Page 36 of Roommating

Sabrina:Why? When? Are you okay? Is she okay?

Although Audrina and I have friends well into their twenties who still live with their parents, Mom made it clear before we went away to college that she expected us to fend for ourselves after graduation,even if meant rooming with a stranger three times our age or sleeping on an air mattress in someone’s bathroom. Clearly something big has gone down if my sister is moving back home.

My phone rings. Apparently, whatever it is cannot be shared over text.Shit.

“Tell me.”

Audrina snorts. “We’re both fine. I asked if I could move in temporarily to save money.”

Save money.What a novel idea. Between my rent, tuition, and a social life limited to buy one, get one free ladies’ nights and happy hour specials, I’m lucky if I have an extra hundred dollars in my bank account at any given time. And that’s with my raise.

“Since Kevin moved out, all the rent falls on me. And there’s really nothing else out there much cheaper.”

I twirl my hair. Audrina married Kevin, her college sweetheart, right after graduation four years ago. We all assumed they were a real-life OTP until things fell apart and they legally separated last year.

“I agreed to pay for groceries and other incidentals, so it’s not a free ride.”

I feel for her. Of course I do. But along with sympathy, there’s also envy, bitterness, and resentment. Audrina asked for help and got it. Just like that. But it’s not fair for me to be angry with her for asking Mom for help just because I didn’t. Nothing stopped me from telling her about the lost fellowship except my determination to prove I could do this on my own, like she did. And I am. I pay all my bills. I’m not starving. I go out with friends. I don’tneedhelp.

“Are you still there?”

I jolt out of my contemplation. “Yup.”

“At least with me doing the food shopping there’ll be more fruits and vegetables in the fridge and less of the processed crap she loves.”

“The processed stuff is cheaper.” Growing up, Mom bought whatever was on sale, even if it was something we didn’t typically eat like Crunch Berries cereal or Yodels.

“Cheaper initially but more expensive in the long run when it leads to heart problems.”

I sink into the couch cushion, prepared for her to regale me with her latest TED Talk on the importance of organic fruits or the magic of intermittent fasting, but she says she has to go and ends the call.

I return my attention to cleaning. I dust and polish all the furniture and water the plants.

As I’m straightening up Adam’s personal items, careful not to touch anything I shouldn’t, like his underwear, I spy the edge of a book beneath his messenger bag. By now he knows (or should know) you can’t leave a book mere inches away from me and not expect my curiosity to be piqued like a doomed character in a horror flick. Without even thinking, I pull the book from underneath the bag. It’s a mass-market paperback copy ofThe Outsiders.

I haven’t read this book inyears… maybe even a decade. I’ve never seen this cover before. I run my thumb along it. Against a black background is a photograph of a man in a leather jacket looking down so you can’t see his face. S. E. HINTONappears at the top in big white block letters, and the only real color is the title on the bottom, also in big block letters but bright yellow.

The copy is old and dog-eared. I flip to the copyright page and see this edition was released in 1988, more than ten years before either of us were born. As I flick through the chapters, I see it’s an annotated copy with chapter names and sections highlighted in multiple colors with comments in the margins, like when something is a flashbackor an analogy. I make myself comfy on the couch and start reading, immediately drawn into the world of Ponyboy Curtis, his brothers, and the rest of the greasers. I don’t know how much time has passed when the apartment door opens. Adam joins me in the living room with a smile that disappears as he hovers over me.

“What are you doing?” He grabs the book from my lap, his blue eyes pinned to mine accusingly.

I recoil at the aggression in slow motion like I’m being awakened from a deep sleep. I gesture at the book now in his hand. “I was straightening up your things and saw it. I forgot how much I love it! Are those your annotations or did you buy it this way?”

Ignoring the question, he shoves the novel in his messenger bag and kicks it under the couch.

I frown. He seems angry. “Is something wrong?”

He leans slightly forward with a pointed gaze. “Do you always go through people’s things and sit on their beds?”

I have no idea what is happening here, but my pulse is racing when I stand. “First of all, I was sitting on thecouch. Your bed is the mattress currently folded inside the couch. Second of all, I didn’t go through yourthings. It’s one thing… a book.” The words and tone of my voice match the aggression of his, but at least they disguise my confusion. I don’t know where Adam’s sudden hostility is coming from.

“Mybook. As in not yours. Not the library’s. Mine.”

I gape at him. “Wow. You look really old for a six-year-old.” I wait for him to say something to explain away his bizarre reaction, but he stares at the television like I’m not even there.

“Fine. Be that way.” I hug myself to disguise my tremoring body. Surely he’ll apologize for being a dick for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Except he doesn’t.

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