inside and a stairwell leading up. He locked the door behind us and took the steps up.
"So this is a duplex?"
"Yep, we live in the top floor."
"Oh. I wasn't sure what a duplex was."
"I guess it's like half of a row home. A nice old lady lives on the ground floor, she doesn't come out much." He unlocked the door and led me inside. "It's not much but it's home."
I stepped inside and immediately noticed a funky musty smell. There was a large room that served as a living room/dining room with a narrow galley kitchen leading off to the side. The furniture looked worn and outdated in tacky 80's decor. The carpet used to be beige but it was grungy looking from years of wear. The blinds were hanging crooked off the lone window, which had an antique box fan clanking away inside of it. Despite how old everything looked, it was a neat and tidy kind of old. What had never occurred to me before was that Jon was dirt poor. I never realized how they must struggle with just his mom's income.
"Can I get you something to drink?" he asked. "We have iced tea, or water, soda, milk. Apple juice?"
"I'll have some iced tea, I guess."
He led me into the kitchen and filled up two mismatched glasses with ice and dug through the refrigerator for the pitcher of tea, filled up both glasses and put the pitcher away again. He handed me a glass and said "Cheers" clinking his glass to mine. I sipped and was surprised by how sweet the tea was.
"This is really good."
"My mom brews it from tea bags, not a mix. And there's a ton of sugar in it."
"I can tell," I said nodding in agreement, looking around for any signs of ghosts. "So when does your mom get home?"
"She's done work at 5, we have a couple hours." He took my hand and led me back through the living room towards the back of the house into a dark hallway. He flicked the light switch to reveal a bedroom the size of a large closet. It was just large enough to hold a twin size bed, a small dresser, two guitars and an amplifier. "This is my room."
It was a tight squeeze for both of us to be in there, I felt slightly claustrophobic when he closed the door behind him. There wasn't a window in here and it was very warm. He turned on a fan and that helped a little. He put his glass down on the bureau and sat down on his bed, and reached out for me. I sipped my tea nervously before putting it down and went to sit next to him on the bed. The mattress unexpectedly squished down when I sat, it was so soft. "Well this is a nice soft bed."
"It's just foam. It's not really a mattress."
"It's really comfy though."
"It hurts my back sometimes. Are you okay? You still seem nervous."
"I'm just taking everything in." I looked around noting the various posters he had plastered about the room. I was kind of relieved that he didn't have naked women up anywhere. I suddenly noticed a picture of me. "When did you take this?" I asked. You could tell from my expression that I didn't know I was getting my picture taken; I was looking off to the side with a blank expression on my face.
"Oh, that was at graduation."
"You took a picture of me at your graduation and you didn't even know me yet? You really are a stalker."
"Well, you were standing there with Ling and I remember thinking I didn't know who you were but I had a feeling about you."
"What kind of feeling?"
"Like we were meant to be together."
Where have I heard that before? "Whatever, stalker."
"How about some music."
"Okay."
He took a step over to his CD player and put on Wish.
I laughed, "You know, The Cure isn't the only band I listen to."
He laughed and pushed me back onto his bed and crawled up over me. He brushed my hair back and looked into my eyes. "Hi."
"Hi," I whispered stifling a yawn. "Sorry I didn't get to bed until late, I was up sewing past until like 2."
"Oh, well you can take a nap if you want."
"No, it's okay, I'm fine..." I closed my eyes and snuggled against him despite the heat in the room.
"Lucy?"
"Hmm?"
"Wake up, Lucy."
"Oh, sorry. What time is it?"
"Almost 5. My mom will be home soon."
"Did I seriously