Painting Sky (2 page)

“Wasn’t he at school?” I’d thought he was attending college, at least. I couldn’t envision his father letting him live like this.

“Yeah, he goes to college, but he only has a couple classes a week. I don’t really understand him. Your brother does the mediation, because, if we were alone, we would have killed each other, already.”

I remember Cody and Keith always fighting, and not like Ryan and me, but really fighting: always competing to be better than the other. They should have been over that by now.

It was already getting dark, so I didn’t have the urge to go outside. Cody brought our bags in and I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking in my room. I hadn’t realized I was hungry until Cody poked his head in to announce that the pizza guy was at the door. It wasn’t a good idea to start my time here by eating take out, but my mood to cook was nonexistent.

“Does your brother come down to eat with us?” I sat on a chair in the kitchen, careful to not touch any dirty surface.

“You don’t need to worry about him. Like I said before, he doesn’t show himself much.” I heard the finality of his statement. I wouldn’t ask about Keith, anymore.

“Tomorrow, I need to go to campus, but just for a couple of hours, to pick book lists and stuff. In the afternoon, I can take you to town to buy groceries. Is that okay with you?” I nodded while Cody threw the empty pizza box on the already-overflowing trash can and kissed me. “Now what do you want do?” he murmured against my neck.

“I’m tired. Maybe I’ll just go to bed?” I didn’t mean for it to sound like a question, but it turned out that way, anyway.

“Alone?” His mouth found mine before I had time to answer. He pulled me to my feet and hugged my waist.

“Not today, Cody; I’m really tired.” I excused myself, kissed him, and pushed him gently away. I then went upstairs, leaving him frowning in the kitchen.

I’d have to gather the courage to just sleep with him. For goodness’ sake, he’d been my boyfriend for four years. What was I waiting for? Marriage? That was plain ancient! I just didn’t feel it, though. Whenever he got closer, I would freeze. I didn’t feel that spark like I read about in my books or watched in the movies.

He didn’t come to my room and I didn’t go to his. After I took a shower, I crashed on my comfy bed.

T
he next day, I woke up at nine and my stomach was rumbling with hunger. I skipped down the stairs, remembering the clutter in the living room as I reached the first floor. My day would be splendid, cleaning everything—not. At least the sun was shining. I opened the kitchen door absentmindedly and hit someone so hard that I fell backward and screeched when my butt hit the floor.

“Fuck! What the hell?” Someone screamed and I opened my eyes to my worst nightmare. I had forgotten I wasn’t alone, so I hadn’t bothered to change. My short pajama shorts and tank-top were now drenched with milk and cereal, which made me look even more ridiculous.

“Oh, it’s you.” His voice was so full of animosity that I quickly stuttered an apology.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean… I thought I was alone.” I pulled myself up, trying to keep my shirt away from my skin.

“Obviously you’re not. This is still my house—never forget that. And please put some clothes on; you seem ridiculously childish.” Keith walked away, leaving the cereal bowl on the kitchen counter for me to wash.

He was different from the last time I’d seen him, which was almost two years ago. Keith always had a dark, mysterious, and dangerous appearance, which matched his personality perfectly. His hair looked darker—three years ago, it had been cut as short as possible, but now it was mussed and over his forehead.

Keith was a bad boy; my friends would have called him “dangerously hot.” He was neither nice, nor popular—at least, not in the common sense of the word. He had his group of friends and that was it: he wasn’t nice to anyone else. Keith was a one night stand, heart-breaking type of guy.

He now had a piercing on his right eyebrow and a tattoo on his left arm. I didn’t think his father had seen him like this.

I tried to push away my thoughts about Keith and started my long cleaning day. After taking a quick shower and putting on proper clothes, I started with the dining room and took the plates and glasses to the kitchen sink. I then did the same with the living room.

I cleaned and washed until my hands were red and everything was spotless and smelled like lemon. I was lucky they even had cleaning products.

The kitchen took me until three in the afternoon to clean: the fridge had to be cleaned twice before its strange smell dissipated. Two of the shelves were full of beer and the freezer was packed with frozen dinners; the shelves in the kitchen were empty.

Cody arrived the moment I stopped to admire my masterpiece.

“Wow, you hired a fairy crew? Maybe some birds and squirrels, too?” He kissed me, fell on the couch, and put his feet up on the small center table.

“No, dummy, it was all me.” I shoved his feet off the table I had just cleaned a couple hours ago. “And I expect you and Ryan to keep this place clean. I’ll ask my brother to tell yours, as he wouldn’t listen to either of us.”

