An Unexpected Hunger (2 page)

The fro
nt door opened and Nick came strolling out, shoveling something in his mouth. He was shirtless and looked like he just rolled out of bed.

“Nick, honey, could you grab the suitcase in the back?” mom asked.

“Glad to see you back,” Nick said, waiting for the trunk to open. He hauled my suitcase out, and it landed hard on the ground. “What the hell do you have in this thing?”

“Oh…just my whole life.”

Nick wheeled my suitcase into the house while I carried in my smaller bag. Inside smelled familiar, like warm chocolate chip cookies. Nick headed upstairs to put my suitcase in my old room, while I headed to the bathroom.

I walked around the house a little, let
ting it all sink in. It was my first time home in five years. I was just eighteen when I left this house and everything else I knew. I grabbed a framed picture sitting on the credenza in the hallway to get a better look. It was of my dad, brother, and me. I couldn’t of been more than four or five. It was taken in the kitchen of his restaurant. I stood on a chair with an apron wrapped around my little waist, flour covering my face and my hair in pig tails. My beaming father was holding Nick, just a few years old. I placed the picture down with careful ease, wondering what my father would think of me now. Maybe I didn’t want to know.

Just six months
ago, I was working in one of the nicest restaurants in northern California, living in my own apartment that I had all to myself. Now, here I was…broke, single and living at home.

“Do you have any plans for tonight?” mom asked.

“Plans?” I replied, raising my eyebrows. “Mom, I’ve been home for like five minutes. What plans would I have?”

She
opened the oven door, the smell of fresh cookies wafting through the air. “Oh, I don’t know honey,” she said, taking the tray of cookies out and putting them on the stove to cool. “I thought maybe you had gotten in touch with some of your old friends from high school.”

I sat at the kitchen table, watching Nick come barreling down the stairs.

“I don’t talk to anyone from high school,” I reminded her. “Besides, I don’t feel up to doing anything yet.”

Mom looked back momentarily as she scraped each cookie off the tray with a spatula and placed them on a plate. I watched as Nick grabbed cookie after cookie, inhaling them as quick as I could blink.

“You should come out with me tonight,” he said with a mouth full of cookie.

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” mom said. “You two have a lot to catch up on.”

“Go out where?” I asked. “Some frat party? No thanks.”

Nick tried to steal another cookie before mom slapped his hand away. “No…a couple of friends are going to the bar tonight.”

My brother had
notoriously bad taste in friends. They were all even less mature then he was and had about as much ambition as a sack of potatoes.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I said.

“Come on Lex! Mia will be there.”

“
Really?”

Nick nodded his hea
d. “Yeah, she bartends over at the Mug. She asked about you not too long ago.”

Mia and my brother dated in hig
h school for about two minutes. I use to be good friends with her up until I left for the west coast.

“I thought she hated you?”
I asked. “I wouldn’t blame her after what you put her through.”

“Who could hate this face?” he said, pointing to his innocent grin.

Mom laughed as she squeezed my brother’s cheeks gently, a mama’s boy through and through.

“Okay,” I finally agreed. “But I don’t want to get home to
o late.”

“I promise,” Nick said, crossing his heart.

NICK POUNDED ON my bedroom door for the third time when I finally swung it open.

“Will you move your ass?” he said. His short hair was spiked up with gel
, and he smelled like he took a swim in a pool of cologne.

I wrinkled my nose,
trying to slip on my other shoe.

“I’ll be right down,” I said. “Just wait for me in the car.” I swung the door shut be
fore he had a chance to protest and finally heard him stomp down the steps.

Looking in the mirror, I cringed at
my reflection. My dark brown hair fell way past my shoulders, and I didn’t even bother covering up the dark circles under my eyes. Too many sleepless nights and it definitely showed.

It was amazing the
difference a year made. A year ago, I lost my moral compass, misplaced it completely without a second thought. It was easier than I cared to admit. It took a while, but eventually I came back to my senses. After that, I promised myself two things. First, I would not, under any circumstances, allow myself to become romantically and/or sexually involved with anyone for at least six months. I needed time to heal, time to get my shit together, as my dad use to say.

Secondly, I would not, no matter how hot, alluring, or sexy he might
seem
, allow myself to fall in love with any man who was tattooed, married, had a baby-mama, did drugs, had no job, was in a band, or whose name ended with a Y, such as Tommy, Johnny, or Robby. I had a talent for finding the most unavailable men, and they all shared a common thread one way or another. Recounting the guys I involved myself with was like playing a fucked up game of six degrees of separation.

That was five months ago. One more month was nothing, a piece of cake even.
I had managed to keep my promise without one single hiccup. And after the six months was up, I wouldn’t allow myself to fall back into the deep, dark, well of the unavailable or the unreliable.

Deciding what to wear was a fiasco since all of my clothes were still packed. My room now looked like my suitcase threw up everywhere, clothes hanging from the bed and on the dresser.
I finally decided on a pair of denim shorts and a form fitting white cotton tank top.

I shrugged. “This is as good as it’s go
ing to get.” What did it matter anyway? The less attractive the better.

I headed downstairs, hoping to slip by my mom unseen. I thought I had made it out of the door when I heard her shriek my name from upstairs.

“Alexa! What the hell happened in your room?”

I
squeezed my eyes tight, knowing full well I should have shut the door to my room on my way out.

“I’ll fix it first thing in the morning,” I promised, as my brother blared the horn outside. “I gotta’ go before Nick blows a vein.”

