Shift

4

Sometimes I crash on Tommy’s floor. Tonight, I couldn’t seem to make it off the Judges’ couch. I’m not sure when exactly I fell asleep. Last thing I remember is getting into it with Tommy over some junior high kid who was trying to blow up our compound on Combat Warrior. He threw his controller and turned the game off in the middle of play then stormed off upstairs.

Someone turned the TV off and threw a blanket over me. It was probably Tommy’s mom. When I was little, she used to tuck me in and call me her little burrito. I’d lay on the rollout in Tommy’s room in that lock-tight position all night, not wanting to undo her work. I’d never felt so safe.

I roll to my back and kick the blanket away as I feel around for my phone to check the time. It’s dark in the house, so I doubt it’s past five. My phone flops to the carpet and I tap the screen to see 3:30 and a flurry of messages before my screen goes dark.

“Shit,” I mumble. I haven’t charged it all day.

I manage to get to my feet and stretch my arms toward the still blades of the ceiling fan, brushing the wood with my fingertips as I grunt under my breath. My body is forever crooked. Just one night I’d like to experience sleep on an actual mattress with a real pillow and all of that memory foam crap. With my luck, my body would rebel and insist on curling itself into the twisted nightmare my spine is accustomed to.

I rub my eyes, my phone clutched in one fist. There are usually a couple of chargers plugged in around the kitchen, so I slide in my socks along the wood floors until I’m close enough to feel around the counter. My hand lands on someone’s phone screen, stirring it awake, and the glow lights up the room enough to help me unplug it and start charging mine.

“You reading my text messages?”

The pink glittery phone case registers in my brain as Ha

“O-okay, we are going to need to put a bell on you,” I whisper through nervous laughter. I hold her phone against my chest, my arms and legs still numb with the burst of adrenaline.

“Like a cat?” She holds a palm out for her phone. I hand it to her and match her crooked smile.

“Yeah, something like that.”

My pulse settles back to its natural rhythm, but the beats still echo in my head. She’s wearing an oversized T-shirt from one of the tracks we went to in Nevada. That shirt—it’s it. That is all she is wearing. Her hair is split in two halves, each taking a shoulder. My hair? It’s standing straight up in the air. I can feel it. And Ha

“Oh, I bet that’s all kinds of crazy up there,” I say, palming my head with one hand before ru

“It’s electric,” she says, her lopsided grin still in place.

“Yeah, I bet.” I run both hands through my hair a few more times then give up. It is what it is.

“Trouble sleeping?” I lean against the counter, folding my arms over my chest. Ha

“I forgot my phone was out here. I woke up in a panic because I couldn’t find it.”

I nod and smile at her honesty.

“Sad how dependent we are on these things, right?” I tap my screen to the right on the counter, showing off the red battery icon.

“Yeah,” she breathes out with a short laugh.

Her eyes hit mine and hold on for a few seconds. I’m not sure when looking at her became so challenging, but there’s no denying that chemistry between us is different now. It’s been this way for a while, and I’m not sure whether it crept up on me slowly or happened all at once.

Ha

“Were you warm enough?” She finally breaks the awkward quiet.

I furrow my brow, not sure what she means.

“You fell asleep on the couch. I covered you with my blanket.” She shrugs and her shoulders stiffen, almost as if she’s nervous and wants my approval that my stay here on the sofa was top-notch.

“Yeah, it was cozy. Thanks,” I say, relaxing the death grip I have on myself, moving my hands to the counter’s edge. Ha

We exchange a few more awkward, tight-lipped smiles and she swings her legs forward and back with the building nervous energy. Her phone vibrates in her palm, giving both of us an out. I check the progress on mine while she reads her message. I’m trying to give her privacy but the heavy sigh that leaves her body brings my attention roaring back to her.

“What’s up?” I say, setting my phone back down on the counter. Four percent isn’t going to get me anywhere.

She’s cupping her phone and staring at the message, so I step closer and nod, silently asking permission to read her text. She turns the phone around and holds it out for me. I pause right in front of her and take it in my hands. I’m not sure who this BOSA guy is, or why he’s offering her fifty bucks, so I glance up with an arched brow.

“He wants me to take the bio test for him tomorrow. He sits right next to me.” Her shoulders sag as if she has no choice in this matter.

“He’s willing to give you fifty bucks to let him look at your paper?” Seems like a pretty sweet offer to me, but school’s never really been my thing. Ha

Ha

“It’s not that kind of test. I’d have to write things. Like, I’d take his paper and put it under mine and do both tests at the same time, in different handwriting,” she explains.

“Wow. That’s— You can do that?” I joke.

She kicks her feet forward, her toes punching me in my thighs. I grab her still-crossed ankles in front of my body, but I’m careful to let go fast. Her gaze slips anyhow, so I take a step back to build in some distance. I keep her phone, though.

“I’ve done it before,” she finally admits, glancing up at me through heavy lids. Her eyes slope at the sides with shame.

“Hey,” I pipe in, swinging one hand forward and brushing my fingertips lightly over her knee cap. “Don’t do that to yourself.”

“Do what?” She shrugs.

“Beat yourself up for making a profit on your skills.” I meet her gaze and hold on to it this time, unwilling to let go until she softens. Her lids flutter eventually and she blinks her focus off to the side.

“You think I would be hitting one-fifty in pitch black in the middle of nowhere every Friday night if I had smarts I could sell off instead?” I tilt my head to the side and wait for her eyes to come back to mine. When they finally do, we both quake with a short laugh and she nods.

“Yeah, Dust. I’m pretty sure you would,” she teases, kicking her legs forward again. I’m too far away for her to do more than taunt me.