My Blood Approves (13 page)

Milo had tons of homework, and he actually
planned to do it, so I offered to go to the laundromat. I loaded up
as much clothes as I could into three massive laundry bags, and
then made the excruciating trek the block and a half down to the
laundromat. The superintendent kept promising he’d put one in the
basement of the building, but he’d yet to follow through.

I filled four washers with
clothes (the maximum amount allotted to one person), then settled
back in the hard plastic chairs to watch clothes spin around for an
hour. I had just started doing a quiz in
Cosmo
(“Are You Pleasing Your Man in
Bed?” – the perfect quiz for a single virgin) when my pocket
started to ring.

What are you doing?
Jack text messaged me.

Laundry.

Wanna do something?
Jack replied.

I wore a pair of
drawstring sweats, a faded
Darkwing
Duck
tee shirt with an unzipped navy blue
hoodie, my makeup had completely worn off, and my hair was pulled
back in a pony tail. Of course he’d want to see me when I looked
like that.

I’m already doing
something. Laundry at the laundromat. And I will be until the end
of time
. I text messaged him
back.

Luckily for you, I have that long. Care if I
join you?

Sure, why not?
As I’d fervently pointed out to Milo, I wasn’t
sexually attracted to Jack, so what did I care if he saw me looking
like this?

Cool. I’ll be there in a few.

Do you even know where
it’s at?
I waited ten minutes for him to
reply to that, but then I realized that he was already on his
way.

Somehow, he’d know where I was at, just like
he knew my apartment number without me telling him. He just knew
everything, and it was flipping’ irritating.

The bell chimed above the laundromat door a
few minutes later, and I didn’t even have to look up to know it was
Jack. There was an Indian girl a few seats down from me, and she
gasped when he came in.

“
Hey, there.” Jack plopped
on the seat next to me, wearing a Space Invaders hoodie and a pair
of Dickies shorts. His sandy hair looked crazier than normal, and
he smiled brightly at me.

“
How did you know where I
was at?” My tone had long since stopped being accusatory. When I
asked him things, I was just curious and mildly amused, and always
expecting no answer.

“
You told me where you
were.” He looked at me like I was an idiot, which was somehow
flattering.

“
No, I didn’t. I said I was
at a laundromat. There’s like a million in this city,” I
explained.

“
This one is the closest to
your house, and you don’t drive.” His response surprised me because
it actually made sense. There was nothing odd or vaguely psychic
about it. He turned to watch the washing machines and crossed his
legs underneath him, apparently settling in for the long haul. “You
know we have washers and dryers at my house.”

“
I’m not at your house,” I
said, instead of commenting on his plural use of washer and dryer.
Knowing them, they probably had one for every room, like the
bathrooms and fireplaces and balconies.

“
You could’ve asked to come
over and do laundry,” Jack said. “Mae was really taken with
you.”

“
I really enjoyed her,
too.” That was all I was going to say on that subject. The last
thing I wanted to do was talk to Jack about Peter. It felt wrong
somehow to admit any attraction to him to Jack. “That doesn’t
explain how you knew where my house was.”

“
Why would it? Mae liking
you has nothing to do with where you live.”

“
No, I mean, do you always
know where I’m at?” I looked up at him, and he shook his
head.

“
I’m not
psychic.”

“
What about when you took
me home that first night? I was sleeping in the car. How did you
know where I lived?”

“
Jane told me.” He kept
looking straight ahead, and I wondered when he would grow tired of
my constant stream of questions.

I knew that normal friends didn’t just
continuously interrogate each other like this, but normal friends
didn’t act like Jack.

“
Why would she tell you
that?”

“
I asked her,” Jack said,
again looking at me like I was an idiot.

“
If I called and asked her
that, is that what she would tell me?” I challenged him, and even
pulled out my phone to prove I would call her. (I really wouldn’t,
because I was avoiding talking to her about Jack, or anything,
really.)

“
I don’t know what she’d
say, but it’s the truth.” That felt very true. Jack may not tell me
things, but he didn’t lie to me.

“
So, how did you know which
apartment was mine that night you came over for supper?” I
asked.

“
See my answer to the last
question.”

“
She told you my apartment
number and everything?” I asked skeptically. That seemed like an
awful lot of information for her to give out to a complete stranger
about her unconscious best friend, but then again, she was
completely in love with him at the time.

“
Sure did.” Jack shrugged.
“You were passed out. I thought I might have to carry you
up.”

“
You would’ve carried me
into my apartment and put me in my bed and everything?” I furrowed
my brows at him. When I said it aloud, it sounded terribly creepy,
which is why I had said it aloud. I wanted to feel as creepy as it
sounded, but it didn’t. It felt oddly natural. “You just met
me.”

“
Would it have bothered you
if I had?” Jack asked me honestly.

“
That’s still a peculiar
thing to do.” I purposely didn’t answer his question. “And you have
an awful lot of secrets for someone that knows so much about
me.”

“
I guess I do,” he laughed,
and then turned to me. “So when are you coming over
again?”

“
I don’t know,” I said
hesitantly. He must’ve noticed my reluctance because he bumped my
shoulder with his. “I can’t tonight. I’m doing this and then I have
school tomorrow.”

“
Tomorrow then, after
school.” It wasn’t exactly an order, but it wasn’t really a
question either. “Ezra will be home.”

Everything about me tensed up. After
reacting the way I had to Peter, I was terrified to find out how
I’d react to his other brother. Maybe it would be worse, and even
if it wasn’t, it wasn’t worth the risk of lusting after Mae’s
husband. That would be embarrassing and it’d feel like a
betrayal.

“
He’ll like you. Trust me.”
Then he softened and lowered his voice, leaning in closer to me.
“It won’t be like with Peter.”

