I absorbed his words. God, I was stupid. I instigated this entire situation because I was afraid. It was easier to believe Ezra had feelings for Melissa then to admit that there was something building between us. Or maybe it was my imagination running wild—seeing what it wanted. I wasn’t sure.
“Oh my God!” I heard a high-pitched scream. I could recognize that squeak even if it were a thousand miles away. “I’m, like, so sorry.”
Ezra straightened and I shot Erica a look that said, “If you open your big mouth, I will slit your throat.”
“I’m going, you guys can resume whatever it is that you were doing,” Erica mumbled and disappeared.
“What do you say?” Ezra pressed. “Can I have a dance?”
I shook my head. “I can’t. Not right now.”
He nodded and pinched my nose. “Okay, tomorrow I’ll come get you. I want to show you something.”
“Are you leaving?”
He pressed one soft kiss to my forehead. “Yes, I can’t stay here knowing what you’re about to do to yourself.” I blinked, speechless.
He stopped by the bookshelf and huffed. “Is this where you get your dark side from?” He pulled out one of Stephen King’s novels, inspected it and then put it back. “You have a lot of his books.”
“I have all of his books,” I corrected. “And FYI, I was born with a dark side.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t honest. “See you tomorrow.”
I nodded and he walked away. Even when he was gone, I stood there staring ahead at nothing, considering not going into the bathroom. Even with all the pondering, I couldn’t resist the impulse. I entered my room and closed the door behind me.
The rest of the party was a drag after Ezra left, and as the night went on, one-by-one the guests took their leave. Close to midnight, there was only Erica and Melissa left—plus their respective partners.
David and Andrew were on the couch with their feet propped up on my furniture. I kicked David’s leg off and Andrew removed his before I was able to strike him. Bending forward, I cleared the empty cups dispersed around them.
“So how has it been working with Ezra?” Erica said casually from the kitchen where she was seated, doing nothing. From the grin on her face, I could tell she was dying to blurt out what she saw.
I made my way towards her and mouthed, “Shut the hell up.”
“Yeah, how’s it going, Tina?” Melissa said, loading the dishwasher. She had her back turned to us. “If you’re still there that’s a good thing, right?”
“Sure,” I said, “things are fine.”
Erica snort-laughed and Melissa spun, leaning against the counter.
“What?” Melissa asked Erica.
“I swear to God, Erica,” I warned, “I will hurt you.”
“Oh, now I’m curious.” Melissa’s eyes lit with interest. “What’s going on that I don’t know about?”
“Mel,” Erica squeaked. I covered my face. “You won’t believe what I saw.”
I took my hands away from my face, waiting for the nonsense Erica was about to spew. As overly dramatic as she was, anything could have come out of her mouth.
“I saw ...” Erica widened her eyes, beaming and whispered, “Ezra and Christina making out in her room.”
“Seriously, Erica? What the hell is wrong with you?” I spat. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“No!” The expression on Melissa’s face was of disbelief. “Ezra?”
I brought my hands up and massaged my temples. “We weren’t making out,” I whisper-hissed. “We were talking.”
“With his mouth on yours?” Erica laughed. “That had to be some very important conversation since you had to deliver the words directly into his mouth.”
“Mel, can we go?” Andrew called.
“Hold on,” she said not even looking at him, rather she dissolved into laughter. “You and Ezra,” she said between chortles. “No way. You and Ezra? I thought you didn’t like him.”
“Well, now I don’t like you either.” The more she laughed it caused fury to wage war inside of me. “I didn’t get the joke,” I said brusquely. “Please explain.” Promptly, their laughter ceased.
“I’m sorry Tina,” Melissa said, her eyes pooled with unshed tears. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I never expected you and Ezra to hook up. You guys are so different.”
“We’re not hooking up,” I said dryly.
“Yeah right, I saw it with my own eyes.”
“You saw nothing!” I slammed my hand on the kitchen island. “We were not making out. We were talking and he’s ... he’s my friend. I think.”
“Whom you occasionally make out with.” Erica had to add. She thought she was being funny, but her jokes were having the opposite effect on me. Was I that bizarre that they thought it was funny for Ezra to take an interest in me?
“Okay, Erica stop it,” Melissa reprimanded. “Jokes aside now, you know nothing happened between Ezra and me. If the two of you decide to take your friendship to the next level ...” I scowled. “Or not, then I’m fine with it. Ezra’s a great guy.”
“Can’t you text whatever it is you all are whispering about,” Andrew complained impatiently.
“No!” we all answered at once.
Chapter Thirteen
Christina
When Ezra said he wanted to show me something, I never imagined it would be a tour of his house. He parked on the driveway of a two-story house. It was the oldest-looking one on their street. The grass was the least green and their garden had a few bunches of flowers here and there. The garage door was dented and in desperate need of a paint job like the rest of the exterior.
He closed the front door behind us and my jaw fell to the ground. It was like we time traveled into the eighties. There was wallpaper everywhere. Not the nice kind with interesting patterns, but the ugly ones with huge flowers. I looked down and old, brownish carpets stretched as far as my eyes could see.
“Impressive, right?” Ezra mocked.
“Yeah, maybe for my grandmother.”
Chuckling, he took my hand and led me up the stairs.
He opened a door, of what I assumed was a bedroom, and motioned for me to go in. It was dark but I could tell the decoration was in line with what I saw downstairs. He flicked the switch and I was right, more hideous wallpaper.
“Ezra, I know a good interior designer. I could give you her number.”
Laughing softly, he took my hand in his and guided me further into the room. The bed was made and the wardrobe was ajar exposing through the crack female garments and possibly a man’s green shirt. The top of the dresser and all other flat surfaces had a thick coating of dust. It smelled like mold and dirt. Evidently, the room hadn’t been used for a very long time.
Dazed, I turned to him waiting for an explanation.
“This is—or rather, was—my parents’ room,” he said.
Ezra mentioned once that his mother had passed away, I never figured his dad was dead too. No wonder he was so close to his uncle.