Shelf Life (6 page)

CHAPTER ten

“W
hat?”

“Name’s Evan.”
Evan holds out his hand. It’s connected to an arm that’s covered in tattoos. I can’t tell what they are because there’s almost no contrast with his dark skin. I swallow hard at his red “Tupac RIP” shirt, but hold out my hand and shake. “Hello? You got a name?”

“What? Oh, sorry. Pete. I’m Pete.”

“Just like our mascot. That’s crazy.”

“Mascot?”

“Pete the Penguin.” He hooks a thumb over his shoulder at a poster in the window of the building. It features a black and white penguin wearing a scowl and a red scarf.

I groan. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“What class you here for?”

“Biology.
Organisms and Ecology. You?”

“Same one.
Better get movin’ if we don’t wanna be late.” Somehow, I can’t picture Evan in a science lab, but he seems to know where he’s going so I follow him into the belly of the dark building. Our shoes echo and squeak on the polished floor, and I get the feeling that I’m walking down the hall of an ancient castle. All that’s missing are torches on the walls. Evan stops in front of a tall door and checks a paper taped next to it. “Here we are. Damn, I can’t believe this class is three hours long. I forgot summer classes are that way.”

I fish around in my backpack for my schedule. “Mr. Kimmel, right?”

“
Doctor
Kimmel. You ain’t in high school anymore.”

“Right.”
A nervous laugh escapes and I kick myself for being so stupid. I’ve probably got
freshman
written all over me.

“Relax, he’s cool. You’ll like him. I had him this spring for Cells and Molecules.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.
Hey, you able to say more than one word at a time?”

“Sorry. My first day on campus and I’m a little nervous.”

“Kinda figured that. Tell you what, you can be my lab partner as long as you promise not to slack off. Deal?”

“Um, okay.” He points to a long soapstone table near the middle of the room and I grab a seat. The lab is surprisingly light compared to the dark hallway. Modern equipment lines the front, while cabinets fill one side wall and windows fill the other. It’s similar to high school, except quieter. There’s no Jay Leaher to trip the nerds, and no overexcited girls swapping lipstick, or whatever it is they do.

There’s just me, Evan, a couple guys in the back, and a heavy-set chick with dark hair near the front. I pull out paper and a pen and set them in front of me. There’s nothing else to do, so I doodle.

“So why you taking a summer class?
You got a job or something?”

“Kind of.
My family’s weird. We have a farm that I help with. This way, I can spread my classes out and still have time to get everything done.”

“You, like, milk cows and stuff?”

“Yeah, that’s one of my jobs.”

“You don’t
wanna be a farmer, too?”

“Why do you think I don’t?”

“You’re sitting in class at an inner-city university. No white-boy farmer gonna take classes here unless he wants out of his situation, know what I mean?”

My ears get warm. “I want to be a livestock veterinarian.”

“Ah, so this is just a stepping stone. Where you planning to go after?”

With his interrogation skills, Evan belongs in Criminal Justice, not Biology.
“Ohio State.”

“Good choice.
Your family cool with that?”

“I’m not sure they believe I’ll ever get there.”

Evan nods. “You and me, we’re the same. Don’t laugh. I know what you’re thinking, but my family never thought I’d graduate from high school, let alone go to college. Yet here I sit.” He stretches out his arms and smiles, his gold tooth shining.

Behind him, a man with bushy gray hair and an equally bushy mustache enters the room carrying several books and a water bottle.

“Mr. Williams, long time no see,” he says, as Evan turns his head.

“Right.
Been a whole week?”

“That’s the beauty of summer classes,” the man says, and walks to the front of the room. “I was impressed with your final, by the way. Not only were your answers correct, they were very articulate and imaginative as well. You’re fortunate to be both left- and right-brained.”

The man must be Dr. Kimmel, and apparently my new lab partner is a biology genius. This might be the best first day of school ever, but that makes me think of Lewis and Lindsey and my stomach sinks. I’d managed to go three whole hours without thinking about them.

“You keep teaching like you do, and I’ll keep answering like I do,” Evan says.

“Fair enough, Mr. Williams.” The professor smiles and his face crinkles. He’s got a grandfather feel to him, though he’s probably too young to actually be one. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Farm Boy. Sorry, Pete, and he wants to be a veterinarian, right?” I nod. “He’s a little quiet, too.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Dr. Kimmel says. “What branch of veterinary medicine you looking at?”

