“Is it okay if I stay over?” she asks as we pull up outside my house. The lights are still on in the living room, which means my aunt is probably dozing on the sofa.
“If it’s cool with your mom, I’m sure my aunt won’t mind.”
“I already asked her.” She’s been weird and quiet on the drive home. Now she sounds subdued, like she’s thinking about something else.
I grin. “Glad I could conform to plans you already made.”
As she hops down from the golf cart, she says, “Seriously, Sage, I hope this doesn’t blow back on you. While I appreciate the way you stood up to Dylan for me, I have a bad feeling.”
“Don’t worry about it. Whatever Dylan thinks he can do, I guarantee I’ve been through worse.” I don’t mean to tell her so much, but Lila’s gaze sharpens.
“You never talk about what it was like before you moved here.”
Instead of answering, I dig into my bag for my key, then step inside. Sure enough, my aunt is crashed out on the couch, her head back, while the TV is stalled on the DVD menu. I turn everything off quietly and then kiss my aunt on the head.
“I’m home. Lila’s with me. You can go to bed now.”
Aunt Gabby’s bleary gaze finds the wall clock. “Thanks for getting in before midnight.”
“No problem. The party was kind of boring anyway. I don’t know if I’ll go to another.”
“Not your thing, huh? Well, at least you tried something new.” My aunt flashes a sleepy smile in Lila’s direction, then pads toward her bedroom.
“She’s so cool.”
“Agreed,” I say.
I unroll an old sleeping bag and set up on the floor. The rug on the wood floor is fluffy enough that it should serve as another layer of padding. While I’m doing that, Lila heads for the bathroom, and when she comes back, she looks much younger without makeup. The red hair seems extra bright against her pale, clear skin.
I point at the bed. “You sleep there. My aunt will kill me if I put a guest on the floor.”
“I guess since you’re my bodyguard, I have to listen to you.”
“At some point, I’ll remind you that you said that.”
She smirks.
Laughing, I go brush my teeth. By the time I get back, she’s settled in my daybed, and I wonder if the sheets smell like Shane. This is the most traffic my room has ever seen. I’m unsure what the deal is, if we’re supposed to whisper until we fall asleep or if the night’s basically over. I make a show of snuggling down into the sleeping bag, letting her decide.
“You don’t have a TV in your room,” Lila says softly.
“No, we just have the one. My aunt got it so we can watch movies. No cable. It’s supposed to motivate me to read more.” Though I don’t say so, I need little encouragement to stick my nose in a book. I’ve loved fiction since I was a kid in need of rescuing.
“I hope she doesn’t talk to my mom.”
“She’s not like that. She doesn’t proselytize.”
“Somebody’s dropping her SAT vocab words.”
“Bet you don’t get that from the burner crowd.”
Lila laughs. “That’s why I’m here on Saturday night, not watching them smoke.”
Her mention of the lack of a television clues me in; she isn’t used to falling asleep when it’s quiet. “I can turn on some music. I have an iPod.”
“Go for it.”
I rummage in the dark until I find my nano, then I set it on shuffle and click in place in the dock on my alarm clock. “Better?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Night.”
To my surprise, Lila seems in no hurry to leave the next morning. Instead, she helps with breakfast, then the three of us watch an old romantic comedy about losing a guy in ten days. Before long, it’s time to straighten up the house and get ready for our guests. My stomach is a mass of butterflies, not only because Shane’s coming over, but also because he’s meeting my aunt for the first time and Ryan will be here too, maybe.
I’ve dropped my hairbrush for the third time when Lila says, “You okay?”