Lexi Cocker - Faleena Hopkins Page 0,39
little shy. “Thank you, Gage. I’m glad you liked it.”
“I liked it very much.”
“So you’re in your old room?”
“Yep.”
“Describe it to me.”
Taking a deep breath, I glance around, not sure what to say. “I’ve got the normal stuff. A bed. Dresser. Nightstands. Lamps.”
“Everyone has those. Tell me something I don’t know. What’s in there that’s totally you?”
Taking another look, I shrug, “Car calendar. All vintage.”
“That makes sense. Is yours in there?”
“Yeah, there’s a Bronco, but it’s blue.”
“What else?”
“Trying to remember. Uh, there’s a black Mustang—”
“Not in the calendar! What else is in your room?”
“Welding tools.”
She says, “Welding tools?” like she’s scrunching her nose.
“Yeah. A four-and-a-half inch and a six inch angle grinder. Helmet. Three pair of protective goggles.”
“Three fashion statements?”
I chuckle, “Yeah I’ve got them in different colors. One’s a zebra print.”
“Stop,” she laughs, “I was teasing you! Wasn’t serious.”
“I’ve got three because it took me two to find one I liked.”
“Ah…what else?”
“Stack of wire cutters. Some things I fused together in classes.”
“Okay, I know nothing about welding! What in the world do you learn in a welding class?”
I mutter, “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t,” before taking a breath to think about what might interest her, “Well, let me see. One thing you learn is how different metals work together. Or don’t. If you combine the wrong kind, say you connect a copper pipe with a galvanized pipe, they will eventually corrode because they’re incompatible. You’ve got to connect them with an adapter or the connection won’t last.”
“What’s galvanized?”
“Steel or iron, depending on what you need them for. Or which you like better.”
In the distance I hear her sister shouting, “Are you coming back?”
She yells, “In a minute!” and lowers to normal volume. “Sam’s feeling like a third wheel. I’ve gotta go soon.”
“We can hang up now if you want.”
A silent pause. “Not yet.”
I squint out the window. “You wouldn’t find my room very interesting.”
“How do you know that, Gage? That was interesting what you just told me!”
“I just know.”
New silence.
But a different kind.
It’s in both of us now.
Finally she says, “I should go.”
“Yeah. Have fun.”
“You going to sleep?”
“Soon. Looking forward to having coffee with my mom in the morning.”
Her voice softens. “I’m sure she’ll love that.” Taking a deep breath, Lexi adds, “There’s something about sharing coffee in the morning.”
“You like coffee?”
“Of course!”
“I coined you more a tea girl.”
“Nope. See, this is the difference between me and the yoga-heads. I love coffee and they’re all about the herbals.”
“Black coffee?”
She blanches, “No! Almond milk and raw sugar. That’s my jam. I bet you like it black, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
“I knew it!”
“Not hard to guess. I fit a mold.”
“What mold?”
“Beer drinking mechanic who takes his coffee black.”
“You think you’re a stereotype?”
“I think I’m simple.”
“You know what I think?”
Not sure I want to know, but curiosity wins out. “What do you think, Cherry?”
“I think a beer-loving, black-coffee-drinking guy who drops off his date to go be with his mother on a hard night like this, and stays over to keep her company so she’s not alone in the morning, isn’t stereotypical in the slightest. I think there’s one thing I’d call him: Good.” My gaze drops as I blink at her compliment, not sure what to say. Lexi adds, voice quieter. “And I think your Mom must’ve done something right.”
Samantha shouts, “Lexi! You’re losing!”
She yells, “Oh, real nice!” and returns to me. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Hey Cherry, what’re you doing on Sunday?”
“Don’t have anything concrete just yet.”
“Yeah you do.”
“Oh I do?” she laughs.
“Yep. Now go kick their asses.”
“Sleep well, Gage.”
“Night, Cherry.”
We hang up and I stare at the stars for a long time, thinking about my sister, my mom, my dad, and how unpredictable life is. One day everyone’s alive. Another, they’re not. One night you’re drinking a beer after work, the next you’re waking up next to a ginger who keeps you guessing. And on another your dinner plans get scrapped and you’re in some abandoned warehouse eating takeout and watching a dancer turn a song you’ve never paid much attention to into a work of art you can’t get out of your mind.
Like it or not, go with it or don’t, but as much as I can figure it, life has one constant.
It’s fuckin’ unpredictable.
Chapter Twenty-One
LEXI
Now that church is over, the congregation is flowing out like water from a newly opened faucet, few droplets resisting the pull of donuts, coffee and light-hearted conversation.
As the warm sunlight of a cloudless morning hits our three relaxed faces, Samantha and Zoe predictably veer left for