it sound like a spaceship was hovering over our house, waiting. I was home one more week for the summer before I went back to college four hours away. I had friends, close girlfriends, but none of them were around. Bored, peeking on the one guy especially. The youngest-looking one, maybe he was twenty-one. Barely. I put on eyeliner and shiny red lipgloss, went out there and asked if they needed anything.
The guy in charge, the one with the beard and mirrored sunglasses, the pencil behind his ear, introduced himself to me. Gary Something. There were four of them. Gary Something and Trevor No Last Name and Pete No Last Name and the only one I cared about was Jordan. Helloooo, Jordan. Jordan looked like he belonged in a movie about the young guy who comes to work on the housewife’s house when the husband is away and Jordan ends up having sex with the housewife in the kitchen while the teapot screams and sizzle-boils over. Jordan was sweaty and shirtless. He literally glistened. I was obsessed with Jordan. That quick. It only took an hour. I hadn’t been obsessed with anyone since Rafael and that was a couple months ago. He texted me sometimes but bored bored bored.
I’d texted him that earlier in the day.
bored bored bord
I didn’t even apologize for the misspelling. He never wrote me back.
Jordan slipped his shirt on as he walked over to me. Sad face.
“Hi. Sorry. Hope we’re not being too loud,” he said.
I didn’t know anything about Jordan except:
He had a white truck.
He had a white shirt.
He had jeans and boots. Probably socks, too.
His name was Jordan.
He worked with these other dudes.
His water bottle was blue.
He had some tools. Or someone let him use their tools.
I stood there looking at him, annoyed at myself for still having that wad of gum in my mouth. It was giving me a headache and it wasn’t even sweet anymore. I took it out and tossed it in the trash bag the guys were using.
“Yeah, my dad said it would be loud. The hammering and sawing or whatever. Annoying,” I said. I wasn’t really annoyed, but I wanted Jordan to think I was. I wanted him to think I hated him for at least a split second.
“My bad. I mean, it kind of has to be loud. Circular saws are loud. That’s what they do.”
“Wow, mansplaining saws and sounds to me?” I said.
“Damn. Sorry,” he said, smiling and laughing like we were old buds.
I gave him a thumbs-down.
He gave me a thumbs-up. I finally smiled at him, but only barely.
“So, yes or no. Did y’all need anything?” I asked them. I looked around Jordan at the other guys.
“No thanks! We’ll let you know,” Gary Something said. Gary was probably Jordan’s dad. He looked enough like Jordan.
Jordan took his shirt off again. He’d only put it on to talk to me.
I went inside.
* * *
My brothers were still playing their video game. They were old enough to make their own lunch, but I asked them what they wanted since I was in the kitchen anyway. I could see the guys working on the deck from the kitchen window. I would sneak and look when I was sure they couldn’t see me. I didn’t want Jordan to see me watching him. I didn’t know the guy and he could be a serial killer, a rapist, one of those guys who dragged women back to his cave by their hair.
“Pizza or mac and cheese, little turds?” I asked my brothers, turning my back to the sink. I imagined Jordan catching a glimpse of my shoulders, the straight-up rock bone stacks of my spine.
“Pizza!” Angel said.
“Mac and cheese!” Aidan said.
“Not both! One!” I said, stepping into the living room. I imagined Jordan leaning over, pressing his hot mouth to the kitchen window glass before I walked away, catching a glimpse of my twenty-year-old apple ass.
“Chloe, move!” Angel said, fanning his arm from side to side. I was standing in front of the TV.
“Put the mac and cheese on the pizza please,” Aidan said. He was the peacekeeper, the most rational one.
“Fine,” I said.
* * *
I put a frozen pizza into the oven and put a pot of water for mac and cheese on the stove. While I waited, I went through the messages on my phone. Rafael had texted me back.
Hey. Wyd?
making mac and cheese pizza for my brothers
You still bored?
there’s this hot guy working on my deck
So…you’re not bored anymore?
idk