Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,41
worth staying for anyway.
Snatching the door open wide, I stood on the curled linoleum revealing the concrete slab of our entryway and let out an aggravated groan. “Just come in already.”
“Well, when you say it all sweet like that…” He stood up with a grimace and shook out his legs. “Ah. Ah. Ah. Pins and needles. Pins and needles.”
“That’s what you get for sitting out there all day. After that storm, you’ll be lucky if you don’t catch pneumonia too.” My anxious stomach knotted as he lumbered toward me. I’d never invited anyone into our house before. The point of this was to show Camden the real me and run him off, but I couldn’t help but be embarrassed all the same.
“I don’t catch pneumonia, Nora. Pneumonia catches me.”
I scoffed and perched a hand on my hip in the rickety doorway. “Then you better get in here. I’ve played tag with you before. Trust me—you aren’t that hard to catch.”
“That was before I carried the Alberton Middle School track team to an eighth-place participation ribbon at the city meet. There were only eight teams and I carried the water more than anything to do with running, but you’re talking to a track star now, Nora. Time to show some respect.”
I would have laughed if I hadn’t been holding my breath when he strutted inside. He stopped abruptly at the edge of the carpet. Frankly, it only resembled carpet in the sense that it had a few fibers left between the bald patches.
This was it. This was the moment when he looked around, realized the filth in my life wasn’t limited to our house, and took off.
It was for the best, really.
He’ll bolt any second now.
He didn’t need a friend like me dragging him down.
Yep. Soon he’ll be long gone.
“If you want to leave—”
He looked at me, those damn blue eyes boring into my soul. “Any chance I can borrow a towel? I’m gonna soak the floor if I walk on it in these wet clothes.”
I stared at him for a beat, searching his face for any sign of disgust or sarcasm. I couldn’t have blamed him; I cringed every time I walked through the door too. But Ramsey and I had long since given up on trying to be my father’s maids. It didn’t matter how many times we attempted to make things look presentable, we were always just one drunken night away from my dad ruining it.
Camden stared at me, waiting for a response, but all I wanted to do was cry.
There was no criticism. No pity. No repulsion.
Just a little confusion and a touch of impatience.
“Nora, seriously, pneumonia is catching up fast.”
All at once, I became unstuck and jogged to my room, grabbing the towel from my creek bag before returning.
“Thanks,” he said with a smile, patting himself dry and then toeing his shoes off.
I studied his gaze shifting around the living room as we walked to my bedroom together. The only thing his eyes lingered on was a baby picture of me and Ramsey that my mother had hung on the wall before she’d left.
My room was nothing fancy, but I was proud of it. The window was cloaked with hot-pink curtains I’d made myself, and a gray-and-white-striped comforter I’d found at a yard sale stretched across my double bed. A lot of my odds-and-ends arts and crafts decorated the walls, including an earring tree I’d made from an old picture frame and a piece of mesh.
As we stepped inside, he said, “Nice room.” It wasn’t a comparison to the rest of the house. Just a statement. Kind and sweet. Pure Camden Cole.
“Thanks.” I pointed to the wooden chair that sat at a small vanity in the corner. “You can sit over there. Your wet clothes won’t mess it up. You hungry?”
“I’m almost certain my stomach has eaten my backbone at this point. But yeah, I’m still starved.”
I grabbed one of the sandwiches from the cooler I kept hidden in the back of my closet so my dad couldn’t find our food. I’d made a bunch of ham and cheese in advance so I didn’t have to leave my room and chance a run-in with my brother. He would have lost his mind if he found out about Josh. My stomach rolled at the very thought of him.
Unaware, Camden was still quick to the rescue. “You have a cooler in your closet? That’s awesome. Why haven’t I ever thought to do that?”
“Yeah.” I laughed awkwardly and sat