Page 19 of Overtime
“Dude, everyone knows that,” Jamal calls out from the living room. Apparently, the game isn’t as interesting as this conversation. “In fact, everyone at school knows your height, blood type, and girl type.”
“Especially the latter,” Archie chimes in.
“Exactly.” Lori sweeps her eyes down my body. “Especially the latter.” She curves her lips in a way that makes it clear she thinks she’s my type.
I turn back to Strawberry and say, “Hold the mayo.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Please.”
“Please,” I add.
For the first time since I opened her bedroom door, she smiles. Too quickly, she shifts the full power of it down at the second sandwich she’s making. It’s like she enjoys putting me in my place. But I don’t mind, because I’m getting a free sandwich out of the deal.
“It’s so good you’re finally making friends, Maddie,” the other girl continues, as if we were paying attention to her in the first place. “You can’t keep being a little cave troll forever, you know? Even if you often do look like one. Those sweats just don’t do you any favors.”
Strawberry stills. Her grip on the knife tightens so much her fist shakes.
“Aran.” Her voice comes out tight. “Your sandwich is done. Just put the ham in it, okay?”
Strawberry tears a piece of paper towel from the roll and slaps it on her sandwich. Glaring both at me and at the other girl, she picks up her plate and a steaming mug, then squeezes past us out of the kitchen. I watch her go until she disappears into the hallway.
There’s a whole lot of silence in the apartment, aside from thepew-pewof the video game.
Since I’m not a total monster, I close the lid on the mayo and bag up the rest of the tomatoes and lettuce. I have no idea where they go in the fridge, but better in the wrong place than rotten. I find the sliced deli ham on top of a carton of eggs and set out to follow Strawberry’s instructions.
“Sorry about that.” Lori sighs. “She’s just so sensitive, you know? Can’t ever take a joke.”
“That didn’t sound like a joke to me,” I say as I pull two slices out of the pack and throw them on top of a big tomato slice. It didn’t go unnoticed to me how Strawberry stacked up my sandwich with more food than her own. I like generous people far more than conniving ones.
“No, it totally was a joke.” She lets out a tinkling laugh like the one earlier, when she stole my fry. “That’s how we girls play around.”
I take a bite out of the sandwich and turn around. While chewing, I say, “Screw that. I have two sisters, and they never talk to each other like this.”
Someone chokes, and it’s not me. It also isn’t whatsherface. Her mouth hangs open, and she reels back as if my words punched her.
“Guys,” I call out over her head. “I’m leaving after I eat.”
“Yeah, okay.” Archie looks at me with eyes as wide as saucers.
Lori splutters. “But—You just got here.”
I use every ounce of tact I possess, which isn’t much, and say, “Yeah, I know,” rather than what I truly want to say. Which isyeah, but you’re really stinking obnoxious.
With the sandwich hanging between my clamped jaws, I make the trek around the kitchen and back to the hallway with four doors. I knock on the first one—on the left. There’s some shuffling on the other side, and as I wait, I take another proper bite. Strawberry must be a good cook, because the ingredients wouldn’t taste this good if I put them together myself. I’m another bite deep and about to knock on the door again when it finally opens.
The annoyance on Strawberry’s face falters. “Oh. It’s you.”
“It’s me.” I raise what little’s left of the sandwich. “This is really good.”
“Don’t tell me you want another one.”
“Not right now. By the way, you have mustard on your face.”
“Oh, crap.”
Strawberry scrambles back into her room and snatches the balled-up paper towel from her empty plate. She keeps her back turned to me as she wipes her face. Her brown hair is a curtain behind her. A thick one. And it stops right atop her ass. Also a thick one. But then she twirls around, and I stuff the remainder of my sandwich into my mouth.
Nothing to see here. Nothing happened. I wasnotchecking out my tutor.
