The Beautiful Between - Alyssa B. Sheinmel [30]
I smile. That sounds like something Jeremy would say.
“Where’s your brother?”
“In his room. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Even though Kate’s in slippers and pajamas, I feel underdressed here, like I was supposed to dress more like a grown-up would. My boots—black, pointy-toed, with high heels—clack loudly on the floor, and I consider trying to tiptoe.
“You excited about the party?” Kate asks me as we walk down the hall.
I shrug. “Kind of.”
Kate stops walking, and so do I.
“Why are you only ‘kind of’ excited about the party?”
I bite my lip. “I’ve never been to a party like this before.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be the belle of the ball.” She starts walking again, but I take a second before I follow her. I kind of can’t believe she said that, like maybe she knows about the fairy-tale world too.
Kate opens the door to Jeremy’s room without knocking, which I guess is normal for sisters and brothers. Jeremy’s room is a mess, and even though I’m such a neat freak, I find the mess comforting.
“Jer-bert, Connelly’s here.”
“Hey, Con, have a seat,” he calls. He must be in the bathroom—his voice comes from behind a door on the other side of the room. Kate climbs onto the unmade bed, and I guess that I’m supposed to sit on the edge of it, next to her. I remain standing. I’m highly aware that I’m a girl and Jeremy, obviously, is not. There are probably things in here that girls aren’t supposed to see.
“Ew, Jeremy,” Kate calls toward the closed door. “You left your underwear on the floor.”
“Oops,” Jeremy says, but there’s no embarrassment in his voice.
Kate turns to me. “Boys never put anything away.”
I shrug. “I wouldn’t know.”
She pats the bed beside her. “Sit down.”
I sit. Kate says, “You look nice. I’ve never seen you dressed for anything but school.”
“Really?” I say, feeling relieved. “I wish you’d been there to tell me that when I was getting ready! I needed some serious advice.”
Kate smiles. “Well, you made the right choices.”
Kate’s said exactly the right thing. And I know she’s right, because surely Kate’s seen dozens of girls come over here to meet Jeremy before a party, so she knows what she’s talking about.
“Hey, Con.” Jeremy comes out of the bathroom with jeans and no shirt. He kisses me on the cheek. I really, really hope I’m not blushing.
“I promised you liquor, didn’t I? Katie, go get her something.”
“No, that’s really okay.”
“No way, Connie, we had a plan.”
Kate’s already marched out of the room.
“Where are your parents?” I’m not asking because I’m worried they’ll catch us drinking—I can’t imagine they care—but because I wonder if Kate will be alone tonight.
“At some dinner thing. They’ll be back before we will.”
“What about Kate?”
“Our housekeeper’s here.”
Kate comes in with two bottles of beer in her hand. Nothing fancy, just Bud Light. Jeremy twists off the tops and hands me one, which I begin drinking dutifully. I didn’t know you could twist off the tops of these kinds of bottles. I nurse my beer. Jeremy puts on a shirt. Kate climbs back onto his bed and gets under the covers like she’s settling in for the night. Jeremy leans down, gives her a kiss, and tosses her the remote.
“No watching scary movies.”
Kate wrinkles her nose. “I can watch whatever I want.”
“Yeah, but then who gets woken up at three in the morning when someone else can’t sleep?”
“You do,” Kate says proudly. “But that’s totally your job.”
“It is?”
“Yeah. Look it up in the Big Brother’s Guidebook.”
Jeremy grins. “I’ll do that, kid. Good night.”
“‘Night!” Kate calls after us.
In the elevator, Jeremy says, “She likes it better in my room.”
“Why?”
“Dunno. Hers has all that medicine in it, but she liked it better in mine before too. I think ’cause it’s messier. She’ll never make a mess of her own, but she likes mine.”
I smile, because I completely understand that.
Jeremy knows exactly when to arrive at Brent Fisher’s so that it’s already crowded, but not packed. We settle on a leather couch in what looks like Brent’s parents’ study and drink beer. The apartment smells like