Dibs! (Lesbian, GxG)

Chapter 17

Nancy looks up from her art homework and stares at me wide-eyed from the couch. I slowly and quietly close the door and take off my shoes and place my backpack gently next to them. "Where's Mom?" I mouth. 

     She gestures upstairs, also mouthing, "You're screwed!"

     Yes, I got that, I think. Thank you, sister dearest.

     "Callie, are you here?" Mom calls out.

     My hands clench out of nervousness before I stutter, "Y-yeah."

     Some thumping goes on above me and my sister, who's going back to her drawing, most likely so she'll be invisible. I'm tempted to run out the door as the thumping continues, going down the steps until an angry Mom comes into view.

     "Callie Harper Tosh," she says sternly. "Where have you been?"

     "I-I thought I told you I was at a friend's house," I say, quiet. 

     Storming into the kitchen, Mom tells me, "I know that. You haven't actually told me where you were. What friend is this?" She pulls out a stool for me to sit on. After she points at it, I obediently sit down. "Is it May?"

     I shake my head. "It's someone new," I say.

     "Oh? And what's her name? Is it even a her?"

     I nod. "Jules," I say. "She thought I could get some peace if I did some homework at her house--"

     "You can't get peace here?" she interrupts, her voice raising a bit. "What's wrong here?"

     "Nothing."

     "Oh really?" Mom pulls down the dishwasher door and starts to angrily put away the dishes. Sometimes it's surprising that she's productive when she's mad. As she's doing so, she demands, "Then why didn't you text me, saying that you were going to be at a friend's for two hours?"

     "It was spontaneous." I reach into my pocket and take the last two pills. I wait for Mom to turn away before I can throw them in my mouth and swallow. "She told me to find her by the flagpole at lunch, and the rest of the day was so busy I forgot to tell you."

     Slam! A cup is planted in the cupboard. "You forgot to tell me, and somehow you remembered to meet this Jules?!"

     "Yes," I squeak.

     "I can't believe this." I sit silently while Mom finishes putting away the dishes. I'd help, but right now I'd be safer petting a crocodile. Oh crap, I think, now that the subject of forgetting has come up. I forgot to ask Randy if he could help. 

     I turn around to see Nancy, still staring intensely at her sketchpad. I'd give anything to be in her place. 

     Mom wipes her hands with a clean dishcloth. "Do you still have homework to do?" When I nod again, she adds, "Fine. Go do it. I guess you'll have to find another way to really show me that you can be independent."

     Even though the consequence was expected, I still feel a jerk in my chest at the idea of having to prove myself all over again. I can practically feel Nancy's stare (maybe out of pity, maybe out of . . . something) as I head to my room, doing the walk of shame and all that.

__________

"Where'd you go yesterday?" May asks me during our cafe hangout. I was the one who called for this as an emergency, and because I rarely do this, my best friend dropped everything she was doing and came right here to meet up.

     Apparently, she received a phone call from Mom. 

     "I was doing homework," I say. She gives me a look, and I meekly add, "I may have gone to Jules' house."

     "Geez, Callie!" my best friend exclaims. "I thought you didn't like her."

     "I don't!" I protest. "She sprang it on me at lunch, and out of shock I went with her!"

     May reaches over and holds my hand. "You could have said 'no'," she tells me, in what I think is a half-sincere tone. She immediately takes her hand away. "So, what happened there?"

     I look down at the table surface. "Not much," I say. "I met her brothers, Jules led me upstairs to her room, and I did homework until Mom texted me." May stares at me. "That was it, I swear."

     "Alright." May takes off her lid and chugs her drink down. I've never seen her do that.

     "Did something happen?" I ask. "You're not sipping your coffee like a royal."

     My friend snorts. "No, I'm just not in the mood to 'sip like a royal'." I don't believe her, but I let it go. "So that was it? Nothing bad happened between you and Jules?"

     The memory of her holding me close as if I'm priceless doll she had just received comes to mind, but I tamper it down. There's no way in hell I'm going to get into the details. May doesn't wait for me to answer. "What's up with your mom? Did she ground you?" she questions.

     "Not exactly." I tell her about the independence thing, and how I recently got it and then taken away. "Trust me, I wouldn't just do something like this," I clarify.

     "I know. Then again, you wouldn't do something like going to the house where the person you don't like lives."

     I hold up a finger. "Brother."

     She holds up a finger as well. "I know."

     "Making sure."

     "What did he say to helping you?" May asks.

     I wring my hands. "Yeah, I forgot that, too."

     She starts laughing. "Wow, that's a little sad, forgetting two important things," she says. "Either your mind's already full to the brim with information, or Jules had really shocked you."

     Actually, a little bit of both, I think. Standing up, I say, "I don't know about you, but I have a project to work on. I should get going."

     May stops me with a hand up. "Which class?" I tell her, and she says, "Man, I have that, too. Why don't we work on it together?"

     I raise an eyebrow. "I don't think I should go to anyone's house right now, and vice versa."

     She pulls out a phone. "Well, it's a good thing this is a modern object we can use. And look, we even have each other's numbers on our devices."

     "Alright, smartass. You're paying next time."