When he came out, the girls were wearing oversized flowered aprons. Haley was reading the back of the chocolate chip package and Lilly had a bowl and a wooden spoon. The house was a typical open floor plan. The kitchen looked out to the living space and was separated from it by a breakfast bar. He pulled up a stool on the living room side. “Hey.”
Haley was mixing something yellow and gooey in a bowl. “Why is Ro upset?”
“She broke up with JD.”
“What?” both girls whispered. Haley said, “What happened?”
“He cheated on her.”
“Oh my God!” Haley said. “What an asshole.”
“Seems to be the general consensus.”
The doorbell rang. Ben looked at the entry hall and grew hopeful. Maybe Ro had changed her mind.
It was JD.
“She’s not here.” He tried to close the door in his face, but JD stepped forward and caught the edge with his hand. “Where is she?”
“Home.”
Outside, it was raining sheets of water. Lightning strikes were illuminating JD as if he were Thor himself. He said, “Could I talk to you?”
Ben waited.
“Can I come inside? Little cold out here.”
Ben paused and then stepped aside. JD took off his muddy boots. When he took off his jacket, Ben said, “Give it to me.”
“It’s soaked.”
“I’ll hang it up in the shower. Come in.”
Haley and Lilly were looking at JD with their mouths open. He said, “Hi, girls.”
“Hi,” Lilly whispered. Haley waved and JD winked at her. Ben caught it, but it didn’t bother him. There was something uniquely smarmy about Weekly. But JD was just being JD. He had changed from his wifebeater into a long-sleeved black polo shirt that was stretching across his chest. He said, “Girls, could you hold off on the baking for a little bit?”
Lilly took Haley’s hand. “Let’s go play Angry Birds.”
“Could you hang this up for me?” Ben gave Haley JD’s sodden jacket. When he heard the door close, he said, “What do you want?”
JD looked around the house as if it were foreign territory. Ben didn’t know why. Nothing had changed since he had last been here. He said, “Vicks, I got no problem with you.”
“Why would you have a problem with me?”
“True enough. I haven’t spoken more than ten words to you in the last three years. I’m just curious. Did you tell her?”
“No. But once you opened your big mouth, I told her what I saw and who with.”
“Then she really didn’t know until . . .”
“No, of course she didn’t know. Do you really think I’d rat you out?”
“Fuck!” JD punched the wall.
“Easy there, Conor McGregor,” Ben said. “You’re beating on someone else’s house.”
“I’m a fucking idiot!” He looked at Ben. “You gotta help me get her back, dude.”
“Are you on something? I’ve been waiting an entire semester for her to toss your sorry ass over the cliff. Why on earth would I throw you a rope?”
“Can I sit down?”
“Go ahead.”
JD was quiet. “Okay, Vicks, this is the deal. You’re gone all next semester. If Ro and I break up, who do you think is going to suffer? Her status comes from me. With her knocked out of the top position, I go back to Shannon. So Weekly’s out his girl and that’s gonna piss him off. And if he takes it out on anyone, it’s gonna be Ro. And even if I decided not to torture her, which I really need to do because she dumped me, Shannon will do it for me. Shannon is real jealous of her. She hates her.”
“How do you know that Shannon hates Ro?” When JD averted his eyes, Ben got it. “You’re banging Shannon?”
“We just kinda never stopped.”
“She’s your best friend’s girl!”
“She was my girlfriend first.”
“That’s why she’s called an ex-girlfriend. What do you do? Booty-call her when you’re not banging Lisa?”
“I’m a dog.” He drummed his fingers along the breakfast bar. “What does it matter? In six months I’m at Duke, Ro’s back east, and you’re still here, doing what you’re doing. We’re talking like five months, Vicks. Can you picture Ro sitting by herself, getting tormented by Shannon and Chelsea? She’s going to wither.”
Ben didn’t say anything.
“You know I’m right about this,” JD said. “Listen, dude. I know Ro likes you better than she likes me. I can live with that. But I still want her because she’s hot. Why should I take second best?”
“Maybe she wants a boyfriend who doesn’t cheat on her.”
“You just don’t understand.” He shook his head. “It’s not your fault. You’re in arrested development because of what happened—”
“JD, I’m this close to kicking your ass out of here.”
“Once you’ve had it, you can’t go back.” He stood up and began to pace. “You really can’t. That’s just the way pussy works.”
“Keep your voice down!” Ben pointed to Haley’s room.
“Sorry.” JD sat back down. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”
Ben threw up his hands. “What?”
“You are going to UNM in Albuquerque next semester, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re going to be working at Circuitchip, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good stuff, Vicks. Congratulations.”
“Thank you for your kind words. Can you get on with it?”
“Okay. That means you’re not in school anymore—”
“I’ll be at school on Mondays.”
“But basically, you’re gone, right?” JD said. “Just listen before you say no. This is the proposition. I’ll take Ro from Monday through Friday night and you can have her on the weekends when you’re here in River Remez.”
Ben let out a forced laugh. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“I want her for arm candy, okay. I want her so I don’t have to go back to Shannon. I don’t want to be Shannon’s boyfriend. I like banging her, but she’s dumb and she talks too much.”
“JD, what is wrong with you?”
“You know what I want, dude?” JD said. “I want to be a college student. I want to play football, get drunk, bang women, and as an aside, get into law school. So I can be a lawyer and get drunk and bang women and look at old football tapes of my glory days.”
Ben couldn’t help it. He stifled a smile.
JD began pacing. “Vicks, I need Ro to keep Shannon and Lisa off my back. I don’t need Ro for sex. I would take Ro for sex. If I was banging her, I probably wouldn’t be banging Shannon or Lisa. But she ain’t gonna give me play, so what’s the point? You can have her. She’s more your speed anyway. I’m a practical man.”
Ben shook his head. “I really don’t know what to say to you.”
“You can say that I’m right. You know that Ro’s going to shrivel up unless she’s the center of the universe. Do you really want her to be miserable for the next five months when I’ve hit upon a really easy solution?”
In a very strange way, JD was making sense. “You know, even if I were to agree to something so crack-ass, she’d never agree to it.”
“One day without my protection and with you gone, she’ll agree to it. Dude, if you know her like I know her, you know I’m right. Besides, you hate all that school shit. I’ll take her to the winter dance—”