The Red Zone

by Knight, Amie

  She walked in, rolling her eyes. “Then what’s wrong?” She looked around the room. “Where’s Ella? What’s the emergency?”

  She was being too loud. I couldn’t let Ella know I’d called her freaking out. “Shhh,” I said, pulling her toward my bedroom down the hallway and closing the door behind us.

  Scarlett looked around my messy bedroom and crossed her arms over her chest like she was uncomfortable. It was then I realized I’d just dragged a woman to my bedroom, who barely knew me anymore.

  “Why are we shhing, Luk, and where’s Ella?” She kept her voice down.

  “We are whispering because I have an emergency and I don’t want Ella to hear,” I whispered back.

  Once again, she looked around the bedroom before glaring at me. “This is not the kind of emergency I can help you with, Lukas,” she said, her teeth clenched together.

  Oh, shit. She thought I was having an emergency. Like in the bedroom. Like a sexy time emergency. I mean, I did, but she’d been clear about not wanting any part of that. “Nooo,” I whisper yelled. “I’m having a pube emergency.”

  Her head jerked back and her eyes doubled in size. “What? Did you just say pube emergency?”

  I nodded frantically like what I was saying was making complete sense because I was a fucking wreck over the pube crime scene in the bathroom.

  Her nose wrinkled. “I don’t know if I can help you with your pubes, Luk. There are professionals for that.” Her face looked how mine must have looked when I walked into that bathroom minutes ago.

  I ran both hands through my hair. “Fuck. I can’t explain it. Just follow me.”

  I opened the door and pressed my finger over her lips to indicate she should keep quiet. The home I grew up in was a small one and Ella was a tiny damn spy. We creeped down the hallway and to the bathroom door, hoping like hell I’d somehow been mistaken. Because I damn sure didn’t want to see that mess again. But when I turned on the light, there it was. Hair. Every fucking where.

  I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see it. But then I felt Scarlett’s hand hit my arm and then grip my bicep hard like she was scared she was going to get swallowed up by the hair monster.

  “What in the hell happened in here?”

  She was looking up at me with wide eyes and I didn’t know what to say back. It was too embarrassing. It was too much, this whole situation.

  “Did you do this?”

  I flinched. “Me? Of course not!”

  “Then who?”

  She was being too loud, so I placed my palm over her lips and tried to explain again, this time with actual adult words. And I wouldn’t get embarrassed. I wouldn’t turn red, or stutter like a kid, I told myself.

  “Ella did it.”

  My hand was still covering her mouth, but her eyebrows rose all the way to her hairline. She was obviously needing more information, so I continued.

  “She went to take her usual bath. It took forever. She came out and went to her room like nothing happened and that”—I pointed inside the bathroom—“is what was left behind.”

  If I thought her sparkling emerald eyes couldn’t get bigger, I was wrong.

  I leaned closer to her face. “I’m going to let go of your mouth now, but you have to keep your voice down.”

  She nodded and I removed my hand slowly, but it was a huge mistake because her serious face instantly transformed into one of hilarity. She doubled over, her hands to her stomach, her laughter silent at first and then becoming booming and loud. I couldn’t believe she was laughing. And so loudly. I was going to kill her.

  Ella was going to hear, so I did the unthinkable and shoved Scarlett into the bathroom and went in after her and closed the door.

  As soon as I realized what I had done, I felt my face contort into one of complete horror. Scarlett only laughed harder at the look on my face.

  “Oh my God, look what you did. Now we’re stuck in here with it,” I accused her.

  She didn’t seem to care because she was too busy wiping the tears of laughter from her face as she giggled hysterically at my expense.

  When she seemed to finally collect herself enough to stop cackling like a hyena, I asked, “Are you done?” I was moody as hell. My baby sister was shaving her private parts and Scarlett thought the whole damn thing was hilarious.

  She busted into laughter again and held up a hand. “Not yet.”

