The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (22 page)

Delilah curled up in a chair and ran a finger over the cover of the dreaded play,
Twelfth Night
. Deciding to get the reading over with, she resisted her impulse to fling the book across the room and scream. If David had suggested a book to read then Delilah had to read it just so that he couldn’t say that he had read something that Delilah hadn’t read. By the next morning she had barely gotten into the play.

And then there were the other distractions that she used as an excuse. It was just that morning when Jennifer and Kyle had yet another disagreement that had left Kyle angry and Jennifer upset.

Yes, Delilah would rather think about her friend's problems than to crack open the Shakespeare that she had been trying for two weeks to read. She would rather read Shakespeare than think about what Grace had said to her. 

Her thoughts distracted her from the small pinging sound against her window. Minutes later there was a knock that caused her to start and look frantically at her door. The muffled laughter outside her window caused her to look at David crouched on the roof outside.

After Delilah struggled to open and raise the glass, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Wondering if you were having just as many problems with this text as I am," David grinned. "Knowing you, you just had to read
Twelfth Night
after I had said it was a good suggestion for the ill-fated book club." Attempts to get into the room landed him sprawled out on the bedroom floor with a dull thud. "Good thing your father isn't here. He would kill me if he knew I was climbing through your bedroom window."

"You could have tried the traditional approach of ringing the doorbell or knocking." She went back to her chair, belatedly realizing that it left David with the options of sitting on the floor or on her bed. 

Just looking at the bed made her blush.  Stupid crushes that decide to return just because someone reenters somebody’s life.  

"I did. I rang the doorbell for five minutes. I then threw tiny little rocks at your window, like they do in the movies, but I was throwing them at the wrong window.  When I realized that I had one pebble left.  Instead of going after more I finally decided to climb the tree and scale your roof." He held up hands that were scratched from tree bark. Then he proceeded to pull out a copy of
Twelfth Night
from the back pocket of his jeans. "You don't know how many times this book threatened to fall out of my pocket."

She looked over the well-worn copy before giving him a look. He held open the cover and revealed the inscription on the front page, "To my beloved Wife, Always remember, 'some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them' and without you I am nothing. Love Forever, John."

A small smile spread over her face as a small tear ran down her face. David smiled at the smile and gently brushed the tear away.   “I forgot that John was named after your father.”  Shaking her head, “What are you doing here?”

"I just thought we could read it together. I'll take the guy parts and you take the girl parts."

Narrowing her eyes, "There are more male roles than female roles."

"I didn't think you'd want to play a guy,” David gave her his winningest grin.

Delilah laughed before opening her book. Before she could say a single word David started to talk again. "All I ask is that I'm the main male characters and you're the main female characters. You might not have a problem with acting like a guy but I have a problem with acting like a girl."

"And here I thought you did that every day."

"Funny."

Taking a breath, "You know it would be better if we had the others here too. There would be more people to take on the roles that we don't want to take. I know they didn't want to create a book club but maybe they would enjoy acting something out."

Without missing a beat, David lied, "They're busy.  Penny is doing something for the newspaper and Kyle is helping his dad with something.  Or running with his dad.  He’s doing something with his dad."

"What about Jennifer?"

He hesitated before answering her question.  "She wants to kill me."

"She wants to kill everybody." Delilah paused, "Although Kyle does seem to be at the top of her list most of the time."

"That's because she likes him," David added quickly, "and Kyle, as smart as he is, is an idiot. Even if they did get together they would never last past graduation. She'll find somebody better in college."

“What’s wrong with Kyle?”

David hesitated, trying to figure out how to answer that.  “Nothing is wrong with him, but they just wouldn’t work out.  He’s had to polish his rough edges because of his father and she’s too rough around the edges.  Even if they were matched up his father would have that relationship over quicker than you can say specific.”

“I can’t say specific without stumbling over it.”  Delilah paused, wondering if her best friend was leading towards heartache, “Then why does he keep annoying Jennifer.”

“She’s a distraction.  Everybody’s starting to worry that he’s stretching himself too thin so Kyle is flirting with somebody in order to convince themselves, and himself, that he has everything balanced.”  David had been friends with Kyle for years and it was easy to recognize Kyle’s occasionally manic and disjointed behavior. 

Releasing a sigh, she shook her head sadly, “That sounds stupid and I can’t watch any more of their awkward flirtations anymore.”

David grinned.  “You also have the fact that Grace likes him.”

Her head jerked up at his comment.  His statement started Delilah thinking and wondering if Grace’s crush and Kyle paying more attention to Jennifer was frustrating the girl that was skilled at quietly manipulating her younger siblings.  Nothing was going the way that Grace thought and hoped things should go.  "You must be smart if you picked up on that."

"No, Delilah. I'm the biggest idiot there ever was." Before she could say another word, David started reading the opening lines to the play.

Struggling to keep his focus on his father, Kyle reflected about his latest conversation with Jennifer - if that could even be called a conversation.  He couldn’t deny that with her golden brown hair and blue eyes they would look very good standing next to each other, but sometimes her personality grated on him. 

