The sun was setting as Jesse and Laura arrived back at the cabin. Laura called dibs on the shower as two bright yellow headlights flashed their way down the driveway on the opposite side of the house. Jesse cursed under his breath and told her to hurry, slamming the door to the cabin as the driver of the old Hummer cut the engine. Both of them scuttled down the hall to the tiny room they shared. Jesse threw his phone on the top bunk where he slept and pulled off most of his clothes, except his pants. Laura grabbed what she needed of her clothes from a suitcase under her bunk and from the nearly empty closet at the foot of the beds, then raced into the bathroom. Jesse shut the door behind her.
It was getting dark in the room, so Jesse closed the curtains on the two dusty old windows and turned on the only light in the room, a flat fluorescent ceiling light like the kind that light up supermarkets and worked by a switch next to the door. He sat down on a dog-chewed barstool by their shared dresser. Outside, he could hear his uncle’s heavy work boots clomping slowly around the house, and the now-familiar sound of shaking glass as he reached into the fridge for a cold beer.
He was surprised at how wide awake he was, especially after the long walk home with his sister complaining loudly and harassing him about Jordyn. Certain parts of the day kept replaying themselves in his head, like scenes from a movie. He was surprised how well he remembered most of their conversation word-for-word, even though it was recent. He couldn’t help but smile to himself as he recalled they easy way they spoke to each other and flirted, and the look on her face when he had teased her. Even though he had lived just about everywhere in the U.S., and even once in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, he couldn’t remember ever meeting a girl like Jordyn. There had been girls he’d had a crush on, girls who were pretty or smart or popular, but all of those simple crushes now paled in comparison. They seemed foolish. He wanted to get closer to Jordyn. He could picture being best friends with her, being so much more…
A loud thud resounded in the room as the doorknob hit the wall. Jesse looked up, only slightly startled. His uncle, a tall whiskery man with a protruding stomach that had gone far beyond the definition of a beer belly, was standing with one hand wrapped around a Heineken and the other flat against the door he’d just slammed. He was wearing a sweaty old gray t-shirt that revealed some of the sparse curling hairs on his lower flab and a pair of worn denim jeans.
“What’s up?” Jesse asked wearily.
“Where’s your sister?” Jesse’s uncle’s eyes scanned the small room as if he suspected she were going to pop out at any minute.
Jesse nodded toward the hall. “Shower.”
“Has she been in there long?”
“She just got in.”
“What were you guys doin’ all day?”
Jesse shrugged. “Went for a walk.”
“Walk where?”
“Around town,” Jesse lied. “We went to some old shops… Laura wanted to see the fish they sold as bait and the old stuff the prisoners made in the crafts store.” It wasn’t a total lie, it was just something that had occurred on a different day. Jesse had obliged with nothing better to do.
Pauly took a sip of his Heineken. He had to swing his arms around awkwardly to get past his belly. “When does your school start up?”
“September seventh. Another month.”
“I can count. Did your ma call you or anythin’ yet?”
“No, she said she couldn’t until after the date.”