  I leaned against the door, as far from the hair as possible, and rolled my eyes. She had to be kidding me. Didn’t she deal with shit like this every day? I thought she would be more mature about it.

  She quieted again and looked around the bathroom, even stepping forward and taking in the ring of hair around the tub before looking back at me. “You called me over here because Ella decided to do a little woman scaping?”

  Is that what people were calling it now? And I didn’t like her tone. How it insinuated that I was overreacting, because I totally wasn’t. She was too young. This was too soon. How did she even know to do that? I darted my eyes around quickly and then looked back at Scarlett. And why the hell didn’t she clean up her mess?

  Even though I was mad as shit and embarrassed more than I was that, I couldn’t help but think how cute Scarlett was. Her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling up at me in humor. It reminded me of the months we spent together before I went away to college. When she was just a kid and I’d wanted more with her but known better. She’d given me shit then. I’d always liked that about Red. She’d never cared about my social status at school. Or that I’d been the star of the football team. If anything, she’d given me a hard time about it. She’d never been impressed with anything about me but just me. And Ella. Always Ella. There weren’t any girls I’d ever brought home to my baby sister, but I’d trusted Scarlett with her and I hadn’t been wrong.

  Even now, as she looked around the bathroom, she seemed way more chill about this than me.

  “I brought you over here because I have no clue what to do.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “Is this the first time Ella has done this?”

  “How am I supposed to know? Can we leave the room now? Can you be quiet? I can’t be in here anymore.” I swung the door open and headed to the kitchen, Scarlett behind me.

  “Well, did you talk to her?” she asked once we entered the kitchen. Her voice sounded accusatory to my ears, but maybe it was just me feeling embarrassed that I hadn’t.

  I grabbed a cold water out of the fridge and opened it. “I tried.”

  She stared at me.

  Why was she looking at me like that?

  I held up the bottle of water. “Want a water?”

  She continued to stare.

  “Fine, I didn’t talk to her. I thought about it, though. That counts for something, right?”

  Rolling her eyes, she said, “Luk, what happened tonight is just one of the many girl things that is going to happen. Has she had her period yet?”

  Period? She caught me mid-mouth full of water and I sent a spray of water across the kitchen that could have rivaled the sprinkler out back. “Period? Is she old enough for that?”

  For fuck’s sake. Was she? Did she have her period? I prayed that she did because how was I supposed to help her take care of that? Because I had no clue what to do. God, I was in no way prepared to take care of a teenage girl, especially one with special needs. I was completely and utterly fucked.

  This time it was Scarlett who told me to be quiet. “Shhh, you crazy man. You’re going to give the girl a complex.”

  I was going to give the girl a complex? I was being completely traumatized and she was worried about Ella. I paced the kitchen and guzzled my water. How was I going to navigate this whole thing? What was I going to do? I couldn’t talk to her about these things. No one had prepared me for this moment. It was like I’d been thrown on the football field and never told the rules. That’s how I felt. Like a fish out of water.

  “Luk. Stop pacing.”

  I wondered if my mom had talked t
o Ella about any of this. God, I was praying she had. Ella maybe didn’t retain the entire conversation but maybe she wouldn’t be shocked to death when she got her period.

  “Luk!” Scarlett’s voice was loud. “Stop and look at me.”

  I turned and she stepped forward until we were toe-to-toe. Up this close, I finally got a look at her and man, she looked good. She was a sight for sore eyes and let me tell you, after witnessing the pubic hair massacre of the century, my eyes were beyond sore.

  Scarlett’s long red hair was in a knot at the top of her head and a few tendrils spilled down the sides and whispered along her ears and cheeks. For a minute there I was wishing I were those hairs. I wanted to touch her. She was wearing a white T-shirt and black stretchy pants, probably just her hanging around the house clothes, and she’d never looked more beautiful. Not a stitch of makeup, not a bit of fanfare, just emerald green eyes and juicy pink lips. She was stunning. And her mouth was moving, so I should have been paying attention.

