Page 134 of Switched

She looks around before she heads over to the TV.

Apparently, she wasn’t kidding about not needing a fancy one.

It looks so small compared to the huge wall mounted monster we have back home.

“I think I had a TV like this when I was still living with my mom and dad.”

“Well, I’ve had this thing for eight years, so it might even be the same model as the one you had.”

“I doubt it. That would have been fourteen years back, almost.”

“Then, you’re a little older than I thought,” she says.

“Depends how old you thought I was, I guess.”

She laughs. “I’m not going to guess your age, Gus. It wouldn’t matter what I said, you’d make fun of me for getting it totally wrong.”

“I mean … only if you guessed forty or twenty. Then, I might be a bit concerned about your judgement, and probably your eyesight.”

“Thirty?” she blurts.

“Close enough,” I admit. “Thirty-two.”

“How ‘bout Bishop?” she asks. “He seems like the oldest.”

“He’s a year older than me. If he seems even older than that, it’s only because he’s old-fashioned.”

“I’m guessing Rueben and Scout are closer to my age.”

“They’re twenty-seven and twenty-eight.”

“Knew it.” She opens the TV cabinet and pulls out a bundle of DVDs. “Where should I put these?”

“I’ll go grab another box.”

Chapter seventy-seven

Sapphire

It takes less than an hour to box up everything I actually care about. In the end we have a stack of five big boxes and a few smaller ones piled up by the side of the door.

I’ve cleared out the fridge and Gus took out the trash for me.

I can’t believe it was that quick and easy.

I mean, I’ll have to call the landlord to arrange to give the keys back and pay whatever I owe for breaking my lease. I bet he’ll charge me for leaving some furniture behind, even though he’ll probably just leave it in the apartment anyway.

If I cared I might do something about it.

The truth is I don’t.

I’m moving on to something better.

“No carrying anything,” Gus warns me, while he figures out the best way to carry two of the big boxes at once.

“I’m not an invalid. The smaller boxes aren’t even that heavy.”

“I need you to open and close doors for me,” he says. “You’re not carrying anything.”

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