Covers

Chapter Nine: Lemonade

"This is really bad," Evan says for the thousandth time, making a disgusted face at the carpet and the crumbling, stained padding beneath it. "Jesus. It smells like cat piss over here."

I make a face, noticing the smell as well. "Now do you see why I insisted on paying you?"

I finish rolling up a section of the old carpet. Evan assigned me the task of rolling up the sections he tears out for easier disposal, though he insists on being gentlemanly and carrying the resulting rolls down to the van.

With an expression reminiscent of a toddler staring down a bowl of broccoli, Evan grabs hold of the last piece of padding and tears it from the wall. "Yucky."

I laugh. Evan looks at me, uncomprehending. "Yucky," I repeat, chuckling.

Evan grins and clicks the blade of his boxcutter down before tossing it harmlessly at my leg. I roll my eyes as I look around the room. Beneath the carpet was a solid old hardwood, dusty and yes, red-colored. I floated the idea past Evan of just refinishing that, but he said it would take just as long as putting in the new flooring and would still look orangey. Upon learning this, I thought better of straying from the original plan.

I expected the process to take a lot longer than this. We've only been working about an hour and all the carpet is out. I'm grateful my taste in furniture is very minimalistic because we just moved stuff around the room instead of having to remove it.

"Eh-hem," I hear a voice say. I turn to see Ms. Harper standing in the doorway, raising an eyebrow not at the mess we've made of my apartment, but at Evan, who rolls up the last bit of padding. "What do we have here?"

I smile and stand up. "Hi, Ms. Harper. This is my friend, Evan. Evan, this is my neighbor, Ms. Harper. She threatened to fight my dad when she saw him in here after my concussion."

"I didn't know he was your dad, I thought he was some weirdo," Ms. Harper lectures me.

Her eyes land on Evan when he stands up and approaches her, hand outstretched. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Harper. I promise I'm not usually covered in carpet fuzz."

Ms. Harper laughs and takes his hand. With this, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I trust her instincts, so I'm not sure what I would have done if she didn't approve of Evan. "Good to meet you, Evan. I do have to ask, though, Audrey, did you get approval for all this?" she asks, gesturing around at the naked red wood.

"I did," I say, giving her a thumbs-up. "Wait till you see when it's finished."

She smiles. "I'll get some lemonade for you guys. You're not gonna catch my ass helping, but I'll do the lemonade."

Evan and I laugh as she waves us goodbye. Together, we lug the last of the carpet and padding down the stairs. I look around to make sure we're alone as he pulls a few boxes of vinyl planks off of the pallet in the back. It fills my soul with joy to see the discarded carpet in the van beside the pallet. "She likes you," I say, nudging him.

"Did you worry she wouldn't?" he asks, casting a glance back at me as he hands me a roll of foam underlayment.

"Evan, she tried to fight my dad," I remind him. "And I can carry the vinyl. You don't need to give me the light stuff because I'm a girl."

He looks back at me, annoyed. "I was giving you the light stuff because I'm nice and have seventy pounds on you, but sure, whatever you say," he grumbles comedically.

"Eh, who cares? Carry the vinyl. Testosterone increases muscle mass," I say indifferently. He sighs as he lifts a few boxes on his shoulder and hands me another roll of underlayment with his spare hand.