Page 20 of Enemy Crush
“Your mom didn’t have to give a discount,” I said as we walked back to Elise’s car.
“Special price for my friends,” Elise said, mimicking her Mom’s accent. Mrs. Nguyen had moved from Vietnam when she was a little kid, but she still spoke with a bit of an accent.
“She’s cool,” I said, fleetingly feeling my own mother’s absence, the emotional tie severed years ago but nonetheless stirring something deep within me. Sometimes I wondered what she was doing and whether she thought about me and Mason, even just for a second.
“I’ll drop you home,” Elise said gently, and I realized there had been a gap of silence, that I’d gone inside my head for a minute.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely, you’d have to wait ages for a bus,” she said and she wasn’t wrong. The bus service out our way was infrequent. “Plus, I’ll be able to get a peek at where Quinn lives.”
“And here I thought you were actually interested in the Mustang,” I said, feigning disappointment, though the mention of Quinn’s name had once again sent my heart racing.
I never invited my friends over, mainly because our house was away from town and it was kind of small and we didn’t have a giant tv or the latest gaming console or fast wifi. I did have everyone around for pizza and donuts on my 16th birthday but usually it was only Brayden who came over when we’d go ride trails.
“Of course I want to see it,” Elise said, pulling up to the front gate. “Oh, your Dad finished the garage.”
“Yep, all done,” I said, noticing Dad’s truck wasn’t home yet. A garage was the first thing Dad added to our house after we moved in, and of course, Mrs. Devereaux had come knocking on our door to make sure he’d gotten a building permit and then made regular visits as if she was in charge of inspections.
“Looks great,” Elise said, her eyes averting to across the street to the ostentatious brick and steel archway which was way past its prime. “So, that’s Quinn’s house?”
“Uh huh,” I said, “you gonna drop by?”
“She’ll be at soccer practice now,” Elise said, flashing me a smile. “I’ll wait for an invite.”
“Good luck with that,” I mumbled, unbuckling my seat belt. “I’ll let you take a sneak peek of the Mustang but no touching.”
Elise rolled her eyes at my fussiness. Of course I was only joking, but she said, “What if I wear gloves, can I touch then?”
The front door was unlocked and I dropped my backpack and the donuts on the kitchen table and Elise followed me down the hallway where I shouted, “Mase, you here?”
A small voice came from the closed door of his bedroom. “Doing homework.”
I tapped and poked my head in. Mason’s back was to me as he sat at his desk in the small bedroom which had just enough room for a bed, a bookshelf and a chest of drawers.
“All good on the bus?”
“Yep,” he said, busy working on his laptop.
“Hi Mason,” Elise called out from behind me.
“Hi.” Mason shouted back though I wondered if he knew who it was.
Elise oohed and ahhed over the progress of the car, though I wasn’t sure she truly understood how much work had gone into it. “You and your dad are doing a great job.”
“We’re getting there,” I said. “But I need to fix my bike so I can ride it next week. I’ve had enough of the bus.”
“It hasn’t even been a week,” Elise said with a laugh.
I lowered my voice, not that Mason would be able to hear. “I think Mase is gonna be fine. He’s got a friend he meets.”
“Well, that’s cool.”
“Quinn takes the bus too, you know,” I said. “It’s kind of weird because she has a Jeep.”
“Really?” Elise raised her eyebrows but I couldn't tell if she was shocked about the car or the fact that Quinn was slumming it on the bus.
“Yeah. A brand new one,” I added, a little snark slipping in. “But I haven’t seen it around lately.”