“Livestock, sir.
I’m pre-veterinary with a biology major.”

“Indeed? You two will make quite the pair this semester. I expect great things from you.”

I stupidly stare at him with my mouth open, wondering how I’ve already become the teacher’s pet, when movement near the door catches my attention. I have one of those slow-motion Hollywood moments where the cute girl walks in the room with her long hair billowing around her, except this isn’t Hollywood and there’s no changing the channel—not that I’d want to. Her white shorts are quite a bit shorter than would be allowed at Crestlane High, and her tank top is a bit more, um, strappy than they’d allow. If I weren’t frozen in place, I’d probably throw myself at her feet.

“Close your mouth, boy. You look like a
Dionaea muscipula
.”

“What?”

“Venus fly trap. That’s Ava, by the way.”

I simply nod and follow her movement across the room. She sits at the front table and begins talking to Dr. Kimmel, though they could be speaking Greek for all I care.
When she scoots forward on her stool, the strap of her tank top slides down her shoulder, clearly teasing me. From there I’m able to imagine how her creamy, tanned back would look with no straps, and from there I can see how she’d look with no top at all, and…

“Brother, you need to pull yourself together.
Ain’t you ever seen a girl before?”

“Well, yeah
, but…”

“But nothing.
You don’t wanna mess with her. She’s spicy and all, but bad news.”

“How so?”

“I’m not one to gossip, so I’ll just leave you with this: You got a future planned out for yourself. You don’t want her in it, so you keep yourself on the straight and narrow, got it?”

This is unbelievable. The tatted-up, ex-con lookalike with a gold tooth is warning me off the blonde goddess politely chatting with our biology professor? Youngstown may be a bigger city than I’m used to, but it’s not another planet. “Whatever. She’s still hot.”

“No doubt about that, Farm Boy. No doubt.”

The next three hours go quickly and by the end, I’ve decided three things: I need to go to the bookstore and get my textbook, Evan is a walking contradiction, and Ava is out of my league.

After class, I find an open computer lab. The ancient scheduling program beeps to life and I enter the number for “Turning Points in American History.” It meets the same days as my biology class, so I’ll be able to save on gas by combining trips, but I’ll be away from home all day, three days a week. Of course, this doesn’t bother me at all, but I wonder if Mom and Dad know what a chunk of time another class will eat up.

Guess that’s their problem. Four clicks later, I’m signed up. I glance at my watch and see the class actually starts in fifteen minutes. I’ll have to haul ass if I want to make it in time. The apple in my backpack does little to stop my stomach from rumbling, but there’s no time to grab anything for lunch. The arts and sciences building is behind the student center, on the far side of the sports complex. I decide to take a shortcut behind the complex to save a few minutes, plus I’d love to get a peek inside.

“Late for class, Twig?”

The hairs on the back of my neck prickle, but I keep walking because it can’t be. I’m probably stressed out from yesterday’s encounter with him and Sarah and my head’s not right.

“I’m talking to you, Pete Wilson.”

My guts go liquid as I slowly turn around. “Jay.” The word slithers out between clenched teeth.

“Fancy meeting you here, Twig. Welcome to Youngstown State University. It’s been, what, less than twenty-four hours since we last saw each other?” His face splits into a grin and the meathead next to him chuckles.

My visions of Ava are replaced with ones of him
and my sister rutting on the ground like pigs.

“Twig, this is Steve. Steve, this is my next-door neighbor. Yesterday he caught me banging his sister. She’s a good lay, that one.”

Steve chuckles and slaps Jay on the back. “Why you banging some high school chick when you can have any of the girls on campus?”

“I plan to have most of them, too, but his sister’s tight and she’s got reasons to keep me satisfied, isn’t that right, Twig?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tell him.
Reasons?

“Wow, you’re even stupider than I thought.”

I spin on my heel and walk away, but not before I hear him yell, “You and your little friends should come watch a game. And bring your sister!” Their laughter gets lost behind the pounding in my ears as memories return to the surface and I contemplate what the hell Jay meant by Sarah having reasons to keep him satisfied.

To make matters worse, I’m late for American History.

Chapter eleven

Jay’s grin faded as he watched the back of Pete’s red shirt disappear into a crowd of students. He turned to Steve and slapped him on the back. “Break’s over. Coach will have a fit if he sees us out here.”

“So what’s the deal with that guy? His sister really that hot?”