              “Focus!” his father snapped.  “Distractions cause accidents and mistakes on the field!”

              “Yes, sir,” Kyle dutifully replied. 

So does being stressed out
, he wanted to add but remained silent.  Talking back to his father would be a big mistake.  He could feel his muscles tensing and it wasn’t because he was thinking about Jennifer and not football.

              Why couldn’t Jennifer be more like Grace?  Sure, he’d heard a few saucy comments coming out of Grace’s mouth when her guard was down, but she never cursed like a sailor and made intentionally dirty comments.  Her hazel eyes seemed so attentive and intelligent, but with her mousy brown hair he doubted they would look very well together. 

Appearances were everything; at least that was what his father had always ingrained into him.  Brent Goldman would rather his family be miserable and appear to be perfect, than for them to actually be happy.

              “Pay attention!” his father snapped again when Kyle managed to miss the throw completely.” 

              “Yes, sir,” Kyle repeated. 

              “You can’t miss the ball in the middle of the game.  Your team counts on you to catch that ball and get it into the end zone.  They rely on your leadership abilities and playing skills to win and make it to the State Finals again.”  His father’s quiet tone was deceptive; he just didn’t want the neighbors to know that he was yelling at his son.  “You cannot ruin this.” 

              Kyle was beginning to hate appearances and having to strive for perfection.  Rolling his shoulders, “I won’t let the team down.” 

              Most of Hannah’s time was spent waiting.  Waiting for the apartment Brady found to become available (one more week).  Waiting to tell her parents and wondering how they would react.  Waiting for Aimee’s next move; it was this one that had many people on pins and needles.

              Hannah felt as if there was an endless to-do list that needed to be accomplished before her eighteenth-birthday.  There wasn’t much that she could do without arousing her father’s suspicions, and so list after list of supplies and other necessities were handed over or texted to Brady.  This didn’t include the list of things that would need to be addressed after their parents found out. 

              She knew that her father was going to kick her out of the house.  It was as set in stone as the Ten Commandments.  She had a feeling that it would include being dropped from the family’s cell phone plan.  Hannah knew that it was something that they were going to have to address.  Maybe his parents would let her be added to their plan and then let the couple pay their part of the cell phone bill directly to his parents each month.  It would be a much cheaper than having to sign up for a contract, or even use pre-paid phones. 

              These practical matters were floating around her brain. 

              A new doctor.

              Furniture for the “living room” of the apartment. 

              Dishes.  Cooking necessities.  Trash bags.  Dish Soap.  Laundry baskets.  Laundry soap.   Coat hangers.  Shower curtain.  Shower curtain hooks.  Tooth paste holder.  Bathroom rug.  Batteries.  Flashlights.  Lamps.  Trash bags.  Trash cans.  Silverware. 

              She was certain that the list was longer than what she could currently think of.  Hannah knew that shew was stressing about the little things in to keep from focusing on the major things. 

              Like telling their parents.

              She would wait and panic later.

              Kyle found himself falling asleep on his desk at home more than once.  Math was kicking his butt.  U.S. Government was turning out to be not as easy as he had thought; thank goodness Mark and Grace were able to help him out at lunch.  At least the during the lunches where Penny didn’t claim his time; he never knew when he would be working on an article or would be able to work on homework. 

              “So, there he was, in the middle of the bathroom,” Jennifer was telling Wesley - he still occasionally joined them, but was sitting with them more often since Kyle had started sitting with them - “… screwing his girlfriend like they were rabbits when I walked in.  It’s not my fault that they forgot to lock the door.”

              He didn’t know where the words came from, but Kyle turned to look at her before narrowing his eyes, “Can you just stop cussing so damn much?  It’s getting old when you pepper almost everything you say with swear words as if they are the only words you know how to say.  You’re pretty until you open your month.” 

              Blinking, he turned towards a surprised and open-mouthed Grace.  “Sorry, Grace.” 

              “No problem,” she whispered.

              Kyle grabbed his things and went to sit by himself.  He really didn’t have the patience to put up with anything that day and thought it might be better if he was alone until he could get himself back under control.

              Across the cafeteria, Aimee sat fuming.  It didn’t matter that there was already tension radiating throughout that table.  They were starting to fall apart without her interference.  Grace and Delilah weren’t talking, even if it meant that Delilah and David ended up spending even more time talking than ever before. 

              Nothing was working.  He hadn’t returned to her side.  He hadn’t begged her for forgiveness by saying that he had been blind and never should have broken up with her years ago.  That he never should have dated anybody else since the break-up.  That he knew that they were supposed to be together. 

              Her sister had told her as much.  Her sister had told her that she needed to get David on her side and the entire class would fall at her feet and love her because they liked David.  She needed David at her side; the foundation that she had built was based on fear and it was starting to crumble around her.  Nothing was going the way her sister had told her it would if she followed the tried and true plan. 

              What was she going to do next?