  “You can do this. You’re a big boy. And Ella is loving and wonderful and open and she will be totally cool with all of this.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not cool with this. I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t even understand what in the hell happened here tonight.” I looked back at the bathroom of horror.

  Scarlett placed her hands on each of my shoulders. “But you love Ella. And really that’s all that matters. The rest of this stuff will work itself out. Love goes a long way, Mister Quarterback.” She was smiling sweetly up at me and she almost had me convinced. Almost.

  “I think you should talk to her. Find out what she knows. And then report back to me like an undercover operative.”

  “No.” Her head shook back and forth slowly, but she was still smiling, so I figured I hadn’t lost her yet.

  I put on the big puppy dog eyes that I knew she used to go gaga for in high school even though she’d never admit it. “Or you could talk to her for me.”

  Her arms fell and she glared, but that didn’t deter me.

  “Just this once. I promise I won’t call you again with anything like this.”

  She still scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. I was losing her.

  I held my hands up. “I promise and I’ll get you some Skittles.”

  She let out a big sigh. “Christ, Luk. I’m not a kid anymore, but fine. I’ll talk to her. Just for tonight. You’re on your own after this because I know you can do it.” She poked me in the chest. “And the red bag. That’s the only kind I like.”

  And she’d lost me. “What?”

  “It’s the red bag of Skittles or none, Mister Quarterback.”

  “Gotcha.”

  She turned around the kitchen, her eyes perusing the space. “Got some kitchen gloves?”

  “Probably, if I look around.”

  “You round those up while I go talk to Ella,” she said as she left the room.

  I breathed a deep sigh of relief and thanked God Scarlett had come over. I’d never tell her, but she was a lifesaver. I promised myself I wouldn’t call her again. I wouldn’t bother her. I’d learn to do this on my own. Even the uncomfortable stuff. I could do this.

  I closed the door behind me as I came out of Ella’s room. I was grinning like a maniac in an effort to not laugh out loud because Luk was going to lose his freaking mind.

  He looked up from his phone, his face concerned, as soon as I entered the room.

  I nodded toward the cell. “Everything okay?” I knew the answer to that question. Everything was not okay. Not even a little. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. He’d answered the damn door with no shirt on and muscles everywhere. He may as well have been holding those babies up and saying, “Hey, welcome to the gun show.” But that wasn’t even the worst part of it all. No, the worst part was, he was wearing thin, low slung basketball shorts that exposed the V. And God, the V looked good enough to eat and I wasn’t exaggerating. But still, not the very worst part. No, that was the fact I was 99.9 percent sure he wasn’t wearing underwear and every time he walked I could see it swinging around underneath the fine, thin fabric of those things he was calling shorts. It was embarrassing the hell out of me. It was turning me on. It was freaking making me as red as my hair and I was doing everything in my power to not look below his neck. It wasn’t easy. Not when he looked as good as he did. Which was a thousand times better than he did in high school and he’d looked damn good then.

  He nodded and let out a long breath. “Yeah, just my aunt messaging me.”

  “You don’t look too happy about it.” I grabbed the blue rubber gloves from the counter and stared at the floor.

  “Are you all right? You look a little flushed.”

  “Who, me? I’m fine,” I said, swinging the gloves around like a maniac because I didn’t know what the hell else to do. “Your aunt?” I changed the subject back. Things were getting more awkward by the moment.

  Jaw clenching, he laid his phone down and ran his hands through his hair. I smiled, remembering how he did that even as a kid. “My aunt Merline is driving me nuts. She wants Ella.” His face looked like he was in physical pain, but I knew it was more internal.

  “Why?”

  “Because she thinks I suck at taking care of her.”

  I bit my bottom lip to try and stop the question from passing them, but I couldn’t help myself. “And do you?”

  He looked at me long and hard and then looked at the bathroom behind me before raising his eyebrows.

  I laughed. “Aw, come on, Luk. Tonight wasn’t all that bad. Nothing that a little kitchen gloves, some bathroom cleaner, and Prince won’t fix.”

