We played a few games of War and Slap Jack before the guys finally turned off their game. Karl walked over to the table where Deanna and I sat. “What do you guys wanna do? Truth or Dare is out I guess,” Karl said as he glanced momentarily at Leila. “Ding Dong Ditch, a movie, Spin the bottle.” The words were barely out of his mouth before Deanna gut punched him, giving it all she had.
“What the heck was that for? You know I was kidding,” he said in a strained voice as he doubled over in pain.
“You’re stupider than I thought if you have to ask that question,” Deanna responded in a calm voice as she continued to stare at her cards. Their relationship was functionally dysfunctional and it worked for them. She was feisty and even though she seemed to be the more dominant of the two, he seemed to like it.
He was eventually able to stand upright again. “I hate when you do that,” he said before kissing her on her forehead and walking away.
We finished up that hand and both went to join A.J and Karl on the couch. It was a little after 12 a.m. and Randy decided to put on a scary movie that he brought from home. Trevor was sitting in a ratty old recliner with Leila perched on his lap. She stared at the movie, but it didn’t look like she was paying it any attention.
When it was over, everyone took turns changing for bed and setting up makeshift sleeping pallets from the pile of blankets Karl brought out. I wasn’t keen on sleeping in the basement, but everyone else seemed to be comfortable so I didn’t make a fuss.
Call me crazy, but I felt the need to keep a close watch on Leila. She hadn’t come back from changing yet, so my eyes were glued to the steps, waiting for her to return. Eventually, I saw her red pale legs showing through the darkness at the top of the stairs. Part of me wished that she’d just left and gone home, but no such luck. She pulled a blanket from the pile and laid it out a little closer to mine than I was comfortable with. She sat and stared off into the distance at nothing in particular. Deanna was dozing off as she waited for Karl to find a radio station that was playing soft music. When he was satisfied, he smiled and walked toward the light switch. Just before we were plunged into darkness, Leila snapped her head in my direction with a wild look in her eyes.
I couldn’t even see my own hand in front of my face, but here wasn’t much I could do. I was tempted to grab my phone and shine the light on Leila just to see what she was doing. That look she gave me meant something and now that it was dark, I felt vulnerable. But all of a sudden, I had a new concern. This was the first time I’d ever slept next to a boy and I was a little more nervous than I thought I’d be.
AJ turned toward me and wrapped his arm across my stomach, startling me a little. His warm breath on my skin calmed me down and excited and me all at the same time. The room fell silent pretty quickly as each one drifted off to sleep. I still wasn’t totally convinced that Leila was a safe distance away, so I lay there wide awake trying to make out shapes in the dark. As AJ apparently felt himself being overcome by sleep, he kissed my shoulder once and quietly whispered the words, “I love you,” in my ear. Our intimate moment was interrupted by the sound of someone’s piercing scream, and I knew that it could only be one person. Leila had awakened everyone with her shrill cry.
“What the heck is her problem this time?” Karl growled.
“Who knows? Why is she even here?” Randy grumbled from the sofa.