I banged my fist against James’s door while Levi held half-naked and fully passed out Kya across his arms like a little kid asleep from a long car ride.
James opened the door, smiled, and then it faded when he saw Levi holding Kya behind me.
“Seriously?” he said. “She passed out in her bikini?”
“I know. The NCPA would love this.”
“Forget your college paintball aspirations, what about my mom?” James said. “Can you put a pair of sweats and a shirt on her? I can come up with a story for her crashing here but not in her friggin’ bikini.” He shook his head. “She is going to owe me for this. Huge.”
He stared at Levi as he spoke.
“Oh, sorry. James, this is Levi,” I said.
“One of the merrymakers at Kya’s get-loaded fest?” James asked.
“Hardly,” Levi said.
“No,” I added. “Levi had nothing to do with it. I got a call from her when we were having coffee. Levi was at hot yoga with me. He just moved here.” I played with my hair and glanced around the front porch, avoiding James’s gaze.
Levi shifted Kya in his arms. “I’d love to do the whole introduction thing, but she’s kind of heavy,” he said.
“Sorry.” I stepped aside and Levi walked past, carrying her inside the house. “James? Where should we put her? Your room?” I followed behind him.
James blew out a puff of air, made a face at Kya, and flicked his hand in the air for Levi to follow him. “God, who cares about the sanctity of my bedroom? I’ll have to fumigate it later. This means I get to sleep on the couch. I swear to God, if she pukes in my bed, she is cleaning it up herself.”
“Good call,” Levi said, and followed James to his room. I trailed behind them, watching as he plopped her on the bed. Kya groaned and then curled over on her side in the fetal position. Her bare butt was practically exposed and I pulled a blanket over her.
James shook his head. “You’re aware that most friends don’t involve you in their illegal acts. You know that, Grace, right?”
I ignored him and stood looking down at her. “Can you give me a pair of your sweats and a shirt? I’ll put them on her,” I said without glancing his way.
James pulled some clothes out of his dresser and handed them to me. I looked over at Levi, who was leaning against the wall. James followed my gaze and winced. Levi had slightly wrinkled the Pokémon poster that had been on his wall for as long as I’d known him.
“I’m going to put some clothes on her,” I told them.
“Oh.” They shuffled out of the room together. She made a couple of whimpering sounds but stayed heavy and limp. I managed to pull pants on her and got a shirt over her head and arms, then tucked her back under the blankets and checked her breathing, wrinkling my nose at the odors coming off her.
I said a silent and quick prayer to God for her in my head. I’m not overly religious. My family goes to church for weddings and funerals, sometimes on Easter or Christmas, depending on the year, but I still had silent conversations with God sometimes. And I figured Kya could use some extra help.
When I walked out to the living room, Levi and James were sitting across from each other on the couches looking uncomfortable. They looked almost little on the oversized leather couch James’s dad loved so much. The whole room had sort of a country-western video feel to it. Very much his dad, very little James. In the corner of the room, a dog bed overflowed with colorful flannel blankets.
“Where’s Brian?” I asked. Brian was a cute little mutt James adopted in ninth grade, and the love of his life.
“He’s in bed with my mom. If she’s in bed, he doesn’t move from it.”
Levi stood when I walked into the room. “I should get going. Among other things, I have a cousin to go home and torture,” he said.
“Please do,” I told him. James looked back and forth at us.
“Levi lives with his cousin, Lucas,” I explained. “The guy Kya was out with.”
“You were in the new paintball league yesterday, weren’t you?” James said, still sitting rigidly on the couch.
Levi nodded.
“You got your ass kicked,” James commented dryly.
Levi nodded again.
“I approve,” James said.
Levi glanced down at the dark hardwood under his feet but I detected a smile.
“Levi is a good guy, James. He can’t help who he’s related to. He helped me find her and get her out of there. She was at Steve Blender’s. A mess.”
“Kya is becoming very adept at messy.”
I gave him a dirty look and turned to Levi. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
“See ya around,” he said. James nodded but didn’t look up or get up from the couch.
Levi followed me to the hallway. I glanced back toward the living room but couldn’t see James from where I was standing. Levi moved around me and opened the front door.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” I said as he headed outside. I followed, wrapping my arms around myself, shivering. The night air had dipped in temperature as it always did.
“Your friend doesn’t like me,” Levi said when we reached his car.
“He’s pissed at Kya. Not you.”
Levi shrugged and reached in his pocket for his keys.
“Anyhow, thanks,” I told him. “For helping me get her out of there.” I hugged myself tighter. “Try not to judge her too harshly, okay? She had a shitty day.”
He reached for the car door and opened it, keeping his piercing gaze on me.
“Please don’t say anything,” I added quietly. “About what I told you.”
“I won’t, Grace. I said you can trust me.” He leaned on the door and smiled at me.
God. I had to. Trust him.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Fine.”
His key chain tinkled in the quiet, cool night air. So tranquil. Innocent darkness that almost softened the harsh realities of what had happened earlier in the night.
“So I programmed my number into your cell phone. I hope you don’t mind.”
“When did you do that?”
“In the car. I am stealth. Like a ninja.”
In spite of everything, I laughed.
“You want me to come by and get you tomorrow, to pick up your car from the yoga place?”
“No, that’s okay. My brother can drive me. He owes me for some late-night pick-ups when he had too much to drink.”
He smiled, his bright white teeth sparkled, and my heart pitter-pattered. I dropped my glance to my feet.
“Well, let me know next time you go to hot yoga.”
I glanced up then and nodded, biting my lip to keep an overeager smile from taking over my face.
“Okay,” he said as he slid his long legs inside the car. “I should go.” He started up the ignition.
