Page 144 of The Keeper

“Jackpot,” Xavier exclaimed.

“Did you find it?”

“No. I found this.”

The opening bars to Wannabe echoed around us. The Spice Girls really wanted to tell us what they really, really want.

I jumped to my feet in time to see him reading the lyrics in the CD jacket.

“Is this what they were singing about? I never quite paid attention to the words.”

Sitting on top of some bins was my old CD player. Color me surprised that it still worked.

“Pretty sure it wasn’t in a box with my sister’s name on it.”

“Actually it was, princess. I may not have an Ivy League education but I can read.” He grinned and waved another CD in the air. “What exactly is an Essential Pop Music Mix for the Ages?”

Slightly mortified, I laughed. “Put it in and find out. But just remember, you did it to yourself.”

“Can’t be that bad,” he said, popping the disc in the player. “Besides, it’s too quiet in here.”

Gentle guitar notes sounded from the speakers. I grinned, recognizing it immediately. “Well, maybe I want it that way.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he griped.

“Not a Backstreet Boys fan?” I giggled, yanking another box off the pile and putting it on the floor. “I’m hearing a lot of bitching and not seeing enough searching. Get to work, Maddox.”

He pulled a pillow out of the box in front of him and tossed it to me, then walked over with one of his own. “I suppose if we’re going to do this we might as well be comfortable.”

We put the pillows on the cement floor, sat down and started digging through my sister’s stuff. Backstreet Boys faded into Christina Aguilera which then faded into Nelly.

“No Britney?” he asked, flipping through a notebook.

“She’s on there.”

“How about Take That? S Club 7?”

“Um, no.”

He shook his head and tsk-tsked. “I’m disappointed in this alleged essential mix.”

“I didn’t know you were such a connoisseur of pop music.”

He smirked. “I’m not. All the girls I liked were though. I did what I had to do to get a date and a proper kiss.”

I threw a stuffed elephant at him. “Poser.”

“What?” he laughed. “I was a teenage boy, not the prime minister.” He picked up the elephant. “Be kind to animals.”

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be sitting in a storage facility rummaging through my sister’s things and having a good time doing it. It’s possible he knew I was a jumble of anxious energy deep down and was doing all of this to help keep me relaxed. Whatever the reason, I appreciated it.

“Little Xavier liked to impress the girls did he?” I winked at him. “My sister wrote that you were huge flirt.”

He stopped sifting and looked at me intently. “She did?”

“Mmhmm. She said you guys never spoke but when she did see you, you were always surrounded by girls. Not much has changed.”

His shoulder lifted in a small shrug. “What else did she write?”

---