3 Buried Leads by Amanda M. Lee Read Free Book Online

joking.
    “Yes,” Sally said seriously.
    “He’s a douche,” I supplied.
    “Avery! Don’t use language like that,” my mom snapped.
    I could feel Eliot shaking with silent laughter next me.
    “I’m going to need help moving tomorrow afternoon,” Sally announced.
    I noticed that everyone at the table had went unusually silent. No one wanted to help.
    “Do you have to work tomorrow?” My mom asked.
    “No,” I hedged. “But I rode with Eliot and he’s got to work tomorrow and he’s my ride home.” She couldn’t possibly argue with that.
    “I don’t have to work tomorrow,” Eliot answered.
    “You don’t want to drive back out here tomorrow, though, do you?” I was giving him an out. Why wasn’t he taking it?
    “I can just get a hotel room here.” His eyes were twinkling. He was doing this on purpose.
    “Or you could just stay in the apartment upstairs?” Sally offered warmly.
    “That sounds great,” Eliot enthused. “I would be happy to help.”
    He wasn’t so cute anymore.
    “Avery can come and stay at the house with me,” my mom interjected.
    Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. “I don’t want to leave Eliot alone in a strange environment. I better stay upstairs with him.”
    Eliot looked intrigued by the prospect. I was suddenly nervous again.
    My mom opened her mouth to argue but Marnie stepped in instead. “Oh, give it up, she’s an adult. If she wants to have sex she’s going to have sex. You’re not going to stop her.”
    I could feel my cheeks starting to burn with embarrassment. Everyone at the table was now staring at Eliot and me.
    “I bet you wished you were a lesbian about now?”
    I slammed my foot down on Derrick’s, which was resting next to mine underneath the table. “Shut up.”
    “What? I was just saying what everyone at this table was thinking.”
    He wasn’t wrong.

Seven
    Throughout the rest of dinner, I felt decidedly uncomfortable. If Eliot was feeling the same thing, he hid it well. I had spent the night with Eliot before, and nothing had happened. Of course, I had hit him with a car one of those times – and forced him to sleep on the couch the other. I knew he would be a gentleman if I wanted him to be – but I wasn’t sure I wanted him to be one this time.
    I couldn’t really give too much thought to my predicament. My mom was giving me dirty looks from down the table, and they were starting to get to me. After dinner –which I stretched out by having a hot fudge sundae – my family began to disperse and leave the restaurant.
    Sally lingered, saying she would be back early the next morning because she wanted to paint the apartment before we started moving stuff up. “I figured I would come over here and paint first and you guys could go help load the truck while I’m doing that.”
    I couldn’t help but wonder if this whole “painting” thing wasn’t an elaborate ruse to get out of the heavy lifting associated with moving – but I didn’t say that out loud. I had other things on my mind, at this point anyway. Tomorrow might be a different story.
    After a few minutes, only Eliot and my mom were left. She was still giving me “the look.” You know the one. The one that says “I’m really disappointed in you and I know what you’re going to do tonight.” I ignored it.
    I said goodbye to my mom and led Eliot through the back of the restaurant. I didn’t turn around to see if she was still watching us.
    There are two ways to get into the apartment above the restaurant. One is a stairwell off of the kitchen. The other is a wood walkway outside that leads up to the sliding glass doors in the kitchen. No one ever uses the wooden staircase – mostly because there’s a question about whether or not you’ll plunge to your death if you do.
    When we got upstairs, Eliot looked around in surprise. “This is actually pretty nice,” he said.
    “It is,” I agreed.
    The apartment had two bedrooms – one at each end of the apartment. There was