The Nightworld - Jack Blaine [37]
The girls seem to realize this too, because their giggles trail off. We all focus on our Twinkies for a little while.
“At least there’s no homework.” I know it’s a lame thing to say, but I just want to break the silence.
“Ugh. Chem lab.” Lara grimaces. “I always had to really study for that class.”
“I wonder if we’ll be going back to school in September.” Kath looks wistful. “I sort of miss it. Were you guys going to be seniors?”
Lara and I both nod.
“I was going to be a junior next year.” Kath wraps her arms around her knees. I notice Zeke isn’t saying anything.
“What about you, Zeke?”
He shrugs. “I dropped out in the middle of last year. It just seemed . . . pointless.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re probably one of those straight-A guys, right?” Zeke curls his upper lip at me. “It’s all easy for you, right?”
I let a moment pass before I answer. “I’d say I’m more like one of those B-minus guys, and I worked for those.” It’s only half a lie. Yeah, I’m a B-minus guy—when I’m lucky—but I’ve always earned my mediocre grades with the absolute minimum amount of work possible.
“Huh.” Zeke looks surprised. “I would have figured you for a brain.”
I just shrug. Lara doesn’t blow my cover. She just watches.
“School’s okay, but there are other things in life besides books.”
“Exactly,” says Zeke. “I just never got into it. And it was work, man. Always seemed to me that if I could get on at MacNally’s, I’d be better off than if I got a stupid diploma.”
“MacNally’s?”
“Construction. Now that I’m good at.” Zeke grinned.
“Wow.” I don’t have to fake being impressed. Those kinds of skills are likely going to matter a lot more in the future.
“I know,” says Kath. “Let’s play a board game. I know there’s Scrabble—”
“No Scrabble!” Zeke frowns.
“Okay, how about Trivial Pursuit?”
“How about poker?” Zeke grins. “Strip poker!”
I start to say we probably shouldn’t, just because I think that’s the gentlemanly thing to do, but Lara interrupts me.
“You’re on, baby!” She has a peculiar gleam in her eye. “Although you might need to refresh my memory on the rules.” She looks a little too innocent for me to believe her.
Zeke looks like a cat sucking on some feathers. “No problem.”
Lara jumps up. “I’ll grab the cards.” Kath and I both exchange a glance. I don’t think either of us is up for it. I don’t know why she’s hesitating, but I’m sort of embarrassed. I don’t really want to strip in front of Lara.
“Okay.” Lara comes back with a couple of decks. She drops them on the coffee table. “Rules—only tops come all the way off. Bottoms to your underwear.”
“What?” Zeke looks disappointed.
“Take it or leave it.” Kath is laughing. Now that the rules are clear, she seems more into it.
“We’ll take it, ladies,” I say, trying for a little levity myself. I have a feeling this is a bad idea.
“Okay, Zeke?” Lara raises her eyebrows at him.
“Okay.” He looks a little smug as he explains the rules.
Forty-five minutes later Zeke is wearing nothing but boxers and I’m down to my jeans. Kath has bare feet and is wearing a bra and her khakis. Lara hasn’t lost anything but a sock.
“She’s a shark.” I shake my head at Zeke.
He nods. “We’ve been had.” But he’s smiling. “I’m gonna declare myself the loser here, seeing as I have no wish to lose my boxers, and I’m freezing.” He picks up a throw off the couch and tosses it to Kath. In his best character-from-a-bad-Western voice, he says, “You must be freezing too, pretty lady.” He waggles his eyebrows at her and she laughs. She wraps the throw around her shoulders.
The gas fire pops out just then.
“Oh, damn.” Lara tries to act like it’s no big deal, but I can tell she’s nervous. “This happens. It always comes back on eventually.” She goes to the fireplace and turns off the gas. “Who wants first watch?”
“What’s the deal?” I’m not sure what she means.
“We can’t leave the gas turned on, because if it comes back and we haven’t lit it we’ll all die from the fumes. So we keep watch, and check every hour to see if it’s back on, with this.” She flicks one of those butane fireplace lights.
“I’ll take