“You
’re going like that?” she asked in her usual critical tone, her body flung half way over the railing.

I looked down at my outfit.
Until that moment, I didn’t think it was possible to feel worse about myself. I should have known my mother would be the one to remind me that there was always room for improvement.

“Yeah,” I said. “Why?”

“No make up on?” she said, tisking through her teeth.

“It’s l
ike a hundred degrees outside. The makeup will just melt off.”

I gave walking out the door another attempt when mom called my name one more time. “Lexy!”

I swung the door half open, leaning my body against it. “Yes mother?” She gave me a stern look since I only referred to her as mother when I was annoyed.

“Make sure your brother doesn’t drink too much tonight. He’s already on probation with the baseball
team. One more incident, and he gets kicked off.”

I nodded my
head and finally made it out the door, preparing myself for a night of babysitting.

* * *

The Mug was pretty crowded for a Wednesday, and I had to shove past a few people to make it to the bar. Ever the gentleman my brother was, he didn’t bother to wait for me, and plowed through the crowd like he owned the place. There was only one stool open at the bar, and I was surprised when Nick offered it to me.

“I’ll be right back,” he shouted in my ear.

Nick didn’t wait for me to respond and disappeared among the crowd. I made myself comfortable and plopped my purse on the back of the seat. I watched as the band got set up on the small stage in the back.

“
Hey, Lex!” Mia smiled from ear to ear, revealing perfectly straight teeth. It looked like all those years of braces paid off. Her hair was blonder than it was in high school, and she wore a tight black top and jean shorts even shorter than mine. She looked great, and I cowered back, my confidence dropping by the second.

“Hey Mia,” I said. “How’ve you been?” I tried to sound
enthusiastic.

S
he shrugged and smiled. “Working here…trying to finish school. Can I get you something to drink?” She placed a cocktail napkin in front of me as I debated what I wanted. I didn’t plan on drinking tonight, but the more I looked around the better the idea seemed.

“
A beer,” I said. She nodded her head, snapped the lid off a bottle, and plopped it front of me.

“Thanks.”

“Where’s that brother of yours at?” she asked.

I looked behind my shoulder. “Oh…I don’t know. He’s around here somewhere.”

Mia smiled as someone called out for the bartender at the other end of the bar.

“My ears were burning,” Nick said from behind me. “What are yo
u two talking about?”

Mia rolled her eyes
, but couldn’t help but grin. I didn’t know what magical potion my brother possessed, but he managed to convince every girl around him that he was prince charming.

Whoever it was
trying to get Mia’s attention must have been really thirsty. The longer she ignored his calls the louder he became.

“Yo,
Mia! Anytime today would be nice!”

“Keep
your panties on!” she yelled. She reached down under the bar and pulled out two shot glasses, pouring whiskey in each one.

I shook my head. “Oh no…I don’t do whiskey anymore.”

“Since when?” Nick asked.

I raised
my eyebrows, recalling the last time Jack Daniels and I hung out. It was about a year ago, just after I met Danny…the worst mistake I ever made.

“Since I woke up
that one day on my front lawn in a snorkel mask.”

Mia laughed as she pushed the shots towards us
and then left to take someone’s order.

“Drink!” Nick said
, grabbing one shot and handing me the other. “I promise I won’t let you near the front lawn…or a snorkel mask.”

I stared at the amber liquid for a few second
s before releasing it from Nick’s fingers. He smiled widely as we clinked the glasses and then threw them back.

The alcohol flamed down my throat, burning up my whole chest. I clicked my tongue a few times
, trying to dissipate the taste out of my mouth.

“
Ugh!” I said, wiping my mouth with my arm. “Tastes terrible!”

“Mia!” Nick called. He held up two fingers
, and she nodded in recognition.

“Don’t you think you should take it easy?” I asked.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Why? Mom told you to babysit me?”

I scoffed. “Yeah…pretty much. Like I’m in any position to be a baby sitter. I shouldn’t be within five feet of a baby.”

Mia came back by our end and poured us two more shots. She had barely poured the last drop the glass would hold before Nick swiped it off the bar and threw it back. He pointed to the shot in front of me, but I refused it.

“Waste not, want not,” he said, swallowing another shot.

“Damn Nick,” I said. “Take it easy.”

“It’s no use,” Mia said, rolling her eyes. “He never listens.”

“I’m fine!”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said to me just before walking off.

“So, where are these friends of yours? I asked.

Nick ignored my question and shifted his line of sight
behind me. “There he is!” he yelled out.

I looked behind me to
only to see Ricky Perry, Mia’s older brother, and the hottest and most arrogant guy to walk out of Holy Cross High School. He had the distinct record of being the only kid in Holy Cross expelled for fighting too much. I remembered witnessing one when mom dropped me off late for school. I rounded the corner of the hallway in a rush, only to see Ricky hovering over some kid with a bloodied nose.

When he walked through the bar, the eyes of the women he passed lingered
on him, soaking him all in. I turned around quickly, cursing myself for never listening to my mother. Not so much to gain his attention, but rather to not make it so obvious about the current status of my life. It was a mess, and it showed through my appearance.

“What’s he doing here?” I asked Nick.

He ignored me and waved Ricky over.

“Hey man,” Ricky said to Nick, completely ignoring me. They did some manly handshake as I pretended not to exist.
I let my eyes wander around the bar, recognizing a few familiar faces. I should have known it was going to be a high school reunion.