Leading You Home

Ninth

With my eyes glued to the piece of paper in my hand, I walk into the house. My extra curricular this year is History of Rock, a class informing it's students on all things classic rock. I've never had difficultly with exams, but a topic this forgein to me has me a bit worried. Our first exam is simply matching, but remembering who's name goes to which song that came out in what year has me a bit worried. 

In the house, the smell of food forces my stomach to produce a horrific growl. Whose home? Making my way to the kitchen, I see Bradley staring down the microwave intensely.

"Is it gonna talk?" I ask him, dumping my school bag on the dining table.

Bradley jumps like he didn't even hear me come in. "This lasagna is taking forever to warm up," he groans.

Just then, the microwave beeps. He frantically pulls the container out and digs into it with a fork from the sink. I watch the steam fly up to the ceiling and am about to tell him he might want to let it cool off before—

"Ah, damn it!" He cries, spitting out what was in his mouth. Too late.

"You might want to think about letting the food cool before you eat it," I say, reaching into my school back for my phone.

"Wow. Thanks. Amazing advice. You should have a talk show."

"Who drove you home?" I ask, staring down at a text from Carrie.

Talk?

Carrie and I haven't talked since she see left me speechless after lying to my face about Kyle. I knew she was upset about the whole thing. Carrie is so good at lying its scary, but I can usually see right through her.

"Devin." He's blowing cool air onto his lasagna. "We left seventh period to play basketball. Sorry I didn't tell you. Surprisingly enough--" he blows on his food some more. "I don't have your number."

"It's okay," I say after sending a reply to Carrie. "He kept me from having to stop for cigarettes for you again, so I'll have to thank him."

"Hey," he mumbles, lasagna in his mouth and on the corner of his lips. "I thought you loved our daily cigarette stops."

"I'll be back in a minute, I have to call Carrie," I tell him as I walk towards the front door dialing her number. "What's up?" I say when she answers.

"You were right about Kyle," she says as a greeting. There's music in the background and muffled voices. She sounds like she's walking. "You're always right," she says, and I can almost see her rolling her eyes. "I didn't tell you because I was embarrassed. Still am. I just can't seem to get this whole relationship stuff right. I'm terrible at reading people and I trust so easily it's gotten me into trouble more than once."

"I know."

"Why can't I find a decent guy? What's wrong with me?" The music behind her is fainter now.

"Just because you can't find a decent guy doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. It means there's something wrong with all of them."

She sighs heavily. "I guess."

"Just....forget about guys for a while. Take a break and spend some time taking care of yourself."

"Fine." There's a hesitant pause on her end. "As long as you give Clark a chance."

I groan. She's more stubborn then my Mom is with her coupon obsession. "God, why are you obsessing over this?"

"Be-cause! He likes you and he's hot. What more do you need?"