Page 35 of Clouded by Envy

“Possibly?” She grinned, examining the wet spot on his shirt.

He looked down at his watch. “We should be getting back inside to check on our real pie that actually tastes good.”

13

Brenik

Brenik observed himself in the mirror, noticing his tired eyes, right as a knock on the door signaled Rana was there to pick him up—at least he assumed it was her. After the night before with the police officer, he couldn’t be sure.

Opening the door, Brenik found Rana’s hesitant face. “Are you ready?” she asked shyly.

She looked different today, her hair grazed her neck with shorter layers framing her face. Unable to stop himself, Brenik reached out to touch a dark lock. “You cut your hair.”

“I did. Hopefully, it doesn’t look too bad. You show a hair stylist a picture, and it never turns out the same.” She laughed.

“I like it.” And he did.

Her lips were reddened again by lipstick, and that small mole right below her lip had him wetting the center of his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. He scanned the rest of her up and down, noticing the high waisted jeans with a short sleeve blouse that rested right above the waistband—showing a thin sliver of tawny skin.

“All right, let’s go,” she said. “There won’t be too many of us tonight, but everyone should be there when we arrive.”

“Let’s roll,” he said, trailing behind her.

Rana talked during most of the drive—telling him about her teaching job at the local elementary school, and how she was hoping to save enough money to buy a house next year.

“You could always move in to my place,” he suggested. Rana laughed hard at what she thought was a joke, but he was not joking. Then he remembered the owners would be back someday, so he would need to figurethatout.

After walking up the flight of stairs at Rana’s apartment building, Brenik found six people seated around the small living room. Two women with short hair and one with braids sat on a blue fabric couch, two men with muscles at barstools, and one curly-haired guy sitting on the floor had a dimple in his chin.

“This is Brenik. Brenik, this is Jacob, Christopher, Adam, Kelly, Ashley, and my new roommate Josie.” She pointed to each one individually, but by the time she got to the last person, he only remembered her roommate’s—Josie’s—name as they all waved.

Setting her purse down by the door, Rana turned to Brenik. “Do you want something to eat or drink? We have plenty of sodas, and I think Josie bought a ton of chips and dip.”

Brenik ran a hand through his dark hair, already knowing he couldn’t eat or drink anything. It hadn’t seemed like it would be a big deal before, but not being able to eat or drink was becoming more tedious than he expected. Sooner or later Rana would start wondering why he always declined her offers. “Maybe later, I ate a big meal for dinner.”

“No problem. You can take some home, too, because there will most likely be a ton left. Unless Adam eats everything.” Rana tilted her head up toward one of the guys who had to be Adam. “Right, Adam?” Then she looked at Brenik, grinning widely.

Adam, with the brown curly hair, tapped his chest. “Who? Me? Now, why would I do such a thing?”

“You’re holding the entire can of bean dip in your hand right now.” Rana laughed and pointed to the dip several times.

“The power of bean dip.” Adam lifted the can in the air and pulled it back to his chest, claiming his prize.

“You’ll be remembering that later tonight when you’re in the bathroom,” one of the guys with muscles yelled. Brenik couldn’t remember who he was.

Josie smacked the guy who yelled on the arm, and her braids swayed against her face. “You’re disgusting, Jacob.”

“It’s true,” Jacob responded, lifting a glass bottle to his mouth, trying not to smile.

Brenik watched on while everyone joked, and he quietly sat back and observed. If this was what normal felt like, then for the first time in his life, he had experienced it. The feeling was new and different, almost surreal.

“Who is this one again?” Brenik asked Rana as they went to sit on the floor next to one of the guys with long hair and muscles. He couldn’t recall his name, but the guy had blond hair past his shoulders and was wearing a blue and black flannel shirt.

“That’s Christopher. He’s a guitarist in aband, and they just switched over to grunge since that’s ‘what’s in.’” She quoted in the air with her fingers as she rolled her eyes.

Christopher ticked his index finger back and forth at Rana. “I heard that, Rana. You’ll see how great the band is when we have a live show.”

Rana reached over and shook Christopher’s arm. “You’ve been saying you’re going to have a show for the past two years. When’s it going to happen?”

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