Dennis was talking to someone in his room. She wasn’t sure who or what he was talking about, but Dennis was definitely talking to someone. In her house. Elly hovered outside the door in her pajamas, unsure of what to do. Should I just go in there? Is he on the phone? (There was no phone in that room.) When did he bring someone home? What if he’s … gulp … in bed with someone? The thought made her nauseated. Just knock. DO IT! Elly knocked lightly on the door. “Dennis?”
“Yeah?”
“May I come in? Are you alone?”
There was a long silence. “Uh … yeah?”
Elly opened the door. Her first thought was that Dennis looked like hell. Huge, dark bags hung under bloodshot eyes. His hair was streaked with dark grease spots and was plastered across his sweaty forehead. He was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing the night before. Elly glanced over at the guest bed. It was still hastily made—the exact same way Elly had hastily made it the night before. She couldn’t contain her curiosity. “Did you even sleep?”
Dennis gave a shrug. “No, but I had so much to catch up on. Since I left Ohio, I haven’t been leveling up my character. I can’t be left behind on the quests, just because I haven’t had time to play. Besides, my friends,”—Elly noticed the pride in his voice when he said “friends”— “they were waiting for me.”
Elly leaned against the door, trying to appear at ease. Just me and my brother, hanging out in the morning. Totally normal. Totally normal that he didn’t sleep because he was killing goblins and minotaurs and going on quests with his “friends,” who could be pedophiles. “So you stayed up all night?”
Dennis nodded, a blond lock of hair falling in front of his face. “Yeah, it was sweet.”
“Fantastic!” said Elly, not really understanding why she had said so. She motioned to the kitchen. “So, um, I am heading into the Store B this morning with some of my staff—we’re setting up some of the structural stuff inside. My friend Kim will be there with her son, Hadley, my godson, and I was wondering….”
“No thanks,” Dennis interjected quickly. “I need to grab my breakfast and get back to it. Ahora is going to be on soon, and I haven’t played with her for a while, I bet she’s freaking out.”
“Oh. Okay.” Elly bit back her disappointment. “Maybe we can have them over for dinner sometime soon. Hadley is so cute.”
Dennis spun his chair back to the computer. “Sounds good.”
Elly turned to leave, but hesitated at the door. “There’s cereal and milk in the kitchen, along with some Pop-Tarts.”
“Cool, cool, cool,” he replied.
She took a deep breath. “Who were you talking to?” Elly saw Dennis’s posture slouch at the computer. “Do you have a cell phone?” she pushed.
Dennis shook his head. “No, I wish. I was just, you know, talking to myself.”
“Oh,” said Elly. She gave him her widest smile. “No big deal, I do that all the time. It must be genetic.”
Dennis stared off into the imaginary world past his screen. “When I would get home from school every day, my mom would be working and my dad was usually at the bar or screaming at me from his place on the couch with a bottle in his hand, so I would just go into my room and talk about my day. It just felt good to get it out, you know? Everything I learned, the kids that teased me, the science award I won….” He looked up at her, and the vivid blue eyes that mirrored her own ripped at Elly’s heart. “Total loser, right?” He gave a sad smile.
Elly patted the door frame. “Nope.”
Dennis gave a smirk. “Uh, thanks. Coming from you, it means a lot. Hey!” The computer screen in front of him gave a short beep. “She’s on! She’s on. Ahora … what’s up?” And just like that, he was gone.
Elly shut the door behind her. “Are you going to shower today?” she shouted through the door, impressed at her last-minute bravery.
There was a pause. “Sure, whatever!” he yelled back.
Elly could hear the heavy rhythm of his meaty hands pounding the keys and his hushed voice. “Think you can take that from me, assassin? Well, how about you try and take this blade flurry, you half-witted troll….” Elly gave a sigh as she headed to the shower herself. Dennis wasn’t the only one who didn’t smell like roses.
Two hours later, Elly was staring at what couldn’t be a real invoice. It couldn’t be. She looked up at Snarky Teenager with total disbelief. “You ordered koi fish?”
Snarky Teenager gave a dismissive flick of her hair. “Yeah, and it’s going to be amazing.”
Elly pointed at the order. “We have a limited budget, and you bought koi fish?”
Snarky Teenager gazed down from the ladder, dangling two cream three-tiered Yoko lanterns from her outstretched arms. “They’re for the fountain.”