“
How do you know?” I asked
stiffly, and even I wasn’t sure if I was asking how he knew what it
was like with Peter, or how he knew that this time would be
different.

“
I just do.” Then he bumped
into me again, teasing. “You know that I know. I don’t know why you
always have to argue.”

“
It’s just in my nature, I
guess.”

“
What’s
that?” Jack noticed the
Cosmo
on my lap, and before I could stop him, he
snatched it up. Embarrassingly, I had left it open to the quiz I
had been taking. “What man are you pleasing in bed? And question
four, you really do that?” He gave me a look that was both appalled
and admiring, and I tried to take the magazine back from him, but
he moved to quick for me. “I had no idea you were that kind of
girl, Alice! I mean, this completely changes my opinion of
you!”

“
I was bored!” I finally
managed to grab it from him. He laughed freely at my humiliation,
and I just shook my head. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“
Yeah, it kind of is,” Jack
said when his laughter died down. He leaned back and spread out his
arms on the back of the chairs, so one of his arms was behind me.
“The truth is, though, that I know exactly what kind of girl you
are.”

“
Oh yeah?” I asked,
intrigued. “And what kind of girl is that?”

“
Oh, you’ll see,” Jack
smiled at his cryptic answer.

“
You say stuff like that
just to drive me nuts, don’t you?” I shot him a look, and he just
laughed, confirming my suspicions.

Jack waited with me until
all the laundry finished. To pass the time, we did a few
Cosmo
quizzes (although
I refused to answer any about sex) and a crossword puzzle in the
newspaper, which he was amazing at. He had to be the smartest
person I had ever met, but he did a pretty good job of keeping it
secret.

When the laundry was done, he carried all
three massive bags out to his Jeep. He offered to take them up to
my apartment, but I thought it would be better for Milo if he
didn’t see him. Jack’s effect on people tended to wear off the
longer they went without contact.

Before I went into the building, he reminded
me that he was picking me up tomorrow at six, and whether I liked
it or not, I was spending the evening with his family.

- 9 -

Jane had always been much more clothes
obsessed, but suddenly, there were not enough clothes in my closet.
It actually wasn’t the amount of clothes so much as the fact that
they were all terrible. I’d even done laundry, so everything I
owned was clean and neatly folded or hanging up, but none of it was
good enough. I must’ve changed my outfit like fifty times before my
phone rang.

“
I know, I know,” I
answered the phone breathlessly.

“
I just wanted to make sure
you didn’t chicken out,” Jack said. Fortunately, he sounded more
bemused than he did angry. “I’m outside waiting.”

“
I’ll be out in a minute.”
I flipped my phone shut and rushed over to the mirror to inspect
myself. Milo, who had been my wardrobe supervisor, sat on my bed
amidst discarded outfits.

“
Jack?” Milo asked, trying
to sound offhand.

“
Uh huh,” I mumbled
absently and tried to smooth out the hem.

I wore a dark blue tunic dress that fell
just above my knees. I’d gone with opaque tights underneath and a
pair of skimmers. I wasn’t sure if I’d gone casual enough or too
casual or what, but either way, I felt stupid and I wanted to
change again.

“
This is
horrible!”

“
You look great,” Milo
admonished me. I’m sure he’d grown tired of listening to me whine
and change for the past three hours, but I really wanted to make a
good impression. “And Jack is waiting. You don’t really have a
choice anymore.”

“
Promise?” I asked, looking
over at him.

“
Yes. They’ll love you. And
even if they don’t, I will. Now go!” Milo stood up and started
shooing me out of my room.

“
Okay, okay.” I groaned,
but Milo just kept pushing until I was out the front
door.

I ran out to Jack’s car before I could
change my mind. He had taken the Jeep again, and I was glad for a
slower ride.

“
You look great,” Jack
grinned when I hopped in.

“
Whatever.” I flipped down
the visor so I could investigate myself in the mirror. My eyeliner
was thicker than I ordinarily wore it, but it made me look more
dramatic and mature so I liked it.

“
Fine, you look terrible,”
Jack laughed and sped off down the road.

“
Can you slow down?” My
nerves made my stomach flip out, and I knew I could feign
carsickness since it would almost be the truth. I just didn’t like
the idea of us getting there in like ten seconds.

“
You’re really that
nervous?” Jack was growing concerned, and he slowed down a
little.

“
No,” I lied.

I flipped back up the visor and sunk in the
seat. I was completely dreading meeting Ezra, and seeing Peter
again, while simultaneously being really excited to see him. I
hated my body for its ability to have contradictory emotions.

“
It’s really not that bad.
Ezra will like you.”

“
Will you stop trying to
convince me that everyone likes me?” I snapped. “You’re making me
paranoid.”

“
That doesn’t make any
sense,” Jack looked over at me, sitting next to him being
petrified, and he sighed. “You know, Peter really didn’t mean
anything.”

“
I don’t wanna talk about
Peter,” I replied through gritted teeth, but that wasn’t it
exactly. I couldn’t talk about him. Just thinking about him made my
heart race out of control. There didn’t seem to be enough oxygen in
the Jeep.

He knew that was I inclined to silence, so
he turned up the stereo. Today it was the Smashing Pumpkins,
singing about a bullet with butterfly wings.

Even though he had slowed down, the drive to
his house still went by much too fast. By the time we had pulled
into the garage, my heart was beating so fast that I was sure I was
going to die. I thought about telling Jack this, but by the grim
look on his face, he already knew.

“
You’ve got to calm down,
Alice.” He touched my hand to reassure me, and amazingly, it
worked.

“
Is that another one of
your superpowers?” I asked when my heart stopped feeling like it
would explode