I follow Jenni into the bathroom. We start giggling all over again. Jenni reaches over and turns on the water. She looks back at me, all wide-eyed and a little teary. “Can you believe what we did?! I knocked a guy out with a tire iron!” She looks down at her hands. “I could have killed him.” Her voice is much softer.
I sit down on the toilet lid and exhale slowly. “I know, Jenni. But you didn’t. He’s alive. It was self-defense. You had no choice.”
Jenni looks down at her hands again. They start to shake. Her face is filled with confusion. She looks at her fingers as if they don’t belong to her. “It all got so crazy, so fast. I had to.” Her voice is all quiet. I wonder if she’s in shock.
I get down on her level and take her hands in mine. I speak quietly. “Jenni. You were so brave. I never would have gotten out of the car for Austin if you hadn’t gone first.” I look at her to see if she’s hearing me. Her eyes are glazed over. I squeeze her hands hard. “Listen to me, Jenni. That guy could have really hurt Austin. You did what you had to do to get him out of there. Don’t ever regret that.” My eyes tear up at the thought. “He has bruises on his neck, Jenni. It could have been really bad.”
Just when I think she’s lost to me, she snaps out of it. She turns to me and whispers. “Do you trust Hank?”
I look up at her. “I want to.”
She leans back on the counter and stares at the shower wall. “Where are those guys now, though? That’s what I want to know.” She gives a shiver.
I stare hard at the floor. “I don’t know.”
She moves her foot back and forth on the tile. “Do you think Hank knows?”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I feel stupid because I can’t answer her questions. “I don’t know.”
Jenni looks down at me. “What do you know about Hank?”
A smile sneaks out of me, and I can’t believe what I’m about to say. “His kisses are delicious. His hands feel like they were made for me. He makes me feel so small.”
Jenni frowns. “You are small.”
I try to make her see. “There’s a side to Hank that’s gentle. We were at the park, and there was this horse, and he just hopped on like it was nothing. Rode bareback across the field like he was Tarzan or something. It was the weirdest, most incredible thing.”
Jenni looks at me like I’m crazy. “Hank rode a horse at the park where we stopped to eat lunch?”
I nod my head. “Yeah. I left the creek and just kept walking because I was mad that he made me fall off the pipe, and dropped me in the water, so I walked along the fence line and saw a horse in a field. I waited for it to come to me, but it wouldn’t. But of course it came right to him.”
She looks confused. “Well, maybe it’s because he’s kind of basic. I don’t know. Or, maybe he’s a horse whisperer! Like the Robert Redford movie that my mother watches all the time.”
I giggle. “I seriously doubt it.” I look at her again. “What’s going on with Austin?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know.” She rolls her eyes. “I think I could really like him, but I think he likes you.”
I look down at my hands. “I had no idea, Jenni. I swear.”
She stares at me a few seconds. “I know. I believe you. He’s pretty good at hiding things. I never would have believed his feelings for you if I hadn’t seen them.”
My heart lifts at her words, and I feel bad. What is wrong with me? I don’t like Austin, do I? I mean, I like him because he’s my stepbrother, and he’s fun to joke around with. He’s so easy to be around. But that doesn’t mean I like, like him. Does it? Oh, this is stupid. Of course I don’t like him. My best friend likes him. That makes much more sense. “Amy?”
I look up at her. “I’m sorry. My thoughts got in the way of your words. What were you saying?”
Jenni sighs. “Nothing. It wasn’t important.”
I hate it when she does this. She waits for me to pry the truth out of her, but I’m not in the mood for it tonight, even though it’s my own fault I didn’t hear her. I stand up and yawn. “Well. I’m beat. I’m going to bed. Which side do you want?”
She turns to look in the mirror and pulls something from her shower caddy. “We can’t go to bed until we do our masks.”
I smile. “Oh, yeah.” I take the package from her and rip off the top. I draw the wet mask out and put it on my face. “Thanks.” I let the cold seep in. My skin feels all tingly. I glance at her as she perches on the sink. I sit down on the edge of the tub. “Remember the first time we wore masks?”
She grins down at me. “Yeah. I was at your house for a sleepover. It was the first time I met Lady Margaret.”
The tears fall as I turn my face sideways. “Yep. We put on our masks and snuck down to the kitchen to have popcorn and lemonade at midnight.”
She giggles. “Yep. And she made us watch Casablanca.”
I laugh out loud. “She loved that movie.”
Jenni giggles. “Yeah. She loved sneaking around in the wee hours of the morning, too. Remember the brownie batter fiasco?”
My shoulders shake, as I look up at her. “I thought my mom would never forgive her for that one. There was no getting chocolate batter out of my ballerina costume.” I pause, remembering. “I always wondered if Lady Margaret didn’t do it on purpose. She knew I had terrible stage fright. It’s like she knew I wasn’t ready.”
Jenni looks at me in wonder. “You have stage fright?”
I stare at her. “Yes. Always. I dreaded giving the graduation speech.”
She’s stares at me. “But you’re a natural.”
I snort. “Thanks. It sure doesn’t feel like it. I felt like I was having a mini anxiety attack during my graduation speech.” I sit down on the side of the tub. “I was literally steps away from a paper bag.”
Jenni shakes her head and grins at me. “Why’d you work so hard for Valedictorian if you didn’t want to give the speech?”
I lean on my knees and stare at the floor. “I’m just stubborn I guess. It was within my grasp, and I went for it. Besides, the only way to conquer your fear is to look it straight in the eye. That’s what I was trying to do.”
Jenni laughs. “When you put it that way, I guess you had to.” The timer goes off. We peel off the mask and lean over the sink to wash off the residue.
Jenni leans against me, and we grin into the mirror. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m having a lot of fun.”
I put my arm around her, and we make faces. “Yeah. Me too.”