Kota touched the corner of his glasses briefly, and awkwardly smiled. “Mom,” he said. “Don’t make a big deal. Please.”
“Of course it is a big deal,” Erica said and she tugged me by the wrist into the house. “He’s seventeen. That’s a big year. What do we want to do this week? I was thinking of having the guys over tonight, of course. Pizza party?”
“Sounds...good?” I said, unable to stop the smile on my face. I didn’t care what we did. I loved it.
The bag slipped off my shoulder and landed just in the doorway. Kota scooped it up.
“Go put that upstairs,” Erica said. “I’ll allow her to sleep up there, but we’ve got a few rules to cover.” She waggled a finger at Kota.
My heart fluttered as she led me further into the house.
I’d follow any rules she set.
Bombs
––––––––
Later that afternoon, I sat in a bathtub. My hair was piled up on my head, tied into an awkward bun with a black clip. Some strands had fallen away around my shoulders.
The bathtub was filled to the edge with bubbles. Only my toes and head were sticking out. Even though my knees were poking out a little, you couldn’t see them for all the suds.
Gabriel sat nearby on the edge of the tub. He wore red pajama pants and a bright orange tank shirt. His blond strands were combed back into the russet. He held a basket he’d brought in earlier. It had the bottle of bubble bath he’d used in the tub. He went through the other items, opening boxes and bottles and sniffing the contents.
He picked up a pink round ball out of a container. “Bath bombs,” he said. He sniffed it. “Hm, it smells okay.”
Luke sat on the counter, his butt basically in the sink. He leaned against the wide mirror, his hair in a ponytail with a fuzzy black holder, something he’d borrowed from Jessica. Clips were in short supply at the moment. Gabriel had a stash and he wasn’t telling us where. “What’s the scent?”
Gabriel turned the bomb over to read the label. “Pinktacular. What the shit? What the hell scent is ‘pink’?”
“Throw it in,” Luke said. “Let’s see what it does.”
I giggled, lifting my hand out of the water, trying to wipe my cheek from a strand of hair, only I was getting bubbles pressed to my face.
Kota had insisted I sleep shortly after I’d gotten to his house. When I woke up, Gabriel and Luke were here and said a couple of others were going to show up. Not everyone, but enough to make it a sleepover.
Gabriel held the pink ball over the tub and then hesitated. “How are we supposed to see this if there’s so many bubbles?”
“Scoop some out,” Luke said. He got up and slid off the counter. He got on his knees at the tub and cupped his hand. He scooped some of the bubbles out, holding some and looking around. He nudged Gabriel out of the way. “Open the toilet. We’ll put it in there.”
I couldn’t reach the toilet to help, but sat up. I pressed my knees to my body to cover myself as they scooped out enough bubbles to see the space near the faucet and into the water.
Gabriel held the bath bomb over the water and then dropped it.
The bomb sunk, clunking against the tub.
It fizzled, spinning, and the water turned a rosy color. We watched it until the color was thick enough you couldn’t see the ball anymore, only a few fizzing bubbles.
“It just smells like sugar,” Luke said. “And maybe like strawberry, but mostly sugar.”
“I didn’t know it turned the water colors, too,” Gabriel said. He set the basket on the counter and then motioned to me. “Cover up the water again. Don’t tell Kota it was me if it ends up staining his tub.”
I didn’t think it would, but I’d never used one before.
There was a heavy knock at the door before it opened. No one had bothered to lock the door?
Silas and North hovered in the doorway, looking in. They checked out Luke and then Gabriel. North scrunched his dark eyebrows and then spotted me in the tub.
Silas tilted his head, taking in the toilet, open with a pile of bubbles inside.
I ducked a little, feeling North already disapproving of the others being in here when I was bathing.
Until I noticed his eyes also going to the toilet filled with bubbles, and then the water in the bathtub that was looking pink.
“What the hell are you putting in the toilet?” North’s voice was raspy, but still deep. He was losing his voice. I wondered who he had been shouting at. “What are you doing in here?”
“She’s taking a bath,” Gabriel said. “Chill out. We’re just goofing off.”
“Well, goof off downstairs. There’s pizza,” North said.
Gabriel pushed the basket of bath stuff onto the counter and followed Luke out of the bathroom. I couldn’t smell any pizza, but the thought of it made my stomach rumble.
Silas and North remained in the bathroom, gazing at me.
North came in further and sniffed at the air. “What’s that smell?”
“Pink,” I said flatly but grinned.
“That’s not a smell.”
“That’s what the label said.”
Silas chuckled.
North rolled his eyes. “Hurry up before the food is all gone. I’d make them wait but it might be better to let them eat now than force them to sit and wait and just smell it.” He walked away, heading toward the stairs and down.
Silas remained in the doorway for only a second, before reaching for the door. He paused. “Aggele,” he said, his dark, soulful eyes meeting mine. “Do you need me to sit here with you?”
I shook my head. “I’m almost done. I’ll get out.”
“Need clothes?”
I hesitated and then nodded. Forgot those. “Grab some?”
He went to the closet next to the bathroom, leaving the door open. It caused a cooler breeze to come through from Kota’s bedroom, but I sunk into the water to soak in the warmth.
He returned with one of his own Red Sox shirts and a pair of my pajama pants and some underwear. He dropped them on the sink top near the basket. “Smells good,” he said. “I like the pink smell.”
I smiled. I could smile all day.
I was free.
He smiled and came over to the tub. “Can I sit? For a minute?”
I nodded, wiping away some bubbles that had collected on the edge of the tub.
He sat and leaned toward me. He motioned to my neck. “I...your neck.”
I touched it gently, feeling a spot that was tender. “I should cover it.”
“You can tell her Kota did it,” Silas said.
I shook my head slowly. “No. For the others. For Kota. He’d know.”
Silas’s chest lifted as he breathed in deeply and let it go. “I didn’t scare you...then... did I?”
“Scare me? No.”
“Victor said something to me, that...you looked a little afraid leaving the bedroom. I just didn’t expect it. I didn’t think about it. I haven’t thought of what I would do if...I saw...”
I reached for his arm, pressing soapy fingers against it. “No. This is hard. You’re right. I have to be more careful around you all. I can’t imagine what must go through your head, finding me like that.”