Motorcycle Girl: Book Two

Chapter 6: Makeup

The picture on the side, per request, is of the engagement ring

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I went to the gym and beat the shit out of a punching bag for three hours straight, and then I ran on the treadmill for an hour, lifted weights for twenty minutes, and then started hitting the punching bag.

I went driving around the city, all over the place, until almost eleven at night, and then I forced myself to go home.

It took until a few minutes past midnight before I got home. I pulled in from the other side of the street so I walk in the front door instead.

They're all awake, as if they've been waiting.

And Odeletta isn't here.

I thought she would've come back by now.

"Where did you go?" Mom questions.

She looks worried.

Hell, they all look worried.

"The gym." I say gruffly.

I see movement in the corner and I glance over to see Odeletta standing there in a pair of black leggings and one of my white long sleeve shirts. Her arms are folded across her chest.

I pull the ring from the pocket of my jeans and toss it at her.

She catches it.

"I didn't buy it for anyone else." I mutter, and then I go storming upstairs. I get my briefs and sweatpants and my t-shirt and go straight to the bathroom before she can come up and bother me, if she even wants to.

I take a really long shower and I find myself so stressed.

And hungry, I realize, when my stomach growls.

I rinse off again and get out. I dry off and throw on my gray sweats and my white t-shirt. I towel dry my hair and brush my teeth and leave it sticking up every way. I throw my dirty clothes into the hamper and hang my towel.

I wish I wasn't hungry. I go downstairs anyways and dig around the freezer.

Where the fuck are the oven pizzas?

I open my mouth to ask one of my roommates with a hand shoots out to pull one from a shelf that's covered in bags of vegetables.

I pull it out and preheat the oven.

I know she's standing in the kitchen now. The light is on in every place downstairs and I notice how the TV, which was playing when I came in, is muted now.

They're waiting for us to talk.

I can feel her standing on the other side of the kitchen, watching me.

We're completely silent though, the silence making me tense.

Is it gay for a guy to get a massage? Because if not, I really want to get one.

I roll my shoulders a few times, sighing.

It's from all that working out. My whole body aches and I'm so tired, mentally and physically and emotional, so I just want to go to bed.

When the oven beeps, I shove my pizza in the oven and set the timer for fourteen minutes.

When the timer hits ten, she speaks up.

"Nathan?"

I grip the counter, looking down. I squeeze my eyes shut and slowly, I turn around.

She looks really upset.