After Cody ate something, we left to buy groceries.

Cody helped me put everything in its place when we got home and then left me to cook dinner. My brother showed up when I was setting the table.

He rushed to my side and pulled me into his arms, cutting off my circulation. “I missed you, little sister,” he said, our difference in height clearly, as he towered over me. I hugged him back while he stole a slice of tomato from the cutting board.

He put me down and leaned over the counter. I said, pouting, “I didn’t know if you were coming to dinner. You didn’t get back yesterday.”

He averted my eyes. “I was… with a girl. I didn’t want to bring her here on your first day.”

“A girlfriend or just a girl?” As if I had to ask: a smile spread on his face while his light brown eyes shone with mischief.

“Do you have to ask? If it does matter, we’ve been hooking up for a month,” he said, as if it was a great feat for him to be with a girl for more than a couple of days.

“Where’s Keith?” Ryan asked as he helped with the pasta bowl, making me doubt that he was really my brother, who never helps around the house.

“Where do you think?” Cody answered sarcastically as he hugged my waist and placed a kiss on my temple.

“Yo, I agreed that Jane could live with us, but I’m not tolerating that.” He waved at us, disgusted.

When Cody and I had started dating, we had kept it secret for three months, until my brother found out and punched him. He had actually gone three weeks without speaking to either of us. After that, he’d started accepting it, but I decided I shouldn’t push it. Maybe it would be good to use Ryan as an excuse to delay sleeping with Cody.

Surprisingly, Keith joined us when we sat down on the dining room. “Wow, you cleaned up nice, Sky,” he said before sitting down. I knew he was talking about the house, but, for a second, I wondered if he was starting to accept me living here. His next words killed that immediately, though. “Maybe it’ll be good to have a woman in the house.” He took the seat in front of me. I tried to keep my boiling temper down, but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my middle name, but the way he’d shortened Skylar to Sky with a sarcastic tone only he could produce, just to get on my nerves, had me all worked up.

“My name is Jane and I’m not your maid. I would appreciate it if you and my brother could keep the house clean.” I served myself and took a deep breath.

“Always so polite,” he leaned back on the chair, crossed his arms and smirked at me, looking smug. “Isn’t my baby brother included on that list? Or will you be cleaning up after him?”

My politeness would be ending very soon. “No, your brother already knows I won’t be playing housemaid. If we make a group effort, this place will always be like this.” I smiled and looked around.

The rest of the meal was civilized and the three boys talked about mutual friends. My brother and Cody made an effort to keep the cursing to a light level, but Keith was as crass as a sailor. He made sure to look at me every time a curse left his mouth while smiling mockingly.

After Ryan and Cody helped me with the kitchen, Cody took me to his room. I hadn’t been in it before and I tried not to think about why I hadn’t had the curiosity.

“It’s… messy. I said downstairs that I wouldn’t clean up after you, but, if you want, I can clean your room tomorrow—just this once.” His face said that he wasn’t very pleased, but he covered it quickly. “No, that’s not necessary. I’ll do it myself. You need to use your time wisely: next week, you’ll start school, too.” He pushed me to his bed, taking my mind away from the concern about the why he didn’t want me in his room.

Ryan banged on the door a few minutes later. “I meant what I said earlier! Stop whatever you’re doing.” I heard laugher farther away. Was Keith laughing? That would be a first.

Cody sighed and rolled onto his back. “Come on in.” I sat up on the bed and rearranged my hair.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to see my baby sister—” Ryan was cut off by Cody groaning that he was sure. “Good, because, if you’re messing with her—” Ryan opened the door, one hand covering his eyes.

“Come on, Ry, like she’s that innocent. She’s almost eighteen and they’ve been dating for years.” Keith leaned against the door, smirking. One of these days, that smirk would get stuck on his face.

“Argh—I don’t want to know. Just don’t want that kind of,” he waved at us, making me roll my eyes, before continuing, “Behavior with me in the house. Got it, little Hale?”

Keith laughed out loud again, vibrating something inside me: hate.

“He’s also not that little anymore,” Cody’s brother said, which made me blush. I didn’t even want to know what he was talking about.

Cody frowned. “Shut up, Keith. You’re not helping.”

Keith turned around and disappeared from our sight, but I still heard when he said, “Like I would make it easier.” It was followed by a chuckle.

After kissing Cody on the lips and getting a groan from Ryan, I left for my room. I was so tired of cleaning and shopping that I just wanted to go to sleep. I had been honest when I’d said I wouldn’t be this house’s maid, but I at least wanted to start my life here with a clean house.