“Yeah, she’s something else,” he said, but Jay’s mind wasn’t really on Sarah or even Pete. He was still reeling from what he’d stumbled into when he got home from practice yesterday, and he wondered if he’d find the same thing today. Thank goodness he had football practice to keep his mind busy until then.

The drive home didn’t take long. His mother had asked him to pick up a loaf of bread and some lottery tickets on his way, but that only ate up maybe five minutes. If the tickets made her happy, then he’d get her a million if he could. He had more than a sneaking suspicion of why she wanted them, and it made him even sadder to know his dad would have a fit if he found out.

The blue and white sign for Leaher Dairy Farm came into view. Jay put on his turn signal, not because there was anyone on this dirt road to warn, but because if his dad saw him turn without signaling, there would be a lecture on responsibility, safety, and how much their insurance would go up if Jay ever got in an accident. Sometimes, when he was driving home late at night, Jay thought about slamming his pick-up truck straight into a tree just to see what his dad would do. He hoped his dad would be upset if he got hurt, but deep down, he knew he’d be more upset about the truck, the insurance, and the gossip it would create in town.

As the only son of Jeff Leaher and sole heir to their huge dairy operation, it was Jay’s job to uphold the family image.
Business partners look at everything
, he’d tell Jay.
Don’t disappoint me again.

He grabbed his gym bag, backpack, and loaf of bread out of the passenger seat and headed up the two-tiered back porch. It was really more of an overdone veranda, but his dad had insisted when they built the place that it be “high-class.” Jay just viewed it as more square footage to shovel in the snowy winter.

The kitchen smelled of pumpkins and vanilla when he closed the French doors behind him. On top of the stove rested a freshly made pumpkin roll, one of his favorite treats. He grinned knowing his mom had missed him while he was gone. Although he technically had to live in the dorms as a freshman and member of the football team, Jay chose to come home tonight to ease the transition for his mom. She wasn’t dealing well with the idea of an empty nest.

Jay heard silverware scraping on plates and headed into the dining room after shedding his coat and shoes.

“Hi, honey! I thought you had come in. We were going to wait for you, but…”

She shrugged and gave Jay a tight smile. She didn’t have to finish her sentence
; he knew what she was trying to say:
Your father insisted we eat now.

“
It’s okay, Mom. Do I smell steak?”

“Sure do. You’ve got to keep up your strength, Mister College Linebacker. Take a seat and I’ll warm up your plate.”

Jay began to protest that he could do it himself, but Mrs. Leaher raised her eyebrows. He took his seat at the mahogany table, his father at the head, and folded his hands in his lap. Practice had left him with some sore muscles, but he’d been enjoying all the hours away from the dairy and his father’s constant watch. Tilting his head to each side, he cracked his neck, but immediately recognized his error.

“Sit up straight, boy,” his father said. “They knock some sense into that dumb head of yours?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you at least manage to drag yourself to classes today?”

“Yes, sir.”

Mrs. Leaher returned with Jay’s dish and set it before him. Jay smiled at her affectionately while breathing in the smells of steak, mashed potatoes, gravy
, and green beans with almonds. He unfolded the linen napkin and placed it on his lap, hoping he’d get to enjoy a few mouthfuls before his father interrogated him in earnest.

“How was Underwater Basket Weaving?”

“Writing class was okay, communications was okay, and math was super easy.”

“They probably don’t expect much out of you. That’s why it was easy.” Mr. Leaher raised his water glass and took a sip.

“Mom, this steak’s great, and the beans are perfect.”

She beamed. Her smile was so wide at his simple compliment that he wanted to reach across the table and hug her until everything was okay.

Mr. Leaher set down his glass and cleared his throat. “The steak’s overdone and the beans are limp. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to call the processing plant about tomorrow’s arrival time.” He picked something out of his teeth with his fingernail. “You can go ahead and twist yourself up in your mother’s apron strings.”

Jay and his mother stood while his father left the table. Once they sat back down, Jay began to eat more quickly, taking bigger bites and groaning as his teeth released the juices from the steak.

“I hoped you’d approve,” his mom said.

“It’s my favorite, you know that. Speaking of favorites, I saw the pumpkin roll on the stove. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, but it’s your first day of college classes. I wanted it to be special.”

“Everything you make is special, Mom.”

“Sweet boy. Don’t ever leave me.”

Jay smiled, but inside he knew she wasn’t kidding. “You had a good day?”

“Sure I did,” she answered.

Her split lip said otherwise.