“Eric?” Spencer called from the top of the steps. “You down there? You and Trevor need to get the van out of here.”
“Got it,” Eric said over his shoulder.
“I guess you’d better go,” she said, coughing and getting her voice back to normal. “We should take this table up.”
“I guess.”
He made no move to kiss her. They each stood their ground on opposite sides of the table, staring at each other.
“It has to be up to you,” he said in a low voice.
There were footsteps pounding down the basement stairs, and Spencer appeared. He regarded them both slightly suspiciously, but clearly had other things on his mind.
“The cops are coming down the street,” he said to Eric. “The van is about to get ticketed. You have the keys. I’ll get the table.”
“Right,” Eric said. “See you guys later.”
It was probably better that it ended so abruptly, because Scarlett had no idea what to think. Spencer had to pry the table from Scarlett’s grip.
“Do I even want to know?” he asked.
This is where the witty reply would have gone if she’d had one, but she didn’t.
THE THING IN THE BOX
Scarlett woke to a clap of thunder. Outside of her bare window (the sheers had been brought up but not rehung), the sky had gone green. Lola was awake and standing at her bureau unstrapping something unfamiliar from her wrist.
“What’s that?” Scarlett asked sleepily.
“Nothing,” Lola said, shoving her hand into the Drawer of Mysteries, obscuring whatever it was. She moved something around and pushed the drawer closed firmly—so firmly that Scarlett was worried for a moment that whatever the thing was, it was alive and wanted out.
“I was wondering if you’d ever wake up,” Lola said. “It’s almost one in the afternoon.”
Scarlett reached her arms over her head and stretched, then leaned over to look outside. The clouds were heavy and low. Naked Lady was bending over low to drag her potted tomato plants to safety, giving Scarlett a very clear view of her posterior assets.
“She’s got to be doing that on purpose,” Scarlett said under her breath. “No one bends like that.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Scarlett saw Lola open the drawer again. Whatever she had in there, it was causing her intense interest. She almost seemed afraid of it.
“What’s wrong?” Lola asked. “I thought you’d be thrilled today. You don’t look happy.”
“Has your life ever been…complicated?” Scarlett asked.
Lola quickly applied some facial toner, then sat down on the foot of Scarlett’s bed.
“Talk to me,” she said. “Is this about Eric?”
“Is it that obvious?” Scarlett asked.
“Kind of. I saw the way he was looking at you, both the night he came for dinner and last night. I figured you’d tell me when you were ready. So what’s the story?”
“I don’t know,” Scarlett said.
“Did you kiss him?”
“Yeah.”
“More than once?”
Scarlett nodded.
“Is that what Spencer was being so weird about a few days ago?”
“Sort of,” Scarlett said. “Spencer kind of…punched him.”
“Spencer punched him? Our brother? Punched Eric?”
“Yup.”
“Oh, my God,” Lola said. “What did Eric do to you?”
“Nothing. I was upset, and Spencer just…it was kind of an accident. Sort of. Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“It sounds complicated,” Lola said sympathetically.
“Eric seemed to like me, then he broke up with me because he was breaking up with his girlfriend…that’s when Spencer punched him…and now he wants me back…except he’s not sure if he does. He’s afraid that we’re going to start dating, and then he’ll meet someone when he starts NYU and hurt me. So he told me it’s up to me whether or not we go out. Got anything in your magic drawer for that?”
The words came out in such a rush that Scarlett ran out of breath.
“I wish I did,” Lola said, giving Scarlett’s hand a squeeze. “On the good side, it sounds like he’s being honest, and we like honesty. He’s saying he doesn’t really know himself right now.”
“But shouldn’t he just know? I know I like him. Why is this so hard?”
“Look, you saw Spencer in high school. He had loads of girlfriends, and they were always crazy and passionate, and then they would split up in a week. It doesn’t always happen fast. Sometimes, you have to give yourself a chance to get to know someone, to figure out what you really want.”
It was very much Lola’s style to use Spencer as an example, pointing out things he had done wrong in the past, but she said it without any judgment in her voice. In fact, Scarlett got the feeling that she wasn’t really talking about Spencer, or her, or Eric anymore. She was talking about Chip.