Gift

Chapter 12

Ryder

Cheryl's house is big. It's one of those weirdly modern houses that's just an amalgamation of rectangle upon rectangle. There's a part of the house that hangs over a driveway that has two cars on it, and someone's in the room that's acting as the counterweight for it.

The doorbell is underwhelming though. I expected some classical music to play, or really any custom tone, but instead it sounds like a regular doorbell. Cheryl's the one to open the door and when she does I get to see the inside of her house. It's all painted white and shiny, and every chance it gets the decor is made from fancy things like marble and porcelain. It'd be like what I'd imagine the inside of a toilet tank were, if it weren't so dirty and used for plumbing. A porcelain dollhouse.

She tells me to drop my stuff by the door and that we'll come back figuring out the arrangements later. I follow her into one of the rooms then stop movement entirely. Mikaela's here. She's probably thinking the same thing about me. I don't know what I was expecting, that she wasn't because things would be too awkward, maybe patch things up with her here somehow. But she only acknowledges me then goes back to her phone. It hangs the worrying thought that I don't know if she's cooled down or passive-aggressively ignoring me over my head.

This is not good. Sure, we've had petty disagreements before—hell everyone has—but I don't even know the circumstances in this one, she won't let me, and it seems to be pretty important that I do.

Not wanting to bug her even more than I apparently have, I sit down on the zebra-striped couch with Ian across from her and let her be. Might as well be an actual zebra though—four legs, pattern, and all. Still wouldn't remove any tension in the room. Besides, nobody would even talk about it. We'd need an elephant for that.

Blake is the last one to arrive, Cheryl ushers him in and is somewhere between befuddled and annoyed. "I told you guys you could play any of the video games," she says. "Y'all looked bored to death."

"Didn't feel like it," Mikaela mutters at her phone.

"I would've," Ian says, "but I didn't want to ruin anything on your save files."

"Ah, whatever. Don't care about them. Start a new game if you want." Cheryl brushes something off her shoulder. "So, I'm gonna order pizza for lunch. You guys basically have free reign over the house for the next two days, so you can explore it if you want to. Double-door bedroom upstairs is my parents' though, off-limits. Whaddya want on the pizzas?"

Everyone generically votes on pepperoni. I would've gone for Hawaiian myself but nobody cares enough to stray from that for lunch. Cheryl goes further into the house to where I assume the kitchen is and Ian starts up a Playstation with Mikaela. Seeing a double opportunity, I urge Blake to go explore the house with me.

"I need to stretch my ass after that long drive," I tell him, then cup my butt to emphasize.

"You mean your legs?" he says.

"Sure, those too."

We pass Cheryl in the kitchen to go out to the yard where I slightly hope to find a swing set or something. But no. I'm disappointed. Only slightly though. There is, however, a pool that's covered up and is probably too cold to swim in anyways and an above-ground hot tub. Neither of us brought swimsuits, but I joke to Blake that I would still go in. He is only slightly concerned.

There are lots of other rooms that are decorated exactly how you'd expect them to be, like in TV shows. To a T. A generic study, small library, and several half bathrooms. When we come back to the living room, the boring doorbell rings again and our hostess announces that lunch is here.