Page 185 of The Locker Room
got back to find that Penny had taken her to her friends" apartment (“a
class A dump with a shitty couch”) and had moved her into her room.
She"d even put posters up. (Pop stars and dancers—no one Xander
recognized, but then, not his thing, really.) Xander was a little bemused,
but, as he said privately to Penny, he"d always felt sort of guilty for that
side of the house just sucking up space. Penny had laughed a little and
patted his cheek.
“The sweetest thing about the fact that you and my brother never
had to grow up? It"s that you still have hearts like children.”
Xander didn"t have the “child"s heart” to point out that maybe it
was because he"d never had a chance to be a child when he was one, but
then he saw her brown eyes grow dark, and thought maybe that had
occurred to her without his help.
And within a week, while Xander was still on the team"s latest road
trip, they had Audrey to make Xander"s harem complete.
“Another one?” Chris asked during their morning phone call, and
Xander looked around the hotel room disconsolately. They"d played in
Arizona that night, and were set to take the early morning flight out.
“Well, I gave her my e-mail address, and she e-mailed me to tell
me she"d have to cancel service. And then I said, „Wait—how are you
going to go to do your school work?" and she said she was more worried
about keeping her apartment, and, well, I called home, and the next thing
160 Amy Lane
you know, Mandy and Penny were going to help her move yesterday
morning.”
“„The next thing you know"?” Chris shook his head. “Xander, if
you wanted to collect stray girls, all you had to do was say so. I feel like
I"ve been depriving you of something these last five years.”
Xander grunted. “If I wanted to collect stray girls, I would have let
you know. They just sensed a vacuum and swarmed.”
