“Brody’s in there, isn’t he?”
“No, I’ll call him. Watch.”
“Brody,” my mom said, reaching for the doorknob. But I stood my ground, hoping that the delay would at least give Drew the chance to get dressed.
“Is he back there?” My dad was up from the couch and was in front of me in an instant. “Let us in, Sophia.”
I was proud of myself for waiting another ten seconds or so before finally stepping to the side so my dad could open the door. I braced myself for what he might see.
“Who are you?” he asked sternly.
Drew stood up—thankfully fully clothed—from where he’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, with a laptop open but probably not even turned on. Next to him lay one of his business textbooks.
“Drew Nolan,” he said confidently. Smiling broadly, he reached out his hand. “You must be Sophia’s dad. It’s nice to meet you.”
“That’s right,” said my dad, completely ignoring Drew’s gesture. “Patrick Mason.”
Drew slowly lowered his arm. “I didn’t realize Sophia had plans, or I wouldn’t have asked her to help me study.”
“Studying, huh?” my dad practically grunted.
“Yes, sir.”
“With Brody’s MacBook?”
For as sharp as Drew was, my dad was sharper.
“He lets me use it.”
“Are you his boyfriend?” my mom asked, looking almost excited at the idea.
Drew’s eyes darted to me before settling back on my parents. “No?” Drew answered, obviously hopeful that he’d chosen correctly.
My dad kept his body squared to Drew’s but turned his head toward me once again. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on here, but you better hope your brother picks up. We’re not leaving until we find out where Brody is and why there’s a strange man in his bed.”
D R E W
Mr. Mason was scary, intimidating in a way that went beyond Sophia’s description of him. He couldn’t have been over six feet tall, but his expression and posture created anxiety in me more than anyone’s size ever had.
Not sure whether he was mad at Brody or the whole situation, I barely moved, let alone asked any questions as Sophia dialed his number. She held the phone so it was facing her, leaving her parents out of the frame completely.
I heard the FaceTime call connect, and Brody’s voice immediately after. “What’s up, little sis? How’s college life? The Greek goddesses let you back in the house yet?”
“I have a meeting with them in a little while, actually,” she replied.
Was Brody picking up on the tension in her voice?
“Sweet. Let me know what happens.”
It was more likely Brody was making conversation than it was that he actually cared about the result. Well, beyond wanting to find out when Sophia would be moving out of his apartment.
I heard a female voice giggle and Brody say, “I’m on the phone, babe. Un momento, por favor.”
“I see you’ve improved on your Spanish since high school,” Sophia said, and I had to bite my tongue from laughing. Scared to make eye contact with Mr. and Mrs. Mason, I kept my gaze fixed on Sophia.
“Ha-ha,” Brody said dryly. “Is Drew there? I wanna find out how my classes are going.”
“Yeah, he’s here,” she said, adjusting the phone so Brody could see me.
I chanced a glance at Mr. Mason, who mouthed Where is he?
“What’s my GPA looking like?” asked Brody.
“Good,” I answered. Better to give as little information as possible and ask even fewer questions.
“Nice.”
Just when I thought this whole thing couldn’t get any more awkward, the dark-haired, bikini-clad woman next to him leaned over to kiss his neck.
One hard stare from Mr. Mason had me asking, “Where are you? Looks gorgeous there.”
“Dude, you have no idea. The women, the view, everything here is beautiful. If you ever get the chance, you definitely need to check out the Amalfi Coast.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
With that, Mr. Mason reached for the phone. As Sophia let it go from her hand, she muttered a quick, “Mom and Dad are here,” before the Masons made face-to-face contact with their delinquent son.
“What?” Brody squeaked out.
“What are you doing in Italy, Brody?” Mrs. Mason said. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“She’s right to worry,” Mr. Mason said, “because I swear to God, I’m going to kill you when I see you.”
“Sorry, bad signal.” Brody quickly tried to muffle the call with fake static he created with his mouth. “Hard to…er.”
“You’re on FaceTime, you fucking idiot,” Mr. Mason said. “I can see you doing that.”
“¿Todo bien, mi amor?” the woman asked.
“No,” Brody said, which I at least knew meant the same thing in Spanish as it did in English.
Mr. Mason gritted his teeth. “Start talking.”
Unfortunately, as his stare stretched from Brody to me and Sophia, I knew his directive was to all of us.
Brody tried convincing them he’d only been gone two weeks, but the lie detector known as the Masons determined that was a lie.
“We’ve been trying to reach you for over a month,” Mrs. Mason said. “I thought you were avoiding us because you’re gay.”
“I’m not gay,” Brody said, sounding more confused than he usually did, if that was even possible. “See?” I assumed he’d pulled the woman beside him again so his parents could see that he was not, in fact, gay.
“What I see,” Mrs. Mason said, “is a selfish spoiled brat who’s too lazy to ever take school seriously. We’re the idiots to ever think you’d grow up.” A tear crept into her eye, and I thought about how hard being a parent must be, especially when it was to a fuckup like Brody. Then she turned to me. “So what? You just had this boy going to your classes for you?”
Brody didn’t answer.
“I’ll assume that’s a yes. Explains why you have good grades for once.”
“Yeah,” Brody said, and even I could hear the sadness in his voice. A part of me almost felt bad for the kid until I remembered he was the reason I was in this mess to begin with.
“You have a degree in business?” Mr. Mason looked me up and down like he was surprised that I could do so well.
“No. This is the first time I’ve taken any college classes,” I said, my voice holding a similar sadness to Brody’s. “I’m just a bartender. Thought it might be fun to see what college was like. Figured I could learn some things.”
“Well…” Mr. Mason let out a disgusted laugh, and I wasn’t sure if it was directed at Brody or me. Maybe it was meant for the both of us. “I hope you did.”
I was sure even someone as dense as Brody knew his dad wasn’t talking about academics.
Mr. Mason turned his attention back to his son. “I don’t know what to say anymore or what to do.” He rubbed his temples with his free hand. “A bartender did well in classes you couldn’t even find the motivation to attend.”