Freedom [140]
“I love you, baby,” she said.
“I love you, too.”
The next morning, he got his chance with Jenna. She was apparently an early riser and had already been out to buy breakfast when Joey, rising early himself, wandered into the kitchen in a UVA T-shirt and paisley boxers. Finding her reading a book at the kitchen table, he felt pretty much stark-naked.
“I bought some bagels for you and my undeserving brother,” she said.
“Thank you,” he said, considering whether to go and put some pants on or just keep strutting his stuff. Since she showed no further interest in him, he decided to risk not dressing. But then, as he waited on a toasting bagel and stole glances at her hair and her shoulders and her bare, crossed legs, he began to get a boner. He was about to make his escape to the living room when she looked up and said, “I’m sorry, this book? This book is ungodly boring.”
He took cover behind a chair. “What’s it about?”
“I thought it was about slavery. Now I’m not even sure what it’s about.” She showed him two facing pages of dense prose. “The really funny thing? This is the second time I’m reading it. It’s on like half the syllabuses at Duke. Syllabi. And I still can’t figure out what the actual story is. You know, what actually happens to the characters.”
“I read Song of Solomon for school last year,” Joey said. “I thought it was pretty amazing. It’s like the best novel I ever read.”
She made a complicated face of indifference toward him and annoyance with her book. He sat down across the table from her, took a bite of bagel and chewed it for a while, chewed it some more, and finally realized that swallowing was going to be an issue. There was no hurry, however, since Jenna was still trying to read.
“What do you think’s up with your brother?” he said when he’d managed to get a few bites down.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s being kind of a jerk. Kind of immature. Don’t you think?”
“Don’t ask me. He’s your friend.”
She continued to stare at her book. Her disdainful imperviousness was identical to that of the top-tier girls at Virginia. The only difference was that she was even more attractive to him than those girls, and that he was close enough to her now to smell her shampoo. Underneath the table, in his boxers, his half-mast boner was pointing at her like a Jaguar’s hood ornament.
“So what are you doing today?” he said.
She closed her book as if resigning herself to his continued presence. “Shopping,” she said. “And there’s a party in Brooklyn tonight. What about you?”
“Apparently nothing, since your brother doesn’t want to leave the apartment. I have an aunt who I’m supposed to see at four, but that’s it.”
“I think it’s harder for guys,” Jenna said. “Being at home. My dad is amazing, and I’m fine with that, I’m fine with him being famous. But I think Jonathan always feels like he has to prove something.”
“By watching TV for ten hours?”
She frowned and looked directly at Joey, possibly for the first time. “Do you even like my brother?”
“No definitely. He’s just been weird since Thursday night. Like, the way he was driving yesterday? I thought you might have some insight.”
“I think for him the biggest thing is wanting to be liked for his own sake. You know, and not because of who our dad is.”
“Right,” Joey said. And was inspired to add: “Or who his sister is.”
She blushed! A small amount. And shook her head. “I’m not anybody.”
“Ha ha ha,” he said, blushing as well.
“Well, I’m certainly not like my dad. I don’t have any big ideas, or any great ambition. I’m actually quite the selfish little person, when you get right down to it. A hundred acres in Connecticut, some horses and a full-time groom, and maybe a private jet, and I’ll be all set.”
Joey noted that it had taken no more than one allusion to her beauty to get her to open up and start talking about herself.