Creatures Of Habit

8 {James} 8

Mom and came home with dinner and I took my plate up to my room while they ate with Danica. I didn't much like spending time with Rick and it seemed he didn't mind. He was a nice guy, but he only reminded me of my parents' divorce. Dad never really recovered from that and whenever I went to visit him, he still asked about her sometimes. At least they were on okay terms when they first split, but then everything changed.

"Hey, loser," Danica said coming into my room uninvited.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Okay, a little harsh. I just came to say hi to my big brother." She looked at me innocently, but there was nothing innocent about her. She looked so much like Rick but had all of Mom's sense of superiority. And her...persuasiveness. We'd never gotten along very well. She's my half sister, daughter of my mom and her second husband, Rick. Dani got all her winning personality from my mother, who on her best day, only thought of herself as better than half the population in this town.

"Danica."

"Jamie," she smiled.

"James," I corrected her while a shock went through my body. I hadn't heard that name spoken in years and hearing my sister say it sounded strange and alien.

"Oh, crap. Sorry," she said and shot me a worried look.

"What do you need?"

"A ride. Later tonight. Please?" She put her hands together and smiled sweetly at me. "Augie and Brayden are throwing a little party thingy since it's her birthday! She told me to invite you too, obvs, since you're her cousin too and everything. So, will you go with me?" Augie and Brayden were our cousins who lived on the other side of the city. They went to some gifted kids' school.

"What about uncle Jerry and aunt Milly?" I asked.

"Who cares? It's a party!" She threw her arms up, doing a little jig and I had to laugh. "Does that mean yes?"

"Didn't Mom forbid you from going to parties because your grades sucked?"

"Okay, my grades are just fine." She lifted a hand as if to stop me from talking. "C's get degrees James Christopher Shepard. I am on the path to success by that standard. And besides is actually not a bad teacher despite her glaringly obvious un-coolness." She rolled her eyes.

"Margot," I corrected instinctively and instantly regretted it, because Danica also inherited my mother's uncanny ability to remember inconsequential details. Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally, but she didn't say anything. Instead she waited, hands on her hips, to see if I'd say yes. After my slip up, I couldn't say anything but, "Fine."

We got to my cousin's house relatively late, but I liked that, even if Danica had thrown a fit at home for me to hurry. As soon as we got there, Danica ditched me to find some of her cheerleader friends from Augie's school. In a matter of minutes, though she was bounding, almost crashing into me.

"Oh my gosh, you'll never guess who's here." She groaned and nodded towards the back of the house. At first, I only saw Augie talking to a girl whose face I couldn't see until she moved into the light and I felt a little flutter of recognition in my gut when I saw who it was. Margot. My eyes scanned the room to see if she had brought anyone from school with her but I didn't recognize anyone else. Why the hell was she here? Had she somehow known about the party and followed us?

"They're coming this way. I'm gonna bounce before she bores me to death with some math or whatever it is she talks about at parties," Dani said and left me in the middle of the room as Augustina and Margot came over.

"Thanks for coming JC," Augie said happily as she wrapped her arms around my neck, using my childhood nickname. She turned to Margot and smiled. "This is an old friend who actually goes to your school. Margot this is my cousin James."

"Yeah, I al—" I started to say, but Margot stuck her hand out and cut me off.

"Nice to meet you."

I stared at her hand for a second before taking it briefly and dropping it. My neck got hot and I felt the heat creep up into my face. Was the room too dimly lit for her to recognize my face? Was she drunk or putting on a show, I wondered as she shook my hand for half a second, not looking me in the eye, a cold smile of social politeness to seal the deal.

"You too." I said, playing the stranger.

"I'm going to find something to drink," Margot told Augie and walked away from us.

"She goes to your school, don't you now her? She's a senior," Augie told me with a quizzical look.

"No idea. I don't talk to losers, remember?"

Augie punched me in the arm playfully. "You're such a dick. She's the coolest. Just because she doesn't do all the dumb crap you and your friends get off on..."

"I guess. Where's Brayden?"

"Kitchen."

I left her to find her brother and something stronger than water to drink. The fridge was stock full of every type of beer and I grabbed whatever was within arm's reach and shut the door only to jump back when I saw Margot standing right behind it, biting on her necklace, nursing a drink in her hand.

I swore under my breath. "You scared me."
She looked up at me surprised, as if only just realizing I had spoken.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing. I was just...forget it."

She paused and took a sip from her cup. "How do you think you did on your paper?" she asked in a small voice.

"Pretty sure I passed," I said, not being able to remove the hard edge from my voice. Guess her little act had bothered me more than I'd realized. I looked down at her; she was staring straight ahead. "Thanks to you." She looked up at me then. Her big eyes looked even bigger with the soft makeup she wore. It looked nice.

"I'm glad," was all she said and pushed herself off the counter she was leaning on and walked away, her dark hair swaying down her back. I searched my memory for pictures of her, of the way she moved through a crowded space, of the smile she gave people she liked, and came up short. I didn't know her. I didn't recognize her movements. Maybe that's why she'd pretended not to know who I was, because she really didn't know.

I watched her walk towards Augie who was talking to a pair of pretty blondes in bright pink lip gloss. She caught my eye and motioned for me to come over, but Brayden intercepted me to talk.

"Don't waste your time," he said in my ear, his breath strong with the smell of cheap beer. "They're hot but totally empty up here." He gestured to his head with the hand holding a bottle.

You're one to talk, I wanted to say, but I kept my trap shut and just nodded.

"Except that one." He nodded towards the girls, but I knew who he was talking about. "She's cute. Used to follow Augie around like a puppy when we went to school with you guys. She'd come over to the house during the summer up until we left, remember?"

"No." My cousins had moved away when we were around nine, but we'd gone to the same elementary school. I hadn't realized Margot had too. Why didn't I remember her? I guess there was nothing much to remember. If she didn't make an impression, she wasn't anything special.

"Come on man," Brayden said and walked out towards the back yard where a group of people had lit the fire pit. I followed him out drinking in the fresh air of the night that had already dropped like ten degrees since I'd gotten there. The wind began to pick up and the sky had turned slate gray, ready to fall at any minute. I hugged the jacket I wore more tightly around me. When the first drops of rain began to fall, the crowd that had gathered outside rushed back into the house but a few of us found shelter under the deck overhang. Watching the rain fall reminded me of the other day when I had found Margot soaking wet and looking like she was about to pass out from the cold.

I took deep drink of my beer and tried to shake the memory away. It bothered me how much I thought of her now, but I couldn't shake her. It felt like she was there around every corner and for a split second I thought maybe she was following me on purpose. Then another, more disturbing thought crossed my mind, that maybe I was the one who couldn't stay away.