Coffee and Rings

Coffee and Rings-10

The next morning when I descended the stairs, both Kim and James were present, Kim feeding Trey while he sat on the baby chair with a bib covering his chest and James flipping through the news.

Apparently, they took the day off so that they could spend more time with me, claiming that they missed me and wanted to stay here and not in a class filled with hungry piranhas, headed by a good-for-nothing professor. James' words, not mine.

To say I got a confidence booster was the understatement of the year. I mean, we all know I am handsome and what not, but bunking classes for me? Well, it might also be because they were being lazy butts and didn't want to attend college and were simply using me as an excuse, but honestly, I didn't care.

A chocolate bar in my mouth and in my sweatpants and a T-shirt, I walked out of the kitchen only to see Kim and Eva bent down, patting the floor frantically. My eyebrows furrowed  with concern.

"What are you doing?" My voice rang out clearly in the silent room. Where were the others? 

Both the girls suddenly froze, their hands pausing on the floor. Kim's face paled considerably, eyes widening to the size of saucers.

"Kim lost her-" Eva turned to me only to be cut off by Kim.

"My ant." Looking at my questioning look, she continued. "My pet ant. I err... lost it," she muttered nervously, averting her gaze. Eva's eyes narrowed, but as if understanding, she slowly nodded her head, giving Kim a weird look.

An amused smile lifted up the corners of my lips. "Alright. And what is its name, may I know?"

"Um, I... we haven't named it yet."

"We?"

Yeah, Eva, James and me. We adopted it." Suddenly, her whole composure changed. She stood more straight, her chin up, more confident. She nodded her head firmly, an easy smile on her lips like everything in the world was just darn fine and dandy and fixed me with a look that nearly made me believe her ludicrous lie. Nearly.

"Let me get this straight. You, James and Eva adopted an ant. You haven't named it yet and are now searching for the lost ant."

She bobbed her head up and down like that made all the sense in the world.

Deciding to leave it at that, I went along with it. 

I was staring blankly at the wall when Callie snapped her pale fingers in front of my face.

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing," I answered, truthfully.

She squinted her eyes at me, "Don't lie, Max. What is wrong?"

What the- I just told her that I was thinking about nothing and she is asking me what was wrong.

"Nothing!" I exclaimed. "Are you nuts?"

She rolled her eyes,"You can tell me. I won't tell a soul. Are you alright? What were you thinking?"

Had she finally gone mad? "I wasn't thinking anything."

"Bull. No one can think about nothing. What is the matter?" she pressed.

"You know what, I am getting myself a drink," I announced, getting up from the couch and moving away from her. I practically ran into the kitchen. Surely, I didn't have such a troubled face, did I? Did I seriously look like I was worrying over something, when in reality I was actually not? What if I was getting wrinkles? I can't let my sexy face go to waste. I simply can't. What would this world do without me?

Scared that I was going to die without getting any action, I walked like a zombie into the kitchen. Kim was stood near the fridge, looking into it. Immediately, my mood brightened.