After Hours (boyxboy) | ✓

Chapter Twenty

Jennie Friese and I had never really hung out. She was in a different crowd. We were friends, sure. But we weren’t very close. In fact, she was probably beyond confused by my texts yesterday. I asked her to hang out because I needed the truth about Brendon. But she couldn’t really know that yet.

It became apparent in the hours before our friend-date that this was a bad idea. I had work tonight. With Brendon. If I heard something I didn’t like, how was I going to face him that night? But I couldn’t cancel with Jennie. So I sucked it up and told myself that, worse case scenario, I’d call in sick.

Jennie asked me to come over to her house. I wouldn’t have used the word house to describe where she lived. As I pulled through a long, winding driveway, I stared ahead at what could only be described as a mansion. A big, white mansion. I’d never been to her place — a testament to our lack of closeness — so I just parked in front of the lawn. The gigantic, freshly mowed lawn. A long, narrow cement path stretched from the driveway to the front door. It looked like it’d been paved recently. With her family’s money, they probably got it paved every year. I left the car and walked up the path, careful not to step on the colorful border flowers.

It wasn’t Jennie who greeted me that afternoon. When I knocked on the door, a short, old woman answered. She wore a permanent frown with her black dress. “Are you Emmett?”

“Uh — yes. Yes, ma’am.” I stood up straight. She looked scary — like a principal or a manager of some office. Her grey hair glinted under the bright chandeliers of the foyer. The foyer, which was the size of my bedroom.

“Jennie is in her room. It’s the third door on your right.” she stepped out of the way, gesturing to the staircase in front of me. I nodded and thanked her. She was either Jennie’s mom, or Jennie’s maid — it was nearly impossible to tell. 

The stairs didn’t make a noise as I walked up to the second floor. They must’ve been made from some good wood. I admired the light green wallpaper next to me, and the dark brown rail under my fingers. On the wall hung several family photos. Each one included Jennie, a tall man, a little girl, and a woman I didn’t recognize. This is how I knew that I had just met the maid. 

Just as I reached the door, it swung open. Jennie stood in the doorway, a phone held to her ear.

“No, I don’t… just leave me alone!” She violently hung up the call, and noticed me standing there in front of her. “Oh, hi. Emmett.”

“Hey,” I smiled, “Everything okay?”

She groaned. “I so need a walk.” She walked past me, leading me back to the stairs. 

“Uh — okay.”

After greeting the maid again, we left the house. It was cloudy and cool. August was never this temperate. I almost felt cold. It was probably even colder for Jennie. She wore a short purple dress and strappy high heels. Her black stilettos tapped against the sidewalk in sync with my own sneaker-clad feet. 

“So why’d you want to hang out?” she asked. I took a breath. We turned onto the next street. It was lined with big houses. The white facades of the buildings weren’t much different from Jennie’s.

“We haven’t seen each other in a while.”

“We’ve never hung out.”

“Never too late to start, right?” I asked, smiling innocently. She gave me a look, then nodded.

We continued our walk through the wealthy neighborhood. I smiled as we passed Claire’s house, and then Theo’s (right next door). Funny how we could live in such different worlds, in such a small town. The world is weird like that.