at all. “Turns out, your poster really got to me. Top Ten Reasons Why Fish Suck ? It was pretty effective.”

“Ruby, you are not seriously about to tell me you quit before you even started.”

“No. I was ... let go.”

“Before you started?”

“Well, the asshole wouldn’t budge on my starting date. He didn’t even care my best friend needed surgery. He said if I couldn’t be there on day one, he’d find someone else who would. So fine. It was a stupid summer job anyway.”

“Are you kidding me? You were pumped for that job!”

“You seriously expected me to just ditch you? For fish?” Her eyes narrow.

“We would have worked something out.” I shake my head. “You shouldn’t have done this. This is the last thing I wanted.”

“It wasn’t even that much money.”

“It was more than your parents were paying. And you wanted it. That’s what it’s about.”

She reaches for my sandwich. “I want a lot of things. Like you say, toss a tinfoil ball on the floor and I’ll be happy for a good hour.” She smiles like she just won, but Ruby has always had this warm, kind smile that makes it hard for her to look as tough as she wishes she did.

I do say that—as a joke. Now it just seems shitty. “Can I do something? Talk to your boss and explain? I have some clout as a member of a conference-championship-winning team.”

“Ugh. Stop, you’re making me nauseous,” she jokes. “I don’t want you to do anything but let me take care of you. If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t be here. Now shut up, I want to watch this.” She turns her attention to the TV, clearly ready to move on.

I look at her sitting there nonchalantly, upending her summer plans for me and wanting nothing in return. I lean over and graze her cheek with a brief kiss. “I don’t deserve you.”

She doesn’t take her eyes off the screen. “True.”

We dig into the food—Ruby knocked it out of the park again—and are basically licking crumbs off our plates when I remember what she said earlier.

“So where do you need to be tonight?”

“Oh! I have a job interview.”

“Look at you on the rebound. Where?”

“Cameo’s,” she says defiantly.

“Ruby!”

“Calm down, Richard , I’m not dancing. It’s just a cocktail waitress position.”

“At a strip club.”

“And? Since when are you such a puritan?”

“I just know how fucking gross men are. I don’t want to see you treated like that.”

“Well, you won’t because you won’t be there, right? So you won’t see a thing.”

No, I won’t , I think with an unexpected sense of jealousy.

I look away from her, trying not to wonder what she’ll have to wear to work in that dump.

Ruby has a great body, tall and fit with just the right amount of jiggle.

No chance they won’t expect her to show it off.

I glare at the TV. How did things turn out this way?

We sit there, both of us staring at the TV without watching. Then her hand finds mine and squeezes, her skin warm and soft. “We do these things for each other. Don’t we?”

“What? Give up the jobs we want to work at a strip club?”

“Get our eyebrow sliced open on a wooden post.”

I sigh. She always knows how to soften me. “And knock Danny Melville on his ass on the playground.”

“And beat up toxic exes.”

“I just don’t want you to be harassed at work every day because of me.”

“I’ll quit if I’m uncomfortable. It’s temporary.”

I pick up the remote again and flip to another channel. A documentary on marine life is playing. I flip it again. “Fish suck.”

Cash calls an hour later.

“Hey, man, sorry,” he says quickly. “It’s been a shit show here.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I got drunk and fell off the roof.”

I wait, hoping he’s messing with me, but he offers only silence. “Jesus, Cash. What the hell is wrong with you? Did you get hurt?”

“Messed up my ankle a little, but it’s not broken. Guess how many hours I had to spend at urgent care for them to tell me that?”

“What’s ‘messed up’ mean? You going to be able to start?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s just a little swollen. Coach doesn’t need to know, okay, Lor?”

I try to hide my irritation. “Obviously. God, you are so fucking lucky. That’s a career-ender right there.”

“No shit,” he says, laughing like he’s forgotten I just got out of a surgery that could end my career.

“So what now?”

“Just ice and rest for a day or two. I’ll get back down there once I can drive or I can get my sister to give me a ride. Can you hang tight until then? Ruby’s around, right?”

I glance at her nestled into my couch. “She’s around. Don’t worry. Take care of yourself. And when you do show up, plan on making me something better than crusty boxed mac and cheese, you hear?”

“I’ll do you one better. Got some magic weed right here in my pocket. It’ll blow those prescription painkillers out of the water.”

“Sounds like a great way to fall off a roof,” I tell him. “Keep it, man. Just get here when you can.”

When I hang up, Ruby turns to look at me. “Ease up. You look like you’re about to crack a tooth. What’s wrong?”

“Dumbass Cash got wasted and almost broke his ankle falling off a roof. Can you believe that?”

“Honestly? Yeah. Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Can’t drive for a couple days, that’s all.” I flop onto the couch.

“Relax.” Ruby slides a hand down my good shoulder. “I’m here as much as you need me.”

“It’s not that,” I snap. “I just can’t get over how fucking stupid my friends can be.”

“Like you’ve never gotten drunk?” Humor flashes in her eyes, and I know she’s remembering the many nights we spent doing things that should have gotten us jailed, hospitalized, or at least beaten up.

“I don’t anymore, do I? Not like that.”

“Cash is okay. Let it be.”

“He’s okay this time. What’s it gonna take for him to get it?”

She pats the back of my hand. “Some people have to learn the hard way. You know that better than anyone.”

“Yeah, well, it shouldn’t be that way. Let people learn from my stupid mistakes.”

The night Anthony and I ended up with my car wrapped around a tree, he was the one driving, but I was the one who handed over the keys to my drunk younger cousin.

The one who wanted to go get weed. Anthony was the one who lost his license and his spot on his high school football team and, in turn, the college scholarship everyone knew he would have gotten once he was a senior.

Me? I got sympathy for ending up with bruises that kept me off the football field for a whopping two games.

“You learned. That’s something,” Ruby says.

I did. I learned how one stupid move can fuck up one person’s life and leave the other totally unscathed.

And then I learned again with this shoulder injury.

Not that I can blame it on partying, but in the last year or two I’d started to loosen up a little, drink more than I should, be less vigilant than I should.

Getting hurt was a blow, but it was the reminder I needed: Everything can change in a blink.

“Yeah, and my friends act like I’m so uptight. ”

“Well, you are.”

The way she smiles soothes the frustration inside me. I sigh and sit back. “But you still like me.”

“And so do they. Keep it that way and stop telling them what stupid assholes they are.”

I guess I am an uptight prick sometimes. “All right.” I nod. “Thanks. Now go make me some dessert.”

She laughs and throws a pillow at me, her eyes glinting. “Actually, I have something really good. You ready for it? It’s a sugar bomb.”

“Bombs away.”

Maybe Cash’s roof plummet isn’t the worst thing to happen. I watch as Ruby hops off the couch and hustles to the kitchen, leaving a trail of her amazing coconut scent and reminding me that even if I’m stuck on the couch, it’s still summer and I still get to spend it with my best friend.