renegade - e. munson

chapter four: bothersome guest not so bothersome

   IT WAS NEARING an hour of Steve and I talking on the phone. To be perfectly honest if I had known Steve was going to keep me on the phone for this long I probably wouldn't have picked up. I still had five more math problems to solve for homework and the last two took me half an hour each to figure out. It was rearing 6 pm and there was no ending to this conversation. 

   "Maybe I'll just pack up everything and go on a road trip by myself," his voice droned on. I lay across my bed staring at the ceiling and counting the light-up stars I stuck up there when we first moved here. They no longer got as bright as the first day I got them. 

   "What if you get a flat tire?" I couldn't help the slight dig. 

   There was a second of annoyed silence before he replied, "Haz, I know how to change a tire now. Can we please move on from that?"

   But I couldn't move on. 

   "Steve, your parents bought you a BMW and don't know how to change the tire."

   He gave off a loud sigh, "Yes, Haz, I am a privileged asshole. Robin and you are always reminding me. I got it. But I learn from experiences and that experience made me learn how to change a tire."

   "Not gonna lie, I bet Claudette Finely would've thought it sexy if she saw you change a tire." 

   He took a moment to consider this. "You think so?"

   I smiled, "I definitely know so."

   "Fuck..."

   There was a knock on my bedroom door before Dustin yelled, "DINNER'S READY HAZEL!"

   I breathed out a sigh of relief. An excuse to get off the phone. 

   "Steve I got to go. Dinner's ready."

   "What are you guys having?"

   I rolled my eyes, "I don't know, Steve."

   "Call me back when you're done."

   I stared at the blank answers on my homework page and groaned. "Only if you can help me with this statistic homework." Steve's instant laughter wasn't promising. "Well, then we'll talk tomorrow because you are distraction me from getting decent grades."

   "Mind if we hang out tomorrow? I need to get out of the house."

   "Yeah! Bowling alley? You and me versus Robin and Malia."

   "Easy win. I'll pick you all up at five." 

   "Perfect."

   I hung up the phone. 

   When I got to the dining table everyone was already eating. That didn't bother me. What confused me though was that there was another person at our dinner table. Eddie was sitting next to my mom, listening intensely to her telling stories from work as he ate his pizza slice. Dustin was passing around garlic knots. 

   I took my seat next to Dustin, diagonal from Eddie. He gave me a nod as a greeting. He was giving my mom his full attention on one of her many stories. She was talking about the dangers of rollerblading because a month ago a twelve-year-old boy came into the hospital with a broken bone protruding out of his skin. Dustin and I had heard this story about five times already. It was nice that she had someone new to tell her stories to. 

   I grabbed a piece of pizza and looked over at Dustin, but he too was listening to our mom's story as if inspired by Eddie's own interest. 

   I drowned it out and ate my pizza.