  He let loose a low chuckle that immediately caused my nipples to harden beneath my shirt and I remembered he wasn’t wearing a shirt and probably no underwear either, and I couldn’t have that, so I grabbed my purse and rummaged around in the huge thing before I finally found my phone.

  I put on “I Would Die For You” and slipped on the gloves. “Kitchen cleaner?”

  His eyebrows shot to his hairline. “You gonna clean up that mess?” His eyes were wide.

  “Yep. I’m gonna help you out this one time, Mr. Quarterback. Next time you’re all on your own.”

  He handed me the cleaner wearily and followed me to the bathroom, Prince serenading us in the background.

  “So what did she say? Why’d she do it? Has she done it before?”

  I giggled, recollecting the conversation I’d had with Ella minutes before. He was going to die. Hell, he’d looked like he was going to die when I’d gotten here. This was going to be fun.

  I grinned from ear to ear.

  “Why the hell do you look so happy?”

  “Me?” I asked, pointing a blue gloved finger at my chest. I was trying to keep cool.

  “Yes. You, Red. You look like you want to laugh.”

  “Maybe I do. Broom,” I demanded while I turned the bathtub water on so I could wash the hair down the drain. I’d need to sweep up the rest.

  Luk looked around the room, frowning. “You don’t have to do this.”

  I started rinsing the bathtub, the water drowning out Prince singing from my phone in the other room. “It’s no big deal, honestly. Just go grab the broom.”

  The bathroom may have warmed from the steam of the hot water coming from the faucet, but when he left, I felt relieved. It seemed like that guy sucked the oxygen out of every room he was in with his big presence. It had always been like that. He’d always been too much for me. And that had always been the problem. Only, foolishly, I hadn’t seen that then.

  Luk did the sweeping and wiped down the bathroom while I swayed my hips to the little of Prince I could hear over us working.

  “So, what did Ella say?”

  Grinning, I said, “She mentioned Allison, her neighbor, has a boyfriend?”

  “And?”

  “Turns out Allison just started shaving. She watched a YouTube video.”

  Everything was on YouTube now and when I said everyth
ing I meant ev-er-y-thing.

  “And?” He looked impatient and like he wanted me to spill everything right here and right now, which made it all the harder for me to contain myself.

  I giggled, trying to contain most of my laughter. He was getting so worked up. It was adorable. “Well, Allison told her about shaving her girl parts and so Ella decided to try it.”

  He immediately broke out in a sweat at the mere mention of shaving girl parts and Ella in the same sentence. “Okay, okay,” he said, nodding, and I could tell he was trying to rein his crazy in.

  “But don’t worry. She’s already started her period and your mom taught her everything and has her all sorted. The worst you’ll have to do is make sure she has pads and tampons.” I honestly thought he’d be relieved at this bit of information. He wouldn’t have to teach her how to use pads or tampons or talk about periods with her.

  But I’d been wrong wrong wrong. Like so dead wrong and I realized that quickly when he blinked several times like he was seeing something that I wasn’t. Then he weaved back and forth in a motion that told me this giant guy was about to go down and not in the good way. Like not in the way every girl dreams of, but more in the way that he’d probably get a concussion on the tile in the bathroom.

  “Whoa there, big guy. Why don’t you have a seat right here?”

  I used my small gloved hands to push him down onto the toilet seat while he leaned over and put his head in his hands and rubbed the heels of them into his eyes hard like he was trying to snap himself out of it.

  Shit, he was freaking out.

  I took off the gloves and threw them to the side and ran my hands through his silky brown locks. I immediately knew it was a mistake. They were soft and my hands loved them. My hands wanted to stay there forever. His breathing was deep, so I continued to massage his head and shh him in an attempt to calm his breathing.

  “Maybe Aunt Merline is right. Maybe I can’t do this.” He was talking to himself, but I heard him all the same. His words had been a shot right to the center of my chest. Because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that no one loved Ella Callihan like he did. No one. Not even me. And I loved her a hell of a lot.