Close to Me by Monica Murphy

Author:Monica Murphy [Murphy, Monica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EM Publishing
Published: 2020-02-10T18:30:00+00:00

Twenty-Two

I am an unfocused mess for the rest of the evening. At the dinner table, I ignore pretty much everyone. I’m so inside my head I keep staring off into space. The entire family is sitting at the table tonight, including Ash. Jake glares whenever Dad speaks to him, and I send Jake looks of my own, trying to kick him to make him knock it off, but I can’t reach across the table to make contact with his leg, damn it.

There’s no need for him to be jealous of Ash. Jake will have his glory moments for the next two years as our varsity quarterback. He needs to relax.

Mom keeps sending me strange looks and asks me twice if I’m feeling all right, and I tell her I’m just tired.

Ash snickers under his breath, the jerk.

Ava goes on and on about some girl in her class who let a boy touch her butt if he gave her some candy, and she’s beyond irritated. Ava is a bigger feminist than Mom and I put together, and we tell her to complain to the principal about it. But then she says she doesn’t want to be known as a snitch, so she isn’t sure what to do.

Just another fun day at our high school.

Every few minutes, I catch Ash watching me, his mouth curved into the faintest smile. I think he likes my annoying family, though I’m not sure how he can. When we’re all together, it’s always a little chaotic. Beck brought a Spider-Man action figure to the dinner table, and while he’s not as much into action figures as he once was, he’s feeling it tonight. Trying to feed Spidey dinner with his fork, or trying to get him to drink, or hooking the toy’s curved hands onto the edge of the salad bowl.

Beck is also irritating the shit out of our mother, who keeps telling him to knock it off and put the toy away. Beck pouts, Mom eventually relents, and then it’s the same thing, again and again.

Jake is sullen over football bullshit. Dad tells Ava to stay off her phone. Ash is keeping his conversation to a minimum, with the exception when Mom asks him about college.

“I doubt I can get in to any colleges,” he tells her, wiping his mouth with a napkin. I’m staring at him like some sort of freak, and when he catches me, he offers up a quick wink in my direction. That should be cheesy, but my heart flutters.

Mom looks downright offended. “Why not? How are your grades?”

“They’re not terrible, but they’re not straight As either,” he answers.

“What are they then?” Mom asks.

“Mostly Bs. I always manage a few As in the easy classes. Freshman year I got a C in math because that shit is hard.” He sends Mom a remorseful look. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Look, Ash, I think you should try to apply to some colleges. With your sports ability and grades, you could probably get accepted to a few state colleges.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.