Bad Company

by S. L. Sterling

  “Hi, Judy, I brought Dad a coffee and donut. Is he in his office?” I asked smiling walking toward his closed door.

  “Yes, he is, Anna is speaking with him, dear.”

  My stomach dropped, and the smile fell from my face. I let out a huff, of course he was. I flopped down in the chair just outside his door and peeked in through the little side window. I saw two coffees sitting on his desk and a brown paper bag.

  I continued watching as Dad picked up the brown bag and pulled out a donut, a chocolate glaze, exactly what I had bought him and watched as he shoved it into his mouth. He then shoved a small piece into Anna’s mouth and they both laughed at whatever he had said. I rolled my eyes, then looked down at my hands, a coffee sat in one, the brown bag in the other. She had beat me to it, how did she even know it was his favorite snack. I could feel the jealousy pouring out of me.

  I turned away, slumped into the chair and listened to their muted laughter. “Judy, can you message my father, please?”

  “Sorry, Leah, he has requested that he not be interrupted.”

  “But it’s me, not some stupid customer.” I pouted, crossing my arms in front of me and flopping back down on the chair.

  She looked up from whatever she was working on and said, “Young lady, he said not to interrupt him for anyone, I’m sorry, Leah, you must wait.”

  The anger churned inside of me as I continued to sit there listening to their laughter. I wasn’t waiting anymore. I got up from the chair and pushed his door open. They both turned, a look of guilt washing across both their faces as if someone had caught them doing something they shouldn’t have.

  “Leah, how dare you barge in here like that. What if I was with a customer?”

  “But you’re not, it’s just Anna. I brought you a coffee and a donut, thought you might be hungry. It’s getting cold, and I know you don’t like cold coffee,” I said pretending I didn’t see the cup and half eaten donut on his desk.

  “Thanks, but Anna just brought me one too. I’ll keep this one for later.” He took the coffee and the donut from my hand and sat them up on his filing cabinet. “Now, Leah, honey, is there an emergency.”

  I looked between the two of them and shook my head no.

  “All right then, I’ll be home after the lot closes, and we can talk then.”

  I couldn’t believe what I heard. I was dismissed—my father telling me to go away without saying it. They both stood there looking at me, neither of them said anything. I turned and stomped out of his office, tears threatening to fall. As soon as I got out into the showroom a few people looked my way. Hurt feelings combined with the embarrassment I felt sent me running out the front door and I rode my bike home.

  My father never thanked me for the coffee when he got home that night, and I stopped going to the shop after that. I holed up in my room for the rest of the summer, only leaving to do the back to school shopping I needed to get done.

  It was the last Friday of the summer, school was starting back on Monday. Before Dad left for work this morning, he told me to be ready when he got home. He didn’t say why but Fridays used to be our weekly Daddy—Daughter night. I barely contained my excitement all day. I hoped that we would spend the last Friday of summer together, so I chose a movie to watch and for dinner I thought we could order in, like we normally did. I glanced at the clock, Dad would be home soon. I put my book down, changed into my favorite sweater, grabbed my brush and ran it through my long red hair.

  The front door slammed, and I heard Daddy calling my name from the living room. I dropped the brush down on my dresser, threw my hair up in a ponytail and ran down the stairs.

  “Hey, Daddy.” I ran up and wrapped my arms around him giving him the biggest hug. It was rare that he was home without Anna. “I have the movie all picked out, I was just about to place an order from China King.”

  “We’re not staying in, my love,” Dad said pulling me against him.

  I pulled out of his embrace and looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, we are meeting Anna and her son, Logan, for dinner.”

  I felt that familiar little friend, jealousy, creeping back into my body and I couldn’t help the discouraged look that came across my face. I was less than thrilled about spending any more time with Anna. I was tired of all my father’s time being monopolized by her.

  “Why? I thought this was supposed to be our night.” I stomped my foot. Another surge of jealousy ran through me. I was my father’s princess, had been since I was born. I didn’t want to share him with her anymore, I’d shared him all summer.

  “Leah, listen, I have been alone for a long time. I’m happy, and let’s be honest and serious for a moment, you will not be around forever. Once you’re done high school, the whole world will be in front of you. I’m sure you will move out—maybe even out of the city—then what will I do. This is a good thing for me, Leah.”

  “Why does this dinner have to happen tonight?”

  I watched him take in a deep breath before he spoke. When his eyes met mine, I knew something bad was coming. “We have something we want to tell you both at the same time.”

  “What if I don’t want to go?” I crossed my arms and took a step back.

  “Leah, you are going!” He looked at me, but I glared back.

  “I’m not having dinner with her and her son. End of story.” I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV.

  “Young lady, get yourself up. You don’t want to eat, that is fine, but we are going. You will be pleasant this evening too, understand? I won’t have it any other way, now let’s go.”

  I didn’t move, I could feel the tears building in my eyes as my father looked at me and said, “I will be in the car, you have five minutes.”