“Thanks again,” I said, stepping back and giving him room to drive away. “For helping with Kya.”
“You’re welcome, Grace,” he said softly. He smiled again and then shut the door. I liked the way my name sounded from his mouth. He didn’t emphasize the G like most people, but lingered and gave the S sound a long, soft finish. He said it like it was important and rounded out the vowel.
I watched as he drove away, and then, with a sigh, turned and went back into James’s house. He was still in the living room plunked down on the couch. It almost appeared to be eating his body. He stared at me when I walked in. “You love him, don’t you?”
I frowned, narrowed my eyes, and sat on the opposite couch. There was still a slight warm spot from where Levi had been sitting. “No. I don’t love him. I barely know him.” I wrapped my arms around my knees and pulled my legs up to my chest.
“Well, you have that look. Kya’s look. I’ve never seen you with it. On you, it’s a little scarier.” He stood. “You want something? A soda?”
I shook my head, waiting while he stormed out of the living room to the kitchen, but since the entire bottom level of his house was open, I watched him as he went to the fridge. He opened the door and stood in front of it, staring for a moment, and then reached in, taking out a can.
“He probably has a really inferior IQ. With muscles like that,” he said when he came back in the living room, popping the lid with the pssst sound.
“You mean Levi? You were checking out his muscles?” I joked.
“No. But he did carry Kya all the way upstairs without even getting out of breath.” He walked over and sat beside me. He took a sip from his Mountain Dew. Our favorite.
“And what self-respecting male does hot yoga?” James asked and held up the can to offer me a sip. I took one and handed his drink back. He leaned against the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table.
“Lots, James. I always invite you to come. And you always say no.” I swatted at his legs on his mom’s behalf and he dropped both feet to the ground with a loud thump.
“I guess I’m not into public humiliation for my non-flexibility or my physical shortcomings.” He brought the soda can to his lips and tilted back his head.
“You’re perfect the way you are,” I said softly and stood. “I should go home. Be nice to Kya in the morning, okay, James?”
He noisily slurped at his drink. “What if that thought makes me feel queasy?”
“Suck it up, James.” I turned back to stare down at him, trying to drill some sense of obligation into him with my eyeballs.
“Why do you always do that?” he asked softly. “Stick up for her? Even when she makes a complete mess of things. Which she is showing exceptional talent for more and more lately.”
“She’s our friend,” I said, hoping he’d take that simple concept and think it over. “Friends are there for each other,” I continued, in case he didn’t. “Even when they screw up.”
“Yeah? I don’t know, Grace. I don’t know if she even is my friend anymore.” He leaned forward and took a coaster from a square stack on the coffee table, placed it down, and put his drink on top. “We don’t even talk. The only thing we have in common lately is you.”
“You have history. Tell her what you told me. Best friends can call each other on crap, so if she’s giving you attitude, tell her. She looks up to you.” I smiled but he didn’t smile back, so I put my hands on my hips and tapped my toe for effect.
“The only reason she looks up to me is because I am vertically superior.”
I took a few steps over to punch him on the arm. Hard. “James. You aren’t going to lose her friendship, no matter how hard you try. I won’t let you.”
“Ow.” He rubbed at his arm and made a face at me. “For a little person, you have a big punch.”
I made my hand into a fist and held it up. “Don’t make me do it again.”
“You know what? If you hadn’t moved here, I don’t know if we would have stayed friends. She’d probably have gotten bored. When we were little, she hung out with me because it made her feel important. You know? She’d fight anyone who said anything. But you came along and kind of insisted we all stay friends.” He glanced up at me with a sad half smile on his lips.
“You and Kya would totally still be friends,” I said.
He reached for his soda again, avoiding my eyes, and took a long sip.
“It’s been the three of us for so long,” I said.
“Yeah?” he said with a wry smile at his can of Mountain Dew. “What about buds before studs?”
“But you’re not a stud, James,” I teased. “So that’s okay.”
He looked up then with a flash of anger in his eyes. He blinked and it was gone. “Thanks a lot.”
I shifted my stance and adjusted my purse. “You know what I mean. You’re our guy. ”
He rolled his eyes.
I forced out a giggle. “Come on. You want to be a stud? How about we fix you up with Angie Harrison? She’s been in love with you since seventh grade.”
“Angie Harrison smells like cat litter.”
I giggled for real. “Well. They do have a lot of cats at their house.”
“Four,” he said. “Her little brother told me. And one of the cats is pregnant.”
“Hmm. That does seem a little excessive. And kind of sad that a cat is getting more action than we are. Okay. What about Denise Puzey?”
He made a face and we joked around for a minute about possible dates for James. He didn’t tease me about anyone I might date.
“I should go,” I finally told him. “You’ll be okay with Kya?”
“She can stay in the bedroom. I’m not going anywhere near her.” He stared down at the floor.
“You want me to walk you home?” he asked.
I smiled. “James. It’s like fifty feet away.”
“Give or take. Never mind. It’s dark out, thought I’d ask.” He searched the can of Mountain Dew again as if it held answers to mysterious questions.
“I think I can handle it, but thanks. Dark doesn’t scare me. That’s Kya’s phobia, not mine.”
“Wish she was afraid of more useful things. Like alcoholic beverages.”
He glanced up then and we smiled at each other, understanding each other without words. I lifted my hand and walked toward the front door. He stood up from his chair and followed me. “Until next time, Grace,” he said softly.
I wished again that he understood Kya. It would make life easier for all of us. Fresh guilt hit me about telling Levi. I wanted to tell James, but Kya would sense it on us like a drug dog sniffing out some weed. James wasn’t known for his poker face. Me either, for that matter.
The door clicked as he locked it behind me.