Something Right Behind Her by Claire Hollander Read Free Book Online Page A

so I had Doug drive me home really late. It was the most transparent
lie I’d ever told, but what else could I say? She knew I hadn’t walked home.
Still, if she wanted to confront me about the incident, she’d have to call me a
liar. That was beneath Eve’s dignity, so I’d be alright as long as no critical
evidence came her way.
    Somehow, I got
through the rest of the day. I studied for my history test, even tackled the
interminable Algebra-Trig review sheet, and by the time I got through my last
problem set, Mom and Dad and Milly were back.
    Milly,
naturally, had to ring the doorbell seven hundred times. “Christ,” I muttered as
she pushed past me, her blonde curls windblown, her cheeks little-girl flushed.
“You should have been there, Andy,” Milly said. “There was this crazy bee
infestation and just about everyone got stung but me and Mom.” Dad strode past
us into the kitchen, his brown shopping bags overflowing with fruit, his right
hand swollen and red.
    “All in all a
great day,” Dad said sarcastically. “We paid for the privilege of picking fruit
in the baking sun, and then getting attacked by swarms of wasps.”
    “Ugh,” Milly said.
“How many times do I have to tell you wasps do not even swarm? They were yellow
jackets.”
    “Killer bees, I
think,” Dad said, just to annoy her. Milly was going through a bee phase.
Before that, it was crustaceans.
    I had to admit,
once they got home, stung or unstung, I started to feel almost normal. It was
easier to pretend nothing was wrong with them there, providing the unknowing
audience for my drama. Little did Mom and Dad know that their very presence
made it easier for me to pursue my slutty, lying existence.

 
 
    Later at dinner,
just when the whole ordeal started to recede from the forefront of my mind, Dad
called me out on my late night. He eyed me kind of funny with his fork in the
air, a small piece of pork chop speared on the end. He pointed the piece of
pork at me. “I thought I heard the front door around dawn?” Dad had a way of
letting you think he was oblivious and then he’d draw you out when you least
expected it. Mom raised her eyebrows at him across the table, as if she were
surprised he was busting me like that at the dinner table, or maybe only he’d
heard the door opening at dawn.
    “I couldn’t
sleep on that lumpy guest bed they have over there,” I said. “I was all
sunburned and I’d already been tossing and turning for about five hours. I heard
Doug come home from some date, and asked him to drive me home.” I was surprised
how easily this lie tripped off my tongue.
    “I hope he
wasn’t drinking, Andy,” Mom said. You could tell she thought something was
fishy, but the only thing she could really take on in the middle of dinner like
that was the getting into a car with a buzzed college guy.
    “Nope,” I said.
“Douglas is Mr. Clean.” I had no idea why I said that since it was pretty far
from the truth, but he did look clean cut, and, of course, he went to
Princeton. At that point I was almost enjoying my fabrications. It made me a
little dizzy just to say Douglas’ name in front of them, my secret lurking in
those syllables.
    They let it go
for the moment, but Mom had her eye on me. I knew it was only a matter of time
before the other shoe dropped.

 
 
    It happened
later that night as I was getting ready for bed. I had gotten changed and
washed up, and was laying all my stuff out for track practice the next day. I
was getting my rhythm back, feeling my groove. That’s when Mom knocked on the
door and let herself in.
    “Hey
sweetheart,” she said and perched herself on my bed. I continued folding my
track stuff up and putting it all super-neat into my gym bag. “You didn’t tell
me how things went with Eve at the house. Was everything ok?”
    “I told you when
you called. It was great. Awesome. The lifeguard took her in the water and
everything. Don’t you remember?”
    “Yes, I know.
But what