I get home. My mom is out in the yard, yelling at Brutus. “Brutus, Sit! Brutus, Come! Brutus, Shake!” Brutus’s response is to lie there like a bump on a log. He turns his head away from her like a teenage boy refusing to get out of bed.
She sees me. “Katie. I’m trying to be authoritative. I just want to know if he knows any tricks.”
I smile. “It sounds like you need a break. Let’s go inside. I can smell the deliciousness from out here.”
We sit down to eat supper, a scrumptious Italian dish. There’s a knock at the back door. Brutus barks from outside. JuneBug comes in, with Brutus in tow. She helps herself to a plate and scoops up some Italian food before grabbing a drink. She pulls up to the table and sits down. My mom raises her eyebrows.
Brutus follows JuneBug to the table and plops his big body down at her feet. My mom gives Brutus a grudging look. “Sure. I’ve been with you all day and soon as this one comes in, you attach yourself to her.”
JuneBug acts like she doesn’t even hear. She’s too busy eating. “Dang, Ms. Starbright, you’ve outdone yourself. I don’t know what this shi-stuff is, but it’s like the bomb. My mom – she don’t know how to cook, like macaroni even. Her noodles are always crunchy. So! What we talking about tonight?”
I decide this is all normal. I start talking about the chase that’s been going on between Oliver and me. “I just don’t know if I’m up for putting myself out there. I mean, Oliver could annihilate me, and I don’t know if I could handle being roadkill on the side of love’s highway.”
My mom clears her throat. “Well. That was a lovely description. Katie. You just gotta be up front with him. I mean, I was with Jack. He didn’t like what I had to say, but at least I stood up for myself.”
JuneBug coughs a little. “Yeah, Ms. Starbright, what happened? I mean, Jack never said, and usually he’s like an open book to me, even when I want to skip a few pages.”
My mom snorts. “Really? Yuck. Well, I basically told him I wasn’t doing the deed, and he was like, like how many dates? And so I told him that I was more like a wedding night kind of girl.” My mom’s face turns a little red. But I’m proud of her.
JuneBug looks all incredulous. “You told Jack you wouldn’t sleep with him, and he took off? You must have been pretty convincing, because he’s heard that line before, but that doesn’t slow him down for long. He can be pret-ty charming.”
My mom takes a sip of her wine. “I knew It! I knew that was the kind of guy he is. I’m so glad he didn’t break me down. He actually tried to make me feel bad because he bought me dinner four times and I still wouldn’t give him what he wanted. What a tool.”
JuneBug gives my mom a look. “Yeah, I guess. I mean he can be a bit of a shit when he wants something. I guess he’s too used to women falling at his feet.”
My mom clears her throat again. She points her finger at me. “You remember that, Katie. Don’t compromise yourself for any guy. You don’t owe anyone anything, no matter how many dinners they buy you. That’s not how love is supposed to work.” She sniffs. “I just need to find a mature man who wants my company just as much as the other, well, you know.”
JuneBug looks at the both of us. “Ms. Starbright, are you telling me that you aren’t going to get any action unless you’re married? Is that what you’re saying?”
My mom throws her hands up. “JuneBug! There’s more to this life than just sex. I mean, come on. Now you sound like a guy. Surely you’ve got more intelligence than that. Please tell me you aren’t one of those girls who embraces the idea of sleeping with whoever, whenever, to show that you have the same rights as men? That’s not what true feminism is about. Women don’t need to be having sex just to prove they can. Respect yourself. Respect your vee.”
Oh whyyyyy. I want to crawl under the table in mortification. My mom just referred to her vagina in front of my friend. At the dinner table. And she’s giving life advice now?
JuneBug’s eyes are like super wide. “Yo, Starbright. Did you just tell me to check my vagina?”
If she’s looking to shock my mom, it doesn’t work. “Yes, if that’s how you want to say it. I mean, ask yourself, would you want to go to a hotel room and lay down in a bed with used sheets? Or do you want to lie down on a bed with brand new sheets that only you’ve slept on?” My mother insists.
“I get what you’re trying to say, Ms. Starbright, I think, but you do realize, hotels don’t buy brand new sheets for every new customer. They do their own laundry. Trust me, I would know. Besides, I don’t get why guys expect a girl to be saving themselves or whatever, but they can go around with whoever they want? A guy oughtta live up to his own set of standards, that’s all I’m sayin’.”
My mom drains her wine glass and stands beside the table in full soapbox mode. “Amen to that, sailor girl. I’m completely on board your equality ship. I knew you were hearing me.” She gives JuneBug a tipsy wink before turning back to point at me. “And, Katie, as far as you’ re concerned, you’re going to have to decide for yourself if you’re going to live your life or if you’re going to walk around in a bubble. I mean you gotta have some sense. Don’t keep throwing yourself to the wolves if they’re tearing you apart, but if you avoid all the ledges, you’ll never know the glory of falling. It’s a wondrous feeling.”
I snap out of it. “Whoa, Mom. That was like…deep. That was beautiful.”
JuneBug gives a hard clap. “Yeah! Starbright you da bomb! That was totally clash.”
We finish supper and JuneBug and I head out to walk Brutus the Beast. I catch her up on everything, the poetry in English class, and the arrival of beautiful, broken, Israel.
That gets her attention. “They have a son who’s an artist? He’s been at the shoppe? He’s covered with tattoos, and he’s a hottie? Why didn’t you call me? We have to meet!” We walk Brutus a bit longer. JuneBug sighs. “I gotta say, Katie; I don’t think you realize what is happening. This is like a once-in-a-lifetime event.
“No one has ever heard Oliver’s poetry. That’s like a thing of…legends. Like, everyone knows he’s all deep and shit, but he ain’t never recited nothin’ to anyone. He’s more like the dark, mysterious type. Like, his 8th grade year, he carried a notebook everywhere and he would write in it, but he never let anyone see it.” She slugs my shoulder and shakes her head. “Katy-did, you have brought the player of the year to his knees. What’s stopping you from going out with him?”
I try to make her understand. “It’s like I told you, JuneBug. I’m scared. I can see he’s a great guy. I just worry that some of it might be an act.”
JuneBug makes a face. “You’re very cynical.”
“I know, but my dad left my mom for someone else. And he was my dad, and they were really happy, and I thought I knew him. So I guess it made me a little jaded.” JuneBug gives me another look. “Okay, a lot jaded.”
“That’s fair, I guess. But you know what they say? Don’t make someone else pay for your dad’s mistakes.” Her words stick to me like glue. We walk on. Thoughts whirl inside my head, but they keep coming back to her point.
I wake up to JuneBug’s chattering…“and then the mothership landed and Brad Pitt stepped out. He walked over and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and we went back to the ship and flew into the most outer space there is and had magical alien babies with big pouty lips..” She looks at me with one eyebrow raised. I’m so lost.
“Brad Pitt babies? What in the world are you talking about?”
She sighs. “Well, I was talking about the upcoming dance but then I realized you were in your Katie-zone so I started talking nonsense to see how long it would take for you to hear me…”
I sigh. “I’m sorry, JuneBug. I try to quit thinking about Oliver, but I’m afraid he’s like a broken record that I can’t shut off.” We walk in silence back to the house.
JuneBug leans in. “Then break the phonograph needle.”