  Dad turned and walked out the front door, he was serious. I sat there for the full five minutes until I saw my father get out of the car and start making his way toward the front door. I knew if he came into this house to get me I would be grounded. So I got up, locked the front door and joined my father in the car.

  THREE

  Logan

  “Logan, honey, this is Leah. Joe is just out parking the car,” said my mother.

  I looked up from my phone. I recognized her instantly, the same girl who for the past year had stared at me every morning as I made my way back to my locker, and who sat in the bleachers every football practice. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Her long red hair framed her face and fell softly down her back, her green eyes stood out against her dark black sweater. She had perfectly bowed lips and a cute button nose.

  “Hi, Logan,” she said smiling back at me.

  I didn’t answer instead I glared at my mother, pretending I didn’t want to be here even though I wanted nothing more than to sit and stare at Leah all night. “How long do we have to be here?”

  My mother’s face dropped, I could tell I disappointed her in my behavior. “Logan, sit up straight and put that phone away right now. You will be here as long as I determine,” she said through clenched teeth and sat down.

  Joe approached the table and sat down beside my mom which meant I had no choice but to sit beside Leah. I watched as he leaned in and kissed my mother before opening his menu. “What you going to have, Logan?” Joe asked.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said shoving my menu off to the side.

  My mother took one look at me and stood up. “Please excuse us for a moment.”

  I could feel all eyes on me as I got up and followed my mother outside. As soon as we were out of earshot from people walking into the restaurant, she turned toward me. “Logan, I will not tell you again to smarten up. You are doing a fantastic job of making yourself look foolish.”

  “I don’t want to be here. I don’t like him, Mom, and I couldn’t care less about Leah.”

  “Well, in life you have to go places you don’t want to go. So, you have ten minutes to change your mind, Logan. I’ve had enough. You can either eat dinner with us, or you can sit in the car a
lone until I’m finished. Either way, you will be here until I go home.” She didn’t give me a chance to respond, instead she walked into the restaurant leaving me standing outside. I could see the embarrassment and disappointment all over her face and that was one thing I didn’t like to see. I never disappointed Mom, until now.

  I took the full ten minutes to calm myself down before walking back inside. As I made my way back to the table, I saw her green eyes watching me. “You better now?” Leah whispered, leaning into me just enough that I caught a whiff of her perfume. “I don’t want to be here either if that makes it better.”

  “It doesn’t and I’m fine,” I said and sat down and opened the menu.

  She averted her eyes from me and the beautiful smile she had flashed at me quickly fell from her face as she continued looking at the menu.

  Once we had finished dessert, and they had refilled the coffee, Joe sat back and took hold of my mother’s hand. He looked at both me and Leah and smiled. “So, Anna and I have something we want to share with you both.”

  “So, share it,” I mumbled under my breath, “You’ve kept us here for over an hour and a half.” Mom glared at me, the look from her I knew all too well. Leah giggled.

  “I have asked Anna to marry me.” As soon as the words left Joe’s mouth my eyes shot up from the floor. “She has said yes.”

  I felt like my world just spun out of control at a million miles per hour.

  “We are getting married next Saturday, we don’t want to wait any longer. I know for both of you this will be a big change.”

  Leah looked at me, she looked no happier about it than I did. “Where are we going to live?” she asked twirling her finger in her hair.

  “Anna and I have been looking, and we have put an offer in on a house across town. We should know in a few days, it’s a nice four-bedroom home. Neither of the houses we own now can’t accommodate all of us.”

  “We’re moving?” Leah gasped. “I don’t want to move.”

  “Leah, it’s not the end of the world, it will be a good move,” Joe said.

  I sat there listening as they droned on and on about how in love they were. They were getting married in front of the JP, blah blah blah. Leah sat there looking just as disturbed as I was. As soon the check arrived and this torturous dinner was finally at its end, I excused myself to go outside to wait. I had just walked out the front door of the restaurant when I heard my name.

  I turned around and saw Leah striding toward me. “I’m not thrilled about this either. Maybe we could be friends?” she said those green eyes looking up at me.

  How could I be friends with this girl? When I had seen her for the first time I had instantly gotten hard. “We shall see.” That was all I had time to say because Mom and Joe were coming.

  “You kids getting along okay?” Joe asked.

  I said nothing before I climbed into the car and slammed the door. Mom kissed Joe goodbye and finally climbed into the car. As we reversed out of the spot, I saw Leah sitting in the front seat of their van; she smiled and waved. I scowled back. We drove home in utter silence.

  I wasn’t happy about any of this—the wedding or moving in with Joe and Leah. I needed to make that little girl’s life a living hell, because if I didn’t, there would be no way I could live at home for the next year and keep my hands to myself.

  FOUR

  Leah

  I sat in my now empty room, nothing could have prepared me for all of this. A wedding, a new stepmother, the guy I had a massive crush on is my new stepbrother and to top it off now we had to move. Seemingly overnight everything had changed. It was no longer just Dad and me.

  After Dad and Anna told us at dinner and ruined Logan’s and my life, they were married in front of a JP the following weekend just as they had said they would be. Two weeks later, they got word that their offer was accepted, and the new house was theirs. Dad hired a company to come in and pack up both houses.

  Dad had sold the only home I had ever known and now I had to say goodbye before starting a new life on the other side of town. I looked at the four walls of my bedroom, tape marks from the posters I had hung sat there. In a split second I went from loving my life to hating everything about it. The only thing I was even the slightest bit happy about was that I now had an older brother.

  My best friend, Jenna, had an older brother, and he always protected her, always looked out for her, and I was hoping it would be the same for me. Logan, however, didn’t seem too thrilled with this arrangement, but I was still hoping that we would become good friends.

  “I want you to be on your best behavior Leah. Anna has been having issues with Logan. Don’t make this difficult,” Dad said as he took a sip of the coffee he had stopped to get before we followed the moving truck across town to the new house.

  I scowled, he did not understand how I felt about all this, because he hadn’t asked me. I was so angry at him for not talking about all this first, but I kept my mouth shut. When we pulled into the driveway, the first thing I saw was Anna. She was struggling with a box trying to pull it from the back of her van. Dad put the car in park and jumped out shouting at Anna to leave the box that he would get it. She turned and gave us a wave and a big smile, I waved back as I climbed out of the car.

  As soon as Dad got to her, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her pulling him against him. “Everything going okay?” he asked her.

  “As well as it can be I guess,” she said.

  “Is he still acting up?”

  Anna was just about to say something when Logan rushed out of the garage, walked over to the van and tore the box from the back of the vehicle, ripping a hole through the side of Anna’s box of cleaning supplies. “I told you I got it, Mom.”

  “Hi, Logan,” I said trying to smile even though I felt like crap.

  He said nothing, instead he scowled at my father and turned toward the house taking the box with him.

  “Good morning, Leah,” Anna said, “I told Logan he had to wait to pick his room until you got here.” I nodded and went back over to the car to grab two bags I packed last minute.

  “Has he been this grumpy all morning?” I heard my dad ask.

  “I think he is just trying to adjust. What about Leah?”

  “She’s been quiet but other than that I think she is doing okay.” I watched as he kissed her again, talking about me like I wasn’t even here.

  As I walked by them, I smiled and headed inside and upstairs. The movers were already in the master bedroom assembling the furniture. Why was it they got to choose their bedroom first? I checked out the first bedroom—it had hardwood floors and there was only one small window and it faced out the side of the house. I ventured to the second bedroom, this one was much bigger and had three large windows. It had a dark blue carpet, not suitable for a girl but maybe Logan would like it I thought. There were already boxes in the room, so I was sure that Logan must have taken it. When I poked my head into the last bedroom, I was in love. It was spacious, not as big as the one with the blue carpet but bigger than my old room. The large windows faced out the front of the house and I could see the tops of the lilac bushes. I could almost smell the lilacs now and it had a pink carpet. I had always wanted a room with a pink carpet.

  I was just about to yell down to Dad and Anna when Logan came rushing past me carrying a large box. He placed it on the floor, reached into the box and pulled out a poster. As he unrolled it a half-naked girl appeared, and he hung it the far wall. He walked across the room toward me with another poster in his hand. He unrolled it and tacked it into the wall. As he reached up his shirt rose allowing his abs to peek out. He had a splattering of hair that led down into his jeans, and they hung low enough and I could see a well defined “V”. I swallowed hard, and I said nothing, I stood and watched him as he walked back toward the box to get another poster. “Get out, this is my room.” I heard him grumble under his breath.

  “What do you mean, your room? Your mom just told me that you were told to wait
to choose until I got here.”

  “Well, you’re here, and I’m claiming this one,” he said pointing to the poster he’d just hung up. He grinned at me and rummaged through the box again.

  “But this is a girl’s room, it has a pink rug. I figured you would want the one with the blue rug.”

  He walked across the room toward me and stopped right in front of me, his six-foot frame towering over me and looked right into my eyes. I smelled his cologne and my breath caught—he smelled good enough to eat. I knew my eyes probably betrayed me, but I kept focused on his anyway. “You figured wrong. I like pink, besides, unless you like half naked women, I’ll be keeping this room.”

  I could feel the burn of irritation run through me. “Logan,” I choked out.

  “Is that it? You like half naked women, then be my guest.” He held his hand out opening it to the room. I didn’t move, between the smell of his cologne and the heat coming off his body it was like I was glued to my spot.

  “Well,” his deep voice asked, “are you staying or going?” His eyes stared into mine, his tongue jutting from his mouth to wet his kissable lips.

  “Have you picked out your rooms?” I heard Dad ask from below. I ripped my eyes from Logan’s, stepped back and walked into the room across the hall. While Logan went back to his box of naked women, I went downstairs to get my bags. I figured it was just easier to let him have the room than to fight for it.

  The rest of the day passed by, and I stayed in my room setting things up. Once the movers left, they called us down for dinner. We sat at the table, Dad at the head, Anna across from him and Logan and I across from one another. Logan glared at me while swirling his fork around in his pasta. When I made eye contact with him he stuck his tongue out at me.