“Nice bed head, Z.” My hand went immediately to my hair. I hadn’t even thought to run a brush through it. “I invited Brody, too,” Ash said cheerfully, coming in as well, uninvited. “Where’s Bandit?
At the sound of his name, Bandit came bounding down the stairs, skidding across the wood floor and crashing into Ash’s legs. Ash bent over, and scratched him behind the ear. Bandit’s tongue fell out, his foot stomping in happiness. I sighed.
“You weren’t invited, Ash,” I said, “Which means you can’t just invite others.”
Ash looked over at Madison, his eyebrow raised. She smiled sheepishly and didn’t protest.
“I hate you both,” I said, rolling my eyes and shutting the door. I was already beginning to shiver. It was freezing out there. “And besides, is it okay to invite Brody over? I thought his mother was sick. We don’t know how the virus is spread.”
“Brody’s mom is sick,” Ash admitted, wandering over to the couch and plopping down on it.
“Yes, she is,” Madison said, glaring at Ash. “But his mom lives in Queens. He hasn’t even seen her since she got sick.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it, finding nothing to say.
“I think we won,” Madison smirked, taking up residence on my dad’s favorite armchair, a bag of Cheetos on her lap.
I grabbed the bag that Madison brought and dug through the contents, looking for the package of gummy worms that were absolutely necessary for my part in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon. “I don’t think this is what my dad had in mind when he said to stay home from school.” I sighed. “But it is Buffy. I’m going upstairs to change.”
“I think I’d rather you stay in those pajamas, Z,” Ash called from the couch. “Much easier to take off.”
I blushed furiously and turned away, stomping up the stairs. Ash was so infuriating! I thought about his comment and his hands sliding up to remove my flannel pajama bottoms, and I felt my blush deepen. Ash had a way of getting under my skin, and I hated it. I yanked on a pair of jeans and a soft gray sweater. I brushed my brown hair, which was sticking up in places. It was so long that it tended to do wild things when left to fend for itself.
By the time I got back downstairs, Brody had arrived and was canoodling on the armchair with Madison and nearly half of the first episode had passed.
“Come sit with me, my beautiful Manhattan babe,” Ash said, patting the space on the couch next to him.
I rolled my eyes. “Budge over, buddy,” I said, sitting on the couch. I pulled up my legs, folding them, and grabbed a blanket, draping it over my legs.
Bandit came trotting into the room, settling on the ground right in front of me. I ran a hand over his head, immediately feeling comforted. Bandit was one of my best friends. Before Madison, I kept to my books, and sometimes after a particularly bad day (like Ash dumping pudding on my jeans during PE so it looked like I had pooped my pants for the rest of the day), I would come home and immediately go to my bed. Bandit would jump on the bed with me and put his head on my lap, and I would tell him about the awful day I had.
Pathetic, I know. But he was the best dog, such a loyal dog. He couldn’t sit or stay or roll over to safe his life but he was loyal as hell and incredibly protective.
A pillow fell in my lap, followed by a head of perfectly styled brown hair.
“You’re comfy,” Ash sighed.
“Seriously?” I hissed at him, aware of how close he was to me.
“Shh,” Madison said, glaring at me. “Number one rule of a Buffy marathon is that one does not speak during said marathon.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ash said, saluting her as best as he could from my lap. He fell into silence and I reluctantly let him stay.
WE STAYED VIRTUALLY LIKE THAT for the rest of the day. Every once in a while Ash would look up at me when I laughed at a joke or quoted a certain line. His blue eyes would meet my dark brown ones, and I’d frown at his smile. I tried to ignore him, lying in my lap like he didn’t find new ways to drive me insane every single day of my existence.
We all jumped when the front door swung open bringing in a gust of cold air and then slammed shut. I pushed Ash off my lap and ran to meet Dad in the foyer. He looked exhausted as he hung up his coat in the closet.
“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned. “Do you need anything?”
“A coffee would be nice,” he said nodding. “Yeah, it was just a long day. I’m tired.” We moved into the kitchen, and I started pulling the coffee canister out of the cupboard.
“What happened?”
Dad and I looked up and saw Madison, Brody and Ash framed in the stairway that led down to the basement floor, where we had been all day. My dad raised an eyebrow at me and I merely raised mine in response.
I turned to them. “Homicide. At the morgue.”