Page 1 of Gin & Jewels
Six Years Ago – Fifteen Years Old
“We’ll behome by eleven, Little Dove,” Mom stated as she and Dad grabbed their belongings to leave for date night.
I pausedThe Originalson the TV so they didn’t interrupt my show. “I know,” I replied from my spot on the couch.
Every Friday, my parents had a date night. I envied the love they still had for each other after twenty years of marriage. I wanted to have that one day, but I wasn’t sure if I ever would because my boyfriend of sixlongmonths cheated on me with Jackie Kirkwood—my nowex-best friend.
Fucking bitch.
The garage door closed as I unpaused the DVR and resumed my new favorite show. Since it was a Friday night, and my friends were at the mall, but I chose to stay home because I didn’t want to chance running into Robbie and Jackie. I’d get my license in two weeks when I turned sixteen, and then things would be different. If I saw them at the mall, I could just leave, but right now, I couldn’t chance being stuck with them and having to watch them make out.
Gross!
Not long after my parents left, the front door opened, and my brother Keith walked in. He was nineteen and still lived at home. I didn’t blame him. My parents let him live there for free while he was supposedly looking for a job, but he wasn’t. They didn’t know that, but I did. I also knew that he made money by selling weed. I wasn’t sure how they thought he made money, though they probably still gave him money. They were cool like that.
“What’s up, loser?” He rubbed the top of my head as he passed.
“Leave me alone,” I spat as I tried to fix my long blonde hair.
“On your period?” he mocked.
I rolled my blue eyes. “You’re such a jerk.”
“Whatever. I’m ordering pizza. Do you want some?”
“Duh.”
I heard him call in the pizza as he continued toward the kitchen, not bothering to ask me what kind I wanted, which was always pepperoni and pineapple. I went back to my show, hoping it would be over before Keith bothered me again. Lucky for me, after he ordered pizza, he went upstairs to his room, and I was left with my man Klaus, who for some reason, I had a crush on even though he was supposed to be a bad vampire.
Forty-five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Keith ran down the stairs, and I watched him pay and then shut the door before he brought the box to the coffee table. The smell of cheese and tomato sauce filled the air, and my stomach growled.
Keith opened the lid, and I frowned. “Sausage and bell pepper?”
“What?” he asked and took a bite of the slice he’d pulled out.
“You know I don’t like sausage.”
“Then pick it off.”
I groaned and reached for a slice. To spite him for ordering pizza that I didn’t like, I turned the TV station toHart of Dixie. I knew he hated the show, but whatever.
“We’re not watching this.” He reached for the remote in my hand.
I held it out of his reach. “Yeah, we are.”
“No, we’re not.”
“Yeah, we are.”
“No, we’re not.” He glared at me, and before I could grab another slice of pizza, he stood and took the box with him up to his room.
“Jerk!” I shouted.
I continued to watch the episode and then went up to shower. I could smell weed coming from Keith’s bedroom next to mine. Once I was dressed in my pajamas, the cover-up smell of incense filled the air instead of the smoke. He only smoked in the house when my parents weren’t home.
I didn’t do drugs. I liked to mend my broken heart with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream or cookies or a bag of Hot Cheetos or anything I could shove into my mouth.
Needing to soothe my aching heart before bed, I walked down the stairs but stopped when the doorbell rang. I looked at the clock in the living room, noting that it was after eleven and my parents weren’t home yet, but figured it was a friend of Keith’s. I went to the door and opened it. It wasn’t a friend of Keith’s. It